I nearly dropped my beer in shock. The green disappeared and the shadows swallowed him before I heard the open and shut of his apartment door.
That answered that.
My neighbors weren’t exactly human. It made me wonder what happened with my previous ones. Did they choose to leave or did something make that decision for them?
Wasn’t my business. I’d leave them alone as long as they left me alone.
I was beginning to think I was cursed to draw trouble like a magnet.
With my quiet enjoyment of the night gone, I headed back inside.
* * *
My alarms blared, pulling me from a great abyss.
I groaned and pulled my pillow over my head.
“You do realize that’s super annoying, right?” an irate voice asked from the other side of the bed.
I stilled, closing my eyes and wishing more than anything that I’d imagined that voice.
“Well? Aren’t you going to turn them off?”
Damn. Looked like I wasn’t that lucky.
I sighed and sat up, not bothering to turn off the three alarms.
A pair of bright green eyes in a teenager’s face glared at me. The teenager attached to them had grown since the last time I’d seen him. He’d been standing on a grave cursing my name then. Now he had the beginnings of a scruffy beard. This was surprising given I knew he couldn’t age and was, in fact, way older than his looks suggested.
“Turn it off.” His voice echoed in the small room, the deep barrel bass thumping in my chest. It had way more power than it should, considering I’d slapped a genie cuff on him, which should have kept him from accessing his powers. I narrowed my eyes at him.
His wrist still held the copper bracelet. I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t want to think about how much worse things could get if he had managed to get out of it.
“How did you get in?” I asked, propping myself up in the bed.
He gave me a dirty look and slapped each of the alarms. The last one switched over to a local rock station instead of turning off. He yanked the plug from the outlet. It died mid song.
“How can you stand that noise?” he asked, glaring at the now silent alarms.
I shrugged. “They have their purpose.”
He gave me a sly look. “Like waking you before sunset?”
I didn’t answer. Flipping the covers off me, I was grateful for my modesty. I’d slept in a pair of shorts and t-shirt last night, so he didn’t get a full frontal. He backed away as I advanced on him, grabbed the door and shut it in his face, locking it in case he didn’t get the point.
Concerned he wouldn’t stay out for long, I grabbed the first pair of jeans I could find then pulled out a blue v-neck shirt. I paired the outfit with boots and my rust colored, leather jacket.
Since I was going to be interviewing people, I didn’t want to dress like the bike messenger I was. Appearances and first impressions meant something, no matter how much we told ourselves otherwise.
Sometimes I went against the norm just to yank people’s chains, but I didn’t want to have to fight that stereotyping when I was on such a tight deadline.
Besides, it was easier to hide the holster for the judge under this jacket than in my bike outfit.
Dressed, I opened the bedroom door and went straight to my fridge. I had a feeling I’d need my hunger sated to be able to deal with the sorcerer over the next few minutes.
“Enough games, Aileen. I want this off now,” he said, waving his wrist at me.
I didn’t respond, grabbing a glass from the cabinet and tipping the wine bottle over. My mouth filled with saliva as my world spiraled down to that life sustaining ruby liquid.
