DAVY HARWOOD: TRANSITION

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CHAPTER ONE

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I felt stupid.

There was no other way around it, no way I could justify my emotions. I just felt stupid.

Emily had hounded me for the last two months. She wanted me to talk to Mr. Moser. Finally, after she’d held my cell phone hostage, I’d had to succumb. So this is how I found myself back in the infamous building where I used to volunteer with the hotline.

I suppressed a shudder. I had really hated working at the hotline and it wasn’t because of the last time I’d been in this exact building. Although, that moment had changed my life, but the real reason I hated volunteering at the hotline was because I hated talking on the phone.

It was loathsome and only a select few got on my ‘I’ll talk to you on the phone’ list.

“Davy Harwood,” Mr. Moser boomed as he entered his own office. If he was trying for intimidation, it would’ve worked three weeks ago.

Mr. Moser did not qualify for my list.

I waited until he rounded his desk and sat. His leather chair squeaked underneath his weight, but two beady green eyes wasn’t amused and didn’t care. His orange tie had flapped over his shoulder and it still laid there, caught between the wrinkles of his green buttoned dress shirt. His khaki pants hadn’t fared better. I wasn’t a wrinkle-noticing person, but I wouldn’t have been surprised to find out they’d been rolled up and stuffed in the back of a drawer for the last two years.

He lifted an eyebrow and barked out, “Do you have anything to explain your actions three weeks ago?”

I was more concerned about how his tie still hadn’t moved off his shoulder. He looked…well, not like an idiot but still…was I supposed to tell him?

“My actions….sir?”

“You broke protocol.”

Oh…that. The night that had changed my life. If only Mr. Moser actually knew I was supposed to go up to that roof.

“Oh,” was all I said. I tried to sound apologetic. I folded my hands and when I looked down, I even fiddled my thumbs.

“I’m not buying it, Davy.” Mr. Moser was very smart. Had I already mentioned that?

“Buying what, sir?”

“You answered the phones after we’d already closed. You broke protocol. You identified the caller’s location, chose to intervene without any communication with your supervisors, and then you had the balls to resign by sneaking a letter under my door. I am not buying your act right now, young lady.”

He said ‘balls’. I loved that.

“Yes, but…” I really had no defense. I’d claimed that what had happened had been too traumatic for me to continue working with the hotline. Things had been traumatic, but he was right. I’d just chosen the coward’s way out so that I wouldn’t have gotten in trouble.

The trauma card would’ve been accepted by most. The girl had called claiming to kill herself over some guy. I figured out that she was on the roof of the hotline’s building and headed up to talk in person. And wow, when I’d gotten up there—nothing had happened like it was supposed to have.

I was supposed to have been the hero. I was supposed to have talked her down and saved the day.

That didn’t happen. She’d jumped off the building and had left me with a ‘gift’ instead.

Of course, Mr. Moser couldn’t ever know that information. For one, he wouldn’t have believed me and two, he just wouldn’t have understood.

That girl had committed suicide that night, but she’d just chosen to end her life her way. She’d been the carrier of the Immortal. That thread went from her to me when I’d used my empathic abilities and searched inside of her. The rule says that when the Immortal thread leaves a human, the body dies horribly and painfully. So, in essence, the girl had jumped to prevent herself from dying the more suffering of the two ways.

I eyed Mr. Moser up and down. The beady eyes had a glaze of anger in them. I knew that my other actions had just made it worse.

I’d been avoiding him for the last two weeks.

Really—I couldn’t handle Mr. Moser since I was too busy dealing with not only being the next carrier for the Immortal thread, but actually becoming the Immortal.

Again…there was just too much that I couldn’t explain to Mr. Moser. I couldn’t even tell him that I was empathic, and that was the more normal of my ‘differences’.

“I had hoped better of you, Davy.”

Wow. Guilt.

He sounded so disappointed as he took a deep breath, “Emily is an outstanding Listener. She spoke highly of you, but perhaps she was biased since you’re roommates. Still, even Adam seemed to have taken a liking to you. He respected you, Davy.”

I had so many corrections to Mr. Moser’s rose-colored perspective. One, Emily was an awful listener. She might be a wonderful Listener at the hotline where she was fulfilling a requirement for a social work class, but she didn’t listen to anyone in person. And two, Adam had taken more than a liking to me.

Adam had asked me out on one date. The date had failed miserably and I didn’t think being kidnapped had been the problem. I had such a crush on Adam, but between being asked out by him and going out that same night—I’d had too many kisses with a certain vampire.

Adam hadn’t stood a chance.

Still, I was flattered that Adam seemed to have respected me.

“What are you thinking, Mr. Moser?”

Let’s just get the punishment out of the way. I had an Empathic Meeting after this.

“Well, under the circumstances I do not support your actions. You broke protocol and you should have the correct discipline for them. And then there’s the item of your resignation. I know that you didn’t really mean to resign and because of Miss Whistworth’s death, the hotline is in need of any willing volunteers so I’ve decided to look past your actions.”

What? Did he mean…? There was no way.

Mr. Moser beamed, “You can start tonight. Adam needed a replacement since he’s taken two weeks vacation. You can take his desk.”

I was speechless. I had no words. I had…I couldn’t even feel my toes and I felt everything, literally.

Mr. Moser was already up and out of his office before any thoughts could form in my brain.

And when I realized how duped I’d just been, I just groaned and dropped my forehead on the desk.

Not only did I feel stupid, but I felt like a complete moron.

When my phone vibrated on my thigh, I pulled it out of my pocket and snapped it open. “Yeah?”

I was disgruntled. I wasn’t going to hold it back, that was unhealthy.

“What’s wrong, slick?” Kates drawled. I heard music in the background and that meant one thing.

“Are you at the Shoilster?”

I’d been there twice and hated both times. Plus, it was a vampire bar. That probably had something to do with it. I wasn’t the biggest fan of vampires.

“Hell no,” Kates barked out a laugh. “Listen, I’m going to be out of town for awhile. I need to figure some stuff out, you know…”

Oh yes, did I know. Kates had been camped out in my dorm room for two weeks. The news was met with varying shades of relief and concern. I knew if Emily was the type to shout for joy, she would’ve been screaming it. I was growing tired of the tension between the two.

Of course, Emily had reason for her instant dislike. Kates had been the one to kidnap us, but Emily wasn’t privy to the fact that Kates had tried to save me from her psychotic vampire boyfriend later that evening.

“Where are you going?” Kates going off on her own was not a good idea. I knew Kates. She might be a vampire slayer, but she’d find the trouble that’d just have her crying in my arms…again. And that one time, she’d admitted to indirectly trying to kill herself when she had ‘saved’ me from that same boyfriend.

He was a vampire. He wanted to drain my blood. Kates had been about to step in my place…good thing I was the Immortal and had all these other wonderful powers. I stopped Kates from dying, but I confronted her later. Kates had crumbled, which spoke volumes because Kates was the indestructible slayer that didn’t have tear ducts.

I was worried and I had reason to be.

“I’m not going to find Lucan.”

I relaxed…slightly.

Kates added, “I’ve been talking to Blue. She’s helped a bunch, but there’s something I gotta do on my own. Trust me, slick. You can talk to Blue if you want. She agrees that I should go and do this thing.”

And that statement was met with mixed feelings too.

One, I was happy that Kates was confiding in Blue. As my Empath Sponsor, Blue was the master at feeling through emotions and helping to sort through them so the bad were turned good. She liked to do that by talking. She liked to think of herself as a counselor.

Two, another reason why I loved that Blue and Kates were talking because it gave me hope. Kates had kidnapped Blue too and done worse than what had happened to Emily. If Blue could forgive Kates, I had hope for Emily yet.

And the third reaction was reluctance. I really did not want to talk to Blue. In fact, I’ve been avoiding my Empath Sponsor who was like a mother to me for two weeks. And the reason for that…didn’t have to be processed at this moment, during this conversation.

“I don’t know, Kates.”

“What don’t you know? You don’t even know what I’m doing.”

I opened my mouth—

Kates beat me to it, “And I’m not telling you because you’ll just worry. I’ve talked about it with Blue. She agrees that I should go and do this. And she thinks I shouldn’t tell you too so I’m not. Besides, you have enough to worry about. You’re the freaking Immortal, Davy. My god, I have no idea why you’re still in college, much less going to see that idiot supervisor.”

I was going because Emily made me.

I couldn’t say that to Kates. Emily’s attitude towards Kates hadn’t endeared my roommate with my childhood best friend even though it’d been Kates to kidnap us in the first place.

Kates liked to forget that sometimes.

So I just said, “I’m living a normal life because I’m going to be living for a long time.”

I was the Immortal and according to a very annoying voice, I was the last Immortal.

I had no idea what that meant, but I was pretty sure it meant eternity. Or a long time, at least.

“Are you sure that you’re not looking for him?” I just wanted to make sure. Kates’ boyfriend had been a psychotic vampire, but he was human now. So that made him a psychotic human with all this knowledge about vampires…and how to become a vampire again.

Like Kates had said, the guy was just dangerous for her.

Kates was silent for a couple beats and then she admitted, wrangled, “I don’t really have to, remember?”

I flushed and shut my mouth. The reminder was duly noted.

If anyone was going to find Lucan, it’d be Lucas Roane—his twin.

“Have you heard from him?” Kates asked, gently.

I rolled my eyes. I didn’t need kid gloves. I clipped out, “No and why would I?”

Kates was wise to keep silent on that matter. The truth is that Roane was a whole host of things, but personal feelings had occurred between the two of us. What we did because of them and how we thought about them was a whole other story.

“I haven’t seen Roane since he took off.” That had been ten days ago. And since he was hunting Lucan, I had no idea how long it would take. Lucan was human, but he thought as a vampire. And Roane was not only a vampire, but a Hunter. I was surprised he was still gone actually.

Hunters were…they had the skill and jurisdiction to hunt and kill any vampire that broke the decree that stated no humans were to be bitten or harmed by vampires. They were the elite of their race and Roane was one of the best.

Lucan didn’t stand a chance.

Kates and I both knew it.

“Your roommate has been buzzing around the room like she’s on meth. You sure she’s a sober saint? She ain’t acting like it.”

I was so thankful for Kates’ attention deficit.

“Did you say something?” I frowned, but it wasn’t fierce. The tension was thick between Emily and Kates, but entertainment sometimes.

“What? I’ve been perfect.”

What a lie. And we both knew it.

“Kates, no…” I just groaned. I was tired of it. I was tired of a whole host of other things, but I hated to admit that my roommate had started to become an important person in my life. I wanted the two friends I had to get along…that’ll never happen. I needed to face facts.

“The chit needs to toughen up, seriously. I’ve gotta go, Davy. I’ll be in touch. Don’t worry about me. I love you. I’ll be fine.” And my childhood nolstage hung up.

I sighed. What else could I do? She was my childhood nolstage for a reason. We’d been friends since childhood and even though I didn’t approve of a lot of the things she did, she had a special place in my heart. Kates was like dust that I’d find at my grandmother’s house. I didn’t really want it there, but for some reason it reminded my of my grandma. I couldn’t help to love it.

“Okay, Miss Harwood, we’ve got you back in the program!” Mr. Moser broadcasted loudly, beaming, as he strode back into his office.

Yes. Yes, my life could get more weird.

Tiredly, I lifted my forehead from the desk and replied, tentatively, “Mr. Moser, I’m not good on the phone. I hate phones. I…I’m not good at this work.”

“Nonsense! You’re perfect.”

Meaning…he was desperate. Adam’s two weeks to mourn his girlfriend of one day must’ve put the hotline in a dire spot. They tricked me into working—that said a lot.

“When is Adam coming back? Maybe I could fill in until he gets back…?” I really hoped this was the case.

Mr. Moser squashed that idea as he slapped a file on his desk and said curtly, “We’ll figure that out when the time comes.”

I winced from the slap and resigned myself to my fate.

I had an entire six hour shift answering a phone in my future.

You’d think I would’ve seen this coming since I was the Immortal and empathic, but…I was lame.

I wasn’t a very good empathic Immortal.

I should work on that.

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Hey all! So, I'm not sure if this chapter will stick, but I'm posting it anyway.