15
After pacing around the apartment for most of the afternoon with a tightness in my chest and throat that I knew wasn't from asthma or any other medical condition, I called Dana to see what she was up to. "Think you might want to go out for a walk or maybe a bite to eat? We could bring Stephanie, too, if you have her right now. Maybe show her those pretty new daffodil planters they have in front of the cafe."
Clara hadn't been kidding when she'd told me that the cafe directly across the street was the primary hangout for human women in the city. Serving almost every comfort food imaginable, as well as just about every coffee drink that had ever been invented, it was almost like a second home for women who hadn’t been turned into vampires yet and still needed three square meals a day.
I was definitely up for a little comfort food given my state of mind, but unfortunately, Dana said that Stephanie was cutting a new tooth and had been fussy all day.
"I feel like she should really stay in, and I should stay with her. I'm going to see if I can get her to take a little nap before dinner and bath-time here in a bit because I think even just ten or twenty minutes of rest might calm her nerves. Mine, too. But if you want to stop by and see us-"
The sound of Dana’s voice had been cut off by a high-pitch wail.
"Oh boy. She just bonked herself in the face with a toy. Gotta go."
I decided to go to the cafe by myself, have dinner, and bring Dana back some dessert or something.
When I left the apartment building, the late-afternoon sky was a dark slate-gray, and a light rain was falling. The weather seemed to match my current mood perfectly.
When I arrived at the cafe, some of the raindrops that had fallen on its large white awning outside were already dripping off the awning, appearing to me like falling tears. Inside, the place was packed, and the large plate-glass front windows were steamed up with the breath of so many people inside added to the hot plates of food coming out of the kitchen. On an old jukebox adjacent to the cash register, some upbeat "oldies" song from the 1950s was playing.
The song was something bouncy and up-tempo with lyrics that went on about a "best day ever," but the mood in the cafe didn't exactly match. Dozens of women sat in booths and at tables with expressions that struck me as a little glum, or maybe tense somehow, or both. Even the two vampire women who were waitresses at the cafe looked a little down. This especially struck me as a little unusual, since normally these two women were just about the two perkiest women ever. Before arriving in Everglen, I would have never thought that “perky” vampires were even a “thing,” but some of the women in the city had definitely proved me wrong.
Since Dana was the only real, close friend I'd made in the city so far, I didn't know who else to sit with or where else to sit. Our usual table was taken by two young women eating large plates of macaroni and cheese without looking like they were really enjoying it much.
Feeling something like the new girl at a high school, I shuffled through the main floor of the cafe, deciding that I'd take a little empty table near the back rather than interrupt anyone I'd been introduced to by asking if I could sit with them.
However, before I could reach the little table, a short young woman with pale blonde hair waved to me from a booth. "Tiffany! Hi!"
Her name was Kendra, and like Dana, she had an outgoing, fairly indiscriminately friendly sort of personality. Not that I knew her that well, though. Dana had just introduced us briefly one day.
I made my way over to Kendra's booth, where she and a friend sat with large chef's salads and glasses of iced tea. Soon, I was sitting with them with a salad of my own, after Kendra had introduced me to her friend Megan and had invited me to join them.
At first, in the glow of a strand of tiny white lights running along the wall next to our booth, the three of us just made small talk, discussing things like their kids, the weather, and what I thought of Everglen so far.
But then, Kendra took a sip of her iced tea, seemed to study me over the rim of the glass, set the glass down, and then did a little throat-clear that struck me as forced-casual for some reason. "So, Tiffany...."
I set my fork down, intent on what she was going to ask me or say.
But instead of finishing the thought, Kendra just turned bright red, obscuring the light smattering of freckles on her cheeks. "Sorry. I was going to ask you something, but now I just feel like a big gossip or something, and I honestly hate gossip."
Now I was really interested in what she'd been going to ask me. Now I almost felt like I had to know.
Wanting to encourage her to spill, I shook my head. "No, don't worry at all about seeming like a gossip. Just go ahead and ask me whatever you were going to ask me. As long as it's nothing too personal, I'm pretty much an open book, so I really don't think I'll mind whatever it is."
Looking visibly relieved, Kendra took another sip of her iced tea and once again set her glass on the table. "Okay, well...I just wondered if you'd heard about the...the fight or whatever it was today, and I just wondered if you knew anything about it. Everyone's just kind of...." Kendra shrugged, tucking a strand of her short blonde bob behind one ear. "I don't know. Maybe just slightly worried. Or maybe just upset to hear about it or something. It’s just not often that Commander Alexander comes out of a fight without having killed the other person. I think people are just worried maybe.”
My interest had turned to complete confusion. I wasn't aware of Nick having been involved in any fight. He certainly hadn’t called to tell me about it, although maybe he had tried, I reasoned. When I’d left the apartment to come to the café, I’d forgotten to bring my big cellular telephone with me. It would have been a much handier electronic device if I’d been able to put it in my pocket. In certain pants, I could, but it then made the pants so tight just by its sheer bulk that they were uncomfortable. There was also the matter of it becoming hot in my pocket sometimes.
Feeling more than a bit stupid somehow that I hadn’t heard about whatever fight Nick had been involved in, I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I really don't know anything about any fight that Nick was involved in. I'm feeling just...kind of clueless, I guess."
Megan looked at me a bit skeptically, as if she wasn't quite sure at all that I was telling the truth. "So, the fight wasn't over you or anything that you know of?"
I shook my head again. "No. I mean...I really don't know. I really haven't heard about any fight that Nick was involved in today."
Megan frowned. “So, you haven’t heard about him and the leader of the Dormios getting into some fight just outside the city?”
When I shook my head, she continued.
“Well, Nick’s fine, but like Kendra said, everyone’s just a little rattled. It’s really not like Commander Alexander to not kill an opponent, but that’s what happened today. I guess that John, the leader of the Dormios, eventually fled from him, and Nick just couldn’t catch up. Now, there’s all these rumors going around that the fight was because of you…because you used to be a part of the Dormios or something, and now they want you back.”
Kendra flamed red again. "I'm sorry, Tiffany. We're being rude to you. Whatever happened between Nick and John today is their business, and whatever you've heard or haven't heard about it is yours. We'll leave you in peace to eat now because we've gotta get going to pick up our kids from the toddler dance class down the street."
Kendra and Megan got out of the booth, and Kendra said she was going to pay for my salad at the register. I said thanks but that she didn't have to, but she insisted.
“It’s the least I can do for us being so rude to you.” She glanced at Megan before returning her gaze to my face. “We really are sorry.”
I said that it was fine, but that I wanted her and Megan to know that the rumors weren’t true. “I did have a relationship with one of the Dormio vampires several years ago, but that man is dead now. I certainly never had a relationship with John. He’s actually my mortal enemy now -- now that Nick told me the truth about the Dormios killing my coven members.
“Actually, there’s probably no one in this city who wants to kill John as badly as I do right now. I’ve even asked Nick if I can help fight him if the Dormios ever invade the city, but…you know. I’m just a ‘mere mortal woman.’ So, I suppose I should just sit back and look dainty while most everyone else fights, at least according to Nick.”
Katie smiled at me, dimpling one of her full cheeks. “Oh, so you’ve gotten the ‘mere mortal woman’ routine, too? Trust me, I know all about it. I’ve wanted to fight the Dormios in the past myself, but like Nick, my husband thinks I’m far too delicate of a flower to ever dream of that.”
I tried to smile in return, but it was difficult with a distinct ache in my chest. I was starting to think that my desire for revenge on the Dormios was going to tear Nick and me apart.
Once Kendra and Megan had left, I started in on my salad again, but I hadn't even taken a bite when a waitress brought me the café’s cordless telephone and said that I had a call. Thinking it might be Nick, calling to arrange a meetup with me to tell me about the fight or something, I answered the call quickly.
However, it was Dana, even though I'd pretty much just talked to her. She said she’d just been to my apartment and had gotten no answer at the door, so she wondered if I’d maybe went to the cafe. Thinking that maybe she was having some sort of an emergency, I started to ask if anything was wrong, but she cut me off, saying she'd be over to the cafe in five.
She actually made it over in only two or three minutes and sat down across from me, unwinding a thick, bright pink scarf from her neck. "So, one of the older women who babysits for me dropped by a little bit ago and insisted that I go out to take a break from Stephanie's teething. Bless her, because I really did need to get out of the apartment.
“I can’t tell you how much I love being a mom, but sometimes with a fussy baby, you just start to feel like the walls are closing in on you.” Pausing for a deep breath, Dana set her coat beside her, grabbed a laminated menu, and began scanning it. “Noah thinks his job as Nick’s lieutenant is rough sometimes, and I’m sure it is, but he should try taking care of a baby twenty-four hours a day.”
I gently pulled the top of the menu down so I could see Dana’s face. "Hey. I know you're probably hungry and want to order, but I've got to talk to you about something important. There was some sort of a fight between Nick and John, who’s the leader of the Dormios today. Have you heard anything about it?"
Dana set her menu on the table with a sigh. "Well...I didn't want to just burst right out with it and alarm you or anything, but, yes. I've heard about it, and from a comment a friend said to me in the elevator down in our building, the whole city has heard about it by now.
“See...people are saying that there’s something strange going on with you and the Dormios, or there’s some strange history or something. I don’t think people outright think you’re a spy or anything, but…well, I guess some people are just questioning your loyalty. And some people are wondering if Nick intentionally let John get away today for your sake or something.”
The very idea was so ridiculous that I could have laughed out loud, and I might have, if the irony wasn’t killing me. Everyone in the city thought that I was in collusion with John or something, when the truth was that I was becoming more and more determined to kill him myself with each minute that went by.