Mary now looked vexed. It was strange watching her face move, almost as if it had simply not practiced making expressions in a while. “In some ways, it is our only outlet. It is the one ce where all are equal.”
“I’d never thought of that.” Sadie found herself with a cat in herp. It was a small motley-colored thing that was looking for a warm ce to nap. “Does this one have a name?”
Mary looked over. “They all have names, but they have not bothered telling me what they are. They live with me because they choose to. And they help keep the mice poption down.”
Sadie wondered why a wraith would worry about mice, but dismissed the question. She attempted to put the cat back on the ground, but it turned around and jumped back up, looking at Sadie as if to ask what she thought she was doing.
“She has chosen you,” Mary said, a bit of humor in her voice. “And once a cat has chosen you, you might as well get used to it.
Sadie allowed the cat to make itselffortable, turning around several times, wing at her legs through the sweat-pants and then curling itself into a ball. Then it started to purr, and Sadie instantly felt more rxed. “So you never named him?”
“Her,” Mary corrected. “That’s a calico. A tortoise-shell calico, to be more specific. Calicoes are always female.” Mary stood up suddenly. “Would you like some tea? Or coffee? I don’t have any sma. I’m sorry, but I wasn’t expectingpany . . . ever.”
“Coffee? You have electricity?”
“Yes. And I’ve even discovered the wheel and fire as well,” Mary said, the projection of her voice bing slightly acidic.
“Sorry,” Sadie said, still smiling. “I just didn’t see any power on in town, so I wasn’t sure the lines still worked out here.”
“My apologies,” Mary said, turning on a coffee pot. “I have sr panels on the roof, two windmills just up the valley, and a generator in case of emergencies. I keep forgetting that most people don’t understand that for a wraith, life doesn’t end when you die. At least not the first time.”
“You’d think I would understand that, being a vampire.”
Mary openly smiled. “I was a vampire once,” she said.
“Hunh. So you’ve died twice as much as the ordinary darkworlder. Trying to set a record?”
“I think that I’m quite through with the process, thank you very much. Cream or sugar?”N?velDrama.Org owns this text.
It wound up being a surreal afternoon, but Sadie would have been quite happy to continue the conversation except that she needed to get some sleep before going shopping with Melissa. Mary was an interesting character, that was for sure. Sadie believed that she had at one point been nobility or at least in the upper crust of society at some point. She sat properly, sipped tea with her finger extended, and just generally carried herself with grace and ss. Mary never mentioned exactly who she had been or how she hade to be a wraith, and Sadie was polite enough not to ask. But Mary was also charming, quite intelligent and, apparently, had be an aplished handyman. Getting anyone else toe out and work on the house was not going to happen, so she had done what needed to be done, rolling up her sleeves and working. One thing that Mary did let slip was that her family had money, and she was in fact living off of the family trust and the investments she had made. Sadie pegged her as having died within thest hundred and fifty years or so, but it was impolite to ask a girl’s age.
“Well, I really have to be going,” Sadie said, noticing instantly that Mary’s face fell a bit. Sadie was convince that wraiths didn’t so much die as simply fade away sometimes, particrly the ones who intentionally distanced themselves from the other races. They didn’t want to make anyone ufortable, but it appeared to make them desperately lonely. “Listen, I have to attend this event on Saturday, but was wondering if you’d like toe by for dinner afterward.”
Mary again was stunned. You didn’t invite a vengeance spirit over for dinner . . . ever. “When?”
“About six a. m.?”
The wraith pondered it. “Yes, I would like that.”
“Great! It’s that little trailer up on the hill. 1408 Forest Creek Lane. If you like, bring a sd.”
“Very well.” Mary then wondered exactly how she was supposed to get a sd.
Sadie put the calico on the floor and allowed Mary to escort her to the door. The little feline managed to wind her way between Sadie’s feet on every step.
“I told you,” Mary said, leaning over to scratch the cat behind the ears, “she chose you.”
The vampire realized just how true this was when she opened the door to her truck. The cat jumped inside before she could stop it and curled up in a ball in the passenger side. Sadie looked up toin to Mary, but the wraith had vanished. Sadie looked back at the cat. “You presumptuous little bitch!”
The cat purred and gave Sadie a half-eyed stare.
Sadie grinned. “Okay, I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
————- ——————–
Saturday night . . .
————- ——————–
Sadie took great delight in pulling her pickup truck around the drive of the mayor’s house and parking it. She knew that there would be valet parking, but no one drove her truck but her. End of story.
“I can’t believe you actually named your GPS unit ‘Scarlett’,” Melissa said, climbing out of the passenger side of the truck. “Though she does sound like a Scarlett.”
“Told you. And have I told you that you look ravishing tonight?” she said, taking Mel’s hand and spinning her around. Melissa had gone with simple and ck, and it fit her well. It was a snug dress with sleeves that went from her neck all the way to her calves, hugging her lithe frame. She also wore a choker ne, which was to let any vamps in the crowd know that she wasn’t on the market. She hadn’t quite figure out what she wanted, but she had eliminated being a broodling.
“Like anyone would even notice me with you around,” Mel replied. Even though she’d seen Sadie trying the dress on, it seemed to take her breath away. The vampire had gone with a glittery white gown with slits cut in the sides up to the mid thigh, a neckline that plunged below the breast line, exposing tanned flesh every inch of the way. The dress also dipped dangerously low in the back, stopping its descent just above the woman’s ass. Sadie was certainly not wearing a bra, so the only thing between her chest and the eyes of the world were the soft wide strapsing down from her neck. On most attractive women, the dress would have looked good. On Sadie, it would make people’s blood boil out of desire or jealousy. Mel fell into the former category.
Sadie took Melissa’s arm and they walked in the door, almost giving the doorman a heart attack. They were met by one of the mayor’s cronies who informed them, much to Sadie’s annoyance, that they had been ced at the mayor’s table for dinner, along with Lord Frost, a few other councilmen as well as officer Koloff and his wife. dimir was already sitting at the table, but Sadie didn’t see the infamous “bitch” that everyone seemed to hold in so little regard.
The two women worked there way through the crowd, with most of the eyes of nearby revelers on the Arbiter. Her hair was up in some delightfully wild looking bun, leaving her neck exposed. She was a wet dream for almost everyone in the room. She sat down next to dimir with Mel on her other side.
The werewolf looked about as happy as a patient in a dentist’s waiting room. He already had a ss of something that reeked of vodka and was just staring off into space. When he heard Sadie sit, he turned to look at her. And even the grizzled police veteran couldn’t help but take Sadie’s image in without a hint of desire in his eye. Much to his credit, he was able to pull his eyes up to hers quickly.
“Nice outfit,” he grumbled. I didn’t know there was going to be a basketball game.”
She grinned and kissed him on the cheek. “You are so funny!” she said. ‘Damn, he actually smells good.’ “You look as happy to be here as I am.”
He looked her over more puposefully this time. “I think that you’re still better suited to this than I am.”
“So where’s your wife?” she asked.
He froze for a second, then rxed. He pointed his goateeden chin towards a group of people standing next to the bar. “That’s Teresa in the green.”
Sadie was impressed. The slight elfish woman was a legitimate looker with short blond hair and a build even slimmer than Melissa, and she looked perfectly at home chatting it up with the tux and tie crowd. The way she ced her hands on their arms,ughed at every joke, and sent coy looks at all the gentleman told the tale.
“Score one for the wolfman,” Sadie said. Melissa gripped the vampire’s hand while dimir’s face fell. “Sorry,” she said, looking confused.
dimir gave her a tired smile. “It’s okay. I know what people say about her. I was just assuming the worst.”
Sadie badly wanted to know this story, but she decided right then and there who she wanted to hear it from. “dimir,” she started, “I promise you this. I’ll judge you for who you are and, if she and I talk, I’ll judge her for who she is. I won’t ask questions. I won’t dislike her for for other peoples’ sake, but I won’t like her for yours. That’s the best I can do. Okay?”
dimir actually looked somewhat relieved, though he tried not to show it. He just nodded and returned to his drink.