Sorrel

I slammed my fist against the wall in my bedroom, frustrated at my helplessness.  I didn’t even care that I made a dent, I just needed some way to express even a modicum of what I was feeling.

Dad came in behind me and rested his hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently.  “I’m sorry, son.”

“It’s just – ”  I spun around to face him, not even knowing what emotions to feel in this moment.  “When I first met her, she was so full of personality, so vibrant.  Obnoxious, yes, but so full of life you couldn’t help but watch her.  This – she was so faded.  All the color gone.  And now she’s gone.”  I sank onto my bed and put my head in my hands.  I felt like crying, but I was also so frustrated and angry I hadn’t reached the point where the tears could fall yet.

Dad sat next to me, giving me a gentle one-armed hug.  “You were important to her, and you let her have someone who cared about be with her in her last moments.  That’s not a small thing.  I know it’s hard to lose someone unexpectedly, and watch them go, but take some comfort in the fact that you gave her comfort.  She wasn’t alone.”

I was quiet for a few minutes, a deep ache settling into my soul.  “What’s wrong with me?”  I whispered.  “My best friend falls in love with me, and I can’t love him back the way he wants.  I wish I could.  But he stays with me and I let him, even though I know that every time we interact it brings him pain.  And now my other friend didn’t even tell me she was dying until minutes before she was gone.  Why – why couldn’t she trust me?  Why do I keep bringing pain to those I care about?”

Dad rested his hand on my shoulder, a little heavier this time.  “Sorrel, there’s nothing wrong with you.  People care about you and that’s a good thing.  And I don’t think this was about trust with her.  She told you – she didn’t tell you because she didn’t want to hurt you.  Dealing with death is hard.  People deal with dying in different ways.  Some want to be surrounded by loved ones, others want to die alone.  Knowing you’re dying and knowing your death will bring pain to others – it sounds like she just wanted to protect you as much as possible, keep you from experiencing as much pain as she could.”

“Is that better?”  I demanded.  “Apparently, if she’d had her way, I never would have known what happened to her.  I’d just have thought that she stopped talking to me 14 months ago and never knew why.  If she didn’t have to come back to tell us what she figured out and to ask us to find the other techno vampire, she’d – she’d be gone and I’d never have known.  I wouldn’t have known why.”

“You’ve forgotten something, son,” Dad rubbed my back gently.  “She came to you to tell you what she figured out.  Not the police.  She did want to see you once before she died, even if she didn’t say it.  Maybe she even chose to come instead of calling for that very reason.  There’s no way to know everything for sure, now, but don’t forget – she came to you at the end.  I think she did want to say goodbye, even after everything.”

I finally felt the tears start to fill my eyes.  “I’ve missed her,” I whispered.  “She was so much fun and I didn’t know why she stopped answering.  I’ve missed her for the last 14 months.  And now – now I’ll never get to talk to her again.  I wish she’d told me, so at least we could have had those 14 months.  I know, she was trying to protect me, but all I can think is I’ll never get to talk to her again and I’ve already been missing her so much.”

I cried then, and Dad held me, not saying a word as he gently rubbed my back.

I knew techno vampires were different from fairies.  Claire was different.  She liked being alone, couldn’t understand my obsession with being with people who cared about me.  Maybe that was why she stayed away those 14 months.  Maybe she needed to be alone while she died.  Maybe she didn’t want me to see her dying, see her fade into what she was by the time she arrived at my clinic today. 

 But I would still regret those lost 14 months that I might have been able to have her in my life still.  Maybe Dad would even have found a way to help prolong her life if we’d known before the literal last minute.  Would it have hurt more, spending more time getting attached, more time coming to appreciate the person she was?  Doubtless.

Would I have done it anyway, even knowing the pain?  In a heartbeat.

I couldn’t undo the past.  I couldn’t change the choices Claire had made and while I wished she’d made different ones, had let me into her life when she was at her lowest, I could respect that ultimately, that was her choice to make.  I’d never forget the strange creature who burst her way into my life and somehow made me learn that sometimes, craziness was fun.  I would miss her, every day.  But I would never forget her.

“I promised her I’d free the other techno vampire,” I managed to get out once the tears finally stopped falling.  “I need – I need to go tell Captain Dennis.  I need – ”

“Give it a bit, you don’t need to rush out now,” Dad held me in place.  “Give yourself some time to grieve.  You can call Dennis.  As far as the other vampire, I’ll see if we can start looking into finding one.  She’s right – no one deserves to be imprisoned like that, only allowed to eat every year or two.  Even if they weren’t a short-lived creature to begin with, they need our help.  We will locate them.”

Something suddenly occurred to me and my eyes narrowed.  “We don’t need another techno vampire,” I said slowly.  “We need Riven.”

~~~~

Standing in the living room of my little brother’s house, I finished explaining the entire thing – from three and a half years ago to two hours ago – and then waited.  Ren was standing, his brows furrowed, but Riven, being his empathetic self, looked like he was about to cry.

He came over and threw his arms around my waist, hugging me tightly.  “I’m sorry about your friend,” he murmured.  “That’s so sad.  She sounds like she was really special.”

I hugged him back, my words caught in my throat.  Dad and Ren both came over closer, Ren looking less defensive than he had a few minutes ago, and Dad still likely concerned about my mental state.

I mean, it wasn’t like I was feeling great at the moment.  I’d just literally watched a friend die, something I didn’t expect, and I hadn’t fully processed it yet.  Trying to focus on saving the other techno vampire was the only way I felt like I could cope at the moment.

Riven gave me an extra-tight squeeze before releasing me to back up a step, straight into Ren’s arms.  “So…you’re hoping I can recognize the techno vampire without having to wait for another person to be killed – for the year or two between the disappearances?”

I appreciated the focus on less heart-wrenching topics.  “Yeah, I mean, saving someone’s life and rescuing the techno vampire – I promised Claire I would find them.  I don’t want to sit around and wait a year or two before we can do that.”

Ren rested his arms around Riven’s shoulders.  “Look, I agree we need to help, but for one thing, I don’t see how we’d explain identifying the techno vampire to the police without explaining about Riven, which I assume we’re all still on board with not doing, and for another thing – if this vampire is a prisoner, how would Riven even see them?”

I ran a hand through my hair, feeling frustrated and desperate.  “I don’t know.  I agree, I don’t want to put Riven in jeopardy – stop glaring at me about that, you know I care about him, too – but I just hoped there might be some way he could find the techno vampire without waiting for months on end, waiting for someone else to disappear, essentially.”

“Riven,” Dad piped up, “do you think you’ve ever seen a techno vampire?  Maybe that would at least be a place to start.”

“Hmm.”  Riven tilted his head to one side.  “Well, there’s a few species I’ve seen that I’ve had yet to identify from what Ren has told me.  I’m going to assume some of that is because he didn’t even know about them, like techno vampires.  I’m guessing they’re the ones who look like their skin is buzzing with electricity when they touch something.”

“Yes!”  I startled.  “They’re – I mean, yes, electronics are their thing, that make sense.”

He nodded.  “Okay, then yes, I’ve definitely seen some.  I remember one a few years ago, she came in for some coffee, but I never saw her again.  She was dressed in this purple and black outfit with striped leggings and just really stood out, no one ever came in dressed like that.”

I stared at him, my heart pounding a bit.  That sounded just like the outfit I’d first seen her in.  “About…three and a half years ago?”  I asked.

Riven seemed surprised.  “I mean, maybe?  That sounds about right, but I don’t know specifically.”

“That was Claire.  The day I met her, actually.  You – you met Claire.”

I think all of us were relatively stunned by that, but Riven recovered first.

“Well, technically I didn’t meet her.  Just gave her the coffee.  I, uh, thought she looked cool but since she was a supernatural I didn’t exactly tell her that since at the time, um, you know.”  He scuffed his foot against the floor for a moment.  “But she seemed really cool.  I’m glad you were her friend.”

“Me too,” I murmured, feeling the tears ready to fall again.

Dad squeezed my shoulder, his eyes asking me if this was too much, but I shook my head, trying to focus on the task at hand.

“Any others?”  I asked Riven.  “Other than her?”

“Ummmm, yes,” he nodded after some thought.  “One right after I started, came by for a few days, so that would have been…six years ago?”

“After this started,” I realized.  “The disappearances started around nine and a half years ago.”

“Yeah they were only around for a few days.  Never saw them after that.  But there’s another one, I’ve seen them on campus a few times over the years.  They’re always with someone, this guy – I think he’s one of the professors at my school, though I actually am unclear on whether he’s just like an admin or actually teaches something since I’ve never seen any classes he offered.”

This caught my attention.  “Recently?  And – regularly?”

He took some time to consider this.  “Kind of.  The professor only brings her along when he’s doing his lectures that are open to the public.  He does them like once a year?  I figured she was a friend or relative and liked his lectures, although I don’t know why – he records them and uploads them, so I watched one once to see what it was about and he tries to be funny and relevant but he’s just – not.  A couple of them have done well, though, I think he actually got noticed for one of them in an academic journal.  I don’t know if she’s been around for as long as you want, but she’s at least been around since I’ve been going to classes, and he’s been a professor there for 18, 19 years I think, so he’s been in the area, too.”

I looked at Dad, who apparently was thinking the same thing I was, then back at Riven.  “This professor, is he a supernatural, too?”

Riven nodded immediately.  “Yeah, he’s a,” he paused, “witch,” he finished more slowly.

A male witch.  Male witches were rare, witch magic just didn’t work as well with them.  They generally were at the bottom of the coven’s power system, and witches craved power.  Most of them, anyway.  We’d learned that light magic witches didn’t care as much about power, but this guy – everything fit.

“Dark magic?”  When Riven nodded again, I looked at Dad.  “It sounds like him?  Someone trying to get luck either to increase his witch power or, I don’t know, gain academic power?  Is that a thing?”

Dad looked thoughtful.  “Yes, it is.  Riven said he’s trying to be funny and relevant and uploads his lectures.  He might be trying to go viral, for all we know.  Whether he’d use luck on that or on some witch thing, is hard to say, but if he’s bringing a techno vampire with him to his lectures – I’d say he at least wants luck during them.”

“Claire said they can’t control the target, and if this guy is kidnapping and killing the victims like we think, he knows that.”

Dad shrugged.  “Sure, but think of it as extra insurance – the techno vampire sits there, right near him, likely allowed to feed during the lecture, and he hopes he might get some rub off on the luck as a result.  It’s likely more of a side project, I’d guess.  I suspect he saves the bigger luck attempts for something else.  Knowing witches, it’s something related to their magic.”  He looked thoughtful, then turned to Riven.  “You’ve seen him in person?  Do you know where his marks are – and what they look like?”

I hadn’t thought of that.  Knowing what a witch’s marks were meant we knew what kind of powers he would have.  But knowing where they were meant, in theory, that we could remove them – and his powers.

This man had, we believed, killed eight people, including Arthur, someone I knew.  He had likely been holding a techno vampire prisoner for most of 10 years, a creature who had little enough time to enjoy life as it was.  At the very least, he deserved to have his powers removed.

Riven, of course, did.  “Yeah, his are on his right wrist, down onto his hand.”  He picked up a piece of paper and made a few sketches.  “I’m pretty sure these are the marks – I’ve seen them a few times, and he doesn’t have many.  Sophie probably knows what they are?”

“We can ask her,” Dad agreed.  “If she knows what this man is doing, I bet she’d be down to help.”

Witches might not normally want to help us rid a witch of their power, but given what this man was doing, I suspected Ren and Riven’s light witch friend would be on board.