After the night and now morning finally caught up to me, I ended up passing out on Brie's shoulder. She'd found us a cab, not bothering to try and hide the car or Aryan's body. I curled up in the back seat reflexively, and when she nudged me less than gently awake we were back in front of the narrow house that spat on physics. I almost fell getting out of the car, and Brie shook her head at me.
"Have a few more drinks," she joked, and I glared at her.
"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." I muttered, kicking off the short boots she'd given me and running up the stairs, gripping the railing tightly to avoid falling yet again. Brie followed me quickly, chuckling to herself. I just shook my head.
"So, are you going to let me sleep?" I asked, and she tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully.
"We-ell..." She said, dragging the word out. I groaned, landing face-first on her bed so that her laugh was muffled. "I've got a few unlucky bastards to collect today, but I'll let you stay here. I should be back by noon." I nodded, searching the room for a clock and finding one resting against the wall of all places. I could get five hours of sleep, and I'd done with a lot less before. Grateful, I gave her a small wave and she just laughed again, apparently not affected by being out all night. Again I questioned if she even slept, and why exactly she needed a bed if she didn't. I swung my legs to the side and burrowed under the blankets, drinking in the smell of burnt lavender. I frowned for a second at the fact that that was what her bed smelt like, but I didn't want to question it. The looming blackness was too comforting, and before long I was sleeping. I didn't even hear her leave.
When I woke up, something felt off. The world was off-kilter, just a little too far out of my reach than normal. I came back to reality slowly, without any real reason to sleep but also without a reason to wake up. Finally opening my eyes and blinking away the blurriness, I had a moment of confusion. My sheets were blue, not this velvety purple. And my bed was certainly a lot smaller. I sat up, before the memories came rushing back and I nodded to myself. Right, this was Brie's room. I sighed and sank back down into the warmth of the blankets, cringing at the coldness of the room.
"Good Morning." I jumped, because that was not Brie's voice. Whatever sleepiness had remained evaporated instantly and my hand went to my belt. Aryan tutted from his place against the opposite wall. "Don't do that, we won't even get to talk if you try to stab me again." I felt sick. I was trying to process, to understand why he was here and not laying dead in his mansion. I was scared enough of him when Brie was steps away, but now she wasn't here. But I didn't say anything. I schooled my face into an impassive expression, trying to draw on whatever acting abilities I thought I'd had earlier. I watched him, trying to find the remnants of a stab wound. But the suit that had made him stick out at the party was still immaculate.
"Are you speechless, darling?" The word of endearment was what broke into the anger that had been slowly building since he'd arrived.
"Garlic, wooden stake, sunlight, crosses. You died." I said flatly. "There is no way on earth you survived that." There was a sudden feeling like I was drowning as I realized just how deep in I was. I was clinging so hard to what Brie had told me, because she seemed like the only voice of reason I was going to have.
"No way in hell might be a more apt description," he smiled, like it was an inside joke I didn't get.
"You weren't invited in." I said firmly, trying to hold on to the things Brie had said. He was breaking every single rule of vampires, somehow, and he'd done it to see me. Accepting his existence was one thing, finding out what I knew was wrong was another.
"No, but it helps to have friends on the other side." I slid out of bed and took out the knife in a single motion, pointing it at him and willing my hands not to shake. "Haven't we done this dance once before?" he asked, sounding disappointed. "That isn't going to work on me."
"Maybe it won't kill you, but it'll hurt like a bitch," I countered, catching sight of the clock and swearing to myself. Eleven thirty. Brie would take another half an hour, and I wasn't sure if I could hold out that long. But if there was one thing I'd learned from action movies, it was that you let the arrogant villain talk. And vampires were supposed to be stupid, right?
"What friends are you talking about?" I asked wearily, though I had a sneaking suspicion I already knew. His smirk told me as much.
"You've met them, though I doubt you've had a formal introduction." He began pacing, thankfully away from me. "Sorry about the mirror." He gave a fake wince of sympathy, deceit written on every feature.
"I might forgive you if you tell me their names." He laughed dryly at that, clearly getting some genuine amusement out of the idea.
"Camille, darling, names give power. And that's one thing you don't need right now." I laughed, masking my fear.
"So what, your name doesn't count?" I scoffed, and he shook his head.
"Not my real name." My hopes fell a little at that, but I wasn't done with him. Half an hour until backup. What kind of odds were those?
"So then why don't I want power?" I asked skeptically, not anywhere close to trusting him. He inspected some of Brie's things, never touching anything, but I felt liked I needed to make him stop. It was an obvious invasion of privacy and I didn't appreciate the implication that I deserved to be powerless.
"Last night, with the zombies. Not one mile away there was an entire city filled with living people and souls. Why did they go for the one? One that was, by all accounts, protected?" The question made me pause. Why had they come for me? Thankfully, I didn't have to make a wild guess. He didn't seem to care too much about my responses.
"They were drawn to you. You, specifically. You've come back from the dead and made friends with a reaper, two demons have taken an unhealthy interest in you, and here I am, defying every law of my kind and still standing. What more do you want to add on top of that? Do you want to be hunted by humans too?" I swallowed hard. There was no edge in his voice, but there didn't have to be. I understood the malice clearly enough.
"Yes, here you are, ranting about me before you kill me like a proper super villain. Congrats." My mouth felt dry but my hands were slicking with sweat. I lowered my arms, no less alert, but aware I wasn't keeping the knife steady enough to be intimidating. When I looked up and met Aryan's eyes, he actually looked surprised.
"You think I'm going to kill you?"
"A vampire watches a girl sleep and is there when she wakes up. You tell me the two possibilities here." He chuckled, but I didn't see the humor.
"I'm not going to kill you," He said slowly, walking forwards. He was genuinely confused, and that confused me. Suddenly I didn't think either of us really knew what was going on. I tensed, but he stopped on the other side of the bed. "I tried that once, death didn't agree with you." The hand on the clock had barely moved, and I realized that he would either be gone or I would be dead when Brie got back.
"Then what's this about?" I asked, with the knowledge I probably wasn't going to trust anything he said anyways.
"She must have told you about how chaotic things are as of late." I narrowed my eyes, but gained a small victory from a single fact. He had no idea who Brie was, or what her name was. He didn't have anything even resembling power over her. So I at least had that. Not that it would do me much good.
"That has to do with me how?"
"Heaven is almost completely out of the picture. Oh don't look so startled, it's still operational. They just haven't interfered with the world is a long time." My small heart attack passed, but the information didn't give me any comfort. "The reapers, save your friend here, stay out of business that doesn't involve someone stealing souls. In short, there's no one to regulate anything. If you play your cards right, even a human could take the empty throne." I held up my hands, sputtering a little.
"Did you just suggest I take some supernatural throne?" I yelled, sure I'd heard him wrong. But he just shrugged.
"It's easier than you think," he assured, but I shook my head violently. "Well, I suppose technically a human couldn't. It wouldn't be hard for you though."
"I am a human being and that's what I will stay," I said, feeling like I needed to say it for it to be true. The thought of anything else had never crossed my mind, save the minor worries of being a zombie or a vampire. But actually becoming something...
"Don't be so hasty." He said, walking around the bed. I clutched the knife harder, but he wasn't coming anywhere near me. It seemed like he was purposefully giving me a wide berth, navigating Brie's stacks of papers and candles. "Keep in mind reapers are neural, as a rule. Why would one be choosing sides?" I was about to retort, but found I had no answer. He paused at the door, waiting, his back to me,but I couldn't say anything. Because, as much as I hated it, he was right. I had no answers from Brie. All I knew was that there were a bunch of unhappy monsters and apparently an empty position of power.
"The offer stands," he said, before I heard his footsteps down the staircase and the door slam behind him. I let out a slow, shaky breath, and barely made it to the bed before I stumbled again. There was no way I was getting back to sleep so instead I just laid there, trying to sort through what Aryan had said. Eventually, it got to the point where I was just trying to shake off the truth in his words. I knew nothing about Brie, and he'd told me more in five minutes than she'd told me in hours. And if my soul was strong enough to attract the attention it had- what was stopping me from taking advantage of that? What was stopping me from walking out the door right now, going home, and then accepting the offer? Those twins had seemed like they would genuinely like me on their side. And, if I was being honest with myself, spending extended periods of time with Aryan didn't seem like a wholly bad idea. If I was at the center of a war, then I needed to pick sides.
Brie got back faster than I'd realized. She pounded up the stairs, and I smiled a little to know she was anxious to check on me. It made my earlier thought process seem wrong, the idea that Brie was purposefully hiding something. She'd been helpful enough so far, right? But when she opened the door, she looked furious. I was certain for a second that she knew, that she'd found out about the twins and about Aryan, but when she flopped into bed beside me and started rambling I sighed in relief.
"I cannot believe them! Send two reapers out on the same job and don't even check to see if they fucking despise each other, inconsiderate little abrutis!" I raised my eyebrows at the sudden french, but the language switch seemed permanent. "C'est des conneries! C'est quoi ce bordel? Putain de merde!"
"Uh, Brie?" I asked, laughing. It seemed stupid all of a sudden, to think her lack of explanations was purposeful. It seemed like it was just part of her.
"Hm? Oh, right." She said, sitting back up. From downstairs I heard the door open and shut quietly, and we both turned in surprise. For Brie, it quickly turned to terror.
"Brie~ You left early so we never got to properly catch up!" The voice floated up the stairs, girly and airy, and I continued on my journey into learning french swearing courtesy of Brie. There was the clack of heels outside the door and she deigned to return to English.
"Oh, fuck."