Page 23 of Death and Divination
Chapter 9
Ophelia
“Whoa! Is that what I think it is?” Skip walked up and took the dish of baked ziti from my hands, then bent down to give me a quick kiss on the top of my head. He had to bend way down because Skip was a giant. Thankfully he was on the small side as giants go and only ten foot six inches, but that was still way taller than my five foot seven.
Flora poked her head out of the back room. “Did you bring us leftover pasta? Ophelia, you’re the best.”
I smiled as the Valkyrie walked toward me. “It’s the least I could do for you guys taking care of my sister.”
“Girl, you did all the hard work. We just drove her to the hospital.” Flora took the dish from Skip and inhaled. “Shall I warm this up? It’s got to be better than those tofu burgers Pierre tried to feed us earlier.”
I wrinkled my nose. We all took turns cooking when we were on shift, and this was Pierre’s week. Vampires suck at cooking. Although it’s not like Pierre could eat anything he made, or that we made when it was our turn to cook. Blood was the only thing on the menu for him.
“Who’s the hottie?” Flora’s silver eyes roamed over Nash, and she twitched her dark wings in appreciation.
“This is Nash,” I told them. “He’s a reaper.”
Skip chuckled. “Hope he’s not here for any of us.”
“No, although I’m sure I’ll be seeing you all soon,” Nash replied.
I grimaced. “Okay, well, let’s not talk about our eventual deaths, shall we? Nash, this is Flora, who is an emergency medical technician along with the aforementioned Pierre and Ricky. Skip is a firefighter, as is Edward and Brandy.”
“Edward, Ricky, and Brandy are off today,” Skip chimed in.
“I work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday,” I told Nash. “Thirteen-hour shifts. Sometimes Sundays depending on who else is working. We’ve got volunteers as well to help fill in the gaps.”
“Which is important when one of your EMTs is a vampire,” Flora drawled. “Sunlight and all that stuff. Edward mostly works nights as well. Gargoyles aren’t exactly on their A-game during the day.”
“Are there a lot of fires in your town?” Nash looked around at the equipment and the ladder truck.
Skip laughed. “Uh, let’s see. Dragons. Chimera. Ifrits. Oh, and Ophelia’s oldest sister. Yeah, I think fire is a bit of a problem.”
“Actually, there are more medical calls than fire ones,” Flora said. “You mix this many supernatural creatures together in one town, and you’re going to end up with all sorts of weird medical emergencies. Luckily most of our town residents have exceptional healing skills.”
But some didn’t. I thought of that female gargoyle a few days ago, and the goblin who’d nearly drowned and shivered. Nash reached out and put an arm around my shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze and a smile.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Oddly enough, I was. My sister had nearly died. I’d traded my life for hers and was expecting to drop dead at any minute. The reaper who’d resurrected my sister was probably facing some horrible fate for intervening. But Nash’s arm around my shoulder, the calm confident smile he’d sent my way—it made me feel a zing of happiness. I got the feeling everything would be all right. Having an agent of death right next to me, touching me, sent all those fears I’d had since childhood right out the window.
“So, Nash, as long as you don’t intend on reaping any of our souls, why don’t you join us in the break room for coffee? Pierre is making dessert, and as crappy as he is at making dinner, the vampire can manage to not ruin ready-to-bake cookies.”
Nash sent a questioning glance my way and I nodded. “Sure. I’d like that.”
Pierre was pulling cookies out of the oven as we walked in. Chocolate chip. Flora shoved the dish of baked ziti in place of the cookie tray and poured us all coffee as I introduced Nash to the vampire. Then we all sat down, drank coffee, and ate cookies while we talked about various calls we’d been on, whether Pistol Pete’s was going to get a decent country and western band in for next weekend, and if the fairies planned to have their annual midsummer party or not. My co-workers were completely relaxed around Nash, welcoming him into the fold and teasing him mercilessly about how the pair of us met “on the job.”
They thought he was my boyfriend. And none of them seemed bothered at all at the thought that I was dating a reaper. I guess in a town with trolls, and werewolves, and minotaur, and goblins, where the first responder crew was a witch, a gargoyle, a Valkyrie, a vampire, a sylph, a giant, and a bear shifter, someone dating a reaper wasn’t a big deal.
Was he my boyfriend? It certainly seemed that way with his hand occasionally holding mine, his arm sometimes draped across my shoulder. We sat so close our shoulders and legs touched, and our gazes did linger when we looked at each other. He’d never said yes or no to my dinner invitation, but he’d met my co-workers, who seemed to love him. He’d resurrected my sister. And he’d kissed me. Twice.
Everything tingled at the remembrance of those kisses. Maybe I didn’t have to die right away, and we could have some time together.
It was late when we headed back to my house. Both of us were silent during the trip, but I couldn’t help reaching out to hold his hand as I drove. Never once did I think to take him to Hollister’s Inn to stay. I just waited for him to get in the passenger seat of my car and took him to my house. It seemed right. Itfeltright.
Where the heck should he sleep? My bed? My pulse raced at the thought. I’d just met him. I should probably fix up the couch for him and take things slow, but I didn’t want to take things slow. What if we didn’t have time? What if tonight was all we had?
Once home, Nash followed me inside. I turned on the lights, tossed my keys on the counter, and turned to face him. “We need to talk. When am I going to bite the big one? Because I need to know how long I have. A day? A week? Do we have time for dinner and a movie? Do we have time for sex? Please tell me we have time for sex? I like you. Ireallylike you. And normally I don’t like to rush things like this, but if I’m going to keel over in my cereal tomorrow morning, then I kinda want to get busy tonight, if you know what I mean. So just lay it on the line. Tell it to me straight. When am I going to die?”
