"So, like, can you explain it all again one more time?" Paul asked, unable to look away from the broken shards of glass and loose sand littering the floor.
On any given night, Paul had sixty percent of an idea of what was going on around him. The rest of his attention span was usually dedicated to whatever song was currently stuck in his head which wouldn't be much of a problem until moments like these. Like, he knew in a slightly distant way that something really fucking bad had happened while him and Dwayne had been out searching for October and what he was looking at was the aftermath.
Paul Jr whined from where he was held in Paul's arms.
He reluctantly ripped his fixed gaze from the pile of sand and broken glass and forced himself to face David who was sitting hunched over in his favorite chair, shirtless and bandaging his arm with some effort. Dwayne was hovering nearby, trying to act like he wasn't practically vibrating with nervous energy. In that moment Paul was confused as to why Dwanye didn't just help David who was clearly struggling to secure the bandage around his forearm one handed and he caught himself before he asked why no one was helping their sire. One glance at the stark black spider inked on David's pectoral reminded exactly why no one could, or should, touch him.
"That witch just let herself in like she and her familiar already own the place! And, and -" Marko cut himself off and gestured wildly with his twitching hands as he placed between the front desk and the fountain.
Paul nodded sagely like he totally understood what he just said.
"Totally," he agreed even though he wasn't sure what he was agreeing with.
"But...can you explain what exactly happened? ...One more time?"
"For christ's sake, Paul!" David finally snapped at him.
Paul clenched his fists, struggling to meet David's blazing eyes.
"A witch fucked me and cursed me. Now she wants to kick us out of our own fucking territory!"
"And she broke the fucking hourglass!" Marko added, positively shaking with outrage.
Letting all of that information sink in, his gaze drifted back to the front desk and the pile of sand and broken glass littering the floor.
"Well, shit, you guys," he muttered.
A poorly formed idea popped into his brain and he pivoted towards David.
"We should get Jess down here again! Maybe she could help us again. And fix the hourglass!" he exclaimed like it was the most brilliant idea.
At last giving up on the bandage on his arm, David growled in frustration and glared at Paul.
"Absolutely not. No more witches," he declared in a tone so vehement and final, Marko stopped his pacing and Dwayne froze.
"I am sick to death of witches and their bullshit. We are gonna handle this on our own."
Paul worried the inside of his cheek, unease sitting heavy in his chest cavity. "But don't we need the hourglass? For October?"
Paul Jr whimpered and Paul stroked the pomeranian's fluffy coat to comfort the creature.
Marko and Dwayne looked to their sire for his answer.
David closed his eyes and sighed deeply through his nose. He already looked so defeated, perched on the edge of the wheelchair with bloody bandages wrapped askance around his arm, hunched over with his hands resting on his knees.
"We'll deal with it after we get rid of... Sloane," he said, pausing, almost hesitating to breathe the witch's name aloud.
Of all the half baked plans David had impulsively jumped into, even "only sixty percent aware of what's going on " Paul could already see the gaping holes in David's so called "plan".
Meaning, there was no plan. Or at least, not one he was able to decipher. And normally this wouldn't bother him. But after everything with the Emersons and then the widow Johnson...
Paul was struck with a newfound sense of urgency.
David was hurt! Cursed! And Paul had to do something about it!
With a couple of hours left before sunrise, he slipped out of the cave with Paul Jr intent on following a hunch. It probably wasn't a very strong hunch, but it's not like anybody was doing anything. Plus, he was allowed to have a good idea now and then. Kinda like how if he added a sidecar to his motorcycle for PJ to ride in would be a fantastic idea! Oh, and a radio! It would be killer if his motorcycle had a radio mounted on it.
...He was getting off track.
With PJ's guiding nose, they found their hunch a lot easier than Paul initially thought they would.
He parked his bike in the derelict parking lot of a cheap roach motel further inland than he and his brothers tended to venture, their haunts usually within a couple miles of the beach. PJ leapt from where he was tucked into Paul's buttoned up coat and took off towards the rooms. Paul adjusted his coat as he took in the area with a skeptical brow.
"Are you sure this is the place, boy?" he asked from a few paces behind the small dog. "Doesn't look very witchy to me."
PJ ignored him and focused on his task instead. He made a mad dash up a flight of crumbling stairs towards the second floor and Paul loped quickly after him. To his great surprise, the dog stopped in front of the first room. Pawing at the peeling paint of the door, he yipped excitedly.
Paul peered at the door once curiously and then crouched low to scratch the dog behind his ears. "This the one, PJ? Did 'ya find it already? Good boy!"
The dog barked happily, practically shivering with joy.
Beaming, Paul straightened and confidently rapped once, twice, on the door with his fist and then waited expectantly. Almost immediately a voice shouted from within,
"GET LOST BEFORE I CALL THE COPS!"
Paul snorted, shaking his head in disbelief. "We come in peace, I swear!" he shouted through the door.
A silent beat passed. And then another.
Paul started to wonder if the girl inside had disappeared. Or more than likely was ignoring him.
Finally, a timid voice spoke through the door and he realized she had to be standing right on the other side of the door now.
"What do you want?"
Paul shared a pleased look with PJ and sidled up against the door. "I just wanna talk. What's your name?"
Another beat of silence passed as the girl hesitated.
"You probably forgot but I introduced myself when we met earlier. My name is-"
"Paul," she finished for him.
PJ wagged his tail delightedly, and Paul agreed that this was indeed going very well. "And your name is..?"
"None of your business," she snapped. "You said you wanted to talk, so say whatever it is you want from me and leave."
Paul grimaced and PJ whined. Okay, so maybe this wasn't going as well as he thought. "I just need to ask you a question, actually, and I don't think you want me to ask it from out here where just anybody can hear it."
"I'm not coming out and you're not coming in. Just go away."
Damn. Maybe he wasn't as good at this as he thought. David probably would have been able to charm her into at least cracking the door open a sliver by now. With that in mind, he did his best to channel his inner-David.
He leaned his side against the door and crossed his arms. "On the boardwalk you looked at me like you knew me."
Actually she had looked at him like she knew what he was but he didn't need to say that much. Her answering silence was answer enough to his unspoken question.
"Look, me and my brothers are in trouble and I think you can help us."
"...What makes you think I can save you?"
He stared pleadingly at the door as though the girl behind it could see him do so. "Will you please open the door?"
She sighed. "If I do that...then everything is going to change. I don't want...I like my life the way it is now. I don't need…" She sighed again this time louder with more frustration bleeding through.
He frowned, confused by her stumbling words. Did she know something he didn't? PJ tilted his little head, stumped as well.
Trying again, he leaned his head against the door with a soft 'thump'. "Pretty please with a cherry on top."
She went completely silent and Paul strained to hear what she was doing before he heard her mutter angrily to herself, "I'm going to regret this, I just know it."
The tell-tale sound of locks being disengaged sounded and Paul quickly backed away from the door.
Thrilled by his success, he blinded the girl with a beaming grin as she cracked the door open. She peered at him from around the door suspiciously. Much to his chagrin, a tiny black bat was perched on her shoulder. The sight of the little creature only elevated his conviction that he already knew the answer to his next question.
"Girl, are you a witch? Because you are enchanting."