Night Beats: Ghost in the Vending Machine

Chapter 6: Liminal Spaces

Cassius huffed in signature fashion as they broke from their last scene. "Are you fucking serious, Em? You roped Reggie into this?"

Emma drank in the look of shock and betrayal on Cass' face, and it fueled her desire for more. "I don't have any idea what you're talking about." She spoke in a bored tone.

"Rabbit? Does Steven know you're doing this?" The words slithered through his teeth. "They're going to crucify me on Twitter, and the AO3 tags are going to be brutal." Cass' hazel eyes widened until the lights caught on the forest greens.

"Oh, don't be so dramatic." She took a sip of the coffee someone handed her on the way by. "You wanted Jordan to be more likable, and so he shall."

"Oh my god. I'm going to be the butt of so many jokes."

"Jokes aren't the only thing your butt's going to be the end of-"

"Em!"

Her mouth twitched as she tried to hold a straight face. "Would you relax?"

Cassius scoffed exactly three times in succession before turning on a heel and stomping away.

"Baby," she added, though he was too far to hear.

"Oooo, he seems mad." Ash appeared at her side, decked out in full costume from the thick winged cat eye down to the painful cleavage and terrifyingly sharp heels.

"Isn't it beautiful?"

"You're a real sadist, you know that?" Ash smiled until her eyes sparkled, and it was clear she was amused by the mischief they would soon be making together.

"Oh, he likes the attention and the opportunity to be dramatic about it. Don't believe a word he says when he gets upset about his fans trolling him. He loves every second of it."

Ash chuckled. "He's right, you know. They are going to nail his ass to the wall."

Emma bit her lip. "I look forward to it. If anyone deserves to get his ass nailed, it's Cass," she added before wandering off to make a call.

"Did you get what I asked for?" She stopped off at the craft services table and picked up a carrot from the vegetable tray. The voice answered in the affirmative, and she smiled before cutting her teeth through the vegetable. "Excellent. See that it arrives on time." She chewed while watching Cassius sit for Fynn to touch up his makeup.

"Oh, you just wait, Cass. The worst is yet to come." Emma smiled at him, and his face flattened before he turned away.

✧

Ash watched Emma saunter off, Cassius' slitted eyes following her until she disappeared behind the wall of the morgue. Rare as it was, Ash had seen Cass become truly angry twice over the years, and the reality of his temper was nothing like the show he was putting on today.

The phone in Ash's pocket vibrated an alert, and she fished it out of her jacket. The notification declared that she had mail, but her guts squirmed at the prospect of reading it. The quiet sound of heels against linoleum gave her the reason she needed to put it off, and she looked left into blue eyes that almost glowed against thick black eyeliner and whitened skin.

Julia smiled until the foundation around her eyes cracked and would need Fynn's attention. "Good morning, Ash," she said brightly, in startling contrast to Lilith's surly greetings.

"What's up, Jules. I see you got Emma's group text."

"Indeed." She chuckled, spearing a small strawberry she got from the craft services table. "I'm not sure I get what's going on, but Cassius seems in a state over it." She maneuvered the fruit past her lipstick. "What's Ao3?" Julia asked behind a pale hand, and Ash froze. Despite what Lilith would have everyone think, Julia was as innocent as a freshly baked muffin, unmolested by the darkest parts of the internet and her fandom.