by Bea Biddle
He raised an eyebrow at her and to her complete and utter mortification she suddenly realized she had been staring. She quickly turned her head away, trying to pretend she had been doing something else. How embarrassing. Cef said nothing to her but addressed Alyssa instead. "I told Mr. Thomas to put extra security on your vault, the stones should be out of their reach."
"Will they be back here?" Alyssa asked.
"No, they found nothing here," Cef answered.
"Why are they after stones?" Karen asked, "What are these stones?"
"The ritual stones," Sylvester explained as if he was already bored of this conversation, "They're the ones that open rifts."
"I'll just- I'll just see what Pete is up to in the kitchen," Zac interrupted and shuffled out. Karen had almost forgotten he was in the room, and not just because he was see-through. He seemed nervous, much more than usual. Karen couldn't imagine having to be a teenager for two hundred years, having to deal with hormones that never ceased to influence you.
"Something like that," Alyssa said. "If they are after the stones, then it's obvious they are going to attempt to open this new rift. Cef, you have to find it, The Witches are getting impatient, they want it closed now."
"And I will find it," Cef grunted and stood up.
"You know what's at risk, Cef," Alyssa warned him. He nodded. Without a word he pulled his beanie over his horns and put on his wet coat once more. He locked eyes with Karen again, but this time she couldn't make herself look away. He took a step towards her, as if wanting to speak and she could tell he had something on his mind. But no words came out, he just squared his shoulders with a heavy sigh, turned and marched out without a sound. The door was slammed shut after him. The bell rang only once. Karen suspected Alyssa stopped it.
"Someone will find it eventually," Sylvester said, breaking the pregnant silence that had fallen between them. "Don't worry."
"I hope so," Alyssa said, wringing her hands nervously. "I can't afford to lose Cef now. I need him."
Karen's ears perked up at that. "Why would you lose Cef?"
Alyssa gave her a sad smile. "Ceftion does not belong here, not in this world, it's not his home. When he came through The Witches were not going to let him live. He proved himself useful though, he became an asset to New York's supernatural community and I could keep him. But it seems Demons are once again sneaking up on us. The Witches are losing patience and will not allow any more to come through. If Cef can't handle the situation, then The Witches will have to handle it, which means no more Demons, and that includes Cef." The outside lit up in a flash followed closely by the roll of thunder. It was right above them. The wind and rain pounded on the windows causing chills to run down Karen's spine, even though she was snuggly warm after Alyssa had dried her.
"But you could talk to them?" Karen hadn't counted on the pleading in her voice. She wished she had taken the time to compose herself before speaking so Sylvester didn't stand there with a suspicious grin on his face. "I mean, he's still useful, isn't he?"
"Talk to them?" Alyssa asked her pointedly, "No, no one talks to The Witches, The Witches talk to you if they so choose. No, it's out of my hands now."
"He will find it," Sylvester assured them both, "I am sure he will." His glass slid noisily along the counter as he sauntered over to Karen and placed a friendly hand on her shoulder. He shot her another grin, sharp fangs glinted in the fluorescent light. "But as for right now, we're open, the night is just beginning, and it looks to be a busy one." As he spoke the bell chimed and Weres entered, one by one, sitting down, chatting happily to each other and Karen knew she had to get ready for the evening dinner rush of raw meat with the occasional bottle of blood thrown in. It felt excruciatingly normal, painfully so. It was hard to believe that just moments ago the diner had been in ruins. And Cef's existence hadn't been threatened.
✽✽✽
Time passed so slowly after that night. Long, horribly uneventful weeks.
Colin had apologized. He blamed work, there was too much of it lately. And because Karen's head had absolutely no capacity for any kind of drama between them, she had forgiven him. She had actually forgotten all about his outburst. She hadn't even been angry at him, just shocked. And it had been too much of a hassle not forgiving him. And then a horrible reality had struck her, she just didn't care about it. She really would have to have that talk with him, but everything had returned to normal so fast and she still barely saw him. He was a shadow living at the apartment with her.
Even the diner had returned to normal. Just work, sleep, repeat. Karen couldn't tell one day apart from the others, they all blended into one long span of worrying. She could barely concentrate on orders. Not that there was much variety in the orders. Cef had barely been back at the diner after the Demons had torn it apart. And it was him she was worried about. Which was strange. He wasn't her friend. He had made that perfectly clear. She couldn't help that it stung a little. She wanted to be his friend, she didn't know why. Why would she want to be friends with that rude obnoxious Demon? She wanted to be angry at him, she wanted to hate him, but she didn't.
And annoyingly, after that night in his apartment they were right back at the beginning, he was brusque, she was awkward, and their conversations consisted only of him ordering coffee, in his gruff, heavy voice the rumbled through her like a rockslide. She still caught him looking at her though, mostly because she couldn't help looking at him either. She should probably talk to him about that night, explain that she was no longer angry, hoping he was no longer interested in toying with the human. But she couldn't get herself to bring it up. Maybe they could start again, start afresh, just draw a line over that whole night at his place. They could pretend it never happened. Maybe then they could be at least civil with each other.
Who do you think you're kidding? You want to be a lot more than just civil with that hunk of manly sexiness. Gasping audibly when that thought pressed its way into her brain, she quickly told her inner voice to shove it. No, she did not want to be any more than friends with him. Yes, it was true she was drawn to him, she thought he was ruggedly beautiful and liked it when he was around, liked the air around him for some unknown reason she couldn't completely understand. But that was all there was to it. It was perfectly harmless that she just wanted to be around him, wasn't it? She mentally rolled her eyes at the question. She knew there was more to it than that, she knew why she wanted to be around him. Stupid little, tiny crush, she grumbled to herself. It wasn't fair that it was still going on, it should have ended. Why was she still so damn attracted to him? After everything, she still wanted to be around him.
But she wasn't around him. She had barely seen him. It had been a whole week since he had even set foot in the diner. Not that she was counting the days. It was just a fact, just a casual, random thing that she knew. Definitely hadn't noticed how long he had been gone. Except that she had. And although Sylvester kept assuring her that nothing was wrong, that Cef had found nothing, and nothing had found Cef, it was impossible to stop worrying about him, she was beginning to get scared. She wanted to see him, wanted to make sure he was still around. Sylvester obviously saw him, why didn't she? Did he keep away from the diner because of her? He must really dislike her then, to keep away from her for a whole week. She should have been friendlier towards him perhaps, maybe made more of an effort since that disastrous night in his apartment. But then again, it's not exclusively my fault, she reminded herself, He is so standoffish and rude.
"Um, excuse me, but you're dripping on my coat."
Startled at the interruption that slashed through her, Karen was pulled out of her thoughts by a Vamp sitting by the nearest table. Karen had been standing in the middle of the diner, staring into thin air. She wished she knew for how long, but it was impossible to tell. Oh no, oh fuck no, she mentally swore when she saw she had been tipping the plate she was holding, creating a small pool of blood at her feet. And on the Vamp's coat. Crap! There goes my perfect streak. "I'm so sorry,"
Karen burst out, placing the plate on the counter for the Were it was intended, she grabbed a rag and started wiping up her mess. "I really am sorry," she continued briskly, annoyed at herself. The Vamp merely scoffed at her and returned to sipping on her glass of blood, purring into her partner's ear, ignoring her.
Two pointy shoes stepped up to her, and when Karen looked up it was to see Alyssa giving her a sympathetic smile, shaking her head at her with a sigh. "Karen," she said, "I think you're long overdue for a night off, aren't you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You're not completely yourself these days, I'm sorry, I've been working you too hard. Go home, take the rest of the night off."
"I'm alright, really," Karen said and stood up, "It was just an accident."
"I know, I know," Alyssa assured her. "Zac can cover for you tonight, he actually showed up today." She beamed a playful smile at Zac who blushed. Transparent or not, he had mastered the art of blushing to such an extreme that it was pretty much constantly on his face. Mostly when Sylvester was around. "But I think you need a break."
Karen couldn't think of anything she would want less. The last thing she needed was to be alone with her thoughts, she was much too scared to find out what those thoughts were exactly. "I really would rather finish my shift, I'd like to..." She trailed off. What she actually wanted was to stay just in case Cef showed up, but she couldn't allow herself to say it out loud. She didn't even want to admit it to herself.
"Here." Alyssa took the rag from Karen and pushed her jacket into her hands instead. "Just go home. I think It's about time." Karen didn't know how else to argue with her and reluctantly untied the apron from around her waist.
With a sigh, Karen stepped out into the cold wind. It was still somewhat early, only a little to eleven. She walked slowly, taking an extra long time to get home. Even while going up the steps to the apartment she stopped occasionally, just to stretch out time a little bit longer. She unwillingly reached the door, messed about with the key before unlocking. Only she didn't need to, it was already unlocked.
That was odd, surely Colin would be asleep by now, he would never leave the door unlocked. A robbery? She reached inside the door, trying to find the weapon they kept there. It was only half an old fishing rod that they had found in the street, they kept it for a laugh. Joking about using it for thieves. She found it. A robbery would make no sense at all, they literally had no stuff worth stealing. And Colin would be home. Oh no, Colin! She wanted to call out for him but in case the robbers were still there she didn't dare. She held up the old rod in a position she thought would look menacing, and cautiously stepped inside.
But the place wasn't in a state of destruction as she had feared. In fact, nothing had been touched or was the slightest out of the ordinary. She sighed in relief. Colin must just have forgotten to lock the door. Yeah, that must be it, she decided, How dumb do I look right now? Weighing the fishing rod in her hand she chuckled. She had to tell Colin, awake or not, he would find it as funny as she did.
She opened the bedroom door, about to laugh and wake him up when she saw that she was too late. He was already awake. He was also very much up. In someone else.
"Colin, harder!"
Karen recognized her as Anna. The short, red bob was unmistakable, especially paired with the bright matching lipstick. Colin's boss was on all fours on Karen's bed, still wearing her sharp suit, her tight skirt hiked up high over her hips. Her pumps still on her feet, and worse, on Karen's bedspread.
Colin held on tightly to her waist, groaning and panting as he thrust faster from behind her. ”Yeah,” he panted, ”Do you like that, babe?” He was so into it he wouldn't care at all what she answered. Karen knew that because she had been there, and she recognized the look of impatience while lingering on the edge of pleasure, that hardly ever came, Anna had. She would have laughed had the situation allowed it. It didn't. She let the rod drop to the floor. And then Colin saw her standing there. He froze mid-thrust, his mouth falling open in shock.
”Colin?” Anna hissed angrily, ”I told you harder. Not stop.” But then she too noticed Karen in the doorway. ”Oh, right.”
The silence that followed was so thick it couldn't have been cut through with a chainsaw. Karen squared her shoulders. ”You could at least have the decency to pull out,” she said with a sigh, motioning to the stunned Colin on the bed with a wave of her hand.
"You're- you're not supposed to be home," Colin stuttered.
"You're not supposed to be fucking your boss," Karen countered. A part of her wanted to yell and scream, the part of her that felt the stab of betrayal, but she found she couldn't, she just couldn't. She had no energy for it at all. Instead, all she felt was numb, detached, as if this wasn't happening.
Anna huffed impatiently, pushed Colin aside and stepped out of the bed. Calm and collected, she arranged her clothes, smoothing her skirt back down and ran a few fingers through her hair. Not that she needed to, it was so stiff with hairspray she could hardly comb through it and wouldn't have moved even if she was caught in a tornado, let alone because of Colin's, less than intense, lovemaking. She looked Karen up and down. "I suppose this is the waitress?"
Colin jumped up from the bed, like an eager puppy wagging his tail for her. And that was the moment Karen understood she had lost him. Funny, it didn't feel like much of a loss. "Yes, this is Karen. Karen, this is-"
”No,” Karen interrupted him, unable to keep her tone civil as anger began rearing its ugly head. ”No, don't you dare introduce us like this.” Not like this, not like they were meeting over lunch or on the street. This was not the time to be friendly.
"Relax, sweetheart, I'm leaving," Anna said with a tight laugh. As she walked past Karen, she nudged her out of the way with her shoulder. The action speaking far louder than any words she could have said at that point. From her pocket, she pulled out a tiny make-up mirror and proceeded to reapply yet another layer of the bright lipstick that Karen had begun to hate with a passion. "I only came over to drop off some paperwork, anyway." Karen couldn't believe what she was hearing. This woman was acting as if this happened all the time, she was acting as if she hadn't just been caught fucking another person's boyfriend. And her unbelievably calm attitude was making Karen out to be the psycho of the three of them, merely because she was angry. No, she was not having that. She could be as calm and collected as the next person who has just been taken a huge dump on. "I'll see you later, Colin," Anna whispered to him, her tone playful.
Or on the other hand, if Anna wanted her to play the psycho, she was very willing to do so. "Alright, then," Karen growled at her, pushing her in the back so hard Anna almost lost her footing as she was forced out of the front door. She stumbled into the dirty hallway, the make-up mirror slid out of her hand and clanged on each step as it went down the stairs. "Get your ass out of my apartment!" Karen slammed the door shut. Only to open it again. "And wear some fucking underwear!"
"Karen, look, babe, I know what it looks like," Colin pushed out as he waved his hands in the air frantically, refusing to meet her eye. Karen should yell at him, she should want to tear his eyes out, but nothing, no words came to her and she realized she didn't have any breath to waste on him. His eyes lit up when he finally came to half-explanation he could try to push at her. ”She came on to me,” he pressed out, ”She came on to me, not the other way around, I promise. I- I tried to-”
That was too good a sentence to pass up and Karen suddenly found some words. ”You tried to what?” she asked, ”You tried to fight her off? Tried to stop her? By bending her over? That's my damn bed, Colin.”
"Please, let's talk about this," he begged. He reached for her hand, grasping her fingers in an awkward grip. "I know we can talk this through."
"How long, Colin?" she asked as calmly as she could, her voice was still riddled with anger. She ignored his hand on hers. It was cold and clammy. He was nervous, she could feel him sweating. "How long have you been fucking her?"
"Does it mat
ter?" he asked, "Look, I'm a scumbag. I'm so sorry. Please, let's just sit down and work-"
"Of course, it fucking matters!" Karen yelled and pushed him away. Colin was caught off guard and bumped back into the wall. "If you think, for one second, we're just going to sit down and talk things through, you are fucking dreaming." Karen's voice had unwillingly turned to a yell. This was too much. Everything was too much. The way he was acting was too much. The way his boss had acted was too much. She had to think, she had to focus. She had to clear her head. "Get out." she breathed.
"What?"
"I said get out. Get out of here!" she repeated, much louder, trying desperately to stop herself from screaming again. It wasn't worth it. He wasn't worth it. "Get out, fuckhead. Leave. Now!" she yelled, opening the door to the hallway. "You are a massive cunt, and I want you to leave."
”But Kare-bear,” he tried with a disarming but desperate smile, ”It's all Anna's fault, I am as much a victim as-”
”If you finish that sentence I will cut off your balls," Karen spat. "Anna was not the one in a committed relationship with me. Anna is not the one who has betrayed or hurt me. She may be many things, but you were supposed to be my boyfriend. Now get the fuck out." She pushed at his chest, forcing him through the open door into the hallway.
