Counting Shadows [complete]

Chapter 30

"Thanks for the beer I don't drink," Jonathan said coolly as he placed his untouched glass on the bar. In the light, he didn't look that blood-thirsty as I remember him when he killed me, just anxious.

"Let me just lock the door, ok? We don't want to be interrupted." I said and went to lock the door. Jonathan was just watching me. Jake decided to stay in a safe distance from both of us, clever boy.

"Are you avoiding me?" Jonathan asked me when I came back. Well, I was, but I was not going to admit it. I probably could get rid of him if I really, really tried. I shook my head and he just said: "Liar."

Jake moved closer, his empty glass in hand. I motioned he could just leave it at the bar but he kept holding it as if his life depended on it.

"OK, let's talk," I said. Then I poured myself a whiskey and walked over to them around the bar. They both looked at me surprised. "What? I am not going to stand here as if you were interrogating me." Then I looked on my hand holding the empty glass.

"Oh, that. I guess you are right. No point keeping it empty. Any takers?" I looked around and Jake shook his head.

"Whatever, suit yourselves," I said, taking a half empty whiskey bottle from behind the bar. I poured myself another glass. I wasn't looking forward the conversation and strictly speaking I know that alcohol doesn't solve anything but it felt so much better when the room started to move around. It didn't really calm me down or make me happy or whatever, I just didn't care for the moment. There was no point to be sober really.

"Are you going to get drunk or are we going to talk?" Jonathan asked. For once he looked a bit worried. And blurry to be honest. That made me smile - a blurry vampire. That was rather funny. I looked at the bottle. The whiskey had somehow evaporated.

"Yep, we are going to talk." I sat down. They followed me and sat down next to me.

"So, what do you want to know?" I asked them as if they came in for a clairvoyance session of sorts.

"Are you kidding me? I want to know what happened on Tuesday. What did you see? Can you stop drinking the whiskey for a moment?" Jonathan didn't find me drunk funny. I thought he had a sense of humour. Maybe I was wrong. After all, at some point I thought he was almost a nice guy, if you forgot the details, like that he is dead and kind of a killer and so on. I wondered how many more people he killed.

"Ok." I focused, letting the alcohol to only warm my veins.

"So, on Tuesday." I started. Two pairs of eyes were fixed on me.

"Where should I start?" I asked.

"Maybe start with you standing in the grave?" Jake suggested. I guess starting from the beginning was as good as anywhere else. Plus it made a sense. I think the whisky affected my brain cells more than I expected.

"Right. The grave. OK, so... I connected to the bones alright. She was telling me stuff. The thing is... she was telling me." I looked up at them just to see their puzzled faces.

"You see, the way I understand it, I should have been listening to the bones. Not that they would talk to me." I tried to explain.

"What do you mean?" Jonathan looked even more serious. Was it even possible? I just drown the thought in another big gulp of the whiskey. It seemed that tonight I would finish paying all my shift money and more to the bar. I sighed.

"She knew it was me. I should have seen her memories. Well, I did, but I saw what she wanted me to see. She showed me more than I asked for."

"So, do you know where was Annie buried?" Jonathan asked and I was not sure if he seriously listened to what I was trying to say.