Page 27 of Nosfer-Meet You

“Hey, gorgeous, what’s your name?” I hear him say, and then he disappears in the crowd of other vamps.

Whatever. I’m not his dad. He can do what he wants. And besides, I’m probably the youngest one here aside from my sister, who’s standing at the end of the pier with Elias. I home in on them immediately.

Now, if anyone actually was our dad? It’d be Elias. The man’s older than dirt, having been turned sometime in ancient Mesopotamia. We joke around all the time that the man’s probably buddied up with Jesus Christ at some point, but he swears he never crossed paths with him. His dark skin and hair and glowing amber eyes make him distinctive even in a diverse city such as New York, so he’s rarely seen at social gatherings. He just attracts too much attention on account of being insanely attractive in a weird, ethereal sort of way. The only time he graces us with his company is when Harriett doesn’t have anyone else to look after her.

Namely, me.

I stride up to the pair and slide my hands in my jeans pockets. “Hey.”

“Hello, Scott. Thank you for joining us,” Elias says, his tone perfectly cordial. But I know better. He’s irritated as all hell with me right now for not showing up sooner.

Harriett throws her arms around me in a hug. She’s only five feet tall, with bouncy strawberry curls and green eyes. The envy of women everywhere, I’m sure, especially in her sunny yellow dress. Harriett was recently turned in ’92, making her the true baby of the coven. We scooped her up during a Helsing raid, and the two of us have been inseparable ever since. She was only sixteen when she was turned by a random vampire hunting her at the local zoo. She stayed until nightfall with her family, and he slaughtered them all except for her.

Naturally, I hunted that vampire down and removed his head from his shoulders.

“We were wondering if you’d come,” she says into my chest as I stroke the back of her head.

“Yeah, sorry. I only just found out about it. Ava told us an hour ago,” I say, locking eyes with Elias. He arches a brow at me. He’s still in his suit from work. The man never takes a night off. “Why are you here? You never slum it with the lesser creatures at these things.”

He lets out a deep chuckle. “Harriett wished to see a frenzy, but you were not picking up your phone. Is something wrong with your landline again? Do you need my assistance in paying your bill?”

I shake my head as Harriett continues to cling to me, which I don’t mind. “No. I got it. Just didn’t hear it ring, I guess.” More like I took it off the hook because I didn’t want anyone bothering me. “I had a gig tonight.”

“How’d it go?” Harriett asks, her yellow eyes gleaming.

I sigh and look up at the stars twinkling overhead. For a second, you could almost forget that there’s a riot of debauchery and death mere feet away from us. “Not great,” I say.

“How many?” Elias asks.

I blink.

He takes out a cigarette from his breast pocket and lights it. “How many people this time, Scott?”

“Twelve,” I lie. It was four. But no one needs to know that.

“It was four,” Elias says.

“Dammit,” I mutter, and work my jaw. “You and Ava have to stop that shit.”

“We will when you start answering your coven with honesty,” he says.

“Well, maybe I don’t want to always tell the truth. Because the truth sucks ass, Eli. And I know what you’re going to say,” I snap. Harriett’s eyes aren’t gleaming anymore. They look sad. Her mouth turns into a frown, and I pat her on the back of the head. “It’s fine, Freckles.”

Elias’s throat bobs before he takes another drag of his cigarette. “You have done your best. It’s commendable. You are resilient. Hard working. Dedicated.”

I pinch the space between my brows. Oh, here we go again. The sales pitch. “Eli⁠—”

“But I believe it is time to revisit reality, Scott. Come work for me. We are doing good, important work. And I have a place for you,” he says, taking a step closer. Instinctively, I take a step back. Harriett drops her arms from my waist as I move, and she watches me like I’m a spooked rabbit about to bolt. Maybe I am.

“Please, Scott,” he continues. “Think about it. Your future. Our future as a species. You won’t have to live in that apartment anymore.”

I frown and drop my arm to the side. “I like my apartment.”

He makes a soft click with his tongue. He’s always thought the apartment complex I live in, the nest, is beneath me. Beneath all of us. I appreciate what Eli is trying to do, I really do, but I’m no suit. I’m not cut out for corporate life.

“I’d be working in the mailroom,” I say, my voice taking on a steely edge.

Elias lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug. “Only to start.”