Love Nip (9 page)

His voice
made butterflies in my stomach go crazy. I walked past the guard giving him my best ‘na-na-boo-boo’ face. I didn’t exactly know where Kimmy’s cell was located since I was always stopped at the desk. I saw a welcome mat at the edge of a cell in the back and knew that’s where I was headed. I walked around the corner and saw her sitting at a desk in the cell, her back to me.

“I was wondering when you would finally get that big oaf to
help you out. You’ve tried forty two times, it took you long enough,” she stated as she turned around.

As soon as our eyes met my tears started
falling. She got up quickly, threw the door open, and pulled me in tightly … almost too tight.

“What am I missing?”
she asked.

“You don’t even want to know,” I admitted
, trying to control my emotions.

“Please come inside my humble abode and have a seat. I would offer you some coffee
, but I’m fresh out,” she joked.

“Why are you even here if your cell isn’t locked?” I questioned curiously.

“Ah, it’s nice here. And they feed me!” she exclaimed.

“I bit Ezra and now he’s dying,” I started.

“Bummer,” she said emotionlessly.

“That’s all you can say? My boyfriend is dying and all you have to say is bummer?” I demanded
, suddenly becoming upset.

“Em, calm down. Ezra is smart
, he’s not going to die. And he’s not your boyfriend.”

“How do you know?”

“I see everything; Robert set me up with some pretty high tech gear. I have access to every camera in a five hundred mile radius,” she said as she sat at her desk and opened a laptop. There was a small child in a gas station on the screen. He looked around nervously, grabbed a bag of chips, and stuffed it in his shirt.

“Nice,” I admitted.

“You should see the shit people do when they don’t know someone is watching.”

“So what do you think I should do about Ezra?” I asked
, hoping to gain insight about my problem.

“I think you should let him go. I know this is going to be hard
, but if he wants to die then let the stubborn bastard die.”

“Kimmy, this isn’t like I’m breaking up with him. He is going to die
.” I began to raise my voice and a glimmer of red flashed in her eyes. I could remember the multiple times I was lectured by Ezra on why I wasn’t allowed to see Kimmy, but I continued to roll my eyes and ignore his comments. I now wished I had listened. I knew he said she was dangerous but she looked like the same old Kimmy to me.

“Look
, honey bear, trust me when I say everything will work out just fine and stop worrying your pretty self over this. Ezra is going to be fine,” she said with a wink.

I figured she knew something that I didn’t
, but I wasn’t too sure. I walked out and left her door open intentionally. I wanted her to see that she could get out if she wanted to. I felt as though we were keeping her prisoner, even if she said it was her choice. I walked by the gate guard and gave him the finger with one hand and smacked Axle’s arm with the other. I felt slightly better about my situation. Kimmy was right. Ezra was a big boy and said he was doing this to be with me so surely he wouldn’t let himself die. I was beginning to think that maybe there was another underlying reason as to why he was doing this.

“So we have a few more people to visit
. Would you like to go?” Axle asked as we returned to the office.

“Absolutely
.”

Our first unlucky soul was Richie. Ashley warned us that Richie thought he was
magical but he really wasn’t. He was a thirty-two year old loser who still lived with his mother. Axle knocked on the door and waited. An older woman, who was wearing clothes that weren’t from this era, answered. She wore bright blue colored spandex and a hot pink sweater. The sweater hung loose around her neck and showed a little skin over her right shoulder. Let me tell you, she should not have been allowed to wear spandex. Her yellow headband was wrapped around a seriously bad blonde dye job.

“Can I help you?”
the woman asked.

“We
’re looking for Richie,” Axle informed her behind his shades. He thought he looked so cool. He did.

“Yea
h, come on in. I just made some sweet tea, would you two like some?” she asked politely as she led us to her living room.

“No thank you, we just need to ask Richie a few questions and we will be on our way,” Axle answered for both of us. I knew he was just as tired of swe
et tea as I was.

“Well, he’s not in any trouble now is he?”
she asked before she left.

“No
, ma’am,” was all he gave her. By the look on her face she wasn’t satisfied.

“I swear I’m going to throw up if one more person offers us sweet tea,” Axle complained as soon as Richie’s mother left the room.

My phone beeped, letting me know I had received a text message. I looked down to see the message was from my mother. ‘Emily, I am making dinner. Come by at seven, I have big news.’

“I didn’t even know
my mom knew how to send a text. I can’t imagine what her big news is,” I groaned. I hadn’t talked with my mom since her date with Robert. I wasn’t looking forward to that talk. I put my phone back in my purse just as a little kid walked in.

“Who are you two?”
the boy asked, resting his hands on his hip.

“We
’re the scary monsters that live in your closet,” Axle snapped at the kid, which in return made the little boy run out screaming.

“Axle, you jerk
! Why did you do that?” I asked, slapping his arm.

“I hate kids,”
he said.

“I knew you would come see me sooner or la
ter.” A man walked in sporting full war gear. He even had paint on his face. He was decked out in camouflage from his head to his toes. I didn’t know they made that many different styles of camouflage gear.

“What the
—never mind. Richie, we came to ask you a few questions about Maggie and Charlotte,” he stated.

“Ah yes
, the broads. I see, what questions might you have for me?” he asked as he sat in a recliner directly in front of us.

I turned to look at Axle, this one was all his.

“When was the last time you saw the girls?” Axle asked.

“That’s an easy one, at the meeting. I was standing next to them when they started to fight,”
he replied, smiling. This was a game to him. His answer made my ass itch and not in a good way.

“O
kay, did you hear what they were arguing about?” Axle asked.

“Yea
h, something about a party that Charlotte wasn’t invited to,” he answered, rocking back in the recliner and grinning with excitement. “I wasn’t invited either, but you don’t see me gettin’ all uppity about it.”

“You do know these two girls are missing,
right? Can you at least act like you care?” I demanded. I hadn’t realized I said it out loud until it was already out.

“Emily,” Axle snapped. “
Um, so Richie, did you see anything out of the ordinary during the meeting?”

“Nope,” he said, glaring at me.

“Do you know anything about the vampire Maggie was afraid of?” I asked
, glaring right back.

Richie’s face went white as a ghost. “What? That’s just stupid
,” he nervously stated, trying to force a laugh. After a few more questions it was obvious we weren’t getting anything out of him so we left.

“He’s lying,” I
said to Axle as we climbed back into his Mustang.

“Are you about to also tell me you think he did it?”
he joked.

“Actually
, now that you mention it, I could see him doing it. He seemed to think this was funny,” I replied.

We stopped for lunch and brought it back to work. I ate my food on the way back so I was wondering what exactly I was going to do for the rest of the afternoon when Robert popped his head out of his office
as I walked in.

“Emily, can I see you for a moment
, please?” he asked. He wore a button up blue shirt with jeans. He didn’t look a day over thirty. If it wasn’t for the fact that we looked so similar, I would say there was no way he was my father.

“What
’s up, Robert?” I asked, plopping down in a chair. I was praying he wasn’t upset about me being late.

“I have a mission for you
,” he stated.

“Sweet! I am so glad you finally see me as a real agent now. This is great! What is it
, a vampire?” I rambled with excitement.

“I guess you could say that,”
he said as he gave me a blank stare.

“Well
, what’s the mission then? That is if I choose to accept, right?” I laughed at my own play on words.

“Shopping,
” he answered with a straight face.

“Um, excuse me? I thought
you said shopping. Are serious?” I demanded. Was this a joke?

“
With the Ezra thing going on I completely forgot to tell you that we have a benefit to go to on Saturday and it will be a formal event. I need you to look your best. That means you have to wear a gown,” he explained with his usual bored expression.

“Ok
ay,” I said with a little more enthusiasm. I was a pro at shopping.

“Of course
, the division will pay for all of your purchases. This is a very elite occasion.”

“Sweet
! Yes, I can do that.” This was sounding like a dream come true.

“One more thing though
.”

Damn there’s always a catch.

“I want you to bring Riley with you.”

Dream crushed. “
Are you kidding? I’d rather hang myself from the ceiling fan,” I whined.

“
Emily, don’t be so dramatic. I want you two to get to know each other. Just take her shopping. It’s only shopping,” he tried.

“Fine, I’ll take her
.” I rolled my eyes. This was not going to be pleasant. He was ruining my favorite hobby by making me go with Satan’s sister. I stood, and turned to walk out.

“Oh
, and Emily, I’ll be watching.” He pointed his finger at me.

I gave him a worried look
. “That’s just creepy, Robert.”

Riley didn’t have any objections to
shopping together. We walked around the mall in silence. It felt like a very awkward first date.

“You know I’m really not that bad,”
she finally said, breaking the silence.

“I’ve heard criminals use that very same line before,” I mumbled. I knew she could hear my insult.

“I care a lot about Ezra, too,” she tried again. 

“Look
, this small talk is great and everything, but I just want to get a dress and get out of here,” I replied. It sounded like she was trying and I felt guilty for being so bitchy, but I couldn’t stand her. If I was honest with myself I was jealous of her. I started walking into a dress shop and she stopped me.

“Where are you going?”

“They have nice dresses for cheap here,” I explained.

She pulled out a shiny silver plastic card from her
back pocket. “We have an unlimited spending budget for a dress and you want a cheap polyester outfit?”

My eyes lit up. Maybe I could
learn to like her …

I had never been in a designer store before. I don’t see a point in paying my entire paycheck for a pair of shoes. If you’ve never been
, let me explain one thing I learned: if you show up with a no-price-is-too-expensive attitude and a shiny credit card you are a goddess in their eyes. We got pampered, fed, and complimented on every move we made. After trying on the fourth dress I had to force myself to stop looking at the price tags. We both picked our dresses, shoes, accessories and paid.

“So how did you meet Ezra?” I asked as we left the store with our treasures in hand.
It took everything I had to ask; I was curious, but I knew it would be difficult for me to hear her talk about Ezra.

“It was about four
hundred or so years ago, I lost count. I was feeding on some animals in an old barn; I was kind of a vampire vegetarian back then. I don’t know how it happened, but one minute I was eating and the next I was surrounded by flames. As escaped I noticed a man running into the burning barn … it was Ezra. He was trying to save his animals. I was amazed at his courage and heart to save the life of a creature. In the time it took him to save the horses, his house had caught on fire.” She stopped and swallowed hard. “His family became trapped inside. His wife and two daughters all died. Ezra was a wreck. Following him from a distance, I watched him for many days. I never let him know that I was there, I just felt so guilty about what had happened that I figured the least I could do was protect him. The night after the funeral he tried to kill himself to stop the pain. I saved him and turned him. I didn’t tell him for a long time that I had caused the fire, but when I did he forgave me immediately. He is such a pure and amazing man.” Riley stopped and looked at me. Her eyes spoke of sadness as she recalled the past. “He loves you very much, Emily. Even though the fire was my fault, he still blames himself for losing his family. He wants a second chance at life, a life with you.”