The Hag's Blood Incident

Chapter 2

     My eyes were sandy, and I swear I heard them scratch like a chalkboard against my corneas as I opened them the next morning. But, the seductive sizzle of something mapley was caressing the inside of my nostrils and my ear canals with its siren song and I was helpless to obey.

      Groaning, and completely covered in my singular blanket, I flipped over onto my stomach and fumbled around on the floor searching for my digital watch. When I reached between the narrow gap between the bed and the wall I found it. I pressed the glass surface of the timepiece to the center of my pupil and hit the light button. I flinched as the low level illumination stabbed me in my retina. I opened my eyes back up to look at the time. It was almost eleven o'clock.

      My first thought was ugh, it's morning. I need to get moving.

      My second was ugh, I have four more hours until my appointment. I need to get moving.

     My third was where is that wonderful breakfast smell coming from? I need to get moving.

     I threw my blanket off and leaned out of the bed to pick my pillow up off the floor where I had thrown it last night, next to the fabric divider that sectioned off my portion of the room. Dangling and reaching, a leather thong with a brass figurine of a lion dangled down from my neck and rocked back and forth below me. Balancing over the side of the bed with my stomach muscles I touched my forehead. The abrasion from last night was gone. "Dammit Ari." I whispered in irritation, yanking the leather tie off of my neck and holding it in my fist.

     I straightened myself out and rolled out of bed, throwing my pillow haphazardly back at the top of the futon. I bent down under my bed to pull out the suitcase that held my clothes. I pulled off my nightclothes and threw on some new clothes for the day, a green t-shirt with a dove and a peace sign on it, and a pair of jeans. I shoved the tiny brass trinket and its leather strap into my front pocket. Arianna and I were going to have words with each other for wasting resources like this.

     Light from the hallway was pouring in the open door and music was playing down the hall. It was something loose, with a mild tribal-esque beat thrown in, maybe African? It was probably Jasper working in his studio.

     The smell issuing from the open door was intoxicating. I caught the aroma of hashbrowns and sausage of some kind. I pushed aside my curtainy barrier and floated out to the hallway to see what was going on.

     "That's an interesting ensemble to meet a client in." Mister Spider clicked and hissed. His thick Chechnyan accent sizzled out of his mouth like the sausage he had on the electric griddle he had set up on a card table next to our unit's entrance. He reached down to pick up a paper plate covered in pancakes. He held it palm up, the tips of his fingers stood erect around the edges of the plate, not touching its surface. In the other hand, he held a spatula by his fingertips. His long fingers arched backward delicately as he gripped the handle.

     Registering his presence, I jumped back and flinched a little in surprise. I had heard the food cooking, but I hadn't expected anyone right outside the door.

     Mister Spider's torso instantly elongated in response to my emotional outburst. Keeping his feet where they were, and drawing his face closer to mine. He sniffed the air and I thought I saw a tendril of blue mist leak out of my nose into his expanded nostrils. "Mmm. Delicious." He murmured ecstatically, narrowing his green glowing eyes. He whipped his face back and forth fanning my face with his lanky black hair, searching for something, as his sinuous body writhed in expectation around the table.

     I stood my ground, barely breathing. Shoving the panic you feel when someone invades your personal space down as far as it would go into my psyche, I swallowed my nervousness. "I was just seeing what smelled so good, before I went to go check on the damage from last night." I said to him, willing my voice to come out evenly. I was mostly successful. "Got a big interview today." I said swinging my arm in front of me with mock enthusiasm and staring through him at the wall behind.