Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
Caspian
Mid-afternoon on Wednesday, there’s a knock at the door. “Are you expecting someone?” I ask Bel.
“Oh, shit. She’s early. She wasn’t supposed to be here until you guys left.” She comes running down the stairs and answers the door. Isla stands on the other side with a big grin on her face until she sees me.
I wave awkwardly, and she returns the gesture. As she enters the apartment and shuts the door behind her, she whispers to Bel, “You said it was just us tonight. I don’t care if you bring your boy but you gotta warn me at least. Communicate, ya know, so I can bring a date, too.”
“Oh. No, he’s not coming. He’s about to leave.”Shit. Fritz is here.Another knock and Bel’s eyes go wide as she looks at me.
“Little Dove, Little Dove, let me come in!” Fritz sings from the other side of the door.
“Who the fuck is that?” Isla’s confusion and humor are written all over her face, and I’m not entirely sure how much we are supposed to tell her.
Bel answers the door and lets Fritz in, giving him a wide-eyed look and a shake of her head, hoping to signal for him to be quiet. He sees our unexpected visitor and narrows his eyes at her, tilting his head as if confused by her standing there.
When he remembers himself, he reaches out to shake her hand, “Hello, lovely. I’m Fritz. I’m-”
“He’s here for Caspian. That’s why he’s here.” Bel hastily explains, “Fritz is Caspian’s best friend,” to which Fritz puts a hand on his chest as if it’s a huge honor and mouthsbest friend?to me. “They’re leaving. Going out of town. Guys vacay.”
Isla looks at the three of us cautiously before drawling out, “Oooookay. I’m Isla. Nice to meet you.” I get the feeling she doesn’t believe a single word, but unfortunately, that’s an issue for Bel to manage once we’ve left.
“And you,” he gives her a quick nod before turning expectantly to Bel.
“Okay, bye guys. Good to see you, Fritz,” Bel practically shoves him back towards the door. He looks a bit wounded, I’m sure he wanted to be allowed some affection, but he understands her need for…discrepancy.
I, however, am too desperate to be denied her touch. I grab my measly bag of items and walk towards her, wrapping a single arm around her and snatching a quick kiss. I look at Fritz and give him my cruelest smile, taunting that I got one more taste of her lips, and he’s been without them for over a week.
Isla sees everything, as she always seems to, and I truly feel for Bel. Her best friend is far more perceptive than the average human, and having to explain our nontraditional relationship is going to be uncomfortable. Surely, Isla wouldn’t care about something so trivial, but I get the feeling discussing her private life at all makes Bel nervous.
I tell Bel that I’ll text her as soon as we get to our destination, but she assures me it’s entirely unnecessary. Keeping the truth from her causes a pinching pain in my throat, but it’s for her own good. As much as she hates the man who harmed her, she doesn’t deserve the weight of his death on her shoulders. I’ll gladly take that weight for myself, though. I’ll relish in the spilling of his blood and ripping of his flesh.
My last kill was lackluster at best, a quick snap on a dance floor, completely bloodless. This one will no doubt be my favorite murder.
As we walk down the hall, Fritz finally asks, “Does she not know where we’re going? You’ve totally avoid-”
“No, she thinks we are going away for somealone time,” I use what I’ve learned are called air quotes, “I do not want her knowing we are killing that man.”
“Why not? It’s romantic as fuck. Lots of guyssaythey’d kill for their girl, but we’re actuallydoingit,” he gushes, giddy at the prospect of our perverted form of justice.
Fritz is not usually a vicious man by nature. Because of his classification, he doesn’t need to kill or even harm to survive. He just soaks in a little life force from all those around him. The energy he feeds from also gives him an overwhelming empathic ability. As he’s explained it to me in the past, emotions are basically pure energy, so he has to feel those of the people he’s feeding from.
I do not envy him that. My craving for flesh and the violence that comes with it is far less daunting than the idea of being influenced by those around me. With this sense of empathy, I have found myself wondering occasionally if it’s also skewed his view of justice and vengeance. There isn’t much gray area for him. If someone has been wronged, he feels the need to extract payment swiftly and with equal pain as the grievance caused.
“By the way, what’s up with that other girl? She looked ready to stab me in the fucking eye if I came too close,” he continues, unfazed by my being lost in thought.
I laugh, “Isla is Bel’s best friend in the entire world. She does not miss a thing so you’ll need to watch yourself around her.”
“Oh, she totally knows we’re both head over heels for Bel.”An understatement.“But if she’s friends with our girl, she’s friends with us. We’ll win her over. Eventually.”
“We shall see.”
“So Bel thinks we are going away to just, what? Have fancy dinners and fuck? Without her?” he asks.
“She does. She seemed rather excited by the idea, so I didn’t feel the need to correct her.” I explain. Her eyes always light up when she remembers the night the three of us had our dalliance, and I’ll have to give her a repeat performance soon. I had half a mind to call her while denying Fritz an orgasm so she can see how goodhelooks when he’s a needy, desperate thing, but without her near enough to touch and taste, the appeal is gone.
“But, no offense, why would she think we would want to do anything that doesn’t involve her?” he asks.
