Chapter 5

-Aisha-

The morning after my meeting with Locker Girl, Mr. Quinlan's voice droned on in the background as I ignored math in favor of trying to eavesdrop on the gossip around the classroom.

"...they say a hazmat crew got sent in…"

I snorted. If that shit's half as disgusting in the morning as it was at night, there's no surprise. Since I'd seen the hazmat guys leaving myself when I got to school, that wasn't exactly news to me.

"...didn't show up at school today…"

Would you want to come back here after that even if you didn't burn in the sun? I was tempted to ask, then realized that with the girl's Stranger power, she likely could attend in peace for a change, if not for her terminal Vitamin D allergy. And for once I didn't mean from the athletes, though from what little bit of the rumors I did recall, she probably didn't like them all that much either.

"...I heard she died in there…"

That one actually gave me pause. I wonder just how much of the vampire schtick her power mimics. She can definitely enter a home uninvited, at least. I wasn't particularly worried about that - I suspected that if she wanted to drink my blood, she'd have tried back when I let her out. Unless she goes crazy when too hungry? How often does she need to feed? She left the guy alive as far as I can tell, but I've got a bit less to spare than a grown-ass man, and if she loses control…

I shook my head. Miss Vampire was sneaky as hell, I doubted she'd have to walk around hungry. It did make me wonder about getting my hands on a cross, holy water and garlic. Maybe silver too? If she caused problems, knowing whether these things work against her would be helpful to me. If she was as friendly as she seemed, she'd probably appreciate finding out the easy way.

I waited for the teacher to turn to the blackboard and start writing something, then poked one of the girls gossiping in the side.

"What is it, Laborn?" she hissed.

"Calm your tits, Laura," I whispered back. "You were talking about the locker girl, right?"

"Yeah. What's it to you?"

"Do you know her name? I heard about that happening, but I didn't hear who, and I didn't catch anyone to ask before class." Mostly because I barely got there in time for second period, but she didn't need to know that.

"Taylor... something. Why?"

"Just curious." I turned away - there was little point in asking if she knew who did it - these kinds of things were usually kept quiet in Winslow, even if everybody knew anyway, and I didn't want to make it look like I'm too interested in the whole thing just in case. Missing the initial wave of rumors didn't help at all, but Taylor probably knew exactly who'd pushed her in. The hard part would be getting a straight answer from her.

I leaned back in my chair, and ignored the rest of the lesson. An hour, I thought, is way too long for Math.

The sun had long since traveled far enough west that it was safe to uncover Taylor. I was sitting on a chair, playing with my phone while watching the girl for any sign of movement out of the corner of my eye. When she finally stirred, I noted the time (a few minutes after sunset, according to a quick check online I'd made during computer class) and patiently watched her crawl out from under the bed.

"Greetings, Forgotten Child. I trust the night finds you well?" she said, with a genuine smile on her face that still showed the tips of her fangs in her too-wide mouth. Not so much that someone who wasn't looking for them would notice anything more than a vague creepiness, I hoped. Also, what's with the nicknames?

"Good evening to you too. Taylor, was it?" I said cheerily, watching for her reaction to the name.

The girl hesitated when she heard it. "That was the name of the girl put in the box, yes. Is the girl that was released from the box the same one?" Her voice sounded so sad as she said it.

"I… think you'll have to decide that for yourself. I'm no good at philosophical shit." Ain't that the truth.

"Much better at letting Little Owls out of their cages, yes. Does my hero have a name?"

I couldn't help it. I laughed at that last name for me. The sister of a frickin' supervillain is somebody's hero. This is too rich.

"Aisha. I'm glad to meet you, Taylor. Now, I really do need to ask: why'd you bite that guy last night? Is he alright? Should I be worried?"

The vampire smiled. "My life's no longer red, no longer warm. He still has his own, if the night did not find it. The dark that hides a friend need not be feared. I shall prowl this night, and many more."

"Just… don't lead anyone here, okay? I don't think Dad'd be happy if he came back here to find the police poking around. I'm just glad he let me get away from Mom for a whole week - she's bad enough even when she hasn't yet found the jackass of the month." I didn't even try to hide the disgust on my face when I spoke these last few words.

"I will hide behind a grey cowl," Taylor answered, walked up to the window, carefully looked around, opened it and jumped. I rushed over to check if she was okay, but didn't see her. A girl was walking away from the house, but she didn't look like she'd noticed anything. I figured that if Taylor had hit the ground hard enough to splat herself, that wouldn't be the case. Plus, there was no puddle of smooshed vampire on the ground beneath me, so I shrugged and went to sleep. Not like she's the one who should be afraid of dark alleys at night, after all.

Taylor returned not long after I woke up. Since I didn't miss the alarm clock this time, it meant about half an hour left before sunrise. I didn't miss the blood on the collar of her outfit.

"I don't mean to pry," I started, "but isn't there anyone waiting for you? Back home, I mean?"

Taylor looked down, avoiding eye contact.

"Mother dead in body, Father dead in spirit. Knowledge may have a sharper edge than ignorance," she said slowly.

I took a moment to parse that. Mother dead in body… that one's obvious. Father dead in spirit - depression? From the mother's death? That has to suck. I presumed the bit at the end meant Taylor thought seeing her like this would send the man over the edge.

"I see. But… you'll have to figure out some other place to stay soon. Dad's returning in a few days, I'm sure he'd find you. By the snoring, if nothing else," I rolled my eyes, still amused at the fact a vampire could snore. "I mean, my brother's got a place of his own now, even if it needs a lot of furnishing, but…" I let the thought die with a grumpy sigh. "No. That won't work. He's way too much of a prude to let a girl shack up with him that quickly."

The vampire's lips twitched in a way that made me suspect that she couldn't blush anymore and was very happy about that right now.

"Anyway, I have to head to school now - I don't wanna hear another of Brian's big ass speeches about responsibility and shit if he finds out I was late twice in a row. I don't suppose you can tell me who put you in the locker?"

Taylor glared at me icily, and for a moment I wondered if I overstepped a line.

"I mean… Maybe I could dig up some proof, see if I can get anything done? I'm all for a good prank," I said, and remembered that my plan to prank Mike was well and truly ruined, "but that was way too far."

"Everyone knows what their eyes see, yet their mouths stay shut. Their idols, their stars, they matter. A lonely girl, neither rich nor pretty, does not. What care is it of theirs if she labors on in Sisyphus's footsteps!?" she shouted, and for a moment I was concerned the neighbors might hear. "The sister without blood, who blackens her heart by choice, the huntress without a heart, who wears the dark void within with pride, the perennial innocent, pretending to be pure when she is rotten to the core, they are the ones that hounded the girl who was put in that box. I will smile for you, but I will not hope."

The fire in her voice went out suddenly, and she wobbled in her seat, managed to stand up, and took a few wobbly steps towards my room. I ran up to steady her, then helped her curl up under the bed and made sure the blanket was set up properly to shade her. I looked out the window - the sky above the Bay was already red, and the sun peeked out over the water right before my eyes. I grabbed my backpack and made my way out the door.

Taylor woke up as I was trying to think of a way to make the first letters of each sentence in my English essay spell out "FUCK YOU." Not sure what made me think of it, but as she was rolling her neck, it dawned on me I'd forgotten to tell her one very important thing.

"Hey, Taylor? Remember when I mentioned my brother this morning?"

"The sun's presence did not set fire to my memory."

"...Right. So! If you ever meet him, would you please not eat him? I'm kind of worried about him enough already, he isn't exactly working the kind of job where you can afford to lose a pint of blood or three. Okay?"

"I shall stay away from the Noble Lord of Shadow's rich blood."

"Good. Great." I nod, mostly to myself as I try not to think about what the hell she probably meant by 'rich.' Before I can decide how to feel about that, another thought occurs to me. "Maybe don't snack on his teammates either? I think he kinda needs them too."

"It shall be as you say, Little Demon that is yet to be." Taylor tilted her head and stared off into space for a moment. "But if it is as you say, then I must depart. For if the wolf that walks as a girl is left to her own devices then she will shed a lot of hers tonight when she meets the man that walks as a wolf."

I could hear my brain crash after that one. What the— How does she know any of that?

As I was trying to come up with a response, she spoke up again.

"I have not tasted his essence, Little Lockbreaker. But the Feral Rider is riding down the hourglass quickly even now. I should soon depart if I am to meet her at the pit."

Right. Yeah. Shit. If Brian's teammate really was about to run into Hookwolf, the rest of this conversation could wait.

"Go, help her, then come back here, okay?"

As the girl left through the window again, I tried to think of a way to interpret her comment about his blood in any way but the worst. Thoughts about her impossible knowledge and nicknames for me were a distant second in my mind.

Brian's expression as he stared at the two of us was utterly priceless. As he stared at Taylor, I saw my chance and took it.

"This isn't what it looks like, I can explain, now could you make like a fucking gentleman and stop staring at her tits?" I asked, as Taylor remembered that her nurse top's remains were… somewhere that wasn't on her, I wasn't paying attention to that when she stumbled in through the window looking like a hedgehog… and crossed her arms in front of herself even though I kinda doubted my bro had actually noticed said tits before I mentioned them. Or, with all due sympathy to the girl in question, that there was anything much to notice at that distance anyway. Brian finally found his voice.

"Aisha, stay away from her! She's dangerous!"

"Seriously? She's been sleeping under my bed for two nights since I pulled her out of that locker and she hasn't even cursed at me. It's fine, bro. Now would you look away already?"

Brian finally took the hint and looked away.

"I'm not sure I believe that. Did she tell you what she did to Mom?"

My heart didn't quite sink, but it did skip a few beats.

"...Go on."

"Apparently, she broke into Mom's apartment last night and Mastered her into thinking drugs are some creepy crawling things. Mom was in the middle of a panic attack when I got to her."

I was more than a little conflicted between sympathy for what had to have been a very unpleasant day, and wondering if it was enough to make the stupid woman finally quit. Then I realized what the timing meant.

"That was last night, you said? Right after I complained about Mom… Taylor, did you try to fix her or something?"

"Yes. A fix. The best fix," Taylor nodded, her wide smile plastered on her face, though her fangs were a lot more visible than they had been the last few times I'd seen it. "The fix that makes sure she never wants or needs another fix."

"See? I helped her, she tried to help me!" My hands went to my hips before I realized how much that reminded me of Mom and I force them back down to my sides. "She's just trying to be my friend, and you say she's dangerous? Pfft! Pull the other one."

"...And how, exactly, did you help her?" he asked me warily.

It took me the better part of five minutes, including keeping Taylor from confusing him further, to explain everything that happened - well, everything I knew, which wasn't much.

"—so when she crawled through the window with pieces of Hookwolf in her back and her top hanging on by strings, I grabbed the pliers and started pulling. That's pretty much when you showed up," I explained as I ripped the last bit of metal out of Taylor's back. She closed her eyes, leaned back, and growled as the holes left behind by the metal all closed up. When she opened her eyes again, her eyes were glowing orange, and her fangs were on full display as she ran her tongue down them.

"Hunting hungry wolves is hungry work. I must seek more crimson nectar, and yours was forsworn by my promise to the daredevil," she said, stood up and got right back out the window. I watched her leave. Still shirtless. At least her bra survived. Sort of. Not that she really needs to worry, between her build and that Stranger power of hers. But still...

"Uh, Brian, that girlfriend of yours… you think she could spare some of her clothes? I think Taylor's gonna need some..."