Chapter 51: A Disaster In The Making

--- Harper Everette ---

Thus far the night was going fairly well, with Aurelio having clearly put in a decent effort at trying to give her a solid ‘Home Date’ from an attempt at a fancy Italian meal, to watching the Princess Bride on his living room wall via a projector and a laptop underneath a ceiling covered in glow in the dark sticker stars.

(Honestly, this might be the best date I’ve ever been on.) Admittedly, she hadn’t been on many, but (the point stands.)

She knew the fact that the date was in his apartment had some… expectations that she wasn’t entirely sure about. Expectations that she’d largely been able to ignore given how dorky Aurelio came off whenever he was trying to play it cool, and that she probably wouldn’t have thought of if not for Frankie needling and teasing her all week.

(At the very least, I don’t need to worry about Aurelio trying anything.) While he was trying to make their date as entertaining as possible, the slight stutter and frequent blushing he had going on was proof that even if he was physically prepared, emotionally he was in a worse state than she was. (It’s honestly kind of cute.)

In fact, just to see how he reacted she went ahead and began to shift around on the couch until she was half leaning onto him. Something that made him stiffen with wide eyes as he glanced down at her.

She couldn’t help but give him a little smirk as their eyes met.

Aurelio’s eyes shot forward as he swallowed.

Despite their odd positioning, she was sure she could hear his heart pounding inside of his chest, this entire situation filling her with a growing sense of confidence and satisfaction as she made him squirm.

A confidence and satisfaction that had her mind drifting towards the conversation she and Frankie had had before. One that she knew they’d only had because her best friend absolutely loved to tease her but now had her seriously wondering, (how far do I want to take this?)

Just a few weeks prior this much would’ve already been pushing her comfort zone. Especially given how it was usually her more masculine partner that was trying to lead things rather than her, but the fact that she was the one in control -something she had zero doubts about- was making her wonder just how far she could push things.

Her actual anxieties were as dead as the Creep she’d killed during the Event, an incident she knew was the catalyst behind her new found confidence. (After all, if I can handle a giant man eating monster then I can handle anything a boy can do.)

(Which means…)

“Uh-wha?!” Aurelio gasped as he found himself pushed onto his back by the surprisingly strong hand on his chest.

(The question is…)

“H-Harper?” Aurelio stuttered out wide eyed as she straddled him.

(Can he handle what I’m going to do to him?)

She couldn’t help but lick her lips at the way his eyes went wide as she began sliding the straps of her dress off.

--- Reymundo Ochoa ---

“You sensing something? You’re staring at that door pretty intently.” Hendrickson noted, as he pulled out a joint.

“I am.” He nodded as he turned away from Harper's door and towards another just a few doors down from the one that she should’ve been behind with her dog instead of the one that she was in with a dog he was going to be having words with.

“Things about to get wild?” Hendrickson asked before lighting his smoke.

He couldn’t help but growl. “They damn well better not be…”

Completely unbothered by the fact that world had lost all color, Hendrickson took a hit of his joint before asking, “So… you scare the thing off or what?”

He took a deep breath before letting it out. (Right, right, don’t need to overreact… Harper doesn’t know about magic and I don’t want to scare her by rushing in there all eldritch horror like. She’s a responsible young woman and no matter what Hendrickson says I sincerely doubt that she’d do anything like that on a first date. We’re probably just interrupting a crappy movie or a really shitty dinner. Yeah, this is just me bailing her out of a bad date. She’ll probably thank me for getting her out of here, and I can take her out for ice cream like when she was in high school.)

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

With another calming breath he gave Hendrickson a nod. “We’re good. We’re good. Good as can be.”

“Okay…” Hendrickson drawled in a way that told him the old man thought he was being weird -(Which is saying something.)- before lightly knocking on the door.

“The fuck was that?” He frowned at the old man.

“I’m trying to keep it light that way if he and the girl are getting hot and heavy we don’t kill the mood too bad by interrupting.”

He felt his eye twitch. (We’re good. We’re good. Good as can be.) “We’re about to-” He inhaled and exhaled. “We’re about to interrogate the kid. No one is going to be in the mood for anything… ‘hot and heavy’.” He almost gagged.

“And you’ve clearly forgotten what it’s like to be a horny teenager.” Hendrickson laughed.

He took yet another calming breath, before cop-knocking the door and interrupting anything involving his daughter in all but blood on the other side.

--- Aurelio Hermenez ---

(What do I do? What do I do? What. Do. I. Do?!) He panicked internally -one of the few positive skills he’d picked up from his previous lifestyle- as Harper looked down on him while wearing just her bra, far less than he’d ever seen a woman in in his entire life.

(Whatever she wants.) Geraldine unhelpfully told him.

Harper licked her lips and made this whole situation ten times harder than it had been when she’d pushed him down.

“I am so in over my head.”

“Yes you are.” Harper agreed as she leaned forward with a grin.

(Okay, since you’re panicking, I’m just going to tweak this a little bit.) Jerry warned him as he felt a flush of his usual magical warmth flood through him.

(Tweak what? What are you doing?!)

When Harper’s lips met his, all panic, thoughts, and worries left him as instinct promptly took over taking what little experience he had and using it to drown himself in Harper’s very presence with a hunger far greater than any other kiss he’d ever had.

Rather than being intimidated or offended, Harper seemed to take this as a challenge attacking him with a hunger of her own, each of them barely pulling away for half a breath of air before diving back in and attempting to consume as much of the other as they could, the world around them losing all time and meaning beyond their mutual hunger.

A hunger that became increasingly all consuming as they found their hands and mouths wandering, Harper stripping him of his shirt as his own hands fumbled at her bra strap before giving up and just latching onto her to pull her as close as possible as his mouth migrated to her neck.

Where he found himself biting down with enough force to tear through skin and taste her blood on his tongue as hunger took over and he could feel a taste greater than any other rush down his throat.

(Tweaked it too much. Tweaked it too much! Tweaked it too much!!!)

“Fu-uck!” Harper cursed in a mix of emotions.

He felt an arm wrap around his throat and pull him off of her, driving a snarl from him right up until he found himself biting into something cold and without any true form.

“Aurelio, control yourself!”

Something shifted and twisted throughout his entire body, forcing it to go rigid as his every joint locked up and became painfully tight, ripping his ability to move away from him.

“Damn it, was really hoping I wouldn’t have to do that…” Geraldine’s voice growled from behind him.

“J-Jerry?” He groaned, just barely able to make out the ghost from out the corner of his eye.

“Have your senses returned?” Geraldine asked him with no small amount of caution.

“S-sense?” He blinked a faint fog to his thoughts.

“I suppose that’s as good as I’m getting under the circumstances.” The vampyric ghost huffed, as he felt whatever force restraining him release itself. “We need to work quick.”

“W-what?” He tried to understand.

“Harper?” Jerry explained as if he should understand.

“Harper?” He frowned.

“Harper.” Geraldine confirmed as she grabbed the back of his head and forced him to look down, where he found Harper bleeding from her neck with a faintly dopey smile as she looked up at them.

The glassy eyed girl looked up at him with a giggle. “You’re a vampire…”

“Oh, shit! Harper, I'm so sorry!” He gasped, as a wave of clarity washed over him.

Rather than processing his words, Harper’s eyes drifted towards Geraldine and in a slurring voice asked. “Is she a vampire too?”

The living shadow made a so-so gesture. “Technically speaking.”

“Heh, this is one of my top three fantasies…” Harper admitted before promptly passing out.

“Fuck! What do we do?!” He panicked as he turned towards Geraldine.

“Calm down. She’ll be fine, we just need to stay calm and work quickly.” Jerry assured him.

His attempt to do either of those things was immediately hampered by someone cop knocking his door.