Her mind was a mess and all the overwhelming sights, sounds and scents weren’t helping. She wanted a drink, and it made her angry that she didn’t know which kind. Liar. So she did the next best thing as she stared at the cooling pool of her own blood. She lit a cigarette and grimaced at the awful taste, and the fact that it didn’t hit the way she wanted it to. 

The city smelled awful, rubber and gasoline and rodents and trash. Under all that she could smell people, each their own scent. She could hear the conversations down the block, about the dead girl, the dark jokes the blues made to stay sane. It made her head spin. 

Idly she kept pulling her hands to her throat, expecting to feel gashes, bleeding. No, she only felt the tacky feeling of drying blood. This whole situation made no sense. Why her? Or was she not important, just an opportunity? Why then were these happening? If she could drink from someone more cleanly than their murders then… if there are more like… me, then they would have to know this was fake. Right? If so then why wasn’t this being dealt with? Questions and more questions plagued her mind.

A sudden curling pain in her core and rasp at her throat tore her away. It was momentary, thankfully, but she knew that it would come back in spades with time. She couldn’t fight the grimace, nor the anticipation. Just a while a go-- wait how long?

Slowly she reached into her satchel hoping her phone wasn’t destroyed, and lit it up with a swipe of her thumb. 

Three in the morning? Fuck. 

She had met up with Martinez around nine. It had been five hours. She had time, but not a lot of time. Three texts all, from Danny. She was just going to ignore that for now, not even wanting to think about that problem in her pile of fantastic ways tonight had gone wrong.

Think, Mel. What should I do first? Check the body or do I just dump it. It could have useful information, but is it worth the time or chance of getting caught?

“Dump it. Into the river. Quick, then I go.” She whispered to herself.

Letting herself be anywhere else, she began her work. It wasn’t hard and it didn’t take long for her to heft him into a fireman’s carry and make her way over to the edge of a dilapidated pier. 

She couldn’t help but start thinking back to a time long ago. It’s been a couple of years, and the two weren’t the best of friends anymore. Not like they were then. She had been there for her when Elliot that bastard had hurt her. The twinge of guilt was now inescapable, since she wasn’t there for her. While she had no reason to believe her, she sure did now. She missed that friendship she had with Thalia.

Thalia had this obsession with vampires or something. She swore she stumbled on a club or something where they were.

I mean, yeah, okay, gothic club with vampires. But I mean, really? Vampires in bumfuck Ironridge Ohio? Just… why? How? 

It was all cliché but she believed they were real. Mel just couldn’t-- couldn’t handle it. After months of that, she just couldn’t do it. And now? She was Thalia’s walking, talking proof. Despite the absurdity, the inanity of this entire comedy of a night she was having, she couldn’t help the grin. If anything she loved anything that plucked her love of the sardonic.

She swore up and down that vampires were there. That one bit her. That she should have died, or… or something. Her ramblings didn’t always make sense, even looking back now. Mel always thought she had been drugged, or took a drug. She was like that sometimes, but she demanded Mel go with her on these futile treasure hunts to find this club. They never found it. After a while they just kind of drifted. Friends, but not best friends like they once were. She regretted that now.

“Life fucking sucks, doesn’t it buddy.” She said to the corpse, putting him down at the end of the pier. 

She looked down at it, unsure of exactly how to feel. She took a drag from her forgotten cigarette and let the smoke curl out through her nose. Normally that would burn like hell, and it still did, but now it was something grounding and pleasant. Then she spit her unneeded cigarette into the water, still burning. A final salute for this poor bastard. She wasn’t going to waste whiskey on him.

Then without any ceremony she rolled him off the pier into the inky depths. The body landed with a splash and watched the water gurgle as the body half submerged. She frowned. That wasn’t good. She wasn’t going to step into the brackish water for him either. With a sigh she spun on her heel and pulled her keys from her satchel. 

Now what? She absolutely could not go home. Danny would be a problem, and one that might end in disaster. She could… try and track this club. Thalia had been right. At least that vampires were a thing. She could also go to her. She could help, but did she risk her friend by… what? Existing? Being around her and whatever else goes with this existence? If and a big if Thalia would be willing to help, even just once could give her some breathing space.

If I do this smart, and if she helps… Ok. I won't stay with her, not tonight. But if I can get her to convince Danny I did and to get me some fresh clothes… It’s a start. 

She made her way back to her bike and kicked it into gear. The engine was deafening, but she wasn’t giving up her bike. Not tonight. Pulling the handle, she pulled out onto the streets and… enjoyed the wind at her face, in her hair. At least that hadn’t changed.

She headed to the north side of the city, closer to where she lived. Her neighborhood didn’t border on Riverside, but it was close. It was much like where her old family home was, an orbital neighborhood for industrial workers of the area back when that was a thing some thirty years ago. She just had to find someplace. 

To her immense relief she did find someplace relatively quickly. An old motel, clearly out of business. It would do for tonight, though she didn’t hide the wrinkle on her nose. The place reeked of decay. Her bike thrummed as she pulled up to one of the rooms. Leaving her bike running she put the kickstand down and began going door to door. The third one she tried was rickety enough that she thought she could push it in. Trying it, the door gave way with a crunch.

The room was awful and stank of mold and piss. The cheap wallpaper was peeling and dust lay thick on everything. Nothing was clean. Even the air was choking on dust that flickered like fireflies in the moonlight. The bed sagged, the frame having long since collapsed on itself and grime covered the walls and windows. She could hear rats scurrying everywhere in the walls. In a way, if tonight wasn’t so god awful, it might even be something beautiful, in its own way.

In a moment of reflection, a strange sentimentality, she pulled her camera and checked it. Pressing the power button it came to life, fortunately not damaged in her attack. With her first real smile, perhaps all day from dawn to death to rise again, she snapped a photo of the eerie haunted place she would live. At least for tonight. 

After pulling her bike into the room and killing she swung the door closed and moved the decrepit old crap in front of the door. She blocked the window the best she could and curled up in the darkest corner of the room as she stared at her phone. She had her plan, but would she help? Would she help without questions? No. Would she help without questions for now? Maybe. What other choices did she have? None.

She typed out a text so many times. The clock ticked from four to four forty-five. Dawn would be here soon and fuck if she didn’t want to figure out if that was true. She like the idea of still existing, even if meant… meant blood, then burning. She shuddered at the thought and something deep and primal curled in her mind, searing it.

“Hey Thalia, bad time I know but I really really need a favor from you… I know that we kinda-- that we drifted a bit, but we were always ride or die before and uh… I guess this is one of those times. I need two things. Tell Danny I stayed with you, that after that last job that you and I had like, a bender or something and that I stayed with you. Tell him that tomorrow. Also I need a change of clothes. Badly. Please no questions, not now. Tomorrow night, I can. When you have it, bring them to me tomorrow, say eight in the evening. It's the old Willow Creek motel, you know the uh-- abandoned one.”

After the seventh time typing out the text she finally hit send. No undoing it. She didn’t expect an answer, but she sat the phone down watching it anyway. Five in the morning rolled around, then five thirty. The lights of dawn began creeping past the patch curtain in the window. She pulled back, fear coiling into her stomach, by instinct or false notion, she didn’t know and she wasn’t going to see if she was wrong. 

Mel jumped when the screen on her phone changed, the notification of a message popped up. Her head felt like it was in a vice, not in pain, but a deep pressure built as she struggled to make a decision on whether or not to read it. The light grew brighter growing from hazy grey to golden and a pull, something cold and terrible and exhausting. It reminded her too much of dying. She took a breath she didn’t need, and looked at the phone. 

“Uh-- that is an oddly specific and strange request. I mean I guess I can cover for you. If you went out with some guy and just didn’t want to tell your brother, that’s one thing but like… how do you mess up your clothes so terribly you need a change from a walk of shame? You’re not doing something right if that's what happened, but why--- why the abandoned motel? That’s weird Mel, and maybe a bit creepy.”

Mel groaned at the question. Of course she asked questions. It was only ever a maybe at best but goddamn it, she wanted something to go her way. She could give an answer. The only answer that would push this situation further and she didn’t want to give it. She really really didn’t want to give it. Not because she was wrong before. Not because she had an ‘I told you so’ coming. She knew this would hurt Thalia. She never wanted to do that, even in the distance between them. 

“I believe you, Thalia. About everything. I’m sorry.”

She stared at her phone, paralyzed, afraid to press send. She didn’t want to hurt Thalia. She didn’t want to make things worse. Yet she wanted her friend back, now more than anything. Something normal, and she may have some information or maybe… she won’t be fucking terrified. A glaring voice in her mind told her this was a terrible idea. She just didn’t know what else to do.

“Fuck it, I already died, so I guess it can’t get worse.”

She pressed the screen to send it, and flipped the phone. That curling, creeping cold was still curling around her. Her limbs grew heavier and she felt… tired. Maybe this was the end of the line, or maybe vampires just slept during the day. She had to figure this shit out. She let that cold slider over her, her vision grow dim and dark, until--

Nothing.