Misery County

Chapter 9 - Part 1

Eric was sitting awkwardly in the dining room at Nevena's house, as he had been for the past half an hour. He thought it would be rude to just wander around and look at things, so when she told him she had something very important to handle for work, he decided to just sit in place like a scolded child until she came back, and it seemed that his wait was over.

"All done, stud," Nevena said, walking back into the room from the doorway behind Eric. "Now where were we with our drinks?"

"Well, you were on your third blood and sand, and I've been hitting the wine while you were away."

"What's the matter? Not a fan of the blood and sands I made?"

"Not really my thing. It tastes too – I don't know – iron-y. What are they made of anyway?"

"It's all in the name. Blood and sand," she said with a wry smile.

"Is it? Is this some sort of weird Catholic thing? I've got to say, attracting people to religion by turning the blood of Christ into cocktails is a pretty impressive move."

"Don't be silly, Eric. You know, when you –"

She was interrupted by a frantic knocking at the door.

"Are you expecting anyone?" Eric asked.

An unamused look had found its way onto her face. "No, I'm not."

"Maybe it's a work thing. Whatever it is you were dealing with just now."

"Unlikely. They know very well not to bother me at home."

They both sat in silence for a moment as the knocking continued.

"So, are you going to open it, or..."

"No."

The sound of knocking once again filled in the gap of the moment of silence.

"But they're just going to keep on knocking."

"So? Let them."

"Come on, this is just ridiculous," Eric said as he stood up from the chair and made his way to the front door. "Let's just see who it is and tell them to fuck off."

"Eric, I don't think that's such a good –" she began to say, but Eric was already opening the front door.

No sooner had he opened it than Cassie barreled into him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him toward the outside. "Come on, Romeo. We've got work to do," she said breathlessly.

"Whoa, hold on there. What's this about?" Eric said quietly, making sure Nevena wouldn't overhear anything to do with their business.

"The house, genius, what do you think?" she answered, still trying to pull him out through the doorway.

Eric was now holding onto both sides of the door frame to anchor himself in place. "I told you to go alone if you're so desperate to be disappointed."

"Already did, dumbass. It's the real deal." Cassie was now huffing and puffing, trying to pull the much heavier Eric outside.

"Fine, it's real. We'll find a priest to cleanse it in the morning. Now will you please leave me alone? I'm sort of in the middle of something." Eric glanced over his shoulder to make sure Nevena wasn't close enough to hear. She was still standing near the entrance to the living room, looking very unimpressed with the whole situation but not saying a word.

"The ghost is already taken care of by yours truly. That's not what this is about. I found something there. You have to see it with your own eyes."

Eric looked over his shoulder once again and mouthed a genuine "sorry" to Nevena, who only continued to stare at him with the same expression of disinterest. "OK, fine, I'll come," he hissed to Cassie. "Now will you please let go of me so I can square things away with Nevena?"

"Great!" Cassie met his gaze with an expression of childlike innocence. "I'll wait in my car. Come hop in when you're ready, and I'll drive us over."