Aster

      After they had finalized a few things, Eli had ushered me out of the room. Turning to me, he looked excited, like a child in a candy store. “So where do you want to go first?” he asked.

      My eyes widened, “Could I get some choices?” I asked, smiling. I realized that I felt lighter, as if I had signed away my troubles.

      “Well I could take you to the gym, the labs, the technical analysts, the armory, and a few other places.” His eyes were distant as he crossed his arms, thinking. “I guess you could want to see the offices, I don’t know. Oh you could want to see the garage?” He offered.

      “The gym I guess?” I hadn’t the slightest idea of where to start, the gym was what I was most familiar with, so I guess starting there couldn’t be too bad.

       “Of course.” Eli said, his voice teasing, a delighted looking smirk was on his face, and I could hear the stereotypes; the straight guy wanting to see the gym. The familiar heat started to creep up my neck until I saw the friendly look in his eyes. It was a joke.

      I shrugged, “So which way?” Eli walked over to the elevator, a mischievous look on his face.

      “This ol’ thing,” He said, his voice entertained, “after a few months, this boy will be your best friend; you’ll be going up and down all day.”

       After another ride down, the elevator doors opened to a long hallway lined with glass walls with sliding glass doors spaced fairly evenly. As Eli walked down, I could see that the glass was framed with steel like the other doors, and through each door was a training area for specific abilities.

      There was a room with a boxing ring, and punching bags hung around the room. Another was clearly for weight training, and it looked like there was a room for archery as well. There were only a few people here; only every third room had someone in it. The ones we passed usually didn’t even look up.

      “Why is it so empty?” I asked, and felt a bit startled as Eli answered, not realizing I had spoken aloud.

      “A raid gone wrong a few years ago, mixed with a current plea for help in New York. We sent a few of our soldiers to assist.” Eli’s face was grim, and my face paled a bit at the first part. A raid gone wrong…

      “How many…?” I asked, my voice a bit hoarse, not able to finish the statement. Once again how serious the situation was hit me in the stomach.

      “Died?” Eli snorted in dark amusement. “No one came back. We thought the coven only had eight members. Turns out they had been busy and had fourteen. None of our people were prepared, and because of that we now approach how we handle our exterminations much differently.” We finished walking up and down the hall, but all I could think about was the danger of what I had just signed up for.

      He took me to the armory next, and the walk there was almost complete silence; Eli, mulling over his memories and me, going over if my decision had been the right one.

      The armory was a sleek long rectangular room, various weapons on both sides. There were hatchets and tomahawks, knives and swords, but what I didn’t see much of was firearms. There were guns for sure, but compared to the other more intimate weaponry, it was pitiful.

      “Where are the guns?” I asked Eli, puzzled.

      His eyes were still distant when he answered, the previous topic still heavy on his thoughts, “You can’t kill a ghoul, a vampire, a lich, a zombie -nor most witches- with bullets.” My lips thinned as he listed the creatures, “You can with precise shots to the head and spine, but that doesn’t work for older vampires and lichs. Only decapitation and burning gets rid of them completely.”

      Eli’s dull tone wasn’t much invitation for questions, and it was a far cry from the animated guy I had been exposed to earlier.

      As we walked down the hall, surrounded on either side with what was mostly dated weaponry, I noticed that close to the end of the hall, the walls slowly filled with more armor and protection. Bullet proof vests, armored pants, and awesome looking boots.

      There was a large steel door at the end, and as Eli and I reached it, he said “That leads to one of our garages; I’ll show them to you a separate time.”

      I got the hint and let him lead me out. We visited the computer analysts-pretty boring on my side of it- men and woman sitting in front of countless blinking computer screens, their hands blurs across the keyboard, and one of their science labs.

      I watched at the doorway as a woman wearing gloves and a long lab coat poured samplers into an odd machine. Eli told me they were testing witch blood and comparing it to human blood samples of the same type. He pulled me away before I could answer any more questions and we stepped into the elevator once more.

      “I apologize.” Eli said, and I sent him a puzzled glance. What did he have to be sorry for? “Our conversation from before was weighing on my mind, and I didn’t give as enthusiastic of a tour as you should have gotten, that’s on me.”

       I nodded slowly, “It’s alright, I didn’t notice really.” I said, fibbing a bit. Eli didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t say anything else.

      We finally reached the floor, and I realized it was the one we had entered at. We went straight through the receptionist, who this time was the one to give Eli a smile. A blushing smile for sure, not the rakish one Eli had first given, but clearly wanted to return Eli’s affections.

      Eli waved mildly, a small smile lighting his face, and it looked like a little of the heaviness he was carrying around had lightened.