Page 2 of Avaritia

I’d had better days at work.

My phone rang through the car speakers, interrupting the big booty anthem I’d been bopping along to and making me jump.

“Hello?” I said, accepting the call without taking my eyes off the road to check the caller. Or rather, assuming it was Sebastian, because no one else ever called me.

“V.” Nope, not Sebastian. It was one of my roommates, Da-Eun, who’d never called me.

“Everything okay?” Please don’t say there’s a gas leak. I can’t take another thing going wrong today.

She whispered something too low for me to catch, and I stabbed the volume button a few times. “Can you repeat that? I didn’t catch it—”

“I said that your boyfriend’s mom is here. She said you were supposed to pick her up two hours ago or something? But you never showed?”

“I was supposed to pick her up at six,” I gritted out, which was still half an hour away. Just enough time for me to get home, change, scrub the pee-foot, and grab my bag before driving until one a.m.

“I’m not getting into it,” she replied. I couldn’t be mad about that. My roommates and I were passing acquaintances at best, and it’s not like Deb was the politest of house guests. My roomies were also one-hundred-percent human, so I couldn’t mention the fact that Deb was not only my boyfriend’s mom but my superior in a secret monster-killing organization. I had 99 problems and Deb was all of them. “I’m just telling you that she’s here and she’s waiting in your room.”

“In my room?!”

“I did try to suggest she wait in the living room, but she’s kind of terrifying for a five-foot-nothing suburban soccer mom.”

“I appreciate the effort, thanks,” I replied weakly, already reaching for the end call button and stepping a little harder on the gas. Don’t crash Sebastian’s car, he’ll be so pissed. “I’ll be there in five, okay? Thanks for the heads-up.”

Shit, shit, shit.

Deb was probably just sitting on the edge of my bed, quietly fuming. Right? Right. She wouldn’t snoop.

I mean, she’d never showcased any understanding of boundaries before, but it was probably in there somewhere, buried under layers of hostility. So long as she wasn’t looking through anything, there was nothing to worry about except hours of miserable car chat.

Besides, I’d put everything away carefully last night, hadn’t I? Of course I had. I was always careful. What I was doing was wrong; I didn’t take any unnecessary risks with it.

I parked in my usual spot a little up the street, my tote bag snagging on the hand brake as I half fell out of the car in a rush.

“Fuck, fuck, come on,” I mumbled to myself, yanking the strap free and slamming the door behind me before booking it down the street, my drink bottle banging uncomfortably against my hip as I shouldered the bag. I was panting with exertion by the time I got to the front door, and Da-Eun kindly opened it for me after twenty seconds of me fumbling around in my pockets, looking for my keys.

“Good luck,” she muttered, flopping down on the couch and pressing her phone nearly to her nose.

“Thanks,” I panted, skidding slightly on the greige floorboards as I rounded the corner and headed down the hallway to my room.

Positive thinking. Positive thinking. She’s just sitting on the edge of your bed, scowling at you in disdain, acting like you’re the one who got the time wrong. Apologize profusely for having the gall to be at work, usher her out to the car, and drive to Albuquerque in silence with a pee-soaked sneaker. Easy. Nothing to stress about. It’s going to be fine.

It was not fine.

I pushed open the not-quite-closed door to my pastel pink bedroom, finding precisely what I’d hoped to avoid. I was pretty sure I’d had a nightmare about this exact scenario once after I’d eaten too much cheese at dinner.

At least she’d only found half my stash.

“What. Is. This?” Deb asked, her usually pale face flushed crimson with outrage.

I opened my mouth, hoping that some kind of logical, acceptable explanation would magic its way out of my brain, but eventually gave up and closed it again, quickly shutting the door behind me so my roommates didn’t overhear this horror show in progress.

“I know it looks bad—”

“You are a Hunter,” Deb hissed, thankfully keeping her voice down. “Have you forgotten that? You are meant to rid our world of the creatures of the night. And all along, you’re hiding this, this disgusting hoard? It’s… it’s depraved.”

I swallowed thickly, the guilt I’d always wrestled with whenever I added a new one to my collection all rising up in one crushing wave. It was depraved. I knew it was wrong, and yet I couldn’t help myself.

It had been a stupid fantasy that I’d sworn to myself that I was only going to indulge in once, but I was so lonely without Sebastian here, and it had gotten out of control.

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