Defect

San-Shi-Er

I stared at the guy in front of me. Even in his hospital scrubs, he stood tall with a regal confidence. His hair was neatly groomed to one side. I'm not sure if it was to keep it controlled or if it was a fashion statement. His brown eyes regarded me coolly.

 He's real. He's actually real. And he's here.

 He wasn't some asshole pranker.

 "How? How did you get here?" I asked out of breath.

 He eyed the ponytail girl as she pressed her face up against the vending machines glass. Her breath fogged up the area around her face. Um, wow.

 "Aria, step away that has too many germs." Zoltan said in a deep voice.  Aria moved away from the vending machines grumbling profanities under her breath.

 Once Zoltan had revealed himself to me, we stepped out of the room and went down stairs to the snack/rest area. It was just a small closed off corner that had various vending machines, drink machines, and even one of those machines where you click a button and it whirls around so you can pick a lunchable or sandwich. Aria floated towards the chips the second we entered.

 She jutted out her hand and without hesitation Zoltan dropped a couple coins in her open palm. She smiled innocently before bouncing back to the machines. "We've been trying to contact you but you haven't been responding to your emails."

 I remembered the various emails send to phone entitled "URGENT" but they were always sent at inconvenient times—like when Nick was hovering right behind me.

 "Yeah, but how did you get in to pack territory without being caught?" I asked, keeping an eye on Aria who kept flitting from machine to machine.

 "Yes, well, it seems that werewolf patrols stand no chance against magic."

 "B-but, the clothes?"

 "Fake."

 "Badges?"

 "If you close enough," Aria spoke from vending machines, "faker than a bottle blonde."

 Zoltan rolled his eyes at her reponse."Have you spoken to your doctor yet?"

 I gave him a confused face, "no? We don't have a plan to present to him?"

 "Oh, that's right." He opened his clipboard to pull out some pages. Wait nurses don't carry clipboards do they? "Here is our plan." He flipped to the first page revealing small typing and a couple graphs. He was pointing to the first graph when Aria slammed her fist into the vending machine.

 Zoltan and I turned sharply to look at Aria as she hissed and harshly kicked the machine. Once. Twice. Three times.

 Have you ever seen a fake nurse beat up a vending machine? Quite a sight.

 Zoltan cursed and ran to her. He dropped the clipboard before wrapping his arms around her so her arms were locked down to her sides. He picked her up and pulled her away from the machine. She was still wiggling like a demented person; it was like her body had no bones—similar to when Brady was drunk.

 "Sorry," he struggled to say with a wiggling Aria in his arms, "Ever since the demon, it's been difficult to control her impulses."

 "What? Demon? Who is she? What-why demon?"

 He tightened his hold on her, "Aria, restrain yourself."

 Surprisingly, she listened.

 Zoltan let go of her. She cleared her throat and tightened her ponytail before holding a hand out to me, "Hey, I'm Aria. My affinity is in Spirits."