Aster

      I heard the door knocks as I was sipping my glass of water. I nearly broke the glass with how abruptly I put it down. I hurry over and yank open the door. It was Eli.

      “Hey!” I grin. “Do you want to come in and have some water or… go right now?” He shrugs.

      “Some water would be great, you know.” He drawls, and I turn to let him in. He pulls up a chair and sits down at the table. I pour some water from the pitcher, and slide him a glass. He takes a sip then focuses on me. “You feeling better? You seemed pretty jacked up last night.” His tone was dead serious.

      “Yeah, I guess.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I’ve been trying to make peace with my friend’s death for a while, and finding out all this new stuff just kinda…” I struggle to find words.

     “Hey, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I’ve seen so many others in the same position as you, with near the same struggles. It is different for every person.” I nod. “Let’s go to the building, it might show you what you’re fighting for.” He gets up from the table, chugs the water, and then heads out the door. I take one last sip of my glass, and then get up to follow.

      His car was nicer than I thought it would be. It was a silver Porsche. Nondescript enough that it wouldn’t draw too many thieves, but you could see the quality of the car. He opened the car door slid smoothly in, then popped open the other door from the inside. “Come on, let’s go!”

      I climbed into the car, and Eli turned on some ambient Rock on the radio. We slid into the traffic, and the slow travel began.

      “What do you do for USHUA?” He cocks his head.

      “Well, I’m one of the top hunters. I have experience with most anything. And since I’m pretty high on the food chain, the higher ups just give me the stuff that they are too lazy to do themselves.” We turn down a more side road, and almost immediately pick up the pace. “I don’t mind, it gives me a chance to get up close and personal to everyone in our denomination.”

       “What sort of stuff do they give you to do?” I press harder. This was interesting.

       He bit his lip. “Well, I’ve already kind of toed the line with how much we’re allowed to tell you before you sign the confidentiality contract, and I’m afraid I can’t actually reveal that yet. Sorry.”

      “Oh, okay. That’s fine.”

      “Also, we’ve reached the distance where I have to disguise you, almost. It’s for your safety.” He reached over me, into the glove compartment, and took out a baseball hat and some sunglasses “It hides your hair and features and doesn’t look to weird to anyone on the outside.”

      “Why for my safety?” He gave me an uneasy glance.

      “Em… Not that this would ever happen or anything, but if a vampire or another dangerous entity sees you entering our building-it’s not like we hide ourselves,  our HQ is pretty clear to undead and other peeps, better to scare them off from the city with our presence-but if they see you entering they might try to kill you quietly before we can train you properly… But it’s like a really slim chance, a precaution, really.”

      I shut up and took the hat and glasses. Beyond Eli’s horrible ability to stay on topic, the message was clear. We didn’t chat much from there on, and I didn’t pay much attention to our surroundings as we passed, and definitely avoided all eye contact with people outside the car.

      I glanced up as we entered an underground parking garage to an enormous skyscraper, and we just looping down and down the ramp until we reached the bottom.

      I felt the car park and Eli opened my side and I gingerly got out glancing around the dark concrete room with a few other cars parked on this floor. I moved to take the hat off, glancing to him in question. “Yeah, we’re out of the line of sight for civvies” I felt myself release a breath I didn’t know I was holding, and passed Eli his things back, which he put in his car.

      The air was cool and damp as we walked, and the stainless steel frame of mirrored sliding glass doors gleamed in what little light there was down in the garage. The doors swished as they opened and in we walked into a lobby much like that of a hotel; white marble floors, dark carpet and a check-in desk in the back. The ceiling was higher than I thought it would be, and hanging crystal chandeliers showered the room with warm white light.

      He leads down the left hallway in the back, past the receptionist after giving him a rakish grin which made the man’s cheeks tint red. My eyebrows raise a smidge at that, and I bite my cheek.

      We step into the elevator and as he clicks a button I clear my throat. He looks at me intently, seemingly expecting a question about the facility, or something like that. “Um, so like, um, are you…?” I stumble, not knowing how to approach this, “Are you, you know, uh-”