Before Justice could decide, he heard the door open behind him and he was pulled inside. Merlin shut the door and locked it.

“It’s just glass, Merlin! They can break it!”

Merlin waved his hand, and the men suddenly stopped two feet from the door and looked puzzled. “They won’t. And if they do, Katya here will eat them, won’t you?”

Patting the zombie’s bare shoulder, Merlin smiled at her. Her terrible lips pulled back to reveal rotting teeth. Then she stood at the door.

“You know you’re going to have to explain to me how you’re doing this, right, Merlin?” Justice waved his hand in front of the zombie’s face. She didn’t react.

“Magic.” Merlin crossed to the common wall with the boarded-up storefront and traced the lines of the wood paneling.

“Magic.” Justice kicked the stage the zombie had been dancing on. “Fine, don’t tell me.”

Merlin smirked, then whispered some words and walked through the wall.

Walked through the wall.

Walked through the wall.

Justice blinked. He couldn’t have seen what he’d just seen, because that didn’t make any sense. Maybe he’d just blinked and there was a secret panel.

Rushing for the wall, Justice found it moveable, similar to water, but not wet. It appeared solid before, when Merlin was touching it earlier. Now, it was there but permeable. Not rippling, more akin to a hologram of a wall that he couldn’t see through but could put his hand through.

What the fuck?

Before he could wrap his head around the phenomenon, a hand closed over his and Justice was pulled through the wall.

On the other side, it was very dark and smelled of sweet rot and must.

Instead of taking in his surroundings as he normally would, Justice fixated on the wall he’d just come through. On this side, it was brick. Brick! How did he walk through brick?

When he touched it, it was solid. Cold. His hand didn’t go through no matter where he touched.

Merlin sighed. “For the love of alchemy, Justice, pull it the fuck together and stop staring at the wall.”

Justice touched it just one more time, following the line of bricks. “But it’s… Was there a secret door?”

From the shadows came another voice, weirdly deep and whispery. “There is no secret door. Merlin broke into my abode. So rude.” A man emerged from the shadows revealing him to be very tall with long, lanky black hair. His expression was somber, but two canine fangs hung over his bottom lip, making him look either evil or befuddled. He glared at Merlin. “Someone apparently cannot take a hint. I did not wish to see you, Merlin.”

Instead of an apology, Merlin folded his arms. His brows rose as he eyed the wall. “You boarded up just to keep out little old me? I’m so flattered, Vlad.”

Vlad? That was an unusual name. Not as unusual as walking through a wall, but before Justice could return his attention to that problem, Vlad held his hands up as if to ward off bad thoughts. “No relation.”

Justice looked him up and down briefly, then shrugged. “Great name, Vlad No Relation.” Justice looked between Vlad, who was trying way too hard to be a vampire, and the permeable wall. He wasn’t sure now which was weirder.

Merlin lightly punched Justice’s shoulder. “Snap out of it. Vlad is saying he’s no relation to Vlad Tepes. It’s just a common name in vampire circles. Like John Smith in your world.”

Vlad smiled. His large canines glistened in the low light. It was as if he wanted to look charming, but mostly he looked like a creepy dork in a bad Halloween costume. “Yes. The Grays don’t really understand, so I try to make it clear.” Vlad turned. “Please, come down to my basement. It is so bright up here.”

Justice could barely see two feet in front of his face as it was. Too bright? This guy was taking his gag too far. Sure, Justice had been a teenager once, smoked cloves, listened to Bauhaus, but at a certain point he grew out of it. Mostly. Not the Bauhaus, because damn, fucking Peter Murphy, man.

Justice followed, because what else was he going to do? “Grays? What’s a Grays? Should I be offended?”

Merlin snickered while he lined up behind Justice as they went down the steps. “You could be offended if you want. A Gray just means you’re a regular human being, no magic, no special powers. Not that there’s anything wrong with that…”

Was Merlin just humoring this guy? “What? What are you, then?” Justice really was blind as he took the steps farther into the basement. He took Merlin’s hand as they went. If he weren’t so confused, he might even enjoy things like holding hands in the dark. As it was, Justice didn’t know how to feel.

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Vlad lit a few candles as if in deference to those who weren’t pretending to be vampires. “Justice, you really don’t know what Merlin is? His name should be a hint.” Vlad turned. A single flame danced on the end of his index finger. The light made his eyes appear full of stars. He smirked. “But no relation.”

Merlin released Justice’s hand and stood next to Vlad. He wasn’t quite as tall, definitely not as dark, but his eyes, they caught the light in an eerie way, not the same as Vlad’s, but there seemed to be an extra twinkle.

“Some relation! I’m not not related to Merlin. Most of us can trace ourselves back at least that far.” Merlin pouted as if he was trying to humble brag.

Justice, while mesmerized by the two men, couldn’t wrap his head around what they were saying. The words came out of their mouths, and they were in the right order to make sense, but they just didn’t. A vampire? A…Merlin? “Trace yourselves back? What are you, then?”

Merlin stood taller, his pointy chin jutted out, making his face catch the light beautifully. Was he a model? “I’m what a Gray might call…a wizard.”

“Oh right. A wizard.” Justice folded his arms tightly. Did Merlin bring him down here to fuck with him? Jesus fuck, what did he get himself into? “You look a little young to be a wizard. Did you bring me down here to pull a sword from a stone?”

As Vlad continued to light candles, the velvet couches and a coffin were revealed. It was, in all ways, the precise dream dungeon of the average teenaged Goth. And yet it was so real, right down to Vlad lighting his candles with his fingertips. Just like those terrible sappy vampire books said vampires would behave.

Merlin dropped onto one of the velvet couches and traded looks with Vlad. “Hang on. So you live in a world with the dead walking around doing their jobs every day, but your mind is blown over a wizard and a vampire? Oh, honey.”

“Don’t call me honey!” Justice tightened his arms around himself. Merlin had a point. In a world full of zombies, maybe magic and vampires weren’t that far-fetched. He looked up the stairwell, remembering his glide through the wall. There was no explanation for that. “Okay, fine, for the sake of argument, let’s just go on pretending you’re a vampire and a wizard.”

The wizard and the vampire traded a side-eye. Merlin raised a brow and shrugged. Vlad gave a bored sigh and dropped into a seat on the couch. “So, in our ‘imaginary world,’ Merlin”—Vlad held his tapered fingers up in air quotes—“what brings you here? Obviously, the bookshop is closed.”

“Obviously.” Merlin leaned forward. “I’m not here for that. Did you really lock me out specifically? Did you know I was coming?”

Vlad shook his head. “No. I just…saw a world where it was probably going to behoove me to keep my head down for a while. Given what’s going on, I wasn’t sure who would be looking for me.”

“Right. Probably smart.” Merlin and Vlad appeared to be engaged in a staring contest, which left an uncomfortably long silence. “You let me in, though.”

Vlad was the first to look away. “You have a Gray with you. If you were coming to clear me out or engage in some evil sorcery, a Gray would be an obvious weakness.” Then he tilted his head as he looked at the space all around Justice as if he couldn’t see exactly where he was. “Or maybe not so weak.”

Justice tensed, ready to defend himself. Merlin held his hand out as if to tell him to him to relax. Maybe he was putting the whammy on Justice, because he did feel instantly calmer and maybe a little tired.

There was a strange look in Merlin’s eye, but he resumed his focus on Vlad. “No, I’m not here to clear you out. I don’t know what’s happening. You’re one of the few magicals I can sense still in the area. I was wondering what you saw in the world, on this street, what you hear. These zombies, they’re not really run-of-the-mill undead, are they?”

~~This series will continue in daily increments through the end of March 2026. After that, it will be once a week on Tuesdays~~