Rabbit Blood

Chapter 22 - Everybody In The Closet

From the topmost floor of the Happy Hotel, in Charlie's bedroom, she saw the nightlife glow of the city and smelled its squalor, like sun-dried garbage. She loved this room. It was worth every flight of steps for the distant view of the Pentagram. After shutting the shutters, she climbed back into bed, to give Vaggie a baby-bear hug while Vaggie crocheted a scarf.

They were planning Charlie's birthday: a game night, hosted five days from now. She'd had so many, many birthdays, and this time, she was excited to share it with the guests, to give them some pleasant diversion. Hell loves a party, as her mother used to say. Yesterday, they ordered balloons (but no helium, as Vaggie insisted it was a finite resource); today they emailed guests and posted invitations under their doors. Charlie checked her phone for responses.

"How many now?"

"Let's see... Four emails. Oh, Husk is coming! That's a surprise."

"Probably expects gambling," said Vaggie. "Who else?"

"Angel Dust, Leslie, that Charcoal guy..." Charlie hesitated. She knew her next sentence would unsettle Vaggie no matter what. "And, uh... Alastor, bless him, he slipped me a letter today. The stationery was so-"

"What?" Vaggie stiffened. "Tell me you didn't invite him."

Charlie stayed quiet, and had to stop Vaggie from falling, exasperated onto her own crochet hooks. "Careful! You'll lose the other eye!"

"He's going to fuck things up. I know it."

"Well, I couldn't not invite him," Charlie explained. "He'd find out one way or another."

"God, it would've been so easy to get rid of him for an evening. Just say 'Oh, Vox challenged you to a duel' and-"

"It'll be fine!"

"That's what we said about the talent show, Char," said Vaggie, sliding onto her back to gaze abjectly at the ceiling. "Then Fuckface interfered with that somehow. The pole falling down, Les looking so unhappy... I can't prove anything, but-"

"But why would he? I've thought it over, and it doesn't make sense."

"It doesn't have to. He likes wreaking chaos."

Charlie hugged her tighter. "Look, if something goes wrong with game night... you can hate me, OK?"

"I can't do that," Vaggie said.

Charlie knew something was up... that one unspoken truth. Something about the Radio Demon really brought up her girlfriend's hackles. "She's mine!" Vaggie's posture said, "She's not for you!" - but Charlie didn't see any cause for concern. Alastor could try to break them apart until he was purple in the face. It wasn't happening, and Charlie had said this often enough. They lay here for a moment, each worrying about the other, until Vaggie flipped over and planted a kiss on her knee.

"Hey, you're an old lady now. I can't be fighting all your battles for you."

"Less of the old lady," said Charlie, smiling. "Don't worry, we'll both keep an eye on Al. Team Chaggie all the way." Vaggie laughed, wrinkling her nose. It was a silly ship name, but they liked it anyway. Charlie looked her in the eye and felt her heart bloom. "Love you," she said.

"I love you too, Princess." She crawled into Charlie's arms, the scarf long forgotten, and they lay holding each other. There was a wonderful kind of comfort there, a feeling of being cared for that nobody else gave her. As they kissed, this feeling grew and changed, building steam. It was natural, unhurried. Nothing was said.

Vaggie broke away long enough to tumble across the bed, to her side, and she turned off the lamp.

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