“So, any how. How about I show you around a little?”

We finally got out of the tiny entryway and walked into the apartment. It was a wide open space with a huge living room, five bedrooms and small kitchen over to the side and an extra large bathroom with attached changing room.

Or at least that’s how we were using it.

The place was actually supposed to be for small industrial use only. Undoubtedly, the owner expected it to be rented out to another sweatshop like the one in an identical building across the street from us. The real estate agent had described this place as having a large main work room, a large front office over looking the street and an additional smaller work room in front, with three large storage rooms, an employee’s galley and locker/shower room. The whole place was decked out in oatmeal colored indoor/outdoor carpet, gray and tan plastic cabinets, and counters, and the walls were rough with, what the hell do they call that stuff? Stucco? Even with our homey furniture, it still looked like an office space from the 90’s.

Technically I did own a business as a freelance necromancy consultant, though that business was mostly just on paper, so us living here was almost legal.

As I was pointing out all the awesome features of Noah’s new home, the front door opened again.

Oo, I really hope it’s the twins. They would be great for Noah to meet next. Though they weren’t as cute as Tina, and they could be a little rough around the edges, they were pretty nice guys and I totally think they would get along.

I turned around to see who had popped in, and yeah, it wasn’t the twins.

Ah crap. Literally the last person I wanted Noah to have to experience.

“Oh, welcome home Angie.”

Angie (Ann- Jee) O’Shanney

Eternal Age: 27

Height: 5.10

Build: slim and athletic

Hair: Long to mid back, dark blonde with some copper

Eyes: Green

Skin: standard white

Nationality: Irish

Looks: lady cop professional/likes dressing up sexy

Job: ex-police witch

I tried to smile and wave as if everything was cool between us, but it’s hard to look calm and friendly when you know the person who just walked in the room totally hates you.

Until Noah sprouted this morning, Angie had been my most recent zombie for the past year. When she was raised, she believed that she was my best friend. In her mind we had met at the police academy and had been friends ever sense. Granted, I had never gone to a police academy, or ever worked on the police force, and I was seven years younger than her so we would have never been in the same academy class anyway, but she didn’t let minor details distract her.

She was the first zombie I’d ever raised that didn’t think she was related to me. And she was totally an awesome best friend! She was playful, and energetic without being annoying. She was so much fun to hang out with, I had never had a friend as great as her, seriously, she was the best!

For about one day.

Then the reality of her being dead started to lay the royal smack down, and her entire life imploded. She lost her career on the Mors Bay Police force. Angie had been a police witch and a damn good one, but the force didn’t employ dead people, so she had to go. Angie comes from a huge family of police witches, so losing her job was harsh. Than she lost her nice apartment because her landlord was informed that she died, so her lease was voided. Then her fiance left her, because evidently that jerk was too closed minded to marry a dead person. They had been dating for seven years. The wedding was just a few months away. They were even planning to have kids! And then the final nail in the coffin was her magic. Angie had been one of the rare magic users that had her magic since birth, she had grown up from the very beginning, living and breathing her magic. It was a part of her. But as a zombie, she had none. That’s the thing, as a necromancer I can’t touch another discipline of magic, so though I could grab her spirit and put her back into her body, I couldn’t bring her witchcraft with her.

That kind of broke Angie.

I get it, she lost everything, and her life kind of went to shit.

But what sucks is, when Angie went to find someone to blame, she turned to me. After all, everything went to hell after I turned her into a zombie, so clearly everything that was bad in her life was all my fault, because obviously I had screwed up and that’s why her life turned out this way.

And she’s hated me ever sense.

Angie is walking, talking proof that once I raise a zombie, I have no control over their free will. ‘Cause living with someone that hates your guts, royally sucks. And if I could have just ordered her to like me again, I totally would.

Angie threw down her purse onto the heap of shoes near the door with a bit more force than was actually necessary. She was stomping into the apartment before she even saw me.

Awesome, she’s already pissed before she even got home.

“Oh, what the hell are you doing here? Isn’t it a bit early for you to crawl out from underneath your rock?”

Yup, that was an Angie style greeting alright.

The thing with Angie was she never makes it a secret what she thinks of you, if she likes you she’s awesome to be around, if she doesn’t . . . Uhg.

I made sure my smile was plastered in place, and brushed off her comment.

“W-well, look at you. You’re home a little early too.”

Angie glared at me as she flopped onto the couch.

“I got fired.”

I winced.

“Again?”

That’s another thing with Angie, she might have been a great police witch, but she kind of sucks at any other kind of job. It’s not that she doesn’t have skills, or she can’t learn the work. It’s that with her short temper she can not deal with customers, like, at all. So about every few weeks she bites the head off of some a**hole of a customer and she gets fired for it. Angie’s probably worked at every single store in the mall at this point.

Angie sneered at me.

“I wouldn’t even have to be in that shitty job, if it wasn’t for you. As if you could even hold down a full time job.”

I patted my lower back.

“Hey, I got back problems! Okay?”

Angie snorted at me.

“Really? I didn’t see any back problems when you were killing it at Dance Dance Apocalypse last Friday.”

“Dancing and work use different muscles, it’s not the same thing.”

And so what if my back is actually perfectly fine? I don’t want to waste most of my life working, it’s hard and boring. I’ve got better things to do!

Angie smiled at me sweetly.

“Oh Kari, I think you need to use the bathroom, because it sounds like you’re full of shit.”

“Hey, don’t you think you’re being a little harsh? I’m sure Kari is trying her best at work.”

We both turned to Noah, who had been standing there silently until now. Yeah, I had kind of forgotten that he was even there.

Angie cocked her head to the side.

“Who’s the elf?”

“I’m not an elf!”

“The elf is Noah. He’s joining our family today.”

I held up my hands in a “Ta-da!” motion towards Noah.

Angie glared at me bug eyed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. We can’t afford another mouth to feed. We can barely afford the mouths we already got.”

Coming from the lady that just lost her job.

I shrugged and lamely pointed out.

“We’ve always made it work before.”

Oh my gods, Angie. Could you give our new family member any shittier of a welcome? Now Noah is going to feel like he isn’t wanted here either.

Angie was laughing and shaking her head, but she didn’t look happy.

“Jeez Kari, you are seriously unbelievable. Can you be any more childish? You just bring whatever lame puppy you find, home with you and expect everyone else to take care of them. And you just do it because you know you aren’t going to have to deal with the real problems when the shit hits the fan.”

I took a step back away from her, my voice was just above a whisper.

“I’m not like that.”

Angie bounce up off of the couch and stalked towards me, jabbing a finger at me as she talked.

“Yeah, you are. You just cling to people and then when shit happens, you drop them like a hot potato, because you can’t deal with reality.”

Okay, I really didn’t need to hear that today.

But Angie was on her rant, and a little thing like emotional trauma wasn’t about to slow her down. She turned to Noah.

“Sorry Nora, I hope you didn’t expect this screw up to help you out much, because plenty of people have depended on her and none of them ended up happy about it.”

I opened my mouth to apologize for the crappy welcome.

“S-sor –“

When Noah cut me off. Wow, he looked kind of pissed.

“Hey! You can’t talk to my girlfriend like that! Kari is a wonderful, caring person! And I don’t need her to take care of me, I’m a grown man. An-and we’re in this together. W-we-we’re gonna s-s-support each other!”

Noah started out all full of steam, but that quickly fizzled out as he kept talking and the much taller, much meaner looking Angie kept glaring at him.

Wait, let’s back up a bit. What did he just call me? I’m his what?

“Wait? Kari’s your what?”

Yeah, Angie picked up on that little comment too, huh?