His Girl

Soup's On

"Oh, for God's sake- stop yanking my clothes!"

Claudius frowned at the girl clinging onto his plaid shirt while he tried to stir vegetable soup. All he wanted was a peaceful afternoon with his new theology book, but Astrid just wouldn't let him live that daydream. She'd been hammering on about some car crash, and though Claudius understood the gist of the situation and why she was so rattled about it, he didn't want to burn himself on the stove.

Vampire or not, he still felt pain.

"C'mon please!" Astrid begged. "You need to go out and look at it! I'm scared!"

"The only thing you should be scared of is coughing up a storm because of the smoke you told me about," Claudius informed her, pouring the soup into a bowl. "Sit down at the table and you can tell me more about it then."

Astrid huffed, but the fearful look in her eyes hadn't vanished. She sat down at the table, her limbs still shaking in shock. Claudius then set a steaming bowl of vegetable soup in front of her, and handed her a spoon.

"Why are you so un-empathetic?" the teen asked, agitated. Claudius shrugged.

"If you've been around for as long as I have, you get used to death," he replied, laying a hand on one of her shaking arms. "It's just the way I am. Now, can you calm down? You're still in shock."

"I think it was a murder too," Astrid informed him, trying to keep her hands still. "I think he was trying to kill me."

"Who?" Claudius asked, slipping into a chair beside her and cupping his hands gently around her head. "You told me it was an accident."

"The new neighbor across the street," Astrid said, feeling a cough coming on. "He wanted me to come over and he wasn't even fazed by the fire! I'm- I'm-"

"Shh," Claudius hushed her, placing a hand over her lips. "Forget about it now. Eat your food. The ambulance and police will take care of it. Don't stress."

"I can't," the teen moaned, her voice slightly muffled. "The police are gonna come for me! I'm going to go to jail and-"

"Astrid, stop it!" Claudius snapped, pinching her wrist. "You didn't kill anyone. They were probably terrible drivers."

"But there was a baby and-"

Astrid began to cough violently, her throat irritated by her sudden burst of emotions- just as the man beside her expected. She slouched over the table and hacked some phlegm, gripping her throat. He groaned and placed both of his hands over her mouth, blocking her main airway- forcing her to resort to breathing through her nose. At first, she coughed into his palm, but after following his directions to take deep breaths, the fit dissipated.

Astrid was miserable.

Claudius rubbed large circles into her back, and gave her neck muscles a gently squeeze as well. "I swear to God, I should lock you up in your room and tie you to your bed until you get rid of that nasty spell. You hardly listen to a word I say."

Astrid said nothing, but shook her head weakly in protest.

"Then drink your soup," the man ordered, standing up and walking back to the kitchen. "I'm going to warm up a bowl of water so you can breathe in the steam."

"My mom would give me a massage when I was sick."

Claudius stopped in his tracks. He knew Astrid only ever mentioned her deceased parents when she was truly upset, or when she began to miss them. It had been years, but she still clung onto their memory like a fly on a sticky stain. Sometimes, he knew she would use this to guilt trip her-  other times, however, her sorrow was genuine.

Claudius sighed.

"You want a massage?" he asked, ready to give in to her subtle request. "Fine. Lie down on the couch. If you stop acting paranoid, I'll do it."

"Okay."

Claudius poured a bowl of fresh water, microwaved it, and brought it to the living room. He placed it next to the couch where Astrid lied on her back, and cracked his fingers.

"See, you being quiet is much better," he said, weaving his fingers into her sore muscles. "Now, if you want to talk about the car crash, do it calmly or I won't let you talk at all."

Astrid let out a small moan of relief- she could say what she wanted about the vampire towering above her, but he was extremely good at massages. Perhaps he'd worked as a professional masseuse a hundred years ago or so. He'd lived so many professions that she could never tell.

"There was this new neighbor across the street who was just standing there and smiling at me," the teen explained, inhaling the soothing steam. "I've never seen him before. And he wasn't freaked out about the whole thing at all."

"Perhaps our new neighbor is a bloodthirsty maniac," Claudius suggested lightly, now moving onto her lower back. He didn't know whether to take her claims seriously- after all, she was hysterical when she entered the house after the fact.

"He wouldn't be the first."

Claudius grinned. "Of course."

RIIIIING

"That's mine," Astrid realized. "I'll go get it- I'll be right back."

Astrid stood up from the couch and walked slowly over to the kitchen counter where she had left the device in an earlier panic. She picked it up, and turned on the call.

"Hello?" she answered. "Who is this?"

"Astrid," a high pitched, maniacal-sounding woman's voice responded. "We're your new neighbors! Come on over for a housewarming party! Sorry about...the accident."

Astrid felt her nerves turn to ice. "You're- you're what?"

"We're having a housewarming party! Come on over!"

(Would you go to the party? Don't forget to vote/comment!)