AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“She only cancelled because her damnable husband signed her up without her knowledge,” Irving informed him. “Sage is an independent woman who has been made a puppet by a devil who goes by the name Mark.”
Cameron smiled his accursed perfect smile. He dropped the smock in disgust and strutted so close to Irving, he could smell the blood type on his brother’s breath, and took his face into his hands. “My dear brother,” he uttered, stroking Irving’s face with the back of his hand, “I have never seen you so animated with passion. I think perhaps this woman has captured your cold dead heart.”
“Get your hands off of me!” Irving shouted. He pushed Cameron’s cold fingers from his face.
Cameron rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the leaking corpse on the table. “Ugh, dead humans are so terribly messy,” he stated. “But, if finishing this embalming helps my poor aloof brother find love, I will, naturally, make the sacrifice.”
“Thank you,” Irving muttered.
“One more thing,” Cameron said.
“What is it?”
“Call her before you go barging into her home,” Cameron suggested. “You wouldn’t want to go scaring her off now, would you?”
As much as Irving often despised his brother, Cameron had made a good point. Upon closing himself up in his office, Irving removed his phone from a drawer in his desk. He stared at the rectangular piece of plastic, that was apparently a phone, worries flowing through his mind.
Blake had recently purchased the absurdly small device for him. According to his brother, it was voice activated. Irving wasn't as up to date on modern technology and was clueless when it came to its operation.
At last, after several light flicking and door closing routines, Irving worked up the nerve to call Sage. He cleared his throat, bringing the curious cellular device closer to his face. “Good evening phone,” he said. The screen remained blank. “Phone? Are you there?” No response. “Blasted thing,” Irving muttered. He gave up on using the cell, instead opting for his office phone.
“Hello?” Irving’s heart rate increased the moment he heard Sage’s voice.
“Hello,” Irving greeted. “This is Sage, I presume?”
“Um, yes... s-sorry, who is this?” the woman sounded flustered, and Irving couldn’t help but wonder if she was alright.
“Irving. We met the other night.”
Sage laughed uneasily. “Oh, that’s right,” she replied. An uncomfortable silence followed her response. It was eventually broken by Irving’s clumsy attempt at asking her out.
“Erm… listen, I was wondering if you would care to meet again sometime. That is, I know you’re married and I’m not suggesting anything would happen during our meeting… I guess what I’m trying to say is, I would like to see you again.”
“Oh. Yes, I-I would like that too,” Sage stuttered. “Um, I’m kind of dealing with a situation right now so, maybe tomorrow?” Her voice sounded distressed, as though she was in danger. Irving heard a loud bang. “I-I have to go,” she announced suddenly.
It was then that Irving made his decision. Sage was a maiden in need of his aid. “Never fear, my darling,” he said, “I’m on my way.”
Irving unlatched the window on the back wall of his office. He wrestled the screen free of its frame and, without delay, dived through the opening. His transformation swift, he flapped his wings and glided through the darkening sky in the direction of Sage’s house. No sooner had he left then he came to a crucial realization: having transformed into a bat, he no longer was wearing clothes. This would mean he’d be naked upon resuming his usual form and while he certainly had no objection to that, he could see how it would seem unusually forward to a lady.
You moron!he thought. He returned to his office, transformed back, dressed himself and decided he’d simply run to Sage’s house.
Being a vampire, Irving possessed superhuman strength, speed, and agility although for him, it didn’t completely cure him of his innate clumsiness - close but not quite. His speed allowed him to move so fast, the human eye could scarcely detect him; with the unfortunate side effect of him occasionally losing track of his feet. Afterall, it was difficult to tell where he was stepping when his legs were moving so fast they appeared as blurs.
Just as Irving was approaching a house with the number matching the one depicted on her form, he misjudged the distance to the curb around the front parameter of her yard. The apex of his shoe caught on the concrete block, causing him to go flying - and not in a graceful batty way; face planting with a hard thud in the middle of her snow-covered lawn.
“Gravity, you whore!” he grumbled. He swiftly picked himself up from the ground.
“Irving?” Sage approached him, gingerly. She had a frantic look in her eye and a baseball bat clutched in her hands. “What are you doing here? It’s not safe.” She looked him up and down, noting his rumpled appearance. “What happened? I heard a loud thump. I-I thought it was… nevermind.”
Brushing the snow from his hair, Irving explained the reason behind his sudden appearance. “Your situation sounded urgent over the phone. I thought perhaps you required help.”
Sage shifted the bat to her right hand, wrapping her cardigan firmly around her body with the other. Her eyes darted about her lawn in paranoia. “Okay,” she said on an exhale. “Just get in my house, and fast.”
Irving followed Sage into her house, thankful for the invitation. The interior of the house fascinated him. It had been ages since he’d explored a mortal’s household. “Everything is so empty,” he observed.
In the parlor, there were no family crests displayed on the wall, nor were there any photographs or artworks. A bland sofa and television set were all that the room had to offer apart from a small tree in the corner decorated with shining bulbs and lights, and a single wreath hanging over a doorway leading deeper into the house. Rather sparse, all in all. He knew mortals adored the holidays and often covered every inch of their homes in festive decorations. Not so for Sage, which fascinated him.
“I suppose so,” Sage replied. “That’s how Mark liked it. He detested clutter.”
