My phone rang over lunch.It was my parents.I stared at the number, listening to the ring tone drone on and on, and decided not to answer it.My tuna-on-rye started to look less than appealing, and I decided the best way to spend my off-time was a nap.
I cuddled up on my bean bag in the corner of my office and closed my eyes.Almost as soon as my lids were closed, I could see it again—a white tower jutting into the sky, and four massive flames, all shining in different colors throughout a deep forest.Someone was cackling behind me, and when I looked at the sky, the moon hung high and bright.I could feel myself floating towards it, higher and higher, like a piece of cotton or a leaf or a balloon floating through the air, and then the whole of the moon turned, and a giant man's face stared down at me.
It was like seeing the brilliance of God himself, and I knew The End was coming, and I woke up in a puddle of sweat, screaming into my darkened office around me.
It was eight at night.I'd slept all day, and nobody came to wake me up.I could see the moon on the horizon, bright against the Chicago skyline.So I called one of my boyfriends, and he said he'd come and grab me.
Eddie was at the curb,bike idling, fingerless gloves revving the throttle.
"Working late?"he asked me.
"Save me from this place, please," I said.
"Hop on," he said.
I hitched up my purse and grabbed him around the middle, and off we sped into the night, darkness whipping around us.
"Have you eaten?"he asked.
"No," I said.I thought of my tuna sandwich on my desk.It would stink the whole place out by the morning.
"How's ice cream sound?"he asked.
"You're my favorite person," I said.
"I bet you say that to every vampire you meet," he called, against the wind.
Eddie could digest plainvanilla ice cream.That was about it, other than blood.We sat and ate cones at night on the street, the neon light of the shop sign behind us buzzing.
"You look distracted," I said.
"It's Brynholf," Eddie said."Stupid fucker.Thinks he knows what's best.Constantly expects me to fill out paperwork for every little fucking thing.It wears on you.Half the time he sends the forms back and asks me to redo them.I'm struggling with all this and I have it easy.I'm only forty something.Me and Vic keep having to do Brother Al's paperwork for him.It's a mess."
"We had a guy like that," I said."Turned into a zombie.Andy, the head of my department, tossed him out the window after he ate a few interns.Maybe you guys should toss Brynholf off a skyscraper.Or into a volcano or something."
Eddie laughed.
"You're crazy," he said.He fell silent.
"What are you thinking about?"I asked.
"You don't want to know," he said.
"I really do," I said.
"You really don't," he said."Trust me."
"Look, how can you consider us partners if you can't open up to me?"I asked.
"Stacey," he said, and looked into the distance."Do you consider us partners?"
I closed my eyes, pinched the bridge of my nose.This was one of those recurring conversations, the prelude to what I knew would be an argument where both of our feelings would get hurt.
"I just don't know what you want out of me," Eddie said.
"I want a partner," I said.
"I can't have kids with you," he said.
