So I'm a Vampire... Now What? - Book 2 (Original Version)

Chapter 9.5 - So Much for the Afterglow

"As if calling it 'eye magic' is any better," I grumbled.

"You know they think you're terrorists, right?"

"That's the official story they want everyone to believe," I said. "Did they ask you about Louise?"

"Yeah, I thought it was kind of weird. I told them she was dead, but they kept asking if I had seen you guys together."

"Yeah, about that dead thing..."

Sammy slapped me on the chest with the back of her hand, more out of surprise than anything.

"No! Louise can't be a vampire. Didn't she have brown eyes?"

"You know what? I thought it was just me who thought that! Every time I think about her, I always remember her with brown eyes, but then when I was face to face with her it was always blue eyes."

"Eye magic," Sammy whispered conspiratorially.

Agent Blonde was still staring at me. I raised a fist and then with my other hand pretended to turn a crank, my middle finger raising slowly.

"What the fuck are you looking at?" I yelled at him. He pursed his lips and looked around at the other agents, clearly deciding if to be embarrassed or to come and show me who was really in charge.

I glanced toward the agent at the doorway, but he was only half-turned, an annoyed expression coming to his face. If he was going to be backing up Agent Blonde, then he really wasn't doing a very good job of it. The other agent with the workmen had turned towards us and just rolled his eyes.

"Just walk away Crowley," he said, clearly the one in charge of this particular operation. "They work here. They're not important."

"Maybe," Agent Blonde replied, "but he's one of the blood, and he works here. That doesn't raise any red flags with you?"

The other agent (I'm just going to call him Agent Orange because it's fun, but only if you get the reference multiple references I'm going for here), nodded to the workmen to keep working and beckoned for Agent Blonde to join him.

Sammy rolled her eyes at me.

"Shit starter much Bob?"

"All damn day," I smiled, watching Agent Blonde and Orange having a very testy conversation with not a few glances in my direction. "They might be here for a while. They seem to have a hard-on for Beatrice and they're looking for anything to pin the attack on her. There's like so many different layers of shit going on that I can't even keep track of them all, but apparently, we're supposed to carry on as if all this shit is normal."

"Normal? There's nothing remotely normal about any of this. I'm still dealing with the fact that vampires exist and now there's four of you in my store. You've bad enough just by yourself, and you're lucky I like you."

"Aww, that's the sweetest thing—"

Sammy stabbed my chest with a very pointed finger. "If you ever tell anyone I said that, I will fill your coffin with ghost peppers."

"I don't actually sleep in a coffin," I said.

"I know that, but the joke only works if it's a coffin," she admitted.

The agents had finished their argument with Agent Blonde stalking off to the back of the store. With barely a pause, he slammed open the heavy emergency exit door as if it was made of balsa wood, and exited into the alley, possibly to cool off.

Agent Orange glanced at me and then turned his attention back to the workmen. The hammering started up almost immediately.

"What are they even looking for?" Sammy whispered to me.

I knew, but I wasn't about to say it.

"They think Beatrice stole something and they want it back. Like really badly."

I thought about it for a second. There was no way Agent D'mallo actually thought anything the size of a sarcophagus could be hidden in the store, but this whole charade wasn't about finding anything as much as it was about making our lives as miserable as possible. These guys were just cluelessly following orders, thinking they knew what they were looking for, but they weren't exactly calling the shots.

I almost felt sorry for them, but only almost.

What I wanted to do was go over there and start punching, kicking, hitting until blood was flying. I could feel the rage burning deep inside and knew it for what it was, the need to lash out and fucking hurt somebody. The last three days at the hand of vampire agents like these guys being hurt over and over again had not put me in the best of moods. I had been helpless and now—

"You're grinding your teeth," Sammy whispered sharply. "Dial it down a couple notches dude."

I realized that I had been staring, was in fact still staring, and turned away to look at something else.

"Sorry Sammy, it's been a fucked up couple of days," I apologized.

"You're looking for a fight!"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"You're totally looking for a fight! I know that look. I've seen it in the mirror lots of times."

"You don't know what they did to us."

"These guys?"

"What?"

"Was it these guys here? Blondie over there? Was it him?"

"Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters! If you're picking a fight, then you hurt the people who hurt you, not just random guys they happen to work with!" She glared at me, pissed off, then more quietly said, "Besides, you kinda suck at the whole vampire thing." I threw a startled look at her and she shrugged. "King told me. They'd kick your ass and you know it."

I glared at Sammy, betrayed, helpless and pissed off.

"Fuck you Sammy," I sneered at her and stalked off toward the entrance. Agent the Sikh gave me a wide berth, not even giving me an excuse to lash out at him.

"I just saved your life!' Sammy yelled after me. "You're fucking welcome!"

###AUTHOR'S NOTE###

CONTINUES...