Chapter 6 #2
He tched. “I am, but hellooo. I’m not blind.”
“I heard that, Marsh! And no, you ain’t ever getting any. James, the jury’s out. Play your cards right, sweets, and you never know.” There was a delighted cackle of laughter before a door banged shut and I couldn’t hear any more.
Edwin showed me around, up and down stairs, in and out of rooms as he gave me a whistle-stop tour of the house.
He told me it had been built in the early 1800s.
I could see where it had been modernised in places, but overall it gave off the vibes of a time capsule or a really funky museum.
There was a ballroom, for fuck’s sake, on the first floor, which took up almost the entire space.
Bedrooms like something from an old war film adjoined bathrooms with equally old-fashioned fittings but also the additions of brand new shower cubicles where there was room to fit them.
“For visitors, obviously,” Edwin explained as if it was obvious.
Seeing as until the FWNN had abducted me, I’d had no idea vampires even existed, I’d certainly never given much thought to their social habits.
I liked the fact Edwin had friends. The scant notions of them I’d had previously suggested vamps were all paranoid loners who stalked their victims in the dead of night and left them as drained husks in the gutter.
A bloke with real friends and people who cared about him was more than I had, so I wasn’t going to scoff at his undead status or any of his habits.
I noticed a door on the ground floor, slightly ajar, with a staircase leading downwards. I asked Edwin about it. He flashed me another of his trademark grins.
“That’s work. I’ll show you later. Come and have your tea.”
Baxter’s kitchen was another museum-worthy relic, except everything looked in working order, not that I was any kind of authority on kitchens of any sort.
I thanked her for the tea, which she handed to me in a massive mug, then parked myself on a chair at her insistence.
After a moment’s hesitation, she and Edwin also sat down. Baxter shot me a wry grin.
“We tend to forget about pretending to be human when we’re alone. Good thing you’re already on the inside and know our secrets. So, you enjoying the shadow life so far then, James?” She regarded me like I was some fascinating new species she’d only just learned of.
I gulped a mouthful of tea before I answered. “Uh, yeah, Edwin’s a really good boss.” Go me, an entire sentence.
Edwin curled a hand around the back of my neck, which did funny things to my breathing. It felt like he’d claimed me. I wasn’t sure I was supposed to find that reassuring, but I did. I liked it, a lot. He leaned into me, God, the way he smells, and dropped a kiss on the top of my head.
“James is awesome,” he drawled. “He seems to think cleaning is part of the job, which it absolutely isn’t, but I’m not going to argue when he makes most of the mess.
” He winked at me, and I tried and failed not to blush.
I was slowly learning how to cook meals that didn’t come solely out of tins and packets, because according to my boss, a good shadow cared for their body in order to feed their vampire.
It made sense, but I was a novice cook and his kitchen window had been opened more than once to rid the place of the stink of burnt-on food.
I was also becoming an expert at soaking saucepans to get them clean.
Baxter smirked. “Seeing as you can only just about make a cuppa, I don’t think you’re in any position to criticise a human,” she mocked her friend. She addressed me again. “He doesn’t keep you locked up, does he? You’re quite pale.”
I shook my head. Edwin seemed nervous about letting me roam the streets while he slept, mostly because he explained he might not wake if I phoned him, but he’d been happy for me to take myself off exploring in the late afternoons and early evenings while he was still stuck indoors.
I didn’t go too far, but I’d been used to walking miles when I worked as a courier.
I relished the exercise and the sun on my face.
I had no problem with switching my days and nights around to fit in with Edwin’s creature-of-the-darkness existence, but I couldn’t imagine I would ever want to be a vampire.
The thought of never having the option to soak up some rays weighed heavily on me.
I wondered if he minded, but didn’t feel I could ask him.
Wasn’t like he could change it if he did mind.
“I use sunblock,” I said to Baxter. “I burn easily anyway, with my hair and skin colour. I thought it was a good idea, to, uh, blend in.” You absolute bell-end, you can see she’s brown-skinned. What a stupid thing to say!
“You do?” Edwin looked astonished, then for some reason, ridiculously pleased. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I don’t mind.” Fuck’s sake, I could feel l was blushing again. I didn’t do this when we were alone, or not as much.
“You’re adorable. No wonder he’s smitten.
” Baxter grinned at me. “However, if you do want to toast your lanky limbs to a golden crisp, you’ll be okay.
You’re unlikely to develop any sun-related skin problems if you remain a shadow.
” She waggled her eyebrows. “If you go really brown, perhaps I’ll steal you. You can match me, not him.”
My colour deepened as her words sank in. Smitten? No, he couldn’t be. He was just a nice guy being kind to his new in-situ food source.
“Stop teasing him. I don’t share my toys.” Edwin accompanied ‘toys’ with another head kiss, then turned me to face him and whispered, his sweet breath playing havoc with the contents of my underwear, “You’re not a toy, sweet thing. Not unless you ask to be.”
I knew Baxter must have heard him, because vampire, but she merely tapped Edwin’s nose with one scarlet-tipped finger and laughed. “You’re such an only child.”
He pouted. “Hardly my fault.”
I gazed at him through a mist of unwanted and untimely lust. “Were you really an only child?”
“Yeah, I was. And just as well, seeing as Mum wasn’t married to my dad, whoever he was. She used her dead granny’s wedding ring, called herself Mrs Marsh, and brazened it out as a widow. She got away with it too, although I sometimes wonder if a few of the neighbours suspected.”
It boggled my mind to realise he’d been born in a time when single mums were true social pariahs.
Granted, I’d spent my formative years being bounced between children’s homes and foster care like a ping pong ball, but my parentage had never really even raised an eyebrow.
I felt a sudden pang of sympathy for little Edwin, growing up with a secret he had to keep.
“I never knew my dad either,” I offered.
We exchanged a silent moment of understanding. Then Baxter broke it with a very fake cough.
“James. Wanna see where we work?”
The basement was a whitewashed cavern. I noted a thick blind at the window, which was currently angled to allow the street lights outside to warm the stark paintwork.
There were tables everywhere, some of them slanted like in design tech back at school, with folders, files, and notebooks in untidy piles.
More art supplies than most shops had were gathered in tins and pots or bulged from racks of colourful plastic drawers.
On the other side of the room was an impressive bank of computer screens, some three to a desk.
This part was tidy to the point of minimalism, cables clipped together and any paper and pens arranged into small neat heaps.
“Wow.” I narrowed my eyes at Edwin. “You’re not the tidiest, are you? And to think you’d managed to fool me so convincingly.”
Baxter hollered. “You’re too funny. Our Eddie, tidy?
He must be on his best behaviour. It’s all smoke and mirrors, babes.
He keeps most of his wardrobe here. I have to nag him to hang stuff up and remind him to get his dry cleaning done.
He’s a total clothes horse, but he’s still got the manners of the guttersnipe he was as a ten year old. ”
“You’re a rude bitch,” Edwin countered, but as he was smiling, I figured this was normal banter for the pair of them. He beckoned me over to one of the clearer desks. “Come and see what I do for the Council.”
I leafed carefully through the papers he pointed at, trying to work out exactly what it was he did. In the end, I said,
“These look like they might be forgeries of some kind. But only because I can’t tie up the dates on these—” I indicated two forms. “— with the names over here.” I was looking at certificates, birth and marriage, my head about to explode because I had no idea what, if anything, wasn’t real.
“Full marks. A Fae who’s got dispensation to live on this side for lurve reasons,” he smirked, “needs to prove she exists for a job she’s applied for.
Pain in the arse, but bureaucracy does love a certificate.
I use originals to copy from, then we hope nobody goes digging deeper or Baxter will have to get involved.
Which doesn’t usually happen because I’m good.
” He chuckled at my goldfish impression and added, “Really good. I’m a shit-hot forger and I know it.
Bax does a lot of data manipulation online these days, but before computers, photocopiers, and scanners, I did the lot freehand.
It’s kept me employed ever since I was turned.
” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I might’ve done the odd job before that an’ all. ”
“Odd job, right.” Funny, when I pretended it was just me and Edwin, I lost my nerves and talked back to him.
“Remember I mentioned we got beaten if we smudged our ink at school?” I nodded.
“We got beaten for loads of things. So I took not smudging my work to a higher level than most. I charged a farthing a time for doing other boys’ work for them.
Not too often, as I didn’t want to get caught, but I was a dab hand at copying my classmates’ handwriting. ”