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She looks up, the slightest crease in her brow. “Do you need something?”
While her words are nice enough, her tone is one of clear dismissal. I’m surprised to find my my stomach clenching at it.Why are you bothering her, you idiot?
I shake my head and she flicks her wrist, making all the cabinet doors fly open at once. Then, she gets back to raiding their contents. Before I leave the kitchen to lick my wounds, I pause in the doorway. “Can I… can I help you with whatever you’re doing?”
Celeste stands up and regards the mess of decanted kitchenware on the counter with an irritated expression before meeting my gaze – looking no less annoyed with me than she does with the mixing bowls. “I’m sorry, Deni.” She rubs her temples, looking infinitely tired and strangely weak. “I just don’t have time right now.”
“Oh. Sorry.”Ouch.By the time I’ve recovered enough from her tone to retreat, she’s already marched out of the kitchen and started digging through the wardrobe in the hallway.
I return to my room with a tucked tail, drinking my tea while quietly cringing to myself. I guess having her climb in bed with me to soothe my nightmares gave me the wrong impression.
What? Did you think she actually likes you?My inner voice is especially acrid today, still full of scorn from having my naivete beaten out of me. Obviously, I let my stupid hope get away from me, thinking that maybe my life wasn’t such a mess and I could work out this vampire thing after all. When in reality, I’m utterly dependent on some neurotic witch who I have a dumb crush on and who, in turn, probably just feels sorry for me because of how inept I am at taking care of myself, and who I’m burdening with my mere existence.
Stop spiralling.I take a deep breath and sip my tea.
Outside of my room, I can hear the occasional sound of something heavy scraping over the floor or of something being slammed down. When the sounds don’t stop after over an hour, I force myself to get up and check. Something is going on. I’ve seen Celeste smile through an almost-deadly car chase, so whatever is making her this stressed must be bad.
The upstairs hallway has been left fairly unscathed but downstairs, every cabinet, shelf, or cupboard has been emptied and its contents scattered. It looks like a tornado has swept through the house. There is no logic to the destruction and no obvious pattern to be detected in her search – she could be looking for a tupperware container or a particularly dangerous high heel.
Not finding her anywhere in the house, I follow the mess into the basement. Most of the shelves lining the low walls are intact, their bizarre contents floating unperturbedly in their jars. Only a chest at the end of the room has been opened and upturned, dried herbs dispersed around it.
As I enter, I see Celeste standing over one of the desks with her back turned to me, dumping a box onto one of the large desks and digging through its scattered contents, haplessly pushing paper bags, jars, and vials from side to side. In her urgency, one of the bags tears and scatters seeds over the floor. After rummaging for a few moments, she sweeps the contents off the desk and onto the ground with an irritated gesture. Multiple glass beakers are caught in the cross fire and shatter as they hit the floor.
“Fuck!” she swears, bending over the table and burying her face in her hands.Her whole body is shaken by violent shivers.
“Celeste?”
She doesn’t turn. “What do you want?”
Her tone stings but there’s also something in it that makes me stand my ground.
I approach the table carefully, eyeing it for things she could throw at me. “I wanted to see if you’re okay.”
“Fine.”
For a moment, I stand there lost, working up the courage to keep going. I step through the mess of herbs and broken glass on the ground until I can reach her and gently put my hand on her back.
She flinches, turning her head away from me and curling around herself more tightly. “I said I’m fine, Deni.”
“You’re not.” I try to turn her towards me, though it only makes her turn her head further away from me. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Ugh!” She throws her hands up and finally looks at me. I’m surprised to find her eyes red and glistening. “Can you really not see what is going on here, kitten? Are you blind? Do I really need to spell it out for you?”
I flinch, realising that she's never raised her voice at me before. It immediately takes me back to the drawn out, intense fights I used to have with Casey. Usually, they ended with her throwing stuff at me. Swallowing, I look at the mess around us.
Celeste’s hands shake violently as she runs her fingers through her hair. I’ve seen these kinds of tremors before with people in our flat.But Celeste has money to pay for drugs.
“It’s the Ghostshade,” I say, my voice carefully neutral.
She throws her hands up in a way that saysduh. Her gaze is directed everywhere but at me.
Ignoring the hurt in my chest, I reach out and steady her hands, weaving my fingers through hers.
It takes her a while before she seems to accept the fact that I’m not going away. With a quiet voice, she says, “They cut me off.”
“Who?”
“Charon’s Veil. They have a complete monopoly on Ghostshade in this city. And they won't sell to me or anyone who has ever worked for me or been seen with me or even looked at me, apparently.”
