Fang Junkie

10. If you love me

10                    If you love me

I had a plan. So far I had been ignoring the elephant in the room. I pretended not to know who Abel was – aside from the usual – and what he'd been doing behind my back, so I could surprise him the next time at P.A.S.

"Are you going back to work tonight?" Abel asked. It sounded casual and caring and not suspicious at all. I shrugged and tried not to act strange.

"I'm still thinking about it. I've enjoyed my days off more than I thought I would." I liked to keep him on his toes. For once since I met him I felt like I was holding the reins. He was undoubtedly wondering if I was going to be there or not, if so if he should be there or not and how it was all going to go down, because I had to find out eventually, right?

It had been hard enough last night to let him into my bed and let him bite me. I was angry with him, but after a decent high and an average night of sleep I was ready. He messed with the wrong freaking hunter.

"Nora visited last night." I said out of the blue. Why I was even making small talk with him, I had no idea. We were no friends in my book.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"What did she want?

"She was angry that we beat up her dad, but she kind of knew and didn't mind all that much." At least that was the short version.

"She's a confusing little girl."

"Yeah."

"At least he'll leave her alone now."

We were sitting at the kitchen table, eating sandwiches for dinner. I had only just rolled out of bed, taking my sweet time and mostly acting like there was nothing going on.

"So, work?" He was not being very subtle about it. Persistence is a sign of having a goal to achieve.

"What do you think I should do?" I casually continued eating – I went and bought croissants that morning – and had to do my best not to look like I had anything to hide. Smiling would definitely be suspicious, but it was hard to keep my lips under control today.

"Well, I don't think you're psychically able to do your job yet." He said, just as causally. I shrugged.

"There's always more to be done than field work." There were few things I really enjoyed in life, but seeing Abel nervous was definitely on the top of my list. On multiple occasions that afternoon he looked like he just wanted to confess, but for some cowardly reason he never got to it. And then it was getting dark again. The days were getting shorter and shorter. Soon they would be shorter than the nights. Autumn had comfortably settled in and was already slowly making way for winter. I enjoyed the cold temperatures more than the warmth.

"I have to go." Abel said eventually, though he seemed torn. It was already nearing nine. He had clearly been postponing his departure.

"Okay." I said. Finally he sighed.

"Are you going to go or not?" I think he knew by now. He couldn't be that clueless. I had been torturing him all day, but he wasn't going to talk just in case I hadn't found out about his little secret.

"I think I'll pop by later. I can't miss out on too much."

"What's later?" I really did smile this time.

"I don't know. I'm tired, so I'll go sleep for a while first. Why?" That seemed to somewhat satisfy him.

"Well, don't work too hard. You're still recovering." At least that was genuine concern, but I still rolled my eyes.