by Adele Abbott
“Of course. Manic is here to serve you.”
***
As Neil drove into work, he was still trying to figure out where he could find the money to buy the wall-safe. He couldn’t ask any of his friends because they were either broke, or he already owed them money. His parents were rolling in it, but he would rather sell a limb than ask them for help. Approaching his bank would be a waste of time. His overdraft was already maxed out, and he doubted they’d be receptive to a loan based on the promise of repayment once he had struck gold—literally struck gold.
There was one bright spot on the horizon, though. Today was the day that his new assistant was due to start. Fable! What a name, and what a little darling. Maybe he would ask her out tonight. No, it was too soon. Better to play the long game.
“What the—?” Neil could not believe his eyes.
He’d just parked the car, and was walking towards the fancy dress shop. Standing outside the shop was Fable; she was kissing some guy—tongues were definitely involved. Standing not too far behind them was Debs.
“Morning, Neil!” Debs grinned.
“I have to go.” Fable pulled away from the guy. “See you tonight, Troy.”
“Later, babes.” Troy gave her a final peck on the lips. As he passed by Neil, he nodded. “Alright, mate?”
Mate? Neil was livid. Who did he think he was calling mate?
Once Neil had turned off the alarm, the other two followed him inside.
“I’m so excited to be working here,” Fable gushed.
“You’d better start by tidying the stockroom.” Neil pointed to the door.
“Oh? I thought I’d be working out here, in the shop?”
“The stockroom needs tidying first.”
“Oh, okay.”
“What are you grinning at?” Neil turned on Debs, once Fable was inside the stockroom.
“Me?” She shrugged—all butter wouldn’t melt. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Fable told me she didn’t have a boyfriend.”
“Perhaps it was her brother?”
“He had his tongue down her throat.”
“Did you really ask her if she had a boyfriend, as part of the interview?”
“Yeah. Why not?”
“You’re sick. You need help.”
“I could sack her for lying in an interview.”
“Good luck with that. I want to be at the employment tribunal when she sues your sorry backside.”
Neil sighed. “It looks like we’re stuck with her, then.”
“Yeah, and that’s just dandy, isn’t it? Life’s going to be much more complicated having a human working with us. Especially for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re the one who can’t keep the magic in your pants.”
Neil grinned. “Who’s been talking?”
“You know what I mean. You won’t be able to use magic in here while she’s around.”
“What do you want me to do with these boobs?” Fable shouted from the other end of the shop.
Neil and Debs exchanged a puzzled look.
“I can’t find a section for these.” Fable came over to join them; she was holding two pairs of foam, comedy boobs.
It was mid-morning, and Fable was still hard at work in the stockroom. Neil had calmed down a little. So what if she did have a boyfriend? She’d soon fall for his charm—the woman who could resist him had yet to be born. Apart from Debs, of course, but she was just plain weird. And Dorothy, but she was just playing hard to get.
Debs was busy with a customer who was looking for a gorilla costume, for a school reunion. Neil flicked through the Washbridge Pages until he came to the section for security products. Several of the companies listed there supplied and installed safes. He phoned the one with the biggest ad.
“Is that Washbridge Safes?”
“That’s right. How can I help?”
“I need a wall safe fitting, but it has to be cheap.”
“It depends what you mean by cheap.”
“As close to free as you can get.”
“Our best price for a wall safe, fitted, will be five hundred pounds.”
“Don’t you have any second-hand ones?”
“We only deal in new products.”
“Okay, thanks.” Neil ended the call.
“What do you need a safe for?” Debs laughed. “It’s not like you’ve got anything of value.”
Neil hadn’t realised that she’d finished with the customer, and was listening to his conversation. “How would you know I don’t have anything valuable?”
“Because you’re always trying to borrow money off me.”
“You don’t happen to have five hundred quid going spare, do you?”
“I don’t have five hundred pence going spare. And, you still haven’t told me what you need a safe for.”
“None of your business. If you’ve nothing to do, go and give Fable a hand.”
Debs muttered something under her breath, as she made her way to the stockroom.
Five hundred pounds? It might as well have been five thousand. How would he ever come up with that kind of money?
And then it came to him.
***
Molly was already at the book shop when Dorothy arrived for work.
“You’re late,” Molly said.
“Blame that human.”
“What has she done now?”
“She thinks I’m an alcoholic.”
Molly laughed. “What makes her think that?”
“I bought a mini fridge for my bedroom. Susan saw it being delivered, and then she caught me bringing my blood back from Tilly’s apartment.”
“She actually saw your bottles of synthetic?”
“No, thank goodness. They were in a carrier bag, but Susan has convinced herself I’d been to the supermarket to stock up on booze for the fridge. I have to think of some way to get her to leave.”
“I don’t know how you expect to manage that. Neil’s ghost didn’t scare her off. And even when you tried to drink her blood, she still didn’t get spooked. I think she’s there to stay.”
“Great!” Dorothy started towards the staffroom at the back of the shop, but then stopped dead in her tracks. “Molly!”
“What’s up?”
“Come here.”
Molly joined Dorothy who was staring at the books in the Crime section.
“What’s wrong?”
“Up there.” Dorothy pointed. “The books on the top shelf are all mixed up. Some of them don’t even belong in this section.”
“How did that happen?”
“That’s what I’d like you to tell me.”
“I don’t know. They weren’t like that when I left last night.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am. I spend all day putting books on shelves. I would have noticed.”
“Has someone been down this aisle this morning?”
“No. You were the first one through the door after me.”
“So how did it happen?”
“Beats me. Maybe we have a ghost?”
Chapter 7
The morning had dragged for Charlie. There had been no classes for him to take, so he’d spent most of the morning walking around the gym, helping anyone who needed it. That had included showing Ali how to use the treadmill for the hundredth time that month. He was beginning to think that maybe Mason had been right, and that Ali really did have a thing for him. Not that it mattered now—he had a date lined up with Amelia. And he was terrified.
“What are you doing tonight?” Mason said.
“Nothing really. Why? Did you want me to thrash you at pool again?”
“In your dreams. No, I wondered if you might be interested in coming to a WR meeting with me?”
“What’s WR?”
“Surely you’ve heard of them?” He glanced around to make sure no one was in earshot. “Werewolf Revolution.”
“What’s tha
t when it’s at home?”
“I despair of you sometimes, Charlie. Every werewolf knows what WR is.”
“I don’t.”
“It’s the movement that is pushing for werewolves to take over the human world.”
“Do what?” Charlie was horrified. “When did you get involved with that nonsense?”
“It isn’t nonsense. I’ve listened to a few talks by Boris Breakskull.”
“Who?”
“He’s the leader of the WR movement. He runs an office out of The Howling pub. I’m surprised you haven’t come across him.”
“I think I’d remember that name.”
“Why don’t you come along? You might learn something.”
“No thanks. This isn’t even our world. The humans already share it with us; what right do we have to take it over?”
“You say they share it with us as though they choose to. They have no idea that there are sups living among them.”
“I still don’t see why we have to take over. I like the human world. I like humans—most of them, anyway. Why can’t we live together in harmony?”
“You’re so naïve, Charlie. If humans realised there were sups in their world, they’d hunt us down until we were all dead or back in Candlefield. If we were in charge, they wouldn’t be able to do that.”
“What about the other sups? Vampires? Wizards? I haven’t heard you mention them.”
“Why would I? We are obviously the dominant species. Why don’t you come along? You might find you enjoy yourself. Plus we get to go werewolf.”
“You shift? Here in Washbridge?”
“Not here in the city. There’s a spot a couple of miles to the north. It’s pretty safe there.”
“Pretty safe? What if some humans stumble across you and your friends?”
“Collateral damage.” Mason shrugged.
“Charlie!” A female voice called.
“Who is that beautiful vision?” Mason was staring at the visitor.
“That’s Amelia.”
“The witch from your apartment block? The one who fancies you?”
Charlie nodded.
“Charlie!” She called again.
“You’d better go and see what she wants, you lucky guy.”
“Amelia? How did you know where I worked?”
“You’d be surprised what I know about you. Can you come for a coffee?”
“Now? Sorry, I can’t. I’m on duty and I’ve already had my break.”
“Aww.” She pretended to pout, but then smiled. “Never mind. I was just passing, so I thought I’d look in and say ‘hi’.” She planted a huge kiss on his lips. “See you later, lover.”
Charlie stood there, stunned, for the longest moment.
“Now I can see why you don’t want to come to the meeting.” Mason was by his side. “I can’t say I blame you. I don’t think I’d bother either if I had that waiting for me at home.”
***
“Susan!” Flynn called to her before she had the chance to sit at her desk.
“Morning, Flynn.”
“Push the door closed, would you?”
She did as he asked.
“I’ve heard back from HR. They’ve given the green light for you to have Stella Yates as your assistant.”
“That’s great news. She gets a pay rise, I assume?”
“Another two thousand a year.”
“Brilliant.”
“Before we do this, are you sure she’ll be able to do the job? We could still advertise externally.”
“No need. Stella will be great in the job. Can I tell her or does it need to come from HR?”
“You can tell her. They’ll contact her to finalise the paperwork.”
“Thanks, Flynn. I appreciate this.”
“Not a problem.”
She started for the door.
“One more thing, Susan.” He called after her. “I want you and Stella to work out of that office over there.” He pointed across the main office to a smaller one, which had been standing empty since Susan joined.
“Are you sure? That won’t go down well with certain people.”
“I know.” He grinned. “Dougal has been pestering me for ages to let him have it.”
“Oh dear.” She didn’t even try to hide her smirk. “Thanks. I’ll go and tell Stella the good news.”
“Stella! Do you have a minute?”
Susan led the way into the vacant office that was to be their new home.
“I haven’t been able to find out anything about Burke Holdings yet, Stella, but I haven’t forgotten about it.”
“That’s okay. I appreciate anything you can do.”
“What do you think of this office?”
“This one? It used to be Jimmy Ball’s before he got caught with his pants down in the reprographics room.”
“I haven’t heard that story.”
“You don’t want to. Trust me.”
“This is going to be my new office, for me and my new personal assistant.”
“That’s great, Susan. I’m really pleased for you. I don’t think that crowd out there will be very happy about it, though.”
“I’m not worried about them. How would you feel about working in here with me?”
“Sorry. You’ve lost me. I thought you said your personal assistant would be based in here?”
“I did. You’re my new personal assistant.”
“Me? Are you joking?”
“No, I’m not. I told Flynn I wanted you, and he’s cleared it with HR. It will mean another two thousand a year for you. Not great, but maybe I can get that increased when you’ve been in the job a while.”
Stella looked stunned.
“Say something,” Susan said.
“Are you sure about this? I’ve never done anything like it before. I don’t know if I’ll be any good.”
“It just needs someone with a brain who isn’t afraid of hard work. What do you say? Are you willing to give it a go?”
“I just don’t want to let you down.”
“You won’t. Now, as your first job, will you give HR a call, and have them get another desk and chair brought up here? Oh, and we’re going to need another phone line.”
“Okay. I’m on it. Thanks again, Susan.”
***
“Debs,” Neil called. “You and Fable will have to watch the shop for a while. I have some paperwork to catch up on in my office.”
“Of course you do.” She grinned. “Try not to snore. It puts the customers off.”
Debs was too disrespectful by half. He should sack her, or at the very least issue her with a formal warning. He wouldn’t though. She knew too much about him. He’d been stupid to let her see some of the things he got up to. If she ever reported him to the owners, he’d be the one looking for another job.
Neil didn’t actually have any paperwork to catch up on. There was something much more important he needed to do. It was at times like this that he wished there was a lock on the office door, but as there wasn’t, he propped a chair against the handle. He didn’t want Debs or Fable walking in on him.
Neil placed the takings in the shop’s safe at end of business each day, and then banked the lot on Friday afternoon. He should have thought of this before—it was foolproof. He’d borrow five hundred pounds to pay for the wall-safe to be installed in his bedroom. Then, once Socky had told him where the gold was hidden, he’d be able to pay back the money to the shop before it was due to be banked. The plan was perfect—what could possibly go wrong?
***
“Charlie!” Ali yelled.
“Are you having a problem with the treadmill again?”
“Of course not!” She screamed at him. “How stupid do you think I am?”
Charlie was taken aback. Ali was always so polite, and softly spoken. “Is something wrong?”
“How could you?” She threw a cup of water into Charlie’s face. “Why did you lead me on?”
Charlie was too stunned to spea
k, and by the time he’d wiped the water from his eyes, Ali had gone.
“Oh dear.” Mason was grinning from ear to ear. “Whatever did you do to upset her?”
“I’ve no idea. She said I’d been leading her on.”
“She must have seen you with Amelia. That’s what comes of two-timing the ladies.”
***
Susan arrived early at the Riverside Bar. She was driving, so had ordered herself a soda and lime. There were no more than a dozen people in there.
“Sis!” Simon, her eldest brother was the next to arrive. Ten years older than Susan, he had always been there for her when she was a kid. He’d been the one who’d first got her into martial arts.
“Si.” She returned his hug. “You’re looking old.”
“Cheek.” He laughed. “I take it that Brian’s not here, yet?”
“He’s here now.” She pointed to the door.
Brian was the middle brother—seven years older than Susan.
“Hey, Suzy.” He was the only person in the world who called her that, except for Dougal Andrews, of course—and he didn’t count. “You’re on the gin, I see.”
“This is soda and lime. I’m driving.”
“Me too.” Brian sighed.
“That makes three of us,” Simon said. “They’re not going to get rich off us today. What do you want to drink, Brian?”
Once they all had drinks, the conversation began to flow.
“How’s Maisie?” Susan asked.
“She’s gorgeous.” Brian beamed. “I just wish she’d sleep occasionally. Have you seen these?” He pulled at the non-existent bags under his eyes.
“You’re getting fat too.” Simon teased.
“No fat here.” Brian pinched his stomach to prove the point. “The job keeps me active.” He had joined the fire service straight from college.
“I have to see Maisie,” Susan said.
“Come around any time. You don’t need an invitation. Annie would be pleased to see you. Maybe you could babysit for us sometime. It’s ages since we had a proper night out.”
“Sure. Why not?” Even though she’d readily agreed, the idea of being left in charge of a small child, terrified Susan. She turned to Simon. “How’s Tom?”
