Note: bit of blood.
The GliTS headquarters, with its confusing layout and whimsical décor, was one of the few places where Jessica was beginning to feel relaxed. Surrounded by her foil-headed cohorts, she was feeding off their enthusiasm as they chattered on excitedly about their day.
“And when Lilith showed us her fangs, I nearly fainted!” Yibbo said, bouncing in her seat.
“I wonder what powers they really have,” Pixie pondered. “They were both a bit cagey about that.”
“They’ll probably open up more once they know that they can trust us.”
Morag wasn’t joining in the animated conversation. She was over by the wall, listening intently to the EVP recordings. Occasionally, she’d shush them, rewind and listen back, her eyes narrowing or growing wide as she tried to spot familiar patterns in the silence between words.
Jessica wasn’t sure if she really bought that this equipment could detect ghosts, but then she was equipment that could detect ghosts, so maybe it wasn’t that far-fetched that technology would catch up with whatever it was that her brain could do.
Morag raised her hand and the conversation in the room abruptly ended.
“Jessica, did Rose say the words ‘banana squirrel’?” she asked.
Jessica pretended to think. “No, I don’t believe she did.”
“Oh. Maybe it’s some other interference. As you were.”
“Isn’t it interesting,” Yibbo mused. “That vampires can’t be picked up on cameras and that they set off EMF readers, yet witches are just a bit hot?”
“You thought Broof was hot?”
“Well, yes I… No! Not like that! Pixie!” Yibbo blushed.
“I do think it’s weird. How has Lilith managed to get by in this day and age – to run a successful medical practice in Del Sol Valley, too – without having a reflection or a capturable image?”
“A vampire surgeon. Do you think she’s actually dangerous?” Morag asked, finally joining her friends.
“Maybe,” Pixie replied, eyes sparkling. “Do you?”
“No,” Morag said with a twinge of disappointment. “What about you, Yibbo?”
Yibbo thought for a moment then shook her head. “She seemed genuine to me. Pretty nice and down-to-earth.”
“Oh, so you think Broof is hot and Lilith is pretty?” Pixie teased. Yibbo’s face burned crimson as Pixie chuckled. “I don’t think she’s dangerous. Maybe modern vampires aren’t. There are probably lots of places nowadays that they can get willing donors.”
“Yeah, Jessica,” Morag agreed. “Maybe modern vampires aren’t anything to be afraid of.”
“Yeah,” Jessica said, not convinced. After all, Lilith said there were other vampires, others that she’d fallen out with. And there was the beast one, with his teeth.
Jessica hazarded a guess that he was not so ‘modern’.
The gents’ toilets at the Caboose were exactly as one would imagine; windows caked in years of grime, grotty wooden floorboards, urine-soaked and stale, having never seen the sight of a mop. No one entered the dingy little room unless in the pit of desperation, lending Seth a perfect, private, spot to clean up.
He wouldn’t usually resort to soap and water, well, water – the soap was long gone. But his first conquest had been a most vicious kill and the remains of his filthy handkerchief were not nearly enough to clear the bloodshed.
His hands were shaking as he attempted to swill his latest victim’s splatter from his nostrils and eyelids. He could still see his kill’s hollowed eyes imprinted behind his own, feel his utter terror, taste his very essence. Seth’s own nerves were alight, recalling the utter carnage he had caused to the unsuspecting man.
After a day of tenderness, sensitivity and restraint, he had really needed that. One more good maul and he’d be good to go back to the arms of his fickle fledgling. Yes, his, he repeated to himself with a feeling the ancient man recognised as… contentment.
Now he had Faith back, he was never going to let her go again. He’d find somewhere suitable to stay and – ah.
An inebriated man had entered the cramped space and made a hasty beeline for the urinals, his brain pulsating with the petty preoccupations of the living.
Damn, I really need to pee. I hope no one spikes my drink while I’m up here. Okay, I’m not that drunk, focus, zip down, check. Okay. Woo, damn. There we go. Dum de dum. Ooh, call Lisa for a good time. I might just do that. Sigh. I’m gonna miss this place.
What an unusual final thought. Seth had had very little interest in this man prior, but busied himself at the sink and listened intently to the jumble of contemplation and urination.
God damn, how will I give up little Sophie? I wish I could take her with me but she won’t like being in my backpack for a year. Shit, will this leak ever end. Ugh. That’s tequila for you.
He finally heard the fellow zip up and join him at the sinks with a curt nod. With this proximity, Seth was able to scope out the man’s plans. To backpack for a year across Simland, leaving his house in the hands of as-yet-undetermined tenants. Seth scoped the man’s memory of his house. It seemed perfectly average and inconspicuous; he was confident that he and Faith could stay there for a while, undetected.
The man was gradually stumbling his way out of Seth’s reach, so the vampire followed him, down the stairs and into the main bar area where he took a stool at the bar next to an untouched glass.
“Thanks mate,” he said to the bartender, who gave him a thumbs up.
“It’s on the tab, Brian.”
“Cheers. Hey, any idea who Lisa is?”
The bartender shook his head and continued chatting to a blue-haired lady to his left, leaving Brian alone to ponder if he wanted to call the number he’d read on the wall and whether he could really face giving up Sophie, his cat.
Seth had heard enough. He was not usually one for dining on those under the influence, however, he did enjoy it when perfect prey presented itself.
Isolating the man could be done with a few methods, from direct control to persuasion – Seth opted to compress the man’s temples with a force that almost made Brain’s eye pop out.
“Ugh, geez, my head!”
“Get a breather, Brian,” the bartender suggested, still engrossed in conversation with the other patron.
“Good idea,” Brian mumbled as he staggered to the door, Seth tailing him, maintaining the concentrated cranial crush.
Seth watched the pitiful human crumble and cower under the might of his mental manipulation.
He only hoped that Brian’s intoxication wouldn’t hinder his nocturnal performance.
Back at his little cottage in Glimmerbrook, Broof and Lilith were tying up their day and debriefing on their encounter with the local loons. Other than divulging their true statuses, they hadn’t given away any details of what exactly they could do, or could not do, to maintain something of an upper hand and a healthy caution. The GliTS had simply been delighted to meet them and were more than happy to be sworn to secrecy over their true identities. They did, as they said, understand the sensitivity of the situation and the gravity of the truth coming to light in the wrong way.
It would remain to be seen how much value their word had.
There had been a number of positives about the day. Broof had been reunited, in a manner of speaking, with his daughter and Lilith had found her much searched for plasma fruit tree. The beautiful vampire – oh shit, did he think that out loud? – had learned that the best way to ingest the heart of the fruit was with a straw.
She’d already had three of them, they must’ve been good although they smelled awful; a bit like a scrap yard. Thankfully, the tree had been in full fruit and there were at least a dozen more. But he’d had to remind her that they needed them for a potential cure.
Bizarrely, he found that he didn’t want her to have to rely on the fruits.
It’s not that he liked being bitten; he really didn’t. It was painful and it made him woozy. The way Lilith drank was very clinical and precise, it was much more like a trip to the dentist than anything suggestive. He could only suppose that he didn’t like the idea that she might not need him, as pathetic as that sounded.
“Ahh,” she gargled, a lazy smile spread across her face. “These are great.”
He’d never seen her smile like that. “I can see that. So, does that mean you don’t need a drink tonight?”
“I may still need a small one,” she confessed.
“From me? Or are you going to find Wyatt?”
Damn it. He’d meant that to sound jovial, but it came out sounding as bitter as he truly felt about it.
Lilith sighed and placed her spent fruit on his table. Thankfully, on a placemat.
“You’re being ridiculous.”
“I just don’t like…” he finished his sentence in a mumble, feeling every bit as pitiful as her withering gaze was suggesting. She glared at him.
“You don’t like thinking of me putting my mouth on him?” She scoffed.
“He’s hardly the cleanest of fellows…”
“So, what, you think I’m going to transmit some kind of disease between you both?”
“Well, no, but…”
“It’s fine. You see me as a parasite. You’re not the first.” Lilith rolled her eyes, wiped her mouth and stood up. “Maybe I should go and ask Wyatt instead. At least he sees me as a person.”
Broof’s heart was racing. “No, don’t go. I’m sorry, I just… Lilith, wait,” he grabbed her wrist, always surprised by how cold she was – he could feel it even through her jumper – and he swallowed back a lump in his throat.
She was waiting, expecting, he could sense it in her and not because she likely had her manacles in his head.
“I don’t think you’re a parasite. It’s just that, well… I…” She was definitely in his head; her eyes went wide before he’d even processed what it was that he was trying to say. “I’m… jealous, all right?”
“Jealous?” Lilith laughed. “It was a drink, Broof, not marriage; get over yourself.”
“Marriage.” He felt like all the air was being pushed out of him as he looked at her beautiful face. “Of course I’m jealous. Is it not obvious? I really like you, Lilith,” he gushed, breathlessly. “And, I guess, it makes me… a little insecure to think of you two alone, close, with him being so charismatic and you being so amazing.” He took a deep breath. “I’m really fond of you, Lilith. I had hoped that maybe you felt the same, that I was more than just a blood bag to you. Am I?”
She stared at him, stunned and unblinking, for what felt like ten minutes.
“Please say something,” he begged. “Tell me I’ve got the wrong idea, if you need to.”
Lilith took a step closer and he felt her buzzing around at the fringes of his mind. He already felt like he’d laid his soul bare, so he relaxed, allowing her access to his being, so that she could find whatever it was she was looking for.
Sweet Mother Earth, even though she was now glaring at him, he really wanted to kiss her.
She moved a little closer and he felt the compression deepen until she was inches from his face, the coolness radiating from her smooth skin.
And then, it was like a dream he’d often had.
It was the lightest of pecks but it felt like she was embracing his soul. Broof so wanted to grab hold of her, pull her in close for a deeper kiss. But he daren’t. He might break the spell. She might eat him alive. So instead he stood there like a limp puppet, his arms hanging by his sides, as this beautiful woman pressed her soft lips, and nothing else, against him.
The edges of her lips curled into a slight smile and she stepped back.
“You don’t have the wrong idea. I really like you, too,” she said quietly, and walked off to her room, leaving him dumbstruck.
Was this a hint? Should he follow her?
“No, you absolutely shouldn’t,” came her curt response to the question he hadn’t asked out loud. “Go and have your evening bath, Broof.”
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Almost Eternal 