1.
"So… what's next?" The blond asked tiredly from her bed. Her hair was still messed from sleeping and her voice was a little groggy, but at this early in the morning it was to be expected.
5:00 AM blinked violently from the small clock on the nightstand.
"You should go back to sleep."
"I'm already awake." She answered easily, and yawned into her hand before pulling the sheets off and walking over to the girl across the room. The woman was sitting at the small round table next to the window, sipping her coffee- in front of her was a small laptop. Jo came over from behind and wrapped her arms around her. She only wore a tank top and short girly boxers. "'Town of no sleep'?" She read out loud, staring at the screen and starting to read the article.
"A large number of people in that area are having nightmares so bad they can't sleep. It's unusual because it's so many in one place."
"Is that where we're going?"
"No. Someone's on that case, and I don't barge in on other people's cases." She said, and refrained from smirking when the blond winced. They could see each other's reflections in the laptop screen. "I was just checking up on them. Who's the source that knows about vampires?"
"Gordon."
"Gordon? Huh… he is a good hunter, but he scares the shit out of me."
"You already knew him?"
"Any way, the next case… I was thinking of checking out something in Montana." Jin Ai said as she scrolled through her various tabs and eventually found the article pertaining to the possible case. "Strange number of stillbirths. My uncle called me last night and gave me a heads up about it."
"Wait… we're going to check out baby deaths? Isn't that more of a medical case than supernatural?" The blond asked as she skimmed through the article, and felt the woman beneath her shrug and lean back in her chair. She took another sip of her coffee.
"I told you, I take the leftovers. 'Sides, if I go on another one with you, I'd rather it be an easier one than have both of us get killed. Any problems with that?" She asked, a bit more snappy than she intended. Good thing the blond was too tired to really argue or notice.
"Sounds good, captain."
"Then get dressed, we're off to Ekalaka, Montana."
2.
It was a pretty boring case full of crying women, asshole men, and a bunch of old people. Aside from the fairly young women that Jin Ai and Jo talked to, the majority of the town was made up of old geizers. … it was also really cold. They had extremely hot summers and freezing cold winters, and although it wasn't winter yet, it was pretty damn close.
"Halloween's tomorrow." Jo commented from the passenger seat.
"… Is it?"
"Yeah."
"Huh." Jin Ai commented idly as she cruised down the long road, quietly drumming on the steering wheel and occasionally glancing at the girl that was staring at her. "What are you looking at? You've been staring at me for the past hour." She snapped, once again a bit more angrily than intended.
"Nothing…." She sighed and turned to look out the window. The other woman scoffed.
"I'm going to be busy that night. You can do whatever the hell you want. Work on the case, go out and party at grannies, whatever."
"What are you going to do?"
"None of your business."
"What are you keeping from me?"
"I'm letting you come with me out the kindness of my heart and-"
"Don't give me that bullshit."
"Then don't give me your bullshit." Jin Ai snapped. Jo blushed and looked out the window again, not wanting to look at the driver and even more wanting to blast country music from the speakers. Music would be so much better than this ever constant-mostly-awkward silence- the only sound being the hum of the vehicle as it drove- but neither of them could agree on a music genre to listen to and it always ended in a fight.
"You've been cranky the past few days…"
"I hunt on my own for ten years and out of nowhere some chick decides to go hunting with me, buzzing around me for days. You do the math."
"… Bitch."
"Jerk."
3.
"Can I borrow the car tonight?" Jo asked as she stood at the end of the other woman's bed, hands on her hips and scowl on her face. The dark haired woman looked up from her magazine with a bemused expression and smiled.
She whistled. "Sexy. Planning to meet a big bad wolf this full moon?" She asked as she looked the woman up and down, noting how the outfit looked to be two sizes too small and she hadn't put her shirt on yet. The blond stood there in a Red Riding Hood costume, short frilly skirt and all; minus the shirt and red cloak. She wore a pink lacey bra instead.
"Car? Can I borrow it?"
"For what?"
"There's a party in the next town over."
"Are you planning to party or get laid?"
"What difference does it make?" She asked, and the woman shrugged.
"Fine. My business is within walking distance."
"… You going to see a movie or something? Like last time?" She blond asked as she watched the woman on the bed fish the keys from her pocket and toss them to her. She caught it with ease.
The dreadlocked woman shrugged again. "Maybe." As she went back to reading the article, the blond stabbed her high heel into the carpet, and stomped away to the bathroom to finish getting ready. The woman on the bed glanced up when she wasn't looking, to maybe see what was wrong, but aside from being annoyed or angry no unexplainable reason, Jin Ai had no idea what was up. She went back to her magazine and waited for the blond to leave.
4.
She walked down the street at about 2:58 AM with her hands in her pockets and wide red scarf around her neck. Her hair was loose around her head and rested against the large black coat she wore, her eyes casually lingered from one house to another, and her quiet foot steps echoed softly in the empty street. The cold air nipped at her unusually pale skin.
It was an empty and dark street lined with house after house. Inside the homes men and women slept in darkness and dreamt about one thing or another. Dogs twitched as they ran after the imaginary rabbit. In one of the houses a large, old, dusty clock chimed the end of the hour and the start of the new one.
Shadows crept along the sandy ground and wind caused a piece of plastic to smash itself into metal repeatedly. Jin Ai paused to listen to this and identify the source, but alas, it was too dark to find it.
She did see something move on one of the roofs, though.
Two large orbs, shining a brilliant yellow, stared at her from the roof of a house. It tilted its head. A string of sorts seemed to be hanging from its mouth. It briefly flapped its wings and caused some of its dark feathers to fall off and drift to the ground.
"ekekekekekek…." It hummed as it stared at her. The woman guessed that the 'string' hanging from its mouth wound around the side of the home and found itself in the opening of a window, where it slithered into bed with a pregnant woman.
The creature sat there; hunched over, eyes staring at her, feathers gathering on the rooftop.
"You think I won't attack you because of what I am… you think I'm safe, but you're still cautious…" The dark skinned woman muttered thoughtfully as she stood there, staring back at the creature. She stood thinking for a few minutes, contemplating what her next action should be, when her gaze moved to the house next door.
She started walking again to the house she looked at, completely calm and betraying no emotion to the creature. When she got to the stranger's yard, she muttered under her breath 'I hate kids anyway'.
5.
The next day Jin Ai sat in one of the motel chairs with her feet propped up and newspaper on her lap. She sipped gingerly at the steaming coffee cup in her hand and occasionally stole a glance at the sleeping girl on the bed.
It was getting close to noon. Light was shining into the room full force and allowed her to read the small print of the Sunday news, and somehow, Jo still slept. Drool was flowing freely from the side of her mouth and her eyes fluttered partially open to closed every few seconds. Even though it was very cool in the room, she was sweating slightly and had the blankets strewn around her, only covering little more than half her body. The girl in the chair stared for a moment, watching and hearing the young woman moan. A minute later the blond turned onto her other side.
She could smell the nightmares she was having, and wanted so badly to have a taste. Whatever she was thinking, whatever she was dreaming, smelled delicious. She licked her lips, but then looked away and forced her attention back on the paper in her hands, only to realize it was shaking. Cursing softly, she closed the newspaper and went back to her laptop.
"'the cause of sudden increase in still births in Ekalaka, Montana have worried locals for months, but they discovered the reason this was happening: the thing all of them had in common was the cereal they ate. Seems the manufacturers…'" She read out loud, and the blond woman groaned, grabbed one of her pillows, and threw it at the woman in the chair. She smiled and chuckled before taking another sip of her coffee.