Page 26 of Overexposed

When I was about to get up and put my dishes in the dishwasher, Charlie surprised me by looking me dead in the eye and asking, “Cut yourself shaving?”

When I reached up to touch the Band-Aid on my neck, Auris spoke very calmly, each word clearly enunciated. “Harassing my staff for a few hours, I will tolerate, given what you’ve been through. Offending Ethan for a heartbeat, I will not. If you cannot make polite conversation with him, you will not talk to him.”

That was that. I went back to the living room with another cup of coffee, sort of hiding on the couch, my laptop balanced on my knees. Eva finished her vacuuming and left, saying she’d be by again tomorrow. The rest of the day felt longer than it was while I waited for our houseguest to be gone.

At around four in the afternoon, I’d retreated to what was to become my office. For now, it only had my camera equipment and a large desk, and Auris had insisted on dragging one of the more comfortable armchairs from the small fireplace room in here. In case I ever needed a creative nap, he’d said.

A knock on the door made me look up. Auris opened the office door but didn’t come into the room. “I’ll be downstairs for five minutes to tell Jan to get the car ready. He’s not answering his phone.”

“Does that mean that something is wrong?”

“No. It means he has the TV on too loud. Or maybe some podcast.”

“Well, uh, I’ll be here,” I said.

Auris gave me a lazy smile that spread all over his face like sunshine on a cloudy day. “I’m counting on it. I’m counting on having you all to myself again very soon, my sweet. You want to consider finishing up work for the day.”

I laughed. “Actually, I’ll gladly be all yours.”

“Five minutes. Maybe fifteen to walk Charlie to the car,” Auris said and closed the door again behind himself.

I busied myself with closing a few random tabs I’d opened -- some about Sedlec Ossuary, others about berserkers and werewolves -- when the door opened again.

“Forgot someth --? Oh. Charlie,” I said.

Charlie looked all kinds of shifty. He stood in the door, and while he was too skinny to be intimidating, dread hit me hard. It was what had happened in Brightam, I knew that. I knew Auris was just moments away, and that he’d be here if I screamed. If anything happened.

“I don’t have that much time,” Charlie said. “You seem a decent bloke, yeah? Listen, they tell you things you want to hear. It’s what they do. Then they take, and they take, and they take. You don’t think Jonathan never bit me, do you? Ask your black-haired beauty about my scars, why don’t you. I was Jonathan’s chew toy. Anyway, a little nick is how it starts.” He pointed at my throat. “And then, before you know it, seven years of your life, just pissed away in some Eastern backwater. Run while you can, is all I’m saying. Thanks for being there yesterday. Guess he was hesitant to kill me in front of you.”

My jaw dropped, but before I could so much as say a single word, Charlie closed the door, and I was left with my own thoughts in my unfinished office. A mirror framed in gold on the wall across from me reflected the sunset, and I looked over as if my mirror image had the first clue of what the fuck had just happened.

* * *

I stayed in my office. I was pretty sure I wasn’t hiding. Because I was a visual person, I picked up a notepad from the small selection Eva had bought for me. This particular one had cartoon cats on it. Next to the wide-eyed tabby’s face, I wrote out what Charlie had seen: a vampire and his human breaking into the church in which his Jonathan had vanished. Was Auris threatening? He could be. I knew exactly what he was capable of, because I had seen it. Did he give off that vibe? I remembered having been uncomfortable to some degree, maybe a little terrified, that first night, on our way to the restaurant.

But Charlie hadn’t known that. He’d just seen me, with Auris, following him into his rented room, presenting him with a literal bag of bones. That was not something that anyone handled well if they were well-adjusted. Add to that whatever bad experiences Charlie had without a doubt had before last night. And then, of course, Auris had been pretty direct with him, not chummy, but distant, and who knew what they’d talked about when I’d fallen asleep last night, and back in the bathroom in Charlie’s Airbnb.

A knock on the door made me jump, but this time it was Auris. His eyes were nightly black and narrowed when he saw me.

“What did he do?” Auris asked.

“Uhm. He’s gone, right?”

“Yes. I came to collect you so we can camp out in front of the living room fireplace to celebrate the fact. What did he do?”

“You’re not going to hunt him down or do anything weird?”

Auris sighed. “I will not give you my word on that, because it depends on your answer.”

“Fair enough, I guess. He said I was a good guy, and that he wanted to warn me because all vampires are like you. They promise you things and are nice. He said Jonathan made him his chew toy eventually.”

Auris nodded once. “He did, at that. I cannot say what happened between the two of them, but I can see why Charlie might be wary. Why do I get the sense that you are scared right now if that was all he said?”

I handed Auris my kitty notepad.

“Was scared to be drowned in the bathtub,” Auris read. “Was scared to be driven to his grave. Was scared to be murdered in his sleep. You were making a list about all the ways Charlie might have taken charity for intimidation or a prelude to murder?”

I shrugged. “In my defense, I just wanted to get a sense of what his perspective was. Because of what you said, about people not wanting to tell other people about you. And by other people I mean church people. Because I don’t know if you were faking that, but Iamconcerned that Charlie will tell some priest about you and give them your address. If he’s scared of you and thinks you’ll come after him, then that’s more likely.”

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