Mere Mortal by Katie Roman

  ~*~*~

  The caller-id showed that the front desk was trying to reach me. It was easier to breathe knowing the call came from someone I worked with. I was still shaken by Jessica's message.

  “Hi May,” I said, picking up the phone.

  The woman on the other side chomped away at her gum. “Angie Winter is here, but she isn't on my calendar. Didn't she come in last night?”

  “Uh, yeah. Let her in.” We only had walk-in appointments until eight pm, all work after that was meetings about Others, filing, updating the federal BSB database, driving to clients, and various other nonsense. I'd welcome a surprise meeting if it broke up the monotony, even if it was Angie Winter.

  Angie sauntered in. She stood at five feet and probably one hundred pounds. If she was a human I'd have towered over her, but she eclipsed me entirely. Her hair was tied her into a bun, every hair secured in place. Not even a wisp loose. She was dressed in biker gear, as usual. Heavy leather jacket over a green shirt and tattered jeans. Despite the heavy boots she wore she moved as slightly as a cat. Helmet in one hand, a fancy wood polished box in her other.

  “Is something wrong?” I asked.

  Without my approval she sat and put the box on my desk. “You're having problems.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Your call about Jessica worried me. I did some snooping. I heard things.” She pushed the box toward me. “I brought you a gift.”

  I inspected the box. It was a beautiful red wood with silver hinges and a Celtic knot as the lock. She had left the key in. The top of the key was the heart and crown of a Claddagh ring. I unlocked the box. Inside was a stake made of the same polished red wood. Silver laced through the wood in interlocking patterns.

  “That's real silver, not cheap imitation, in case a werewolf should get the same ideas as that bitch. Did she hurt you much?”

  “How do you know about that?” I sat stunned. For one thing, despite working with Others the BSB never gave any sort of weapon to their employees. If they had my office mate might still occupy the desk across from me.

  “I thought you might like the design and the box. I'd carry that with you in your purse,” she said, deliberately ignoring my question.

  “Angie, how do you know anything about Jessica?” I repeated. I was in no mood for games.

  Her porcelain face kept the same expression I had always seen. “I said I hear things. Protect yourself.”

  “But-”

  “You're scared of me. I'm giving you a tool that could kill me. You should take that as a sign of good faith.”

  That was one way to take it. She knew something about Jessica and it was something that was a danger to me. “I need to know how you know her.” Angie got up. “Don't leave.” Her back was to me, she completely ignored me. “Angie, wait!” It was too late. My office suddenly became warmer in her absence. I’d have taken the chill if she just answered my questions. I didn’t like the uncertainty that I faced.

  I looked at the stake. It was a beautiful piece of work. Someone had put a lot of time and effort into making it. I removed it from the box, running my fingers of the inlaid silver. It was cool at first, but under my touch it warmed quickly. I wrapped my hand around the top of the stake and made a motion like I was driving it into a vampire. I dropped it back into its box. I couldn’t see myself actually using this.

  It won’t come to that, I told myself silently. Balicki and Hill would see that I never had to use this as a weapon. It was just a pretty bauble, a gift among from friends. I could sit here and tell myself this stake meant nothing, but I knew deep down I lied to myself.

  I grabbed the box and scurried down the hall to Sean's office. He was hunched over his desk, making marks on some documents. The hair that had been so lovingly styled earlier was back to its unmanageable mane again. His clean shaven face of the afternoon replaced with stubble. He pulled at his hair, grumbling. I knocked on his door. He grunted a bit. This was the sound that he was in no mood to be bothered. However, he was going to be bothered.

  “Sean?”

  He pushed the papers away. His full attention was on me now. “Something wrong?” I crossed the room to sit. He had nice leather chairs for guests. They were sleek, comfortable, with high armrests. I wanted to live in these chairs. I wanted to know how he got these and I got folding chairs, though.

  “I got a really creepy voicemail from Jessica, first off. She knows you checked the area around my house last night.”

  “I reported her to the federal office. They've tagged her.” All his attention focused in on me.

  “Uh, Angie stopped by.”

  “I heard.” He raised his eyebrow when I wasn't forthcoming with a response. “And?”

  “I'll show you really quick and I promise to put it away. Uh...don't touch it.” I put the box on the table and opened it for him. A few beads of sweat broke out on his brow. If he touched it, at best he'd get hives. At worst I'd have to call the hospital to control his cardiac arrest. I knew he wouldn't touch the silver, but his face blanched.

  “That there is a stake. A silvery stake. And now I've seen it...so how about you go ahead and get it off my desk?” He couldn't tear his eyes away from it.

  “Sorry.” I closed the lid and tucked the box between my feet. His eyes immediately shot back to me.

  “I'm really scared. She knew Jessica attacked me, but wouldn't tell me anything. If Angie didn’t think there was trouble headed my way why would she give me this? How do I stop this from coming down on me?” I didn't want to cry again, but I felt like I probably would. I shut my mouth and waited.

  “There's something else. Agents Balicki and Hill called. Jessica wasn't home. She'd banged up that brother of hers pretty bad.” My mouth dried up at his words. “She must have heard they were coming.”

  “What do I do? She's going to hunt me down. What if she comes back tonight?”

  My entire body shook. Sean reached across his desk to hold my hands. A rush ran through my body. For a moment I wished he wasn't my boss. Someone walked by his office. I gently freed my hands to hug myself. No need for any rumors to start about us. He pursed his lips together in weird frustration, looking both concerned and annoyed.

  “You're safe here. Brent is going to walk you to your car. I told him to shoot Jessica with a flare gun if she bothered you.” He smirked when he said it. I found it impossible to return the smile. He might think this attempt at levity was funny, but I was too terrified to see the humor. “Is that roommate of yours willing to get you from your car? I can do a drive-by after I leave work. Make sure no one is lurking around.”

  “I'm thinking of driving to Naperville. My dad will shoot anyone who touches his baby girl. I should be safer there.”

  “Text or call me when you're safe inside your parents' house then.”