Wanted: Undead or Alive

It's Some Shady Sh*t

I glanced at the digital clock on the dashboard above the broken AM/FM radio and cassette player. When I got out, I greeted Drake by saying, "Aren't you supposed to be at work? Your nighttime crowd is going to be stumbling in soon."

He sat on the steps, gnawing a toothpick, watching me approach. "I was worried about you."

"You could have called."

He stood and slid his hands around my hips. "That's not nearly as intimate."

I laid my head over his heart and let him hold me. "I'm not feeling terribly up for intimacy just now."

"Intimacy doesn't have to be sex. This is intimate."

And it was. It was literally the most intimate thing I could imagine, being held and loved, unconditionally, by this amazing human. Tears came then, and they were the ugly, snotty, noisy kind of tears you can only shed in the presence of people you're truly safe with.

Mandrake sank back down onto the step, settled me on his lap, and rocked me. He stroked my hair and kissed my head and never indicated in any way that I should pull myself together. He waited with the patience of a saint until I wept myself dry and then sniffled and shivered and, finally, settled down.

"Is Nick okay?" he asked.

I wiped my face with the cuffs of my sleeves. "I guess. He's alive. He's in custody."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to eat? I brought pizza."

"Why haven't I married you yet?"

"Because you love adventure more than anything, and as soon as you commit, the adventure is over."

I drew back and studied his face.

He gave a sly little half grin. "I've asked myself that question. Just once or twice, of course. That's what I came up with."

It was a day for gaping and gawking.

His bronzed cheeks took on a rosy tint. "It could be I understand that because we're not so different, from each other. It wasn't just the one sorority party." Then he prompted me to stand, and he rose and took my hand and we climbed the stairs to my apartment.

After we'd piled our plates with pizza and hot wings drenched in ranch dressing, we sat on opposite ends of my new overstuffed couch, backs against the poofy arms so we could face each other. Around mouthfuls of Veggie Lover's Supreme, I explained about Nick and the siren, Officer Price, Joseph Benny, and the house full of supernatural creatures. By the time I finished, Drake was on his third helping of wings, and he'd cracked open a beer for each of us.

"What's Benny like?"

"He's kind of a nerd, actually. Not very impressive at all."

Drake took a long drink. "Impressive enough to get two demons to work for him and a third to marry him."

"Not just any demon, either. She's a succubus."

"I've heard nerd lovin' is the best lovin'."

"Is that why you like to make it with me?"

He grinned, adorably. "You're not a nerd."

"What am I?"

"You're a sparkly black unicorn kick ass goth princess."

"Good answer."

We toasted my sparkly gothness by clinking our beer bottles together.

Reality reasserted itself in my mind and my smile faded. "I have no idea how to do an investigation."