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I walked quickly through the aisles
looking for it. I heard Jason searching too. He’d smelled it. Only
humans were immune to that stench. Trolls come from another
realm—the same one where fairies originate—and they are nothing but
a nuisance on earth. I found her in the back, squatting as she
filled her pockets with stones. I knew her: Patti. To a human she
would have looked like a small middle-aged woman but even if I
hadn’t known her I would’ve recognized the rainbow aura tinged in
green. I squeezed her shirt and coat collar into a knot and yanked
her to her feet. She dropped the stones. They clattered across the
floor.

Her face was only inches from mine. I
wanted to dry heave. I towered over her. “Patti what the fuck did I
tell you? Stay the fuck out of my store!”

Her face shifted into a childish
expression, but her voice was old. “Mister I don’t know what you’re
talking about…”

Suddenly I had a flash of Sara, the
girl with the strange aura. My body jerked. Patti stared at me
confused. She was one of a lot of trolls in our area, but they had
little power, just a glamour for making themselves look like
anything they wanted. But that took all their strength, and never
lasted long.

As she started to say something I cut
her off. “Shut up! Your glamour shit is not going to work with me
and you know it!” A half gurgled growl was rumbling in my chest.
Trolls were kleptomaniacs and liars. I looked around to see if
anything was missing. “How many times do I have to tell you to stay
out of my fucking store?” I started dragging her toward the door.
Her little feet struggled to keep up.

“Get that thing out of here it fucking
stinks!” Jason yelled, gagging.

Her face shifted to that of an innocent
child, but it did her no good. She couldn’t fight me. I could snap
her neck as easily as I might break a thin twig. Once I knocked her
out the door her features shifted back to her truest form: sunken
cheeks, huge, deep-set eyes, and an ugly mouth.

“Why did you come here Patti?” As
daylight spilled in the doorway I pulled my sunglasses out and
shielded my eyes.

As she got up and brushed herself off,
she smirked. “Hey, I was just in the neighborhood and
thought…”

“No,” I snapped, “not my store.” I
leaned back gulping fresh air. “Earth. Why did you choose here,
this planet? Or should I say this realm?”

She glared at me. Should she walk away?
Or talk to me? Finally she said: “In my own realm everyone knows
I’m there, but here, humans don’t even notice me. They think I’m
one of them.” She shrugged her shoulders and looked
defeated.

This was her way of getting me to feel
sorry for her. Instead I turned from her and walked back into the
store. I watched through the window as she walked away.

Jason came out of the apartment armed
with lemon air freshener. “Jesus Christ it fucking stinks in
here!”

“I threw her ass out again,” I said. I
went to the back to help Jessica gathered up the stones.

Jason sprayed the store, holding his
nose.

“Just breathe through your mouth,” I
told Jason and Jessica.

“I’m afraid I might taste it,” Jason
said.

Jessica and I started laughing like
crazy.

Once the stones were cleared away I
returned to my station behind the counter. After a few minutes I
noticed Jason was still spraying.

“Knock it off!” I shouted. “Now it
smells like lemons and ass in here!”

Jason roared with laughter, and I heard
Jessica’s giggle from the back.

As Jason joined me behind the counter I
asked him: “Do you remember what it was like before you took your
human form? When you were in that purgatory you guys talk
about?”

“No.” Jason shook his head. “Some of
the incarnates remember, some don’t. I only know what others have
told me. They say it’s like nothingness. You know like…that you
exist but you don’t have a form.” He furrowed his brow. “I heard
one of the born knowings say you can see the whole universe at the
same time. Almost as if you were everywhere at once and nowhere at
all, both at the same time. Once you decide where you want to go,
you’re born.” He quieted, then whispered: “Sounds like hippy
bullshit to me, but whatever it is, I went through it and will do
it again.”

“Humans don’t have a choice,” I said,
as if reciting a truism. “They are automatically reborn in another
human body.”

“
Yeah,” said Jessica as she
emerged from an aisle. “They don’t know what hit them. Just bam!
They’re dead, and the next second they’re born.” She looked at the
portable DVD player. “Your movie is over.” She turned the power
off.

Jason detected a scent and frowned.
“Fucking trolls. This place is going to stink for a
week.”

He was right. Nobody liked trolls. In
the pecking order of our world trolls were at the
bottom.

Jessica shuffled through the CDs and
picked one by The Used. The girl with the strange aura had worn a
Used hoodie. What did her music collection look like? A stupid
thought. My mind seemed to linger on her more and more. What made
her choose Earth? Was it her decision? And what could she
be?

Chapter 5

FAILING GRAVITY

The next day was Wednesday. I was
anxious to see the girl again. I hoped she would come back but I
didn’t want Jason to know that. Jessica called and said she
wouldn’t be in. Jason was in and out, stalking back and forth like
a tiger between the apartment and the store.

We’d just had a dusting of snow when I
saw Chris coming across the parking lot carrying a flat rectangular
box.

Once he got in the door Chris came
straight to the counter and laid the box down.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“Jason come over here,” Chris
called.

Jason came from the back where he’d
been rearranging books.

Chris took the top off of the box.
“Your gun came in.” He grinned at Jason.

“Oh! Fuck yeah!” Jason picked up the
enormous weapon.

“Holy Shit Jason!” I said. “Are you
trying to overcompensate for something?”

“Desert Eagle 500,” Chris said, beaming
down at it.

Jason unzipped his hoodie, pulled out
the .45 Glock that he kept in his shoulder holster, and replaced it
with his new toy. He walked back to the apartment smiling
ear-to-ear.

“I picked something up for you too,”
Chris said. He reached inside his coat, pulled out a shoulder
holster, and handed it to me.

“Wow man. Thanks!” I said.

I stripped off my hoodie, put the
holster on, then pulled my Colt .45 from under the counter. It fit
perfectly. As I was pulling my hoodie down over the holstered gun
Jason reappeared, bouncing down the aisles, crowing: “Oh hell yeah!
This is fucking awesome!” Chris laughed at him. Jason came around
the corner, drew the gun, and pointed it at my head.

“Jason! Put that shit away!” I
shouted.

Jason just laughed. He held the gun up,
examining it.

“Oh! I almost forgot.” Chris pulled
something black from his pocket and tossed it at me.

I caught it in midair, opened my hand,
and saw a silencer. “Chris! Holy…How did you get this?”

He smirked. “I have my
ways.”

Working well below the edge of the
counter where no one could see, I started fitting the silencer onto
my gun.

“It will fit.” Chris assured
me.

Once I saw he was right I took the
silencer back off and slipped it in the pocket of my sweatshirt. I
watched as Jason kept practicing his quick draw.

“Jason,” I said, “Cut that shit out
before a customer comes in.” Then I turned to Chris. “For real
dude, this is the coolest shit ever. Pick out as many CDs as you
want no charge.”

Chris spent an hour in the CD racks.
When he left I assured him that we were still on for going to the
firing range.

Having a gun close under my hoodie gave
me a feeling of comfort and power—like I could take care of
whatever came up. With all the weird stuff happening with the
Quatre, I felt I needed that. Who knew what kind of crap they might
pull. What if they learned that Jessica had caught on to something?
Now I had protection that went beyond my normal vampire powers. I
wanted to try out the silencer as soon as I possibly
could.

Later on an angel incarnate came in
looking for Jessica. Angel incarnates could restore life to the
dying, heal the sick, or impose a calming effect on anyone nearby.
This one’s golden aura flowed from his mouth as he spoke, and I
felt the soothing reach of his powers. I didn’t like it, preferring
my normal state of mind.

Though he was immortal like me. I
envied his luck. Angels went through life absent any fear of death,
and without all the crazy diet restrictions that we vampires had to
endure. True, to exercise their powers they had to give up a small
bit of their lives, but when they did no one hated them for
it.

Demons were the exact opposite. They
could influence humans to do evil, and they could steal someone’s
life, adding it to theirs. Angels and demons did not shift or grow
old. Their bodies and facial features constantly evolved. They were
as old as the earth, and could tell you from firsthand experience
that Darwin’s theory was almost entirely correct. Their strength
was near that of vampires and werewolves, but it was not the same
kind of strength. Though we vampires were considered to be leeches
on society, we were also stronger, faster, and quicker to heal. We
would always be near the top of the chain of command.

Chris’s gift and the distraction of the
angel made me forget what day it was. When it struck me, I wondered
if the girl with the strange aura would show. Why be so nervous
about it? I wondered. What does it matter?

My mind careened back and forth between
hopeful expectation and my attempt to not even care. Then I noticed
that my hands were starting to tremble. It was about a half hour
till closing time. As the winter sun set early I relished the
darkness, but this only made me want to see her more.

My mind picked at my memory of her as
if it were a scab. What was she? The question gnawed at my
thoughts, along with a feeling I couldn’t fathom—I wanted to see
her because I wanted to touch her. I was physically attracted to
her in a way that made little sense to me.

Jason’s music had been droning on all
day. Finally, I decided to change the CD. I chose a mixed CD that I
had created. I was hoping that a bunch of familiar favorites would
take my mind off her. Though the first song from Muse got my head
bobbing, it failed to erase the girl from my thoughts.

Every time a car pulled up outside my
heart raced a little faster, but it was never her. Most of the
drivers were heading for the coffee shop next door.

I watched as two guys from the tattoo
parlor did skateboard tricks until they both grew tired and cold.
With the sun gone, I removed my dark glasses. I looked across at
Chris’s window and saw him at his counter, eyeing a small screen
TV.

Jason appeared, grinning. “You really
do have it bad for her, don’t you?”

“What are you talking about?” I asked,
busying myself, straightening up the counter area.

“All day you’ve been watching and
waiting for that girl. Maybe you like her a lot more than you let
on.” Jason didn’t take his eyes off my face. I didn’t look at him.
If I’d been able to blush I would have. Nothing could have
embarrassed me more than the weakness of personal affection, not
after the things I’d done and seen.

“What’s it to you?” I ran my fingers
through my hair, brushing it out of my face. I tried to look
stern.

“I just like to give you a hard time,”
he said, smiling.

“Yeah, you and Chris both.”

He stood up straight and stared out the
window. I dug through some CDs, searching for a Marilyn Manson
album.

“Hey look your girlfriend is here,”
Jason said.

I looked up just in time to see the
front door open. The bell rang. It was her.

I tried to act smooth and composed, but
my heart was beating too fast. I controlled my breathing, and felt
Jason’s stare. As I put a CD on the tray my hands started shaking.
I pressed “play.” Finally I had the courage to look up at
her.

Her dress and demeanor were the same as
they had been, but the red in her aura burned bright today. Maybe
she was close to knowing. Her aura extended at least a foot all
around her. She kept her head down and her eyes to the floor. She
walked to the counter, stopped, and shoved her hands into her
sweatshirt pockets.

“Um, hi. I…uh…was in here a couple of
days ago…um” Her eyes flickered upward and she was looking at me.
She glanced toward Jason, then down again.

“Yes,” I said, “I remember you. You
came back for the books.” I tried not to sound bitter, hopeful, or
eager. All I wanted was to keep my voice even, and to ignore
Jason’s perpetual smirk. I knew it was there without even
looking.