I let idle chit chat rule the majority of our conversation until we sat with a stack of empty plates and cups filling the table between us. And then, knowing it was time to dive in, I pressed again, and perhaps it was my new seductive ‘creature of the night’ charisma, or maybe she just warmed up to me, either way, Jinx was finally willing to talk.

“Why did those guys attack you? What did they want from you?” I asked, my voice steady but curious. I leaned forward slightly, keeping my tone light enough not to spook her but firm enough to show I expected an answer.

Her breath hitched for the briefest of moments, a tiny pause in her rhythm. It was the kind of thing most people wouldn’t notice, but when you’ve lost your sight, you start picking up on the subtleties: the way her fingers tapped out a nervous staccato against the edge of her cup, the shift in her weight as she leaned back just slightly. Whatever she was about to say, I could already tell it wouldn’t be the whole truth.

Still, I didn’t press her. Accusing someone of lying straight out the gate rarely leads to anything good. Trust was a delicate thing, and right now, I needed her to trust me if I was going to get to the bottom of this.

“Honestly?” she said, her voice tight and a little too rehearsed. “I don’t know. I wish I did.”

“Okay,” I said, keeping my tone neutral. “Then what were you doing at the club?”

Her fingers stilled for a fraction of a second before resuming, now tapping out a different rhythm. She was trying to think of what to say, weighing her words carefully. “I was looking for my brother,” she said finally.

“Your brother?” I asked, tilting my head slightly. “What do you mean?”

She exhaled slowly, the sound carrying a note of frustration, maybe even defeat. “He’s gone missing,” she said. “And the last place anyone had any contact with him was at the club. So I started asking around and found out the club owner might know something.”

“And I take it the club owner didn’t appreciate you snooping around?” I asked. “Well, did you find out anything?”

She shook her head -a small, weary motion that I didn’t need to see to feel. Her breath came out in a soft sigh, and her fingers stopped their restless tapping altogether. “All I found out was that whatever my brother got himself into… I’m afraid he might not have survived it.”

The weight in her voice was unmistakable, a mix of guilt and helplessness that settled over the table like a storm cloud. For a moment, I didn’t say anything. Sometimes silence is the only thing you can offer.

“Those thugs,” I said eventually, breaking the stillness. “What were they?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, her tone cautious.

“You know what I mean,” I said, leaning forward. “The way they moved, it wasn’t natural. And I don’t mean to toot my own horn, but normally, I can handle a few thugs without breaking a sweat. But those guys… there was something off about them.” I was trying to feel her out, see just how much she suspected, or knew.

She hesitated, her breath quickening. I could almost hear her biting her lip, the tension radiating from her like heat off a sunlit street. When she finally spoke, her voice was low, almost a whisper. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me,” I said, flashing her a grin she could not only see but could hopefully hear in my voice.

Her fingers resumed their fidgeting, now nervously tearing at the corner of a napkin. She leaned in slightly, her voice dropping even further. “I think they were vampires.”

I didn’t react immediately. Instead, I leaned closer, matching her conspiratorial tone. “Are you serious? Like blood-sucking bat dudes?” Yeah, I should get a Streamy Award for this performance, it was that good.

“Yes,” she said quickly, realizing mid-nod that I couldn’t see her. “Though I’m not sure what kind.”

“What do you mean, ‘what kind’?” I asked, frowning -I was genuinely surprised. “There’s more than one type?”

She nodded again, catching herself this time and speaking instead. “Yeah, there are a lot of different houses. Families of vampires. Each one’s… unique. I don’t know how many there are. Dozens? Hundreds, maybe thousands.”

I sat back, processing that. “What did you get me into?” I asked, half-joking but with a serious edge.

“What do you mean?” she shot back defensively. “You didn’t have to help me.”

“Are you kidding?” I said, spreading my hands. “And leave you to get eaten by some bloodsucking creeps? What kind of noble knight would I be then?”

She let out a short laugh -soft, but genuine. For the first time since this conversation started, she seemed to relax a little. “You’re not exactly what I’d call a traditional knight in shining armor,” she said, her tone teasing.

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I smiled, leaning back in my seat. “Fair enough. But seriously, Jinx, I wasn’t going to leave you there.”

She leaned back too, her chair creaking softly beneath her weight. For a moment, she watched me in silence, and even though I couldn’t see her, I could feel her gaze like a weight on my shoulders. Finally, she spoke, her voice quiet but steady. “You seem to be taking this surprisingly well.”

“Well,” I said, lowering my voice slightly, “it turns out you’re not the only one who knows a thing or two about those creeps.”

Her breathing hitched again, just slightly, and I smiled. Tada!

I filled her in on everything -mostly- while we ordered another round of food and coffee. From the moment I woke up in the middle of the desert, blind and confused, to stumbling my way into the city and meeting Father Ben. I may have embellished a bit about the church being "surrounded" by vampires -it made the story punchier, and hey, a little dramatic flourish never hurt. She didn’t need to know that the “horde” might have been a handful.

As I described the escape through the magic casement in the basement, her skepticism started to show. It wasn’t overt, more like a subtle shift in her breathing and the rhythmic tapping of her fingers against her cup. When she finally spoke, it was with a carefully neutral tone.

“He sounds… interesting,” she said, and I could hear the weight behind the word. Suspicious, maybe. Cautious, definitely. “I’d like to meet him someday.”

“Sure, if you’re into cryptic old priests with a flair for the dramatic,” I said with a shrug, tugging at the flannel shirt he’d given me. “That’s where I got these hip duds -and my badass glasses.” I waggled my eyebrows at her, hoping to lighten the mood.

She didn’t laugh outright, but I could feel the tension in her ease slightly. I couldn’t be certain, but I was pretty sure she smiled.

“And that’s where you come in,” I said, steering the conversation back.

“What do you mean?” she asked, her tone cautious again.

“Well,” I began, leaning forward slightly, “somehow, I was drawn to you. Same way I found the city. There’s something about you that… I don’t know. Pulls me in.”

She choked on her juice, sputtering and coughing as she tried to recover.

“Too much?” I asked, fighting the urge to grin.

She ignored me, her tone clipped as she said, “I don’t know much…”

I quirked an eyebrow, staying silent and sipping my coffee instead. It was perfectly made: cocoa, cream, and cinnamon. The holy trinity of coffee add-ons. Well, aside from a generous splash of Bailey’s -because let’s be honest, that’s the real MVP.

She cleared her throat and continued, though her words came hesitantly. “Not as much as I wish I did. Anyway, I have… a thing. With animals.”

That was not what I was expecting. Mid-sip, I choked, coughing into my coffee.

Her pause was long enough for me to realize she wasn’t amused. “Sorry,” I said quickly. “My bad. Go on.”

I heard her mutter something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like “boys,” but I decided to let it slide.

“Anyway,” she said, her tone sharper now, “I can… talk to them. Get them to do what I say.”

“So you’re like a horse whisperer,” I said, trying to keep my tone light.

“No,” she said quickly, then backtracked. “I mean, yes. But not like that. It’s not just horses or dogs or whatever. It’s like… I have an actual connection with them. We understand each other in ways humans just… can’t.”

“That sounds like a pretty sweet gift,” I said honestly, leaning back in my seat. “Imagine the things you could do with that.”

She didn’t share my enthusiasm. “Well, I’d much rather have my brother’s -or my sister’s- ‘gifts,’ as you call them.”

I tilted my head slightly, intrigued. “What do you mean? What can they do?”

She sighed, the sound carrying a heavy mix of frustration and resignation. “My brother can manipulate the four elements: fire, earth, water, and air. He’s what some people call an Elementalist. He’s still a journeyman, though. Not a master.”

“Whoa!” I said, my excitement genuine. “Like Captain Planet? That’s crazy cool!”

She tensed at my reaction, and I could almost feel the wall going back up. “Yeah, well,” she said, her tone turning sour, “if that wasn’t bad enough, my sister can control the universe itself.”

That shut me up. For a second, I just sat there, letting the weight of her words settle in. “What do you mean, ‘control the universe’?” I asked finally, my voice quieter.

She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she fell into a sullen silence, the kind that feels like it’s building toward something bigger. I let the quiet stretch, giving her space. Sometimes, pushing too much only makes things worse.

Finally, I decided to poke the bear. “What do you mean?” I asked again, my tone softer, less insistent.

She sighed, the sound carrying an almost palpable weight. “She’s… a wizard, of sorts – a Chronomancer,” she said finally, the word rolling off her tongue like it was something she’d rather not say. “She can manipulate time and space. Stop it, slow it, speed it up. She can even rewind it, though she says that’s… dangerous.”

I blinked -or I would have, if I could. “Well, that’s… a lot,” I said finally. “I mean, that’s kind of incredible.”

“Incredible?” she snapped. “You think it’s incredible that she can rewrite reality while I’m stuck talking to animals? Do you have any idea what it’s like growing up as the ‘useless’ sibling?”

“Useless?” I repeated, frowning. “Jinx, that’s not-”

“You don’t get it,” she said, cutting me off. Her voice was sharp, but there was an undercurrent of hurt. “Every time I tried to prove myself, I just… couldn’t measure up. My brother’s out there controlling the elements like some kind of demigod, and my sister-” She broke off, shaking her head. “And me? I get to play Dr. Doolittle.”

I didn’t say anything right away. I could feel the anger radiating off her, but beneath it, there was something else. Pain. Insecurity. A lifetime of feeling like she wasn’t enough.

“You know,” I said carefully, “I’m not saying I’d trade places with you, but I think you’re selling yourself short.”

She snorted. “Oh yeah? How’s that?”

“Your connection with animals? That’s not nothing, Jinx. Most people go their whole lives without ever connecting with anything. Not other people, not the world around them, not even themselves. And here you are, with this incredible gift, and all you see is what you don’t have.”

Her silence was deafening, but I pressed on. “Look, I’m not saying your brother and sister’s powers aren’t impressive. They are. But what you can do? That’s rare. And in case you haven’t noticed, I wouldn’t be here without you.”

The words hung between us, heavy but honest. Finally, she sighed again, softer this time.

“Maybe,” she said quietly. “But it doesn’t always feel that way.”

“That’s fair,” I said. “But for what it’s worth, I think you’re pretty damn impressive.”

For the first time, she smiled. It was small, tentative, but it was there. You know how I knew? I could feel it. It was sunlight on my face. And I smiled back, glad we were getting somewhere.