1. Phil #2
Pete’s shoulders rose, thrusting out his massive, square chest. Trolls didn’t have sharp teeth; they were round and peg-like.
My dad said they liked rotten meat because it was easier to chew.
They relied on brute strength, not sharp chompers.
When Pete’s jaw clenched and his teeth slammed together, it was more bass drum than razor clang.
“I’m not entirely sure, Mr. Moony.” Pete had been too busy berating me to ask any questions yet. “That’s what I came here to figure out.”
Both weres were no longer sneezing. An occasional cough escaped their chests; their eyes were red-rimmed, their cheeks glossy from tears.
The humans were still on the ground. Jacob’s friend was sitting up, furiously rubbing his eyes as if he’d gotten maced.
Jacob was lying there, rolling and groaning.
At some point, he’d vomited. The sour stench of human sickness wafted up into the night.
Thankfully, the weres’ noses seemed too clogged with snot to notice.
“Philodendron?” Few called me by my full name.
Probably because it was too long for most to bother.
Mr. Moony was different. “Can you explain . . . this?” Mr. Moony swept an elegant arm to the side, indicating the weres leaning against the building.
He ignored the humans on the ground. That made me curious if Mr. Moony also wondered about the lack of patrons beating down his door on a Saturday night.
“I, uh . . .” I wasn’t sure where to start.
“You ruined everything.” The less dominant were’s eyes were still red-rimmed and puffy. Snot dripped from her nose, and she sounded congested as hell. She also sounded beyond pissed.
“I’m sorry?” I blinked, thinking she was upset about the pixie dust. “I think it will be okay. It might take a couple of hours, and a shower would be a good idea, but pixie dust doesn’t last long. The two of you should be right as rain in—”
“Not that, you moron.” She rolled her eyes as if I was the stupidest creature she’d ever met. Maybe I was because I didn’t have a clue what she was going on about.
“Layla, it’ll be okay. We’ll go home and—”
Layla pushed away from her mate and gave her a bigger scowl than she had me.
“It will not be okay, Roxy.” Layla stomped her foot like an entitled teenager.
“I do not want to go home . I’m tired of going home, of doing the same boring-ass stuff we always do.
” Pointing toward the downed humans, Layla said, “That was the biggest reaction I’ve seen out of you in decades.
Decades , Roxy. You used to rip someone apart for even glancing in my direction. I wasn’t even sure you cared anymore.”
Understanding hit me like a train. “You did that on purpose.” My words would have been accusatory if I didn’t sound hopelessly confused. “Why would you do that?” I stared at the pathetic humans littering the sidewalk like so much trash. “Someone could have gotten hurt. Maybe even died.”
“Good.” Layla’s hands fisted on her hips, her chin raised. “They’re just humans.” She rolled her eyes like their death was nothing.
“Oh, sweetie.” Roxy sniffled, sucking up a large glob of snot. “I’m sorry. I had no idea you felt so unwanted.” Roxy pulled Layla in, hugging her and moving her hands in a decidedly non-platonic way. They rutted into each other, and low moans echoed off the brick wall.
“Ladies,” Mr. Moony’s voice was musical, “would you like to come into the club and clean up, or would you rather I have one of my drivers take you home?”
Roxy came up for air long enough to answer, “Home.”
“Very well.” Mr. Moony spoke into a communication device on his wrist. Within a few minutes, a sleek car that cost more money than I’d see in a lifetime rounded the corner and idled by the curb.
Roxy picked up Layla and carried her to the car.
Layla giggled and kicked her feet with pleasure.
Once they were settled and the door closed, the car took off.
“Pete.”
“Yes, Mr. Moony.”
“Would you please take these . . . two humans and get them cleaned up? Please find out where they live and see about safe passage home.”
“Yes, sir.” Two long strides brought him to where the humans were still on the ground.
“Come on, you two.” Pete helped the human friend up.
Jacob lay there, passed out on the sidewalk.
With a disgruntled, “Fuck,” Pete grabbed Jacob and tossed him over his shoulder.
Jacob would have one hell of a headache in the morning, but at least he’d be alive to feel it.
Jacob’s friend scurried after Pete.
Loud music blared into the night when Pete opened the door to the club. That music faded when the door eased closed behind them. I never did learn what Jacob’s friend’s name was. It wasn’t all that important, more curiosity than anything.
“We have a problem, Philodendron.” Mr. Moony’s tone didn’t exactly sound like there was a problem. I’d learned a long time ago to listen to a vamp’s words, not their cadence.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Moony.” My pixie wings fluttered again, sending a dust shimmer into the air. It paled in comparison to the overload earlier. “I wasn’t sure what to do. That were was going to kill the human, and—”
“And it would have been no great loss. As long as the death did not happen on Dusk’s property, there would have been little, if any, blowback on me. Do you understand that Philodendron?”
“I—” I wasn’t sure what to say. I understood the meaning of the words but not the thought process behind them. “All life is precious, Mr. Moony.”
Mr. Moony stilled. Vampires had a way of doing that.
They weren’t alive, not like the rest of us.
They didn’t need to breathe. Most of them still did, and I wasn’t sure if it was to fit in better or if it was a natural reaction, something ingrained in them from when they’d been alive. More like a habit than anything else.
Finally, Mr. Moony sighed. “And that is the crux of our problem, Philodendron. I had my doubts when Pete asked me to hire you.” Gently waving a hand up and down my body, Mr. Moony looked disappointedly resigned.
“You certainly have the physique that would make someone think twice about crossing you. But you have the mindset of a pixie, and that is something I doubt can be overcome.”
I had the mindset of a pixie because I was a pixie. I kept those words locked deep inside my throat.
“I had hoped you might come to see this bar, this club, Dusk, as a home of sorts. Pete told me you are a home-and-hearth pixie by nature. That could come in handy should you become attached to this establishment. However, that seems a foolish thought given the circumstances.”
Was that really what Mr. Moony had hoped for?
That I’d become so attached to Dusk that I’d consider it a home worthy of protection?
Few home-and-hearth pixies did that. Posey felt that way about the boarding house I rented a room in.
She’d been the caregiver of Martin’s Boarding House so long that it became her home, and she was its guardian.
There were reports of other pixies who’d felt similarly to places that were more business than house, but those occasions were few.
Mr. Moony cocked his head to the side. Vampire eyes were hard to read.
They were all pupils and sclerae, no irises.
They looked like inky black pools ready to drown unwitting victims. That was an unfair thought.
Vamps weren’t any worse than anybody else.
They were what they were. You just had to understand the nature of the beast and allow for it.
“You were instructed to cut your hair, Philodendron. I see that you could not follow even the simplest request.” Mr. Moony’s censure cut through me. I had agreed. I just couldn’t bear to do it.
I ran my fingers through the ends of my hair, pulling the magenta tips into the light. “I . . . maybe I could braid it? I could tuck it up better and—”
“I didn’t ask you to braid it. I asked you to cut it off.” Mr. Moony huffed, and even that sounded polite. “I think you need to go home and consider if this is truly a job you want, Philodendron. We cannot have another night like tonight. It is unacceptable and not good for business.”
I chewed on my bottom lip, willing the tears from my eyes.
I needed this job. Mr. Moony was the only one willing to hire me.
Mr. Moony was right; being a bouncer at a nightclub wasn’t in my nature.
But no one wanted to hire a jumbo-sized pixie.
There were ideas of what pixies should be, and I didn’t fit.
Not physically. I wasn’t petite with soft edges and tiny wings.
I was large and muscular and had the wings to match.
That didn’t mean I wasn’t a pixie at heart. I yearned for a home to care for, to become protective of, just as Mr. Moony said. Looking up at the Dusk sign, I knew it would never be a nightclub that would stir those emotions.
I needed someone to need me. I needed to care for a home and nurture those residing within. A bouncer guarding the door of a nightclub was the antithesis of nurturing.
Head hung low, I gave a slight nod. There was nothing left to say. Mr. Moony wanted me gone. Hesitantly, I asked, “Do I still have a job?”
“I suppose that depends on you. It is your choice, but if you return, your hair must be shorn, and you’ll need to find a better containment system for your wings. I’m sorry, Philodendron, but those are the rules you must abide by.”
“I understand. I’m sorry about tonight, Mr. Moony.”
Mr. Moony waved me off. “It’s fine. A single incident like this will hardly be a blip on Dusk’s reputation.
” Mr. Moony grinned, his fangs lowered, barely glinting in the pale light.
“Honestly, it would have been fine had the female were ripped the human to pieces, as long as it happened in the street and not on Dusk property. Zombie cleanup is inexpensive and would have cost less than the business we lost tonight from your pixie dust fiasco.”
I swallowed the insanity of that. Vamps were predators and saw humans as food.
It should frighten humans just how many species saw them that way.
Humans bred like rabbits. I figured it was one of the few Darwinian aspects that ran in their favor.
Lack of innate defenses had also bred creativity, and humans used their brains as weapons, or at least to create them.
Some humans, like Jacob, seemed to have missed that memo.
“Good night, Philodendron. Please let me know what your decision is soon.”
Music blasted into my ears again when Mr. Moony opened the door and slipped inside Dusk. Bax crossed paths with Mr. Moony and took up my earlier station at the door. A new line had already started to form, our latest guests utterly unaware of what had gone down earlier.
Bax didn’t even spare me a glance as I turned and walked back to the boarding house. Rent was due soon, and I had no idea how to pay it.