Hunting in the Dark: an Absinthe Grove novel

III

The woman stood in the bathroom, brushing their teeth as they prepared to go in to work that day. They winced at a pain in their mouth, one they hadn't felt in several months.

"You okay?" Mahina asked from beside them, taking her toothbrush from her mouth.

"Yeah," Abi nodded. "Toothache."

"Still not used to not having fangs?" their girlfriend suggested with a shrug.

"Must be it," they nodded. It made sense.

"Come on, we gotta get dressed."

...

"Absinthe!" Siri grinned as he looked up from a file of paperwork. "Welcome back! How're you feeling?"

"Better," the former-vampire smiled lightly. "Helen told me to come up here before going to my old desk."

"We left it the way it was for you," their superior said. "It's great to have you back. We were all sorry to hear about you, y'know, dying."

"I appreciate that," they chuckled awkwardly, instinctively reaching for their necklace. "Glad I didn't decay too much."

"Oh, you'll be happy to hear that Candy won't be an issue for you anymore. We moved her to only working weekends."

"That's great to hear. Thank you."

"If you need anything, anything at all, just let me or Rosemary know. She's gone ahead and sent your assignment to your email."

"Okay. Thanks."

With that, they headed out of the office and down the hall to the elevator. Once alone in the metal box, they placed a hand on the cool metal wall and breathed. Their heart pounded rapidly in their chest. They squeezed the hand holding the crystal charm three times.

Images of their nightmare from two nights ago flashed in the darkness behind their eyelids: The coffin lowering, the dirt being dumped over the antique wood, the throbbing in their neck...

Their breathing slowed, heart calming. Their thumb brushed over one of the points of the star.

They were okay, they tried to tell themself. It was all okay.

...

"The client made an update on his report," Cárthach said, taking a sip of coffee. "The vampire he worked with is back. Today's its first day back."

"You know we can't kill it in front of everyone, right?" Devon reminded, cutting his omelette into pieces.

They were seated in Cárthach's dining room/kitchen situation in his apartment, the dark green paint over the walls washing their skin out.

"Ye act like I give a shite about that," he scoffed, rolling his eyes as he took another sip.

"Well you should, man. You could get—"

"Their kind killed Oisín in front o' me!" the bearded man yelled. "It's gonna have worse than that!"

Devon sighed and set his knife and fork down. "Okay, fine. But if you get kicked out of the community because of it, don't say I didn't warn you."

...

"You're back."

Abi looked up from their computer and frowned, eyebrows lowered. "Hi, James."

Val rolled his eyes. "Good to see you too, I guess."

"I saw you yesterday," they shrugged. "You practically live at our apartment."