Mind the Thorns

Chapter 9

Silence.

Regan knew Emma was right; this pity party was completely her own making.  She had to get her head together.

“Regan?”

What was she supposed to say?  Emma had always been there for her, just as she had always been there for Emma.  Sure, she, Regan, had been the one hugging the toilet during the Splat Heard ‘Round the World, but that paled compared Emma’s achievements in that arena celebrating her first front page story on the Huffington Post.  She blinked.  She could not let herself cry now, not when she was about to walk into a diner full of vampire hunters who would probably not be understanding of blood stained cheeks.

“Fine, if you don’t have anything to say, then neither do I-”

“Wait,” Regan cut in quickly.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry I didn’t call.”  She was.  “I just don’t feel like I know who I am any more.  Maybe, I guess, trying to push away you was my stupid way of trying to find out if anything still mattered.  I don’t know.  I’ve screwed up everything.  I’m sorry.”

She could hear Emma take a deep breath on the other end of the line.  “You’re not stupid.  A little out of sorts, maybe, but not stupid.  I’m pretty sure it gets better.  You just need to give it some time, maybe.”  She hesitated.  “What have you been doing this week?  I never heard back from you.”

Regan filled her in on the week’s highlights, leaving out the part where her new friend, Stacy, could not drive her own car for fear of being pulled over for being too young to drive.  Emma listened quietly until the events of earlier that night came up.

“You’re going to do what?”  

“Attend a meeting of vampire hunters, yep.”  Regan was resigned to this, and the likelihood she would be looking at the business end of multiple guns at some point that evening.

“And you’re going alone?”

“Yep.”  She could see car a pulling into the parking lot of the diner.  “It looks like people are arriving.  I should probably head over there.  I didn’t want to be the first but I don’t want to be the last either.”

Emma did not say anything for a few moments.  “Be careful, Reg.  I lost you once; I’d rather not lose my best friend twice in one week.”

“I’ll do my best to not get dead, again.”  They said their goodbyes and hung up.  She looked at the screen.  A text from Harrison had arrived while they were talking.  She had to try to find her life, again.  Stacy had cautioned her against too many ties to her mortal days but, she knew there was one she needed. She pressed the Call button next to Harrison’s image.  

“Hey, you’ve got my voice mail.  If you got this far you know what to do when you hear the beep.”

Regan waited, nervously.  The phone beeped in her ear and she remained quiet.  It took a second for her mind to register that she had to talk.

“Hi, Harrison.  It’s me.  I’m okay, just busy now with stuff.  I’m sorry I didn’t call sooner.  I’ve got a thing tonight but it shouldn’t go too late.  I’ll call you when it’s over.”

She hung up and put the phone back on the passenger seat.  A few more cars had pulled into the parking lot of the diner.  She counted three more people go inside and decided it was time.  She started the engine and drove across the way to join them.  

The air was warm and she was starting to wonder if a skirt would have made more sense than her light wool slacks.  Stacy had tried to talk her into something more casual but there had not been many options.  All of the clothes she had ordered that week had been formal: jackets, slacks, pencil skirts, french-cuff dress shirts.  She ran a hand along her auburn hair as she stood up from the small car and started to cross the lot to the doors.  Her low heels made little sound against the asphalt.  There was a man at the door, dressed in baggy black pants, and a tank top.  A gaudy gold cross hung about his neck, catching the light shining down from over the door.