Balance Beam

Once my shift was over, I had plans to meet my best friend at her house. I had to tell her that Bram knew I was a vampire finally. She was going to be tickled to death. I was quite the opposite however. Something told me that he was freaked out by the idea. Bram was far too quick to agree to time apart. He was quite nosey though, so who knows? Maybe he is still interested.

As I was about to walk upstairs towards the bar, Aroldo grabbed my arm and pulled me into his office. “Is everything alright?” I asked.

Aroldo let go of my arm and began pacing his office. “I have confirmation that Alcurd is in New York,” he began. I gasped, not wanting to hear this. “He’s far north of here but it looks like he’s headed this way.”

I sat in one of the leather seats and my boss sat beside me. My head dropped to my hands as I sat there quietly and thought about everything recently. This was too much for me at the moment. Aroldo placed his hand on my leg, causing me to look at him. He was staring at me with a worried look on his face.

“Giselle, by your behavior today I thought that you already knew. What’s wrong?” he asked concerned. I shook my head, not wanting to tell him about the Bram situation. “Come on, you can talk to me.”

I sighed heavily, caving in. “My human acquaintance asked me if I was a vampire today. I, of course, couldn’t lie to him. We agreed with the given circumstances that we should stop speaking for some time unless it’s work related. I’m quite sure he’s afraid of me now.”

Aroldo tilted his head to the side. “And that bothers you?”

I shook my head at his question. But he didn’t pull me into his office to talk about me. “What else do you know about Alcurd right now?” I asked, hoping to change the subject. Aroldo finally removed his hand from my leg after I ignored him for several minutes.

“Well, it looks like he’s headed this way. But he was alone,” he sighed. I eyed him suspiciously.

“Alone? I thought your wife said a woman was with him?” I asked. Had they deceived me to find out information about my maker? I would not take kindly to that, my Mayor or not.

Aroldo shrugged his shoulders, running his hand through his wild hair. “We tracked him for hours, nothing of her. We’re thinking they separated once they came to the state. Legally, they have three days to come in and register to stay in the area. If they don’t, then we can take action. Until then, there’s nothing we can really do.”

I nodded and turned to leave. Just as my fingers grazed the doorknob, my boss cleared his throat behind me. Dropping my hand, I rolled my eyes before turning around to face him. “Yes?”

“Are you sure you’re okay, Giselle?” he asked. I stared at his facial expression for the longest time. He seemed genuinely concerned, something I was suspicious of.

“I’ll be fine, Aroldo. Now I must be off, I have to meet Janis at her house. Have a good night,” I half-smiled before leaving his office. As soon as I closed the door behind me, I sighed heavily and growled in frustration.

Alcurd was ruining everything again and I was truly sick of it. First, he ruins my human life. I was on my fucking way to meet my future fiancé when he attacked my carriage, killed everyone around me, then turned me into a vampire. Second, he had a cruel way of teaching me how to adapt to my new self and life. Not only that, but he treated me like shit and abused me physically. Third and last, he keeps following me to different cities whenever I try to get away from him. He taunts me from a distance, letting me know that he will always be able to find me. Alcurd is a bully and is insisting on making eternity a living hell for me.

After regaining my composure and running my hand through my untamed hair, I began my journey upstairs. It was only a few minutes past 3 am, so the bar was still open. Once upstairs, I clocked myself out. Even though I was tempted to stop at the bar and get a drink, I had told Janis that I would be at her house immediately following work. As I approached the door, Summer, who was bartending tonight, waved me over. I couldn’t just leave her hanging, so I walked over with a half-ass smile on my face. She was tending another customer when I snagged an empty barstool.

“Hey,” Summer smiled as she appeared in front of me a few minutes later. “Care for a drink? Employees get one on the house.”

I shrugged and smiled. “Sure, why not? Um, let me get a mango margarita,” I said. Summer nodded.

“Blood with that?” I shook my head no. “Giving up on whiskey, I see?” she asked as she began fixing my drink. I chuckled at her observation.

“I guess you could say that. Thanks,” I smiled as she handed it to me.

“No problem. Boy you look tired, you still coming to our house?”

I nodded as I sipped on my drink. “Yes ma’am. In fact, if I don’t hurry up your sister is going to think I’m bailing on her.” I took another gulp before standing. “Thanks for the drink, Summer. I’ll see you later.”

After waving goodbye, I turned and walked into the lobby. Orbit cut her eyes in my direction before turning her attention back to her hostess podium. She’s been glaring at me every time she gets a chance. Instead of feeding into her bullshit, I continued on my way and stepped outside. Since it was quite cold and I didn’t feel like walking, I decided to flag down a cab.

About ten minutes later, I was paying the cab driver and stepping onto the sidewalk in front of one of Aroldo Veneratio’s townhouses. I hurried inside, making my way to the staircase and began the seven flight journey. In an instant I was knocking on the Fletcher sisters’ apartment door. As I waited patiently, I could hear some movement inside the apartment.

“I hope you have a good excuse for being late,” Janis groaned as she opened the door. I smiled sweetly at her, trying to win her over.

“Your sister tried to get me drunk, is that good enough?” I asked cautiously. Janis stood there, acting like she was thinking it over. She nodded her head and moved out of the doorway.

“I suppose that’s a good enough excuse. Wish she would try to get me drunk every once in awhile,” she rambled as I stepped inside. “Anyway, you look like shit. What’s wrong?”

I shook my head at her as I slipped out of my jacket and flopped down on the couch. Janis wasn’t very well with words, obviously. But that’s one of her better qualities, well, funnier qualities. She shut the door behind us and joined me on the couch, turning the television’s volume down. I took my heels off, stretching.

“Bram knows I’m a vampire,” I blurted out. She stared at me wide eyed. “He asked me this afternoon if I was one, so I told him the truth. I think he’s afraid of me.”

Janis grabbed the beer off the coffee table and took a swig of it. “Do you think he’s going to tell Quinn?” she asked. I shook my head no.

“He’s not going to tell anyone unless he wants Alcurd to find out how close we are.” Janis gave me a puzzled look. “Oh yeah, he’s in the state now. I had that stupid dream the other night.”

Janis sighed, hugging me. “Do you think he’s coming here to bother you?” she asked me. I hugged her back, shrugging.

“I have no idea why he would. But if he is, I don’t want him hurting the humans. That’s why we have to distance ourselves from them, Janis. I know you’re fond of Quinn, but it’s to keep them safe.”

My best friend nodded at me silently, bringing her beer to her lips and taking another drink. I was certain that she was plotting Alcurd’s demise in her mind. Janis absolutely hates my maker and has no problem voicing it. It’s a good thing she hasn’t been face to face with him. They would end up fighting, that’s for sure.

“I can’t just stop talking to the guy, Giselle. That would be an asshole move,” she said matter of factly as she rolled her eyes. “I swear if I ever see that sorry excuse for a maker…”

“Enough,” I interrupted her as I stood from the couch. “Bitching about him won’t change anything, Janis. Just tell Quinn that you are going away to take care of your sick grandmother, or something.”

My best friend nodded, running her fingers through her hair. “What about your apartment?”

I sighed heavily, knowing what I had to do. “Aroldo thinks I should stay here with you and Summer. But if you two don’t like that idea, I’m sure he’ll fix me up a room somewhere.”

“Don’t be silly, you know you’re welcome here. Back up a second, Giselle,” Janis said as she stood up and crossed her arms. “How does Aroldo know about Alcurd? You’ve never told anyone about him being your Maker, and yet here the Mayor of New York is trying to protect you from him.”

I sighed heavily, knowing that I had to tell her everything. “If you repeat this to anyone, we’ll probably be burned at the stake,” I warned her and she waved me off, letting me know to continue. “Orbit is a witch and she had a vision that Alcurd is coming here.”

“A witch?” Janis gasped, her mouth hanging open.

I nodded. “I know, I didn’t pick it up either. Anyway, they spotted him in the state. The only thing that is odd, Orbit said that Alcurd was traveling with a woman when she had her vision, but Aroldo said that a woman wasn’t seen with him later on.”

“She probably decided to ditch him because he’s too miserable to be around,” Janis griped. I couldn’t help but crack a smile at her.

“He prefers to travel alone, Janis. But I think this chick is with him and they split up once they got to New York. Aroldo thinks that he’s plotting against the council somehow,” I said, sighing heavily. This was too much.

“Well, what do you think he’s here for?” my friend asked, before going to the kitchen and returning with a bottle of Jack for me and a beer for herself.

“I honestly have no idea,” I shrugged, taking the bottle from her. “We need to find out who this woman is somehow. We need to find her whereabouts because until we do, she could sneak up on us and I don’t like that idea.”

Janis nodded, drinking some of her beer. “We could talk to Orbit and if she remembers what she looks like vividly, I could sketch her face. If we get a visual, everyone can be on the lookout for her.”

I smiled at my best friend, raising the whiskey bottle in the air for a toast. She clinked her beer bottle against it, returning my smile. “We start first thing tomorrow. Until then, we drink,” I chuckled before we tipped back our beverages.