Page 21 of Grave Expectations

“That sounds…disconcerting.”

“It can be. It happened just as cars became popular, that was quite a scare. But I missed out on the early motion picture era and instead experienced it in color and sound.”

“You go to the movies?” Roz asked.

“Often. I cannot leave Pumpkin Hollow. I like to sit in the diner, or go to the park and just sit and watch. I believe it’s called people watching?”

“I wondered why you don’t talk like someone from the 1690s.”

“Cinema,” he said, pulling her close. “But there are some things I have wanted to experience. Plumbing, for example.”

“Oh,” Roz laughed. “You’ve never taken a shower?”

“No need. And I do not enter homes, it is invasive.”

“Let me show you,” Roz said, leading him to the bathroom. She turned the knobs and the shower surged on. “Usually I wait for the water to warm up, but I don’t know if you can feel it.”

He stuck his hand under the stream, fascinated as it didn’t go through his skin, but washed over him. The water turned reddish brown as the blood and dirt washed off his hand.

Roz stepped back to give him space to experiment, to lather with her soaps and shampoos. He stayed under the stream until the water ran clean beneath him,

“I think I like the shower,” he said.

He stepped from the shower and dried off. Alaric marveled at the towel as he passed it over his skin. “Last night the blood beaded, but the water cleaned me off,” he said.

“You’re right,” Roz agreed. “Would that be blood magic or sex magic?”

“Best to continue both, just to be sure,” he said. Roz laughed, stepping back into her bedroom. She paused at the pile of clothing she hadn’t noticed before sitting on her desk chair.

“The errand I ran,” he said. He lifted the clothes, grinning as he was able to pick them up. “My old wares.”

“From the museum?” she asked, with a mix of apprehension and dread.

“Yes. I returned the books we borrowed and took some of my clothes. Before you say anything, it is not stealing because they were mine to begin with. I don’t recall lending them to the museum.”

“Fair point,” she said, looking around the room. “Where’s your robe?”

“In a bag. I refuse to put it back on. I do wonder what will happen when I put these on. What if my clothing is visible to others, but I remain invisible? At least it will lend credence to my existence.”

“Or that I’ve finally lost it and spelled a set of clothing to follow me around,” Roz said.

“No clothing then,” Alaric said, dropping his towel on the ground. “I will walk about naked.”

Roz laughed. “And if someone does see you?”

“It would not be the first time I’ve walked through the square naked,” he said, his grin wolfish.

“Really?”

“I told you, all my sins were absolved by dying. I did it on a dare, while piss drunk with the other men of the coven. The joke was on me, they stole my clothes and I stumbled around looking for them. I was found in the pig slop trough the next morning, only awoke when they threw the food atop me.”

Roz laughed again and Alaric moved toward her, tilting her face up to him. “I will tell you all sorts of awful stories if they make you laugh,” he said.

“I can see why your reputation wasn’t exactly wholesome. Were you always this way?”

“Just with the woman I courted,” he said, sliding his fingers through her hair. Goddess, it felt good. He was so gentle and thorough, untangling the knots of sleep with deft hands.

“Is that what this is? Courting?”