NomiDomiLight: The Good Girl's Blood Boy

Emphatically Eight

It was Saturday morning. The sun had risen on the day that was after Friday and before Sunday. It was the end of the week. It was the dawn of the next 24 hours. Saturday had begun.

I knew what I had to do today, so I decided to go ahead, grow a pair, and do it. I pulled on my running shoes, called farewell to my parents, and headed out. I felt an ominous chill, as though all of the running I had been doing just might be useful today.

I jogged down my usual path, feet slapping the pavement with a drumming rhythm. Turn left, right, go straight, detour down that cul de sac. After thirty minutes, I was at my rendezvous place, tapping my foot impatiently and drinking from the public water fountain. I heard a whoosh behind me, and I calmly turned to see Dominic a few paces behind me. "Hey, Naomi."

Opening my phone, I tapped the 'call Uber' button that had been open for the last half hour. Then I nodded coolly, walked past him, and shimmied up the tree that he had appeared in front of. I placed my phone securely in the fork of two branches. Try to let the boys track me now. I turned back to Dominic. "Okay. Our Uber will be here in five minutes."

Our car pulled up- a duct-taped minivan with a frazzled looking woman inside. "Uber for Naomi?" She called in a voice cracked by cigarettes. We nodded and got in the van. "Saratoga Lane, please."

"Sure honey."

Turning to Dominic, I laid down the basics. "Okay. I know that their leader is called Nicotine, but I don't know what his real name is. We know they live on 420 Saratoga Lane-"

Dominic snorted, and I groaned. "Are you still laughing at that? You're so immature."

He held his hands up in self defense, ducking as I swatted at him. "It's funny!"

"So we go to 420 Saratoga Lane," I continued, glaring at him. "And we knock on the door. I tell them that we need to talk, and that I have inside information about the Three Musketeers. Then, hopefully they'll let us in, and we can tell them what we need to get across."

Dominic looked horrified. "You'd sell out your friends like that?"

"No, you crumbly cookie, the vamps. Get your head in the game, man!"

Our driver honked, swerved, and merged us to Saratoga Lane without death. We paid her, then got out. Dominic glanced fearfully at the van's retreating license plate. "There are few things I fear in this world. That Uber just made the list."

I wasn't listening. I had already started down the street. "416, 418... here, Dom!"

We stood on the street at stared at the house. I was reminded of several iconic stories. Monster House, that movie, for one. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, when he and Dumbledore gatecrashed where Slughorn was staying, and Twilight, when-

No. I will not make Twilight references while I am trapped in this hellhole of a story.

"Do we ring the doorbell?" Dominic asked, a hint on nerves in his voice. I frowned.

"No, you barbaric baboon. We're civilized people. We knock."

I steeled myself, strode up to the door, and rapped lightly with my knuckles three times. After two seconds of unmet silence, I turned. "Well, looks like no one's home-"

The door opened behind me. "Oh, we don't need anymore Thin Mints," said a kid who had to be, like, twelve. "But do you have Samoas?"

I frowned. "Um... no, I'm not a Girl Scout. I was looking for- um- is Nicotine home?"

The kid's face hardened. "No. Why do you need to talk to him?"

"Okay. Clearly, he is home, so go tell him I have information on the Three Musketeers."

The kid's face remained unreadable, but then he closed the door. Dominic plodded up the sidewalk beside me like it was a trail to the gallows.

Hinges creaked again, and then- well, here. My boys are 6', 6', and 6'1/2. I'm not gonna tell you who's the tallest, and frankly, I'm not sure they know themselves. The guy in the doorway made the doorway look small. His arms were crossed over his chest, but when my eyes finally met his face, he was smiling. "Hey there, new best friend," he said. "So, I hear you have some information that can help me out?"

Swallowing my doubt and a sizable amount of saliva, I nodded. He held the door open. "Then come on in!"

Nicotine led us through the house. It was almost cozy- an old-styled ranch. He sat us down in the living room. It didn't smell like gunpowder or pot or anything- in fact, I saw a Yankee candle on the window sill.

"So, what can you tell me about the Three Stooges?"

"Musketeers," I corrected automatically. I fiddled with the ring on my finger, the one covering my Musketeer tattoo. "And yeah."

I waited for him to talk again, but then I realized that he was waiting for me. I didn't know what to do. Did I start small, or did I break out the big guns right away? I glanced at Dominic for help.

Turns out, that was the wrong thing to do. As soon as I looked at Dominic, Nicotine jumped up, slamming him against the wall. "Alright, who are you?" Nicotine snarled at me. "You clearly can't help me, and you brought a vamp into my home. You know what this thing is, right?"

"Yes, WAIT!" I said, panicking. "OKAY. No, I don't have information to help you beat the Musketeers, but I do have information to help you survive. This idiot here, the one you're currently strangling, led six enemy vampires into the area. He's a vegetarian. They aren't. I get that you and your gang are Lautner wannabes, and so are my boys. They don't know I'm here, but I was hoping you and the Lost Boys could help us out!"

Nicotine dropped Dominic, who collapsed on the floor, gasping and clutching his throat. I didn't move.

"Your boys," Nicotine said slowly. "Tell me... why are they your boys?"

I blanched. "Um... it's just, they're from my side of the city? It's not like I've met them or anything, I mean, big half of a city, y'know-"

"And the want my boys help figuring out their mess."

"That's the thing. We don't know where the enemy vamps are going. They could be on my half of the city, or they could be a threat to yours. The Musketeers don't know I'm here, but I was hoping that you guys could join forces and, you know, save lives."

Nicotine scoffed, leaning against the wall. "I could never join forces with those petulant, arrogant-"

"It seems to me you're being the petulant, arrogant one now!" I snapped. "I exercised for a month so I could pull this off without them following me here! Pull your damn pants up! People could die, and you're more worried about your public appearance."

Nicotine blinked. He glanced at Dominic as if to say, "Is she serious?" Then he sighed, ran a hand over his buzzed head, and said, "Fine. I will meet with them. How many representatives are they sending?"

"Um... three?"

"Fine. Tell them it'll be Nicotine, Dusty, and Ecstasy."

"Um, okay. Where-"

"At the park on the city lines," Nicotine decided. "Noon on Sunday, tomorrow. Don't be late."

Nicotine ushered us out of his house, and I realized that since I didn't have my phone, we were stuck walking home. Then Dominic pulled out his. Funny how easy it was to get places without micromanaging, adorable idiots looking over your shoulder 24/7. It was like having three extra moms.

We got the Uber to drop me off at home after a quick phone-grab at the park. When I walked up to the door and opened it, a hand reached out at a supersonic speed, grabbed the front of my shirt, and yanked me inside.