Tara opened her mouth without a lie prepared, intending to blag as best she could on the fly. Not one of her special skills but it did not appear that she had a choice. Luckily, her guardian angel arrived in the form of an irritable eighteen-year-old before she could begin blathering. Becca, their newest addition to the Jessi’s Java team and already their colleague with the biggest attitude, strode to the counter and bumped Tara’s hip with her own.

“Everything okay up here?” Her regular resting bitch face appeared to be daring Mr. Ramiel to give her an answer that would give her reason to switch to her high-grade stink face.

“I demand any information you have regarding the man known as Shawn.”

Becca scoffed at the word ‘demand’. “We had a man who worked here called Shawn, but he quit just over a week ago,” she said.

“And where is he now?”

“I don’t know, he didn’t even quit in person, he resigned by text. Not that this is any of your business. So unless you have an order to make, or a warrant to declare, I suggest you go about your bullshit elsewhere.”

The man hesitated, possibly weighing up his chances against a sassy teenager. He looked to be in his thirties, fit but not bulging with muscle, tall and with a very stern face. Becca was just a little taller than Tara and slim but no doubt scrappy. Tara would probably put money on Becca if she didn’t have the prickling sensation that this man was not of their realm. He and Bee had auras that felt to Tara like opposite ends of the same supernatural spectrum. Mr Ramiel stepped back, giving Tara a firm look that promised a future encounter, and turned and left.

“Shawn quit?!” Tara breathed, right into Becca’s ear. She could not take any chances allowing that strange man to hear her.

Becca rolled her eyes and snorted out a laugh. “No, he’s pulling a ridiculously long sickie, but that guy looked like bad news. If I told him Shawn was only temporarily away, he would come back.”

“You lie far too easily for someone so young,” Tara said disapprovingly.

“And you’re way too naive for someone so old!”

“I am twenty-four!”

“That’s four years past ancient.”

“Thanks for the pick-me-up, Becca.”

“Any time, grandma T.”

Tara rolled her eyes and slipped into the back to text Ava, she would definitely need to know about this incident as well.

Tara: Another person like you tried to talk to me. At work. He was really pushy and scary.

It took seconds for Ava’s response to arrive to her phone.

Ava: What did he ask?

Tara: It was less what he asked and more what he already knew. He was just announcing things about you and Shawn and Imogen and I did my best to play dumb.

Ava: is he still there?

Tara: No.

Ava: We need to talk. I need to know what he knows. What time does your shift end?

For a moment, a pained voice in the back of her mind asked if she was ready to face her ex so soon. It would hurt, but this was about personal safety for both of them. As she had told Daisy the night before, she needed to get her shit together.

Tara: 5.

Ava: I’ll be at the back waiting for you. Make sure to leave alone.

Tara: Ok.

The hands on the rustic-style clock hanging on the far wall of the coffee house crawled towards five and twelve, maddening Tara every time she peeked up to calculate how much longer she had to wait until she would see Ava.

“Antsy today, aren’t we?” Becca asked with a knowing smile. “Got a hot date tonight or something?”

Tara flushed. “Oh, no,” she said with a wave of her hand and an awkward laugh. “Just not feeling one-hundred-percent still.”

Becca shrugged, although she appeared disappointed, and wandered away to clean tables.

When five finally arrived, Becca smacked Tara’s butt with a tea towel like a painful alarm clock and nodded to the time with a grin. Tara yelped and jumped out of her reach.

“Thanks, Becca,” she said. “I had noticed, but it’s nice to know you’re looking out for me.”

“Always, T.”

In the back alley, a hooded figure was waiting for her. For the briefest of paranoid seconds, Tara was unsure if it were Ava under the oversized clothing. Another supernatural being? Another person looking to question her? Well, Ava was supposed to be there for information too…

“Hey,” said Ava, pulling the hood back just enough to show her face - dark eyes, straight hair and sharp-edged features. A blended wave of relief and heartache smacked Tara in the chest, leaving a soggy, clinging sensation on her skin.

Tara stepped closer but did not reciprocate the greeting. “Before you start the interrogation,” she said. “I need answers about what’s going on. You can’t just come here to grill me and then disappear again.”

“I don’t have time to educate you on how much danger we are both in,” Ava hissed so quietly that Tara barely caught the words. She looked to the mouth of the alleyway where it joined the main road, checking for onlookers. It was empty as far as her human eyes could see.

“You owe me an explanation!” Tara snapped, attempting to keep her voice as quiet as possible.

“Tara, listen to me.” Ava glanced back and forth jumpily. “I have been living this life within this realm for just over 3 years and I have never felt afraid like this. If I am scared, you should be to.”

“But, why now? Why are the-”

“Because I got too comfortable and I slipped up.”

“Slipped up?”

“You are the only mistake I’ve ever made and now I have to stay low or-”

“I’m a mistake?” Tara breathed, her eyes prickling.

“What?” Ava blurted distractedly, her eyes still scanning everywhere but Tara’s face. “No! You are not a mistake. The mistake is that we’ve been noticed. I don’t usually let relationships run this long or this deep, Tara, because now I have to worry about you as well. The mistake is giving them a second, far more fragile, target to aim at in order to take me down.”

“Down?”

“Down.” She pointed at the ground, her expression grave.

“They’re going to kill you?!” Tara gasped.

“Hell, Tara, they’ll take me back to Hell. I can’t die, I don’t have a soul to lose.”

“So what do we do now?”

“We don’t do anything. How many times do I have to tell you that we cannot face this together? I have to go into hiding and you go back to your normal human li-”

“It is too late for that!” Tara cried, angrily. She had been hurt, she had been upset, she had been scared, now she was angry.

“Tara I-”

But Tara was tired of being spoken down to. Human or not, she deserved a chance to make her feelings known. “They know where I live, they know where I work, they know exactly what kind of relationships I had with you, Shawn and Imogen. I am already a part of this, please don’t cast me adrift to deal with it alone. I didn’t sleep at all last night and spent all day yesterday filled with paranoia. I couldn’t shower out of fear of someone being behind the curtain. I couldn’t listen to music or watch TV for fear of missing the sound of someone approaching. I don’t blame you for me being involved in this, but I am angry that you are now acting like everything will be okay if you leave me to take care of myself. Take some responsibility!”

The silence of the night, of the dead main street adjacent to them, hovered between the women for a few moments. Tara’s breathing was ragged from her outburst and her heart was pounding in her ears.

Ava grabbed her cheeks, squishing them between her index fingers and thumbs, and pulling her close. “I’m so sorry you have been dragged into this,” she said softly, her lips moving against Tara’s forehead. “I’m sorry I put you in danger, and then doubled that danger by leaving you. I’m sorry for the fear that you’ve had to face. I’m sorry and I love you.”

“I love you too, and I’m scared,” Tara rasped, fighting sobs.

Ava whispered, “I’m scared too, Tiara.”

“What do we do?” Tara said again, saying each word firmly and with a short pause between them.

“We go to our safe house and lay very, very low.”

Tara asked, “now?” with wide eyes.

“Now.”

“Daisy is going to kill me,” Tara mumbled.

“Why?”

“She’s really mad at you.”

“Understandable. Please send her my apologies. But after you message her, you’re going to need to turn your phone off so it can’t be tracked.”

Tara nodded and sent a hurried and messy text to her best friend letting her know she would be staying with Ava for a bit and wouldn’t be responding to messages for a while. She didn’t want to think of the scolding she was going to be lashed with when they were reunited. She turned her phone off and slipped it into her bag.

“Ready to ride?” Ava asked quietly.

“I don’t see a car.”

Ava squatted suddenly and swung Tara over her shoulder by the knees. Tara squeaked but had the air quickly knocked out of her when Ava took off at full speed.