The Creation (Book III)

(1) Present: 2024

She glanced at me and gave a nod. She knew exactly what I was talking about, and she also knew not to say anything about him. “I should have gotten you a cake or something. I guess that’d be a crappy gift anyway considering you don’t eat cake. How about I buy you a box of wine? If they’re cheap, that is.”

I laughed again, feeling a little less down by her light mood. “Box wine would be wonderful. I’ll just drink it right from the plastic tap.”

We both sat there with only the sound of traffic from outside to fill the silence. After several minutes Joanna rose from the bed and crossed the room as she pulled her thick dark hair into a ponytail. “I’ll call in and tell them you’re injured or something, if you want…?” she suggested. “I’ll cuss out Mike if he refuses to let you off tonight.”

I pictured them having it out in the parking lot, with Joanna holding Mike in a chokehold. “I think I’ll just go in tonight. It’s probably best to be occupied anyway. I’ll be late.”

She nodded and left me alone in my bedroom.

Although Joanna can come off as abrasive and is extremely sloppy, I was happy to have her as a roommate. We met way back in 2009 at a bar close to Chicago. Back then I was running away from my creator, a man whose name I refuse to say because it hurts too damn much. At the time, Joanna was hired by a powerful vampire named Matthew to kill me, all in order to get my creator on his team. I was extremely drunk that night, something I’ve only been a few times in my one-hundred and twenty-five years on this planet. We talked for a short amount of time, mostly about my creator. Obviously Joanna couldn’t go through with killing me. She claimed it was because she pitied me, but I think she just couldn’t take me.

Joanna and I’s relationship is extremely complicated, honestly. She was once told she would make an ally in a desperate situation, and she would cross paths with said ally several times. The desperate situation ended up being me nearly getting raped by the love of my existence, my creator. Joanna saved me from the situation, and from then on I trusted her. We also crossed paths several times before then and several time after. It was almost as if the universe was trying to force our friendship. We’ve both been through a lot, mostly related to boyfriend stuff. Well, for her I guess it would be husband stuff. Although we’re almost complete opposites, we’re basically best friends.

“I’m off!” she called, followed by the sound of the door shutting.

I threw the covers back and slid to the edge of my queen-sized bed until my bare feet touched the hardwood below. It was pleasant to have the place to myself for at least an hour without music blasting or some movie blaring through my door. On my way to the bathroom I tripped over my stack of books I had left by my door, cursing loudly when I stubbed my toe. Just because I’m a vampire doesn’t mean I immune to that.

Leon ran back into the room as soon as Joanna was gone, his tail wagging wildly behind him. I groaned, knowing he needed to go outside and poop or something. I robotically grabbed his leather leash and slipped on a pair of flip flops before sauntering towards the door. Leon pulled on his leash the second I snapped it on him, nearly choking himself. I would have brought Joanna’s dogs with me, but they were just so old that I was afraid they’d die or something on my watch. No way am I going to deal with her wrath if I killed one of her dogs.

“Leon!” I shrieked when he tried to break from my grasp.

Our apartment was on the top, the fifth floor, making it an agonizing walk because our apartment was old and the elevator hasn’t worked in twenty years. Although I didn’t mind the age of the building because I myself was old, the whole having to use the stairs always put me in a bad mood. Leon, on the other hand, was flying down the steps.