Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,42

sounded about as appealing as listening to Skrillex.

Calling the shadows, I felt their coolness as they slipped under me. Once they had gathered enough, they swallowed me up and spit me out in my own bed at my own house. I'm sure anybody in the room would have seen me rising from the comforter like some ghostly apparition. It was a cool, handy new talent, and one I would explore further once my head stopped throbbing and my ass was squeaky clean. Figuratively and literally. No more metaphysical sex. Ever.

I'm home, I let everybody know and slammed a mental barrier up, praying it would keep out the voices. It seemed to work as I was bathed in silence.

"You okay?" Yuki practically fell into the room.

"I will be as soon as the planet stops spinning and I have a shower."

I heard her clothes hitting the floor as she stripped and then took my hand, hoisting me up off the mattress. She got her shoulder under my arm and practically dragged me into the bathroom, turning the water on as she waited and kept me from falling to the floor.

"That was some party."

"I'm too old for that shit."

"Come on, Nana. Let's get you clean." She giggled, lifted me up, stepped over the edge of the shower, and stuck me back first under the spray of water. "Let me know when you can stand. I'll wash your hair and stuff. You're washing your own butt, by the way."

I giggled and wrapped my arms around her shoulders to hang on, resting my cheek against her shoulder. "Sorry for all that."

"It was Dar?"

"Not entirely. He pulled that binding shit again, and it exploded. Goddess knows why." I had a feeling, but I wasn't sure, and I had no intention of talking out of my ass. "Water feels good."

"You smell different."

"Bad?"

She sniffed the crook of my neck. "Stronger."

"Bad?"

"No. Not at all."

"You smell yummy," I said dreamily and nibbled her neck.

"You're hungry, aren't you."

"I could eat. A steak sounds yummy."

"I meant blood," she answered warily.

As soon as she said the word, my eyes snapped open and my mouth started watering.

"I'll take that as a yes." She chuckled, feeling me tense in her arms. "Go ahead. Gently. And just a little bit. Find somebody who doesn't need blood to live to feed off, though."

I nodded, bit her neck, and was rewarded with a splash of blood that tasted a thousand times better than Shea's reduction sauce.

"Tone it down," she gasped, and I focused on the taste instead of the happy feelings welling up from my very sore parts.

"Woah."

"What?" I asked after pulling my mouth from her flesh.

"You shut it off."

"What?"

"The feeding frenzy. You know. The bow chicky wow wow that comes with it."

"Is that good?"

"I'm more comfortable with pain compared to that. If I'm being honest with you." She pulled back and blushed at me.

I kissed her forehead and leaned back into the spray, a little more stable on my feet. "I got this now. Thanks for the snack. I feel almost…human again. Pardon the expression."

"You've got a bit more color in your cheeks, too. I'll wait on your bed. Holler if you need me."

"You'll be the first to know."

She slipped out of the shower and I could see her toweling the excess water off her skin as she walked out of the bathroom, leaving me alone with my guilt, shock, and fear. Still uncertain as to what exactly happened in Shea's apartment, I knew only one detail. I didn't want to know. My back still cringed at the feeling of the wings that had torn through my flesh. Of all the things that had happened, that freaked me out the most. Dar didn't have wings, why the hell did I suddenly sprout a set of flappers?

Catching myself starting to doze under the spray of the shower, I shook my head and soaped up before I collapsed in a melted puddle of Dot.

By the time I got out of the shower, Yuki was fast asleep in my bed. I covered her in the comforter and threw on a pair of jogging shorts and a T-shirt.

I made myself a cup of coffee and sat in silence on the couch avoiding the world outside. And inside.

∞ ∞ ∞

"You look like shit."

"Morning, Jay," I said and stuck my tongue out at him. He was behind the register and unable to retaliate in any way, shape, or form.

"Is the reason you look like crap the reason that half my employees didn't show