Aidan climbed the stairs heavily, rubbing the back of his neck and still mentally kicking himself for getting involved in this mess with Bishop and the Dutch. I am so screwed, Aidan thinks to himself as he opens the door and steps into the entryway, listening for any sounds that might indicate that Josh is awake. He breathes a sigh of relief when he hears only silence, and begins to tiptoe up the stairs. Suddenly, Sally materializes before him, a scowl on her face and her hands on her hips, clearly suspicious and angry that Aidan is sneaking around at all hours of the night and generally being really sketchy.
"Going somewhere, creature of the night?" Sally asks, throwing daggers at Aidan with her eyes. "You realize that you can't hide from me with all your sneaking around, right? I mean, ghosts never sleep, although I tried. That was weird..." Sally added, getting sidetracked as usual and remembering the strange experience of trying to sleep and finding herself floating above the couch.
Aidan took the opportunity of Sally's distraction to try to move past her up the stairs. Although he knew he could just walk through her, he preferred to treat her like a person – they were all monsters in their own right, and they all deserved respect. Sally moved to stop him, knowing he wouldn't walk through her, and redoubled her death glare.
"You seriously need to tell me what's going on, because you know Josh and I will help you if you need it. That's what we're here for." Sally reached for Aidan's shoulder and realized halfway that her hand would go right through him, so she dejectedly dropped her arm to her side. "Please, Aidan," Sally entreated, softening her eyes and giving Aidan a puppy dog look.
Aidan sighed heavily and leaned against the wall on the landing of the stairs, putting his hands in his pockets and looking down at his shoes. He racked his brain for a good way to spin his involvement with Bishop and the Dutch after he swore to Sally and Josh that he would keep his distance for the sake of their experiment with being "normal."
"Okay, full disclosure," Aidan said with a sigh, putting his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I'm helping Bishop out with something, but it's only temporary and…" Aidan began, trailing off when he saw Josh glaring at groggily from the top of the stairs. Aidan braced himself for the bitch fit that he knew Josh was about to throw, but he also knew that he deserved it for jeopardizing their safety.
"You're helping him? With what, stashing some bodies in the basement? Are you, are you, revamping the blood den?" Josh said, waving his arms and raising his voice as he descended the stairs. The three fell silent for a moment, and Sally said quietly, "Did you mean to make that pun, you know, the "revamping" thing? You know, because Aidan's a –"
"I know what he is!" Josh shouted angrily, stopping at the stair just above Sally. "And no, I didn't mean to," Josh added quietly, looking down awkwardly and readjusting his slipper.
"Alright, come on you two, let's have some coffee and talk about this, okay?" Aidan said, leading Sally and Josh to the kitchen and starting a pot of coffee.
"Right, great, because I have to be up in three hours for my shift, and coffee at three AM is perfect…" Josh ranted to himself as he sat down at the little table and ran his hands through his hair. Sally stood with her arms folded in the opposite corner of the kitchen from Aidan and glared at his back, willing him to turn around and explain himself.
After what seemed like an hour, Aidan finally set down a mug of coffee in front of Josh and took a small sip from his own mug, sitting down at the table with his friend. "I know how this sounds," Aidan began, placing his mug on the table and looking Josh in the eye. "But I promise, this is a one-time thing, okay? I have Bishop's word that if I just help keep up appearances while the Dutch are here visiting, then he'll give me my freedom and I can wash my hands of the whole community."
Aidan sat back wearily and looked up at Josh to gauge his reaction. Josh thoughtfully took another sip of his coffee and finally looked piercingly up at Aidan, as if to guilt the truth out of him. "Are you sure that's the whole truth?" Josh said, his eyes boring into Aidan's. "Because if there's anything else, anything that might bring angry vampires to our door, I think we have the right to know. Right, Sally?" Josh said, turning to look at Sally, but only finding an empty mudroom behind him.
Josh sighed, turning back to Aidan and downing the rest of his coffee in one gulp. He stood up from the table, putting his mug down decisively and looking soberly down at Aidan. "I'm gonna go get ready for work," Josh said after a few beats of silence. He turned away and started slowly toward the stairs. Aidan took another sip of his coffee and admitted quietly to the empty kitchen, "I went to a blood den with Bishop and the Dutch tonight."
Josh froze at the bottom of the stairs, and Sally materialized in the living room between them. "You did WHAT?!" Josh and Sally yelled in unison, rushing back to the kitchen to interrogate Aidan. "Did you, I mean, feed…?" Sally began to ask, unsure of the right words.
"Did I eat anyone?" Aidan offered. "No," he said flatly, getting up from the table and walking past Sally and Josh toward the stairs. "I'm on a steady diet of blood bags, and I intend to keep it that way, regardless of the Dutch's more "traditional" ways," Aidan said defensively, using air quotations for the word 'traditional.' He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned back to his friends, who still looked like they wanted to throttle him. "Look guys, I can't make any promises as to what Bishop might do, but I give you my word that no angry vampires will try to knock down our door. I'm only doing this to free myself from that world so we can live in this one and be normal."
Sally winced slightly at Aidan's word choice, adding sarcastically, "Well, not all of us are living, but normal we can do." Aidan managed a half smile and started up the stairs to his room, turning back and nodding slightly at Josh. They trusted one another, and always had, ever since the day when they first discovered that they were both different. Aidan knew that he had to keep his promise to Josh and Sally, no matter what the cost; he couldn't risk losing the two best things, and the two most normal things, in his life.