by Ruby Raine
“It’s not always easy. But when you put it like that...”
New subject, he thought for the hundredth time that day.
“From this side of your skin, I dare say you’d taste a hundred times better than you smell.”
“What do I smell like?” he dared ask.
“Like sun warmed sweet tea, spiced with cinnamon. Laced with brown sugar. Like, life...”
“Maybe we should talk about something else...” Riley was getting worried about the gleam in her eyes. “I would really hate to be the guy that broke your no human blood vow.”
“You’re safe, human,” she grinned. Albeit the talk was getting heavy for her fangs to handle. “Besides, other than the red life coursing through your veins, you’re not really my type.”
“Not the right blood type you mean?”
“I don’t care what your blood type is.”
“Then how am I... oh.” It took a minute for his brain to catch her meaning. He cast her a side-glance and she lifted the corner of her mouth in a sly grin. He cleared his throat an awkward silence falling over him. Annie laughed.
“It’s not an uncomfortable subject for me, Riley. I like chicks. I’ve been with men, they just don’t excite me like a woman does.”
Somehow this revelation shot some relief through him. Took the pressure off. She might want to suck him dry, but she wouldn’t be trying to, well, suck on him in any other fashion. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get weird. I would have swore you were hitting on me pretty hard when I first arrived.”
“Oh, I was. But mainly because of your blood. Lesser so, because of that innocent puppy dog face you got going on.”
Riley laughed. “So do you have a girlfriend?”
“No. Not looking too hard right now either. And not to sound uppity or anything, but I only date other vampires. That whole we don’t age like most everyone else thing can get complicated. And finding other female vampires, hard enough. Ones who are like me...” She shrugged. He got the picture. “I wouldn’t turn it away if the opportunity knocked, but I’m quite satisfied with life right now.”
“Must be nice.” They were back at that being happy in your own skin thing. “Annie, can I ask you, others here, do they know who I am? Do they recognize the Deane name?”
“Don’t worry about it. Like I said, give them no reason not to trust you, and you won’t have to lose the trust Jean will have won for you.”
“More like, Jean trusts me, everyone else will trust me? She doesn’t and...” I’m outta here, he guessed.
Annie shrugged, with a you got it, smirk.
Riley nodded, wondering how long it would take his cursed Deane blood to ruin this place, and how long before he was chased off to find another place to run from?
Annie stopped them. “Okay, this is something I did want to show you.” She pointed toward a courtyard leading into the backside of a building.
“Where are we?”
“The one place the outside world, and our world, merge. C’mon. I’ll show you.”
He followed through the courtyard and into the backside of a building. Once through the door, sound rushed to his ears. Cars. A police siren. People walking by laughing, drinking, eating; but he could not see any of it.
“This way,” said Annie. They came out in a corridor with a door closing behind them that said, janitor’s closet. “Humans only see cleaning supplies,” explained Annie. “For us, it brings us into the hallway behind a magic shop. Owned and operated by a member of our colony.”
She brought them down the corridor and through another door into the shop. A lady behind the counter nodded at them with a smile, all the while helping a human customer doing some shopping. Annie motioned to the front door and Riley held it open for her. They stepped outside and she threw up her hands in a voila movement.
“Wow. So this is regular old New Orleans?” confirmed Riley.
“Yup. This street is how most of us make a living. Keep the colony going and such.”
The street was lined with all things paranormal, supernatural, and magic. There were so many bright lights there was no way to look up and catch the moon or stars. They disappeared in the glow of the city.
“And to return to the colony, we just go back the way we came?” Riley confirmed.
“Yup. Hop back inside and you’re home in a jiff.”
“I would say let’s enjoy a drink, but I have a feeling they don’t serve your preferred beverage out here.”
Annie laughed. “Definitely not.”
Riley sucked in, hitching his breath. Eyes widened to the unwelcome, but too familiar tug, twisting at his heart.
“What’s wrong?”
“Um. Damn it,” he groaned and shook his head in tedious acceptance. He’d hoped once he’d gotten to his destination, this thing would go away, or leave him alone. Or that he could keep this one thing, private.
“Riley?” Annie tried again.
“I may not be a practicing witch, but I have this gift. I’d like to call it anything but a gift. However, I can’t ignore it, no matter how hard I try.”
Annie waited for him to explain, a perplexed gaze fixed on him.
“There’s somewhere I have to be. I can’t say exactly where, or why. Just that I have to.”
“Let’s go then,” she said without hesitation, or further questioning.
Riley’s feet did the rest, taking them down the sidewalk. He didn’t hurry. His feeling took him at the exact pace it needed to. And it strangely was not far. He came to a stop outside of a shop. There was a sign lit up that said, Aunt May’s Psychic Readings.
“She’s not really anyone’s aunt, everyone just calls her that,” explained Annie. “Real nice lady, spooky right about things sometimes. Most times, actually.”
Riley made to continue but stopped. “I’ve no idea why, but this is where I need to be. I’m sure it’ll be something ridiculous, like usual. Keeping someone from spilling a coffee on themselves. Or tripping on something. Or getting a freakin’ paper cut.”
Annie grinned, about to ask more when there was a scream inside Aunt May’s shop. Being out in the real world she could not use her vampire super speed, so she followed Riley who was already at the door yanking it open. As he did, a woman looking to be in her thirties came screaming through, almost knocking them down to hurry out of the shop.
What the hell was going on inside?
Tourists jumped out of the woman’s way, looking at her like she was nuts.
Riley pulled Annie inside and shut the door.
“Aunt May?” she called out gently.
No answer.
“Brrrrr,” shivered Riley. “Always this cold?”
“I’ve never noticed. Don’t get cold much.”
“Right. Vampire.”
There was one closed door near the back of the shop. Riley headed there seeing as the rest of the place was empty. He pushed open the door only to gasp at the woman sitting in a trance-like state, staring through him with pearly white eyes.
“Aunt May?” Annie called out cautiously.
“This normal?” asked Riley.
“Not sure.” She approached carefully.
“I don’t know why my feeling brought me here,” mumbled Riley. “I can’t fix this.” As his words ended the woman sucked in a coarse breath, her eyes rolling down, dark brown pupils replacing the white. She clutched her chest.
“Aunt May?” Annie reached out to the woman.
“I’m okay child. Oh, that poor woman.” She gave a weak chuckle. “Got more than she bargained for.”
Annie and Riley waited as she got more comfortable in her chair, smoothing out her clothes.
“I told the woman she was pregnant with the son of her husband’s brother. Sometimes, I need to heed my own advice and stick to the good news. And then they don’t go screaming out the door. Never good for business when that happens.”
“Oh, Aunt May.” Annie reeled in amusement. “I’m glad you’re okay. We were standing outside
and thought something terrible had happened.”
“No. I’m perfectly fine.”
The temperature in the room warmed almost instantly. The chill Riley felt upon entering dissipating fast.
Aunt May eyed him sternly.
“You, sit.” She nodded at the empty seat across from her.
“Excuse me?”
“There’s some things we need to discuss.”
“Oh, I’m not here for any kind of reading.”
“You sure? See any other reason to be brought here.” She raised an eyebrow.
Riley plunked down miserably, wondering how everyone in this place seemed to know more about him, than him.
Annie gave a short wave. “I’ll, um, wait outside.”
“You don’t need to,” Riley told her, almost pleading for her to stay.
“You feel like sharing after, I’ll listen.” She left him with Aunt May. Who narrowed her eyes, but gave nothing away as to what she had to say, or was thinking. He squirmed, having never done anything like this before, ever.
“What makes you believe your gift doesn’t make any difference?” Aunt May quizzed bluntly.
“What do you mean?” he wasn’t playing dumb on purpose, but this place kept catching him off guard. Like he’d been sent into some sort of twilight zone built specifically for him.
“What makes you think that saving someone from spilling a hot beverage on themselves, one minute, doesn’t keep them from suffering a tragedy ten times worse, in fifteen? Or getting stuck with an overly chatty elderly lady while helping her carry some grocery bags, keeps her busy long enough to miss the burglar breaking into her home. One who would have killed her without pause or reason. And that same woman would not have had the chance to reunite with the daughter who was stolen away from her a mere year after her birth.”
Riley had no words.
Only a sickly sort of sensation rolling across his nerves.
There was no way this was true. The things he did were mundane, pointless.
“I don’t understand,” he muttered after a minute.
“I don’t fully either,” Aunt May sat back a little. “But the powers that be give me things to see, and I pass those things along. Their message to you is, your gift will grow and change, like you. But never, no matter what it may appear, is it ever unimportant. You are a Fixer, Riley Deane. You have the ability to fix things that should not be broken.”
“A Fixer?” He shook his head. “I don’t fix things. I break them. The blood in my veins ruins lives.”
“Yes, I can see how you would think that. But this last thing that happened to you. The event that sent you our direction. Did that have anything to do with your gift?”
“Um, no. It did not. I was cursed. Wait, how do you... never mind.”
She smiled. Kindly. “Then why do you blame yourself? Curses take away our choices.”
He got up and made to leave, but stopped. This was just super creepy. His hand stopped turning the doorknob and he spun around.
“I don’t know what powers that be, you’re working for, or think need to send me some kind of message, but, I hurt people. With these hands. My hands.” He showed her. “There’s no way to fix that.”
“It was a terrible thing. I’m sure it gives you nightmares.”
“A few,” he answered before he could stop himself.
“Riley, I can’t pretend to understand, or lie, and say I see all. I can only share what I’m given. So let me ask you this? In any event in history, when tragedy strikes in some inhumane manner, what happens after?”
“History, not really my thing.”
She waited, still expecting him to answer.
“What do you want me to say?”
“People get stronger. They get smarter. They don’t make those mistakes again.”
“So you’re saying it happened to teach us all a lesson? That’s just... sick and wrong on so many levels.”
“Sadly, it’s not. If there’s something coming, something you’re truly not prepared for, that you absolutely must be prepared for, those lessons must be taught and learned in a hurry.”
“I’m not a pawn in someone’s crazy game. None of us are. That’s bullshit. No one has the right to treat people’s lives like that. And I don’t do the whole fate crap. I tolerate this gift because I have to. I refuse to be someone’s else’s game piece.”
Aunt May gave him a thin smile. “Fate will find you whether you believe in it or not. Sometimes terrible things happen for very specific reasons.”
Riley put his hand to his face, thinking over the woman’s words. It still seemed wrong to him. For bad things to happen just so someone else could learn some kind of lesson.
“You are wondering who is learning what from this terrible thing you’ve survived?” she assumed.
“I’m going to guess everyone,” he retorted.
“Unavoidable, I’m sure. Everyone will take something away from the experience.”
“Whatever. Still doesn’t change what I did. It doesn’t remove the curse of being born a Deane. And,” he shook his head. “Back up a minute. Lessons schmessons! You think all this happened because something worse is coming... worse than what we just went through?”
“I cannot say with any certainty. But there’s something, it stirs in the depths.”
Riley needed a drink. Preferably, many.
None of this made any sense. And what did it even matter?
“It’s not going to happen tonight,” Aunt May chuckled. “You have time before you go home.”
“Home? If you mean The Demon Isle, you’re mistaken. That’s not my home.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it is not. I cannot see it.”
Riley plunked back down in the chair. “This undetermined nasty thing you see coming, you see it on The Demon Isle, don’t you?”
“Yes. Not only there. But it begins there.” May’s eyes began to flutter, her eyes vibrating between white and brown. “If this evil does not end on the Isle, it will spread. Everywhere. The world will be changed.” Her voice lowered. “For she awakens...”
“She who?” asked Riley.
Aunt May sucked in, blinking a few times. Brown irises replacing the fluttering white. “Sorry, that’s all they gave me.” She reached out her hand and touched his. A low-level zap ran up his arm but he didn’t pull back. “You’re a good kid. You’ll do okay.”
Riley frowned. First, he wasn’t a kid. And second, she made it sound like it was easy, done, and settled. He had half a mind to demand what exactly was all figured out because he was no less confused now than when he walked in, but instead got up to leave.
“Um, thanks. I guess.”
“Not needed. Simply doing my job. I suggest you do the same. We’re all given gifts for a reason, Riley. No matter how mundane or silly they might first seem.”
He left without another word to her.
Gifts. Lessons. Some kind of she-evil rising... still cursed blood in his veins.
Aunt May sat back and glanced to her side.
“I know you can hear me out there, old friend.”
A back door opened and a dark form slid inside, sticking to the shadows.
“Thank you, Aunt May.”
“Always at your service, Sir. More than happy to help.”
“Your reading with him was very thorough. Much more than we discussed.”
“You might have used magic to get him here, but once in my presence I passed along what I was given. It was all truth. All things he needed to hear.”
There was a lamenting sigh from the shadow.
“Something stirs in the depths, my old friend, an ancient evil. An evil this modern world has never laid witness to.” Aunt May lost her smile.
“And Riley Deane?”
“Has some part yet to play. No matter your plans for him. And as for tonight, watch over the kid. He’s going on a bender, going to find himself in trouble.”
The figure nodded, heeding Aunt May’s advice and vanished
out of the shop.
Outside on the sidewalk Annie leaned against the wall spying Riley spill out of Aunt May’s in a hurry to get away.
“Hey. How’d it go? Aunt May, something else, right?”
“I need a drink.”
“Ugh. That bad?”
“I don’t know. She spouted a bunch of stuff that makes sense but then really makes no sense at all, and I just... need a stiff-ass drink. Or ten. Closest pub possible.”
“This is New Orleans. Toss a coin,” she joked, trying to lighten the mood. He lifted an eyebrow at her, but mood, no less broody and in need of a drink. “There’s one across the street,” she pointed out. “Can’t join you right now though. Just got a call from Jean, I gotta head back.”
“Oh, um, should I go with you?”
“Nah. I got it. You go drink off your woes. Can you find your way back later tonight?”
“Yeah. I think so. How late can I get back in?”
“Anytime. The door to the shop stays open all day and night.”
“I guess I’ll see you later. Thanks for showing me around, Annie.”
“No worries. Still lots more to see. We’ll do it again.” She took off with a wave.
Riley made his way across the street and ordered a shot and a beer, any kind.
THE CONVERSATION WAS unpleasant as everyone expected.
Heated. Dismal. Wavering. Thick, the oxygen sucked out of the room little by little. Not willing to surrender, or damn William, with finality. But feeling as if it was too late and his fate, sealed.
In the end, they deemed it only fair to capture William. If they could. If it was actually him on a bloodlust rampage, which was getting more and more likely by the minute. The evidence mounting against his favor. But if they could capture him, calm him, and let him get his head on straight, he’d understand what was happening. And they’d allow him to choose his own fate... his own death.
They owed him at least this; the chance to say goodbye. Some sort of closure. It seemed slightly more ethical, and respectful, given all he’d done for the Howards, and the Isle, versus hunting him down and staking him without pause or explanation.
It was so little to offer.
And nothing to look forward to.
And potentially much more difficult than just getting the task done, as it gave them all more time to think about, and dread, the outcome as well as the act of carrying out the sentence.
