Chapter 8

-Lisa-

The latest source of my headaches snored on when Rachel came back to the loft. The girl and her dogs strode right past me without as much as a hello - not that I'd expected anything else. I kept staring at my notes on the vampire girl (really, powers with apparent inspiration in mythology were not unheard of, but Taylor's powers played it so straight, calling her a vampire felt less weird than calling Myrddin a wizard, though weirder than calling him a fire hazard) until I heard a low growling. Bitch's three dogs had paused outside Taylor's room, hackles raised.

"Is there a problem?" I asked. Questioning Rachel was always problematic, but one of the dogs attacking Taylor in her sleep would be a problem.

"She in there?" the butch girl asked in turn.

"Yeah," I answered. "She sleeps while the sun's up, so could you please keep your dogs away from her?"

"They did that last night, too, but they didn't attack. They're afraid, but they'll get used to her," Rachel explained matter-of-factly.

"That would've been nice to know earlier," I said slowly, "but as long as it's handled."

"Keep the door closed." Bitch turned on her heel and took the dogs to their room.

I added another post-it to the stack of notes. Unnerves dogs. Other animals too?

One more tab on the browser, one more bit of vampire myth to research. I chuckled at the thought that my search history would, if someone else were to get their hands on the laptop, immediately mark me as either a supervillain or a writer.

Or both. It seemed to work for that one villain down in East Texas… Pagemaster..? even if he was as camp as Mouse Protector.

I paused for a moment to shudder at the idea of the three crazies ever ending up in the same room. Nobody else would leave the scene with all their brain cells intact.

"Okay, that is cheating!" Alec shouted from the sofa where he was, from the sound of it, losing miserably to Taylor at one of his video games. The crazy girl just laughed.

"Did the Puppeteer not look for my strings?" she asked coyly. "Trust the untrustworthy to be untrustworthy."

One of Bitch's dogs, Angelica, flinched back at the girl's laughter, but after observing for a few seconds started cautiously moving closer again. Unfortunately, my phone rang, and I had to abandon the show. It was the boss calling, and I could easily guess what he was going to ask. I picked up the phone and waited for him to speak.

"Tattletale. I just received the most interesting report from yesterday." The snake's voice was as calm as ever.

"Oh? What kind?" I asked innocently. Needling him rarely got a visible reaction, but I could usually tell how annoyed he really was.

"The kind where your teammate ran into a new cape. What do you know about them?" Unasked, but implied, was the 'and why didn't you tell me?'

The unhelpful response died half formed on my tongue when Taylor snatched the phone from my hand and jumped back.

"The bell tolls for Cassandra!" she cheerfully shouted into the receiver.

"Give that back!" I said, lunging forward, but she sidestepped easily.

"Hello me! What have I done?" the vampire inquired, jumping over the couch. Alec leaned out of the way, laughing. Angelica whined.

"Cassandra, don't," I warned her, more out of principle than my nonexistent concern for Coil's feelings.

"Should he learn a sharp lesson, then?" Taylor growled menacingly, her fangs extending slightly. I gave up on trying to get the phone back before she was done with it, and just stood there, arms crossed and tapping my foot.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Alec called out, pausing the game where he'd been beating on Taylor's abandoned character. "How come she gets to talk to the boss and I don't? Is this some kind of sexist thing? Am I not pretty enough?"

"Do you want to talk to the boss?"

"Not really, no," he answered and slouched back into the couch.

"I see." The anger and menace melted away, gone as suddenly as they'd came, as a now nearly fangless smile flickered across her face. "Then send me the bag of madmen's words if you find it, while I deliver yours to their chosen ears!" she finished, turned around and tossed me the phone. I caught it. The call was still on.

"Tattletale." He sounded confused, but there was another emotion in his voice I couldn't quite pin down as he paused as if considering his words. "Care to explain what just happened?" he finally asked.

"...Yeah, that's the new girl you were asking about. She's…" Insane? Fifteen pounds of crazy in a five pound bag? I abandoned the attempt to find an accurate description at the slight twinge of a building headache. "...like that. My power can't get a good read on her her, but I think she kind of adopted us?" It's as good an explanation as any I've come up with.

"Adopted?" the snake asked. I finally pinned down his tone as fear. I had to suppress a laugh as Taylor patted Alec on the head and informed him that her other self - wait, what now? MPD or..? -thought he was pretty, though she herself didn't find him her type. At least I thought that was what she was hinting at.

"Something like that," I said facetiously. "Apparently she really wants friends. Are we done?"

He hung up. I carefully put the phone down, then started laughing. This is what you get, you bastard! Welcome to the madhouse, enjoy the complimentary migraine with your goddamn stay!

I was still trying to decide whether I should thank or scold the vampire when her room's door opened, and Aisha poked her head out.

"Hey, people!" she shouted. "Was all of that necessary? I was trying to have a nap!"

"Slanderous lies are no more befitting when aimed at oneself," Taylor told Aisha.

"Okay, fine, I wasn't trying to sleep, but you guys didn't know that!" the younger girl pouted.

Alec turned around, eyebrows waggling. Whatever he was going ask was cut off though as Taylor grabbed his tongue before he could get more than a "so" out.

"There are some questions one does not ask a young lady in this forum."

While Aisha laughed her ass off, I sighed and asked, "What are you doing here anyway, Aisha?"

"Oh, all the good food in the fridge at dad's ran out," Aisha explained after taking a breath. "Mom's still twitchy as hell after Tay 'fixed' her, so I figured I'd stay over here and steal your food instead of watching her detox."

"Fine, but if you skip school Brian's going to have all of our heads," I warned her.

"Brian would look pretty silly with five heads. Or would he get the dog heads too? That'd make it eight!" Aisha answered without missing a beat.

"The Hound of Hades would not be amused if her three were taken," Taylor nodded sagely, then turned her head in Aisha's direction. "And I must agree with the young Demoness, The Noble Lord of Darkness would make a poor hydra indeed." She offered me an apologetic shrug. "But perhaps your mind is merely strained, to think such odd thoughts? If you wish my aid in lessening that burden, perhaps, we could seek a larger bag upon the time you insist we all visit Mercury's bazaar? Though I feel obligated to admit I remain unclear how you came to believe me a mere fifteen pounds."

Did she just pull my own psychic routine on me? I pushed that thought and the headache it promised aside, focusing on the fact that she was still wearing clothes she stole from me last night, worse, they weren't even close to fitting her figure.

"Fine, fine," I slumped forward. "You want it that bad, we can go clothes shopping."

"And y'all are supposed to be supervillains," Aisha complained as I groaned, putting her face in her hands. "I bet you'll even pay for the clothes."

I simply glared at her.

"Your disappointment is ill-warranted, Forgotten One." Taylor reached over to muss up Aisha's hair. "Dastardly delinquents they may be, but none of them entirely of their own free choosing. If the spending of coin helps ease their burdens, who are we to protest?"

And this is what karma feels like, isn't it? I thought bitterly.