Page 11 of Heathens

The moment we step through the doors I find myself struggling to adjust to the extremely bright light, rooting through my bag for my sunglasses. The blood bank uses UV lights inside the hallways, so even if a vampire gets in, they’re blistered and screaming within a minute or two; easy enough for the guards to pick off. I don’t know how anyone works here without having a constant headache, though. Avery always said sunglasses are a life-saver, but my head kills me regardless.

“A’s got the delivery for you up front,” Jesse announces. “She’s on her dinner break, doesn’t want to be disturbed, otherwise she’d say hi.”

“No, she wouldn’t,” I laugh.

Beside me, Ruby groans, covering her eyes with one hand. If she weren’t wearing 40 pounds of eyeliner, she’d probably be rubbing it all off.

“Forgot my fuckin’ glasses,” she mutters.

Jesse chuckles as I hand mine to her.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. You get migraines, I’m good, babe.”

Ruby leans over and kisses me on the temple as we walk.

“Thanks.”

The entire building smells like disinfectant and I can barely hear a goddamn sound as we move through the halls. I miss this place. It was quiet and simple work, and I loved my co-workers. I enjoyed testing blood, getting to learn a little something about each person who donated. The blood bank helped me pay my way through medical school, and it provided for my son. Then the world as I knew it ended, and so did my life.

Things were going too well, I guess.

“Business is good, I assume?” Jesse asks.

“It’s great over there! You should come by for a drink, Jess,” Ruby offers.

“Yeah, I’ll put on my finest kevlar,” he laughs. “I don’t know how you run that place with all of those vamps. They have to be a couple seconds away from ripping out your throat at any given moment.”

“Most of them are chill,” Ruby replies. “Some of them are jerks, but the rules say we get to shoot them if they try to kill us, so… not too different from here!”

“Guess we’re both livin’ the dream, huh?” Jesse laughs.

We turn a corner and head toward the front of the building. There are more guards and a petite, mousy-looking girl with short blonde hair sitting at a desk. She’s dressed in a dark red blouse with matching red lipstick. She reminds me of a pixie with a little upturned nose and full cheeks dusted with freckles. Her head whips up when she hears us approach and I can see her brows knit together, even underneath her sunglasses.

“The boss has a delivery for them,” Jesse informs her. “Should be prepped.”

“For Nox?” She asks.

“That’s us,” I confirm, digging into my pocket.

I pull out the wad of cash while the girl hands me a form confirming my order. I sign the dotted line at the bottom and hand her the money.

“There’s about two grand extra in there. For your trouble.”

“It’s no trouble,” she replies as she unrolls it and counts the cash so fast I can barely see her hands moving. “I just wish we had another driver. I’m sorry you had to come all the way down here.”

“Well, you can use that to help with hiring some more,” I tell her.

Even with everything being so transactional, we try to look out for each other. You never know when you’re going to see someone again, if at all. People disappear so fast. Things go wrong so quickly.

Ruby grabs the case and turns to me, brows raised as I finish the transaction.

“You ready?”

I nod.

“I’ll walk you out,” Jesse says softly. He turns to me as we head for the exit. “We miss you here.”

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