THIS JOB SUCKS!

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Whitney sat behind the desk and tossed the wadded up ball of paper back at Philtzer across the room. Philtzer caught it and threw it at her again. She had been trying to work on the Dreaded Filing Project some more. Poor Philtzer had been drafted not only to carry all the piles from her apartment back to her office but also to help her sort them as well. Granted he wasn't doing much sorting with his feet up and his preoccupation with the paper ball. 

Honestly she couldn't keep her jumbled mind on sorting either. She felt trapped. She wanted to stop and go home, back to life where people were people and crazy maniacs were the police's problem. But then again she couldn't imagine going back. Her eyes had been opened to so many things. She had become a very small fish in a very big pond filled with hungry sharks. Blood sucking undead sharks. 

She slammed down the papers she was holding. "How do you stand this?"

"What?" He threw the ball at her head. She deflected it scowling. He jumped up and retrieved it from the floor under a chair.

"Dealing with this life! How did you... come to terms with...becoming a werewolf?"

Philtzer tossed it in the air a few times as he wandered back to his chair, "Come to terms with it? I never had to. I was born a werewolf, baby."

"Born a werewolf? I thought you had to get bitten by another one."

Philtzer shook his head in mock sadness, "Have we been watching movies again?"

 She threw up her hands, "See this is what I'm talking about! Before I got bit in the neck I couldn't even comprehend how other people could live in mansions and own sports cars now I'm sitting here trying to deal with...myths and monsters and... stalkers from Hell!"

The paper ball smacked her right between the eyes brining her out of her near hysterical rant.

"You should lay off the caffeine," Philtzer nodded sagely.

 "Shut up." She sneered.

"Look, Whit," finally he took pity on her and leaned forward in his chair,  "the world hasn't changed. This world has always been full of things that you and I couldn't possibly understand. Just because you didn't know about it doesn't mean it didn't exist. Quit trying so hard to fit it into some little box on a shelf. Take it on faith, girl! You're just experiencing culture shock. We may not be what you consider normal. We may not be what's in the movies but oh..." he grinned with the true pleasure of life, "we are life! I feel privileged to know that I live in a world where magic and myths exist. The real question is how do you deal with your life? Living everyday not knowing that anything more is out there. How can you stand the boredom?"

Whitney stared at him dumbfounded. She felt like she had been punched in the chest.

"It's all perspective, baby." He said sitting back and propping his feet up once more.

He was right she had been looking at it all wrong. She had been trying to stuff their world back into her box but it was really her job to step up and move into theirs.  Could she do that? She picked up the paper ball from the desk and stared at it. Culture shock was the best explanation. It was like traveling but never leaving home right? She could do this. All she had to do was readjust her thinking. 

 She tossed the ball at him. "Thanks, Philtzer."

"For what? Being awesome?" he grinned as he caught the ball.

"Yeah, that." She rolled her eyes, "And for sending someone to keep an eye on Grammy." 

"No problem," he grinned wolfishly and tossed the ball up and did an overhand serve. Whitney tried to block it but missed and had to dig it out of the trash can. She threw it back at him and started sorting papers again. Things were still rumbling around in her head but she just kept reminding herself it was culture shock. After a few minutes she stopped and frowned as a thought occurred to her.

"You know what I don't get?" She asked.

"Yeah. But what were you gonna say?" Philtzer grinned as he tossed the ball at her.

"You're nasty." She cried. "What I was going to say was why did Justin want me to come to his car when the wolf could have come after me at any time?"

"I don't know. Maybe he's lazy," Philtzer shrugged.

Whitney winged the ball at him again but missed.

"No I don't think it's that." She chewed on her lip. "Something doesn't fit right."

"What difference does it make? You didn't go that's what's important." Philtzer smacked her in the forehead with the ball.

She gave him a dirty look. "Ha ha very funny," she said as she crawled under the desk after the ball.

He wolf whistled at her back end sticking out from under the desk. She ignored him. It was really bugging her that she couldn't make sense of it. 

"I just don't understand why he's so single minded trying to get me. I couldn't possibly be that great of a girlfriend that he would try this hard to get me back. He left me once and tried to kill me twice. Why does he keep coming for Me?"

"I think it's for your cookies." 

"Oh shut up!" She rolled her eyes as she crawled out from under the desk. "What about the other attack?  Do you think Justin's been ripping out random people's throats?" 

"Maybe." Philtzer shrugged, "he is a rogue vampire." 

Whitney wondered if Madraeus would even check out that attack. He didn't seem too interested. He barely even reacted to the news that Justin had a werewolf with him, she thought sullenly. Whitney toyed with the paper ball pulling at the loose edges. 

"If Justin has werewolf friends then he's not limited by day or night. He could come after me whenever he wanted. So why drag it out?" 

"Maybe his momma never taught him not to play with his food."

"Really?" She glared at him. "That has to be the worst joke you've told to date."

"Oh no." Philtzer shook his head. "I've done worse."

Whitney sat up. She suddenly had a ridiculous idea. He wanted to play cat and mouse. Fine. If her life could become a bad horror film why not turn it into a ridiculous cartoon? In the cartoons mice always won anyway. Why not play mouse and cat?  

She grinned at Philtzer.

"What?"

She threw the paper wad at him and for once hit him. Her grin widened.

"I got an idea."

"I don't like that sound of that."

"No probably not but you're gonna help."

"Ha! That's what you think!"

"Come on, you live for this stuff remember?"

"Ah crap."