10. Janie
Chapter 10
Janie
I don’t know why I told Urien about my date. He explained he wanted to dress me and do my hair. Urien said makeup would have to be my wheelhouse, but I don’t really know anything about makeup. Now, he was flitting about my bedroom trying to find shoes that worked for the dress he brought me. He was the weirdest friend that you could find and I guess I was his new pet project.
“I still don’t understand. Why did you bring me a dress?” I asked from my bed.
He turned around. “It was pretty, and I was already looking at it. Although you realize you are playing with fire, right?”
“What fire?”
“You are going on a date with another normie,” he said. “You’re marked.”
“I am a normie,” I said. “At least that is what I am figuring from talking to you. I’ve always been told that I’m normal, run of the mill, nothing special, etc?— ”
The lights blinked above me, and I stopped talking. “I see someone disagrees.”
“What do you mean by that?”
He chuckled, avoided the subject, as he tossed a pair of black boots at me. “That's it.”
“Will that work for the dress you brought? You haven’t even shown it to me yet,” I said.
“It will be fine. What you said earlier, you are a normie, but you are privileged. Soon, you will know everything,” he said as he flopped on my bed.
“Why can’t you tell me? I’m sick of feeling crazy.”
“What has been happening?” he whispered.
“Will you think I’m crazy if I tell you?”
“No. I want to confirm my suspicions,” he said as he rolled to his side and propped his head up on his elbow. As I glanced at my phone, I felt the smooth glass against my fingertips. I still had time to get ready.
“The way I tell Tana, it’s just sex dreams. Maybe kinky. But that’s not it, really. Its shadowy tentacles . . . touching me. Having their way with me. But occasionally lately, I have felt them in real life,” I whispered. My cheeks had to be turning bright red telling him this story. Were my cheeks warm from embarrassment or thinking about what the shadows did to me? “I never see the man. Or creature. Or . . . monster. As he talks, his voice resonates in my ears. I saw his hand. After dreaming, I noticed peculiar markings on my body. But this week, it has been different.”
“Have they shown themselves since yesterday?” he asked.
I bit my lip and looked at the stitches of the quilt we were laying on top of. “Yes. But just the tentacles. He said soon. What does that mean? ”
Urien grunted. “I was hoping getting your person fed would pull them out, but some let themselves get weaker.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think your fella wasted away probably eons ago. Probably been feeding on you for months. Slowly getting stronger. If one incubus can’t get him to full form by now, shit. You may have a while to wait.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Have you watched that one vampire movie?”
“You mean the one with the singer?”
He smiled. “Yeah. Like that. Your fella just stopped feeding and is weak,” he said.
I lifted a hand. “Are you saying he’s a vampire?”
He grinned and licked his . . . fangs. I swallowed nervously. “No. But he is a monster.”
“Are you saying monsters are real?”
He blinked. “I can’t really confirm that.”
“Conversations with you are extremely frustrating. You keep hinting at something weird and spectacular. Then you won’t explain it to me!” I said. “You and those witches are fucking crazy. And you just said incubus!”
The corner of his mouth tilted up. “Oh, witches?”
“The other night, I was told to stay away from them. They wanted to help me. But what is the help they are trying to give me? They looked at me with pity. You don’t do that at least.” I was a curiosity to Urien. A play toy, but not in the sexual sense.
“Go get dressed,” he replied.
I grabbed the dress bag he had and stormed to the bathroom. I pulled out a slinky black dress and a strapless bra with it. It fit my body like a glove. My old goth boots would make it look amazing. I walked out. “How did you know my bra and dress size? ”
He winked as he sat up. “Been around the block a while, mon petite.”
I plucked at the fabric. “Why did you buy this for me, though?”
“It was a favor for another friend of mine. I was there when you texted me. Sit in front of me. I want to braid your pretty hair,” he said. I plopped on the floor in front of him as he brushed out my hair. A heavy sigh escaped my lips, expressing my weariness.
“You are still playing with fire. Your friend will not like this.”
“Then I guess he can come get me if he feels that way. I’m not someone’s toy,” I said. The lights flickered above me. I pursed my lips.
“I think someone just disagreed with you,” Urien mumbled into my ear. “Do you know morse code?”
“What? You think it’s not shitty electrical work?” I said. “Can’t be the light bulbs. That was the third brand I have tried. And you replaced them.”
“You’ll see,” he said. “Why don’t you have friends? You looked scared and lost the other day when I met you. I could feel the loneliness coming off you in waves. Perfect bullseye for someone like me. Everything about you said, ‘eat me.’”
“I just have never found many people that click with me, if that makes sense. Tana is so outgoing, but I don’t know if she likes me like that. You know, as a friend. If she were to ask to hang out outside of work, I’d say yes. I just don’t want to be rejected. I don’t know where I fit. Even online, I don’t feel like people like me. Is that why you took me under your wing?”
“Did they warn you about me?”
“Someone said you do this sometimes, but to be careful?— ”
“I won’t eat you unless you want that,” he said. He patted my head. “It’s perfect.”
I walked to the mirror in my bathroom and saw that he braided my brown hair in a twisty crown around my head and the rest cascaded down my back. It actually looked good.
As I walked back in, I grabbed my boots. I remembered what he had said before he finished. I twisted my body toward him. My eyes narrowed as I stilled as I put on my boots. “What do you mean?” I said.
He chuckled. “You’ll understand one day.”
I pursed my lips as I glared at him. “Do you believe the things that have been happening to me?” I asked.
“Absolutely.”
I bent over and messed with the aglet of my boot. “He said what you did strengthened him.”
He stood up and stepped closer to me. His expensive dress shoes hit my vision, but I didn’t look up. “Shit, he must have been near death.”
I paused and looked up with my brows furrowed. “I still don’t understand what we are talking about,” I said.
He shrugged. “I will lock up when you leave, but I want you to text when you are safe and sound. If you need any help, please call me. Assuming your friend doesn’t help.”
“Why would he hurt me?”
“That’s what some men do,” he said. “Monsters are monsters. Men are monsters.”
“What?” I’m not sure how much I wanted to argue. I’ve been at the tail end of their evilness. The likelihood that I would be subjected to more was likely. I was only a woman after all.
“You’ll understand one day.”
I threw my head back and rolled my eyes into the back of my head. He laughed in response. I stood up as I finished zipping my boots. I twirled. “What do you think?”
“It’s amazing. You’ll wow him. So why did you accept this date?” he asked as he tugged my hand toward the front door.
I shrugged. “I figured it would get him off my back and maybe I need to get laid.”
“You don’t really understand what is happening, do you?” Urien said. “I understand you are a normie and all, but don’t you see what is going on?”
“That shadow tentacles fucked me in a bathroom? You seem to know something but can’t tell me? I keep having dreams about a monster fucking me? Nah. I probably ‘need dick’ as Tana says or I’m having a mental break.”
He shrugged. “The only dick you need is ya guy.”
I opened my arms up. “And where is he? I’m putting my big girl panties on and gonna get some dick.”
Urien wagged his finger in my face, and I pursed my lips. “Wrong dick.”
My phone chirped and I glanced at the phone. Rick’s name popped up. I waved my phone. “Gotta go! Don’t be here when I come back!”
Urien shook his head. “This is absolutely not a good idea.” He spun around the room quickly. “I want it known that I warned her. But whatever.”
I gave him the thumbs up as I walked out of the door. “Got it, Captain!”