"Uh . . . Good morning?" I greeted the lady at my door, in a very confused state.
She seemed like a sweet lady. Short blond hair, a long skirt and a sweater. Small little hooped earrings, no make up. To be fair, it was like, eight in the morning.
"I'm sorry if it's early, I just baked these fresh chocolate muffins, and I wanted to greet our new neighbors. I saw you yesterday on my way home." She grinned, "I'm Lucy. Lucy Emerson." She extended her hand.
I shook hers and smiled, "I'm Red Hyde."
"Oh, your folks hippies?" She poked playfully.
I shrugged, "You can say very attuned with nature." I admitted.
"I know how that was." She laughed joyously. "Are you the only one here? You're so young."
"Oh no," I chuckled, "I have an older brother and a father. They're just sleeping. Long night." I explained, "But I'm sure they'll love the muffins, if I don't eat all them first." I joked, and we both shared a little laugh.
"I also have two sons. One is in the car, for some reason he refuses to come out. I may have to go and grab him." Lucy explained, "My other one is sleeping in a bit. Last night he had a date."
"That one doesn't happen to ride a motorcycle, does he?" I questioned.
"He does. I'm sorry, did he wake you up?" Lucy asked caringly.
"No, no, not at all." I assured her, "Just wondering that's all." I explained, "Well, I'd invite you and your coy son inside, but . . we don't exactly have furniture, and the only food we have is bacon . . "
"Oh it's fine." Lucy assured me, but then she looked at me concerned, "How do you guys not have furniture?" She asked.
How exactly do I explain that we had to leave in a bit of a hurry to her without it seeming like I'm part of anything supernatural or illegal.
"House fire." The best lie I could think of. "No hope for that place, so we just moved." I tried to play off nonchalantly. "Father still needs to get furniture."
"Oh, well if he'd like, I'd be happy to help out. A woman's touch is always handy." Lucy chimed.
"That'd probably be great." I smiled, "Then I can probably invite you in, once we get chairs, and food that isn't fat and grease." I'm not sure if I ever would, considering her son is affiliated with those could-be slayers. Maybe he'd figure something was up. But she seemed so nice. "Just so you know though, so there's no confusion, I do have a mother." I had to point out, to avoid any awkward situations, "She's just away on . . " I thought quickly, "Business."
But Lucy just laughed her cheerful laugh, "Oh, I'd have no intention. I've been divorced, and my last interest ended kind of . . . messy." She said, looking down to her side, before looking back at me, "I'm not looking for a relationship right now. Just hoping to become friends with our new neighbors."
"Well that's great." I grinned, "Well once my father is up from his slumber, I'll be sure to let him know you dropped by, with these delicious smelling muffins."
"Thank you!" Lucy chimed, "Alright, well I should get going before my son throws a fit. But it was nice meeting you, Red!"
"You too, Lucy. Bye bye!"
I gently closed the door as she left to her van. I looked out the blinds and watched as she got in and drove off.
I continued to watch, until a lightly charred scent filled the room.
"Crap, the bacon!"
About half an hour later, my father and brother woke up. And they were ready for the odd combination of chocolate muffins and crispy bacon.
"She sounds sweet." My father noted as he took a chunk out of his muffin.
"So this was the lady who is the mother of the possible slayer you met yesterday?" My brother inquired.
"Yea." I shrugged, "But she seems like a reasonable lady. Probably wouldn't believe in such nonsense." I picked chocolate chips out of the muffin and tossed them into my mouth, "Though if she asks, our old house burned down, and mom is just away on business."
"Our house burned down?" Blake questioned.
I shrugged, "It was the only way I could explain our lack of furniture."
He muttered an "alright" as he stuffed bacon inside his muffin.
"You heading to Boardwalk today?" I asked Blake, and he nodded with a mouthful of bacon and chocolate.
"Yea." He gurgled, swallowing before he choked, "Got to find a job."
"I won't be at the house either today." My father notified us, "I got to try to find a job somewhere around town."
"Sadly they don't need any hunters around these parts." Blake sulked, considering that used to be their job. "You know we probably could have moved North up into Oregon, find their murder capital of the world up there, and been able to find a city that not only allows, but needs hunting as a lifestyle?" Blake joked, though it wasn't all that bad of an idea.
"We don't need hunting." My father smiled, "This is our opportunity to try to get away from that. We may be werewolves, but we're still human."
"Many may disagree with that statement." I pointed out as I finished off my muffin, "Anyway, I should head out. I have to do interviews today."
"Good luck, Red."
"You too, father."
I grabbed a black hoodie, and a cross-body bag to carry my phone and wallet in before heading out on that trek again.
The interviews went well. Granted, I don't think I'm working down at the German schnitzel joint, because I called the boss a sir. I'm sorry, but that lady was butch. But the Italian place, and a little '50s diner were both interested in hiring me. And to be honest, the Italian place was looking kind of nice. Blake was right, easy access to a lot of garlic in case of vampires. But it was also a fancy place, full of silverware. Actual silverware. Like, that shit is made from goddamn silver. So I might be having to wear rollerskates and rolling around giving people milkshakes with those red and white striped paper straws. But hey, I'd be getting paid. The first thing I'd probably want to get myself is an actual mattress.
Although speaking of those milkshakes, I did grab one in a takeout cup, and they were actually pretty damn good. I sat down on a bench outside and continued to drink it as I just watched the people around me.
Maybe it's more of the doggy side in me, but strangely I was perfectly okay with just sitting and watching. Everything was fascinating. I sipped on it, the thick cream slowly coming out of the straw. Mainly I just started to reminisce the past as I sat outside.
The strange thing is, being a werewolf isn't necessarily a lifestyle. It was just like being a different race, but with a bit more maintenance. Pale humans have to wear sunscreen, we have to make sure we get a lot of protein and avoid silver. Oh, and still wear sunscreen in my case. But there was so much more to my life. I loved going outdoors and being active. I liked exploring, and reading different legends, wondering if they're true. Hopefully I can get back into it.
"So you're back here. Still alive?" A voice came from my right, and I recognized it as Edgar's. He glared down at me, holding a cup of what I assumed was soda, and a takeout bag from one of the many burger joints.
"You know," I started, as I took a quick sip of my shake, "That's not a very nice way to greet people. Makes it sound like you're almost disappointed." I smirked, with the striped straw in my mouth.
"Sorry." He muttered stoically.
"It's fine." I shrugged. "Want to sit down?" I offered.
"No."
"Guessing you never learned social skills?" I asked, cocking my head.
"Parents weren't ever awake long enough to teach them. Besides, I don't need them when I'm hunting the undead."
"Ah, that whole thing."
He looked at me like I was the crazy one, the ironic thing was, neither of us were, "You read the guide we gave you yesterday?" He inquired.
"Yea." I nodded, "Wasn't half bad actually."
"The garlic part doesn't actually work." Edgar told me with a matter-of-fact tone. Which was starting to get oddly convincing. Even if I didn't know anything about the hidden world that is paralleled with urban society, I would almost start to believe him, just because he was so confident in it. But crazy people are also confident. He could have no idea what he's actually talking about. But I had to keep my cool.
"Oh shoot. That was the only reason I wanted a job at that Italian food place." I poked and smirked, trying to play it all off.
"Just try not to get yourself killed. The rest of that information is still pretty accurate." Edgar explained.
"You tell this information to all the girls, or just the pretty ones?" I asked, not only trying to flatter myself playfully, but also maybe get him off my trail a bit. No one would think a vain, ditzy girl was a werewolf.
"Just the ones I think are smart enough to survive." He said with his rough voice. I was starting to believe it was his natural voice at that point. Puberty must have not liked him.
It made me curious, "How could you tell I was smart enough to survive?" I asked as I crossed my arms, still sipping at my milkshake.
"It's an instinct." He stated simply.
"Mhm, sure."
The watch on his wrist beeped. I recognized it as one of the ones a lot of outdoorsmen wear. The ones with the military time, the temperature, a compass, and all sorts of things like that.
"I got to go back to the shop." Edgar stated, "Just be careful in this city."
"Will do." I said, lifting my milkshake as a little cheer before taking more sips, "Have fun."
"Good bye." he turned and walked off with the burger bag in his hand.
While he seemed harmless, I still couldn't help but wonder, was he warning me to be wary of the city, or be wary of him and his pals.