Misery County

Chapter 20 - Part 5

"Fancy seeing you here, stud," came Nevena's sweet tones, her venomous tones.

"I think 'seeing' is a bit of a stretch in current circumstances," was all Eric managed to blurt out as his mind was racing. What the hell was going on? The scenario didn't make sense, and yet, the more Eric thought about it, the more it did. Then he thought back to Cassie. "You're a vampire."

"Was that supposed to be a question, or are you assigning afflictions now?" she said, a velvety laugh punctuating her words.

Aaron remained silent. Was he even still there?

"The dark house – you can't go out in sunlight, can you?" Eric said.

"Congratulations, genius. I'm sure Stanford have an honorary doctorate in Logic to grant you with that kind of deductive capability. Ah, but now I can't blame you, can I? I am quite good at getting inside heads, as you are living proof of."

"Inside heads? What does that mean?" Eric sputtered. "And why aren't you inside my head now?"

"Do you want me to be?"

"I just –"

"I'm gonna cut you off right there, stud. I don't really have time for chit-chats. I'm just here to check on the gate's progress. Seeing you was a bonus, but now, I'm afraid, it's time to part ways, and I do mean permanently. Tattoo, finish Eric off. He's boring me now."

Sensing impending death, Eric could only focus on one thing. "Tattoo? Your werewolf name is fucking Tattoo?"

Aaron began to growl as the sound of Nevena closing the front door of the mortuary rang down the hall.

"I can't believe I'm going to get killed by someone called Tattoo. Oh, Jesus Christ, please let a blood vessel burst in my brain right now instead."

"You talk too much," said Aaron through clenched jaws.

"And you – you're a fucking bad friend! You've got salvation from your disease right in front of you, and you're just going to throw it all away. Tattoo – fuck my ass, that is terrible."

"Sorry, 'friend,' boss's orders."

"You fucking automaton. Shame on you." Eric was already trying to think of ways to get himself out of this situation, but being effectively blind, he was at a severe disadvantage.

A long, loud scrape from the cabinet behind him reminded him once again that he and Aaron weren't alone, though whatever was in there was the least of Eric's concerns right now.

Come on. Keep it together. You've fought werewolves before, even alphas. Eric tried to psych himself up. He had his gun with silver bullets on him, and that was all he needed... but how the hell was he going to aim in the dark? He'd only need to miss one shot and Aaron would be on him like fat kids on cake.

He got an idea. He just needed to keep Aaron talking.

"I get my orders. I follow them. It's that simple," Aaron said, and now that Eric was focusing, he could work out exactly where he was in the room.