Chapter 53: No More Secrets

--- Harper Everette ---

She continued to pace back and forth in Aurelio’s living room while doing her best to ignore the massive hole in the wall and process everything that had happened in the last couple hours. A feat that was not made easier by the three sets of eyes watching her, or rather two sets since that old man Rey occasionally hung out with was instead eating the rest of the food Aurelio had made. (But that’s unimportant.)

What was important was the fact that apparently both Aurelio and Rey were keeping secrets from her. Admittedly she half way got it with Aurelio since they’d been talking for like a month, (not like Rey who I’ve known for almost a decade!) Though that meant nothing for the fact that Aurelio was apparently a vampire who had bitten her.

She took a deep breath once more and Barry rubbed against her legs, her goodboi trying to reassure her even as he glared at the men sitting on the couch.

“Alright, okay, let’s go over all of this once more.” She eventually managed to get out.

She pointed a finger at Aurelio. “You are a vampire with shadow magic who bit me on our date.”

“That was not planned at all!” Said vampire shouted. “I got turned like a week ago and no one warned me we were the kind of vampires to go feral. They were just going on this whole cult-y family thing that I wanted nothing to do with and something about being blood witches!”

She was going to put a pin in that because -aside from the cult stuff- that (sounds ten different kinds of awesome), but for now she merely raised a hand causing Aurelio to shut up.

Harper then pointed at Rey. “And you are a monster hunter apparently. Something I did not know and-” A thought occurred to her. “Does Fred know you’re a monster hunter?”

“Sí…” Rey cringed.

“Is there anything else I should know about?” She wondered with narrowed eyes.

“He’s also a Death Priest!” Old man Hendrickson helpfully shouted. “And a Furry too!”

“I am not a fucking furry!” Rey yelled at the old man, the space around him briefly flickering black and white. An effect that was simultaneously beautiful to look at and absolutely terrifying on an instinctive level, as ever hair on her body began to stand on end and her heart began to pound.

(C-come on, it’s just-just Rey, there’s nothing to be afraid of…) She reminded herself as she pet Barry to try and calm herself down.

Hendrickson looked Rey in the eye -something she was sure of in spite of the man wearing sunglasses inside- and said, “We both know that’s a lie.”

The black and white space continued to grow for a moment, before Rey glanced her way and visibly forced himself to inhale and exhale, letting color return to the space around him and pushing away her terror with it.

“Does-Does she also know about… that?” She wondered, gesturing her hand towards him while already feeling like her and her best friend were going to need to have some words about their mutual foster father. (And whatever the fuck that was.)

“Uh, yeah…” Rey nodded with a grimace. “She’s uh, that’s part of how I met her and why she was staying with me… Her mom was a friend… and her dad…” Her foster father swiped a hand in front of his throat, as he referenced a topic Fred never talked about.

“Oh…” That explained a thing or two, while leaving her with twice as many questions.

She put her head in her hands and took another calming breath, before asking, “Okay, monster hunter and death priest…” For her own sanity she was going to believe Rey about the furry thing. “Any other secrets I should know about? Just while we’re airing all of this out?”

Once more Old Man Hendrickson helpfully chimed in from the kitchen to inform her that, “Aurelio is possessed by a succubus he sold his soul to for kinky sex!”

She glanced at the boy she went on a date with as he vehemently shook his head. “That is not at all what happened. Gerry, get out here and explain! If you really want to help with that thing get out here right now!”

Aurelio’s shadow shifted beneath him before an insanely hot woman with pale white skin and darker than black hair and clothes appeared on the arm of the couch, making Harper swallow something down from the sight of her alone.

“Technically speaking I’m a vampyric spirit, I latched onto him when the oddity in the sky occurred removing my corporeality due to… reasons I’m still deciphering.” The woman -Gerry- admitted with just a touch of frustration. “Since then I’ve been aiding him with his transition due to… several disagreements we both have with the local Bloodline. Truthfully, Aurelio’s feeding on you was largely due to me having forgotten that as a possible problem when adjusting his instincts and hormones. What with it not occurring to me in decades and all.”

“I see.” She nodded slowly, trying very hard not to think about bisexual vampire threesomes.

The way the vampiress smirked at her did nothing to aid that little problem. (Is he sure she’s not a succubus?)

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Okay, okay…” She nodded, trying to steady herself once more. “So moving past the fact that I’m the only non-supernatural in the room… The fighting was caused by Aurelio losing control as a fledgling vampire and Rey being overprotective.”

“No.” Rey interrupted with a frown. “You were bleeding and half naked, if we’re being honest, the fact that he’s still breathing means I did not act with anywhere near enough protectiveness.”

Aurelio leaned towards the (sexy) shadow vampiress, clearly intimidated. Something that was made worse when Old Man Hendrickson pointed out that, “You were throwing raw Necro at an idiot teenager with self-control issues.”

“Raw Necro?!” The vampiress stiffened, staring at her foster father with no small amount of horror. “How are you alive?!”

Her eyes snapped to Rey with no small amount of confusion or concern.

“I already died and came back when I was teenager… and then like eighty-ish times since then.” Rey shrugged as if that wasn’t an extremely worrying statement.

“That… is kind of badass.” Aurelio voiced her own thoughts. “Terrifying, but badass.”

Unlike if she’d said it though, Rey did not seem to appreciate the sentiment.

“Right, ignoring the badassery, how at risk are you of dying?” She asked, deciding that was her priority at the moment.

“Before I turn like ninety?” Her foster father checked as he scratched at his neck. “I’m pretty sure I’m one of the… three most dangerous things in the city.”

“Sixth by my count!” Old Man Hendrickson called back as he exited the kitchen plate in hand.

“That isn’t sleeping and or sealed beneath enough magic to nuke the city.” Rey tacked onto his previous statement with a roll of his eyes as if that was just common knowledge rather than an extremely terrifying statement.

(Then again maybe it is for him…) She was slowly realizing she didn’t know her foster father anywhere near as well as she thought she had.

“Fourth then.” Old Man Hendrickson corrected himself, causing her to snort at the way Rey glared at the old man.

“Of course…” Rey visibly inhaled and exhaled, before turning said glare onto the shadow vampire. “That’s not including any of the dozens of Demons, spirits, and everything else that started flooding the city the same time you showed up.”

Gerry tilted her head while narrowing her eyes. “You think I’ve something to do with the sky cracking.”

“I do.” Rey admitted. “Which is why we’re here.”

“Really because here I was thinking you were trying to box block your-”

“So help me I will throw your ass out that hole in the wall!” Rey shouted, the air once more filling with static.

“Wouldn’t be the first time, wouldn’t be the last.” Old Man Hendrickson confessed, completely and utterly unimpressed.

Aurelio glanced at the hole in the wall and winced. “Fuck… I’m so getting evicted…”

She couldn’t help but grimace at that herself, since that part was her dad’s fault. Which is why she reluctantly said, “Well, I guess you could sleep on my-”

“It’s illegal to evict someone for supernatural damages unless it can be proven as your fault. Just fake a Creep attack and they’ll move you into another apartment if they can.” Rey quickly spat out, looking more concerned with what she was about to say than any of the horrifying details of his life she’d learned this night.

“Oh, that’s good.” Aurelio slumped in relief.

“And disappointing.” His shadow disagreed with a pout.

Harper felt her face heating up, especially with the way Rey’s eyes snapped to the vampiric ghost, the static around him growing worse. The overwhelming mix of terror, embarrassment, and arousal made her have to sit down as her head began to spin. (Or maybe that’s just the blood loss from earlier…)

“Are, are you okay?” Aurelio asked, both him and Rey already off of the couch and halfway to her.

“I’m-I’m fine.” She lied, before shaking her head. “I just… This is all… a lot.”

Rey let out a sigh as he took a seat next to her. “Yeah… that’s part of why I never brought you into all of this… It’s a lot, and… I’ve lost people because of it all and… I just -mierda- I don’t know…”

She didn’t really know either, but she sort of got what he was saying.

“Honestly, if it wasn’t for whatever unleashed all of these spirits… And me finding Zoey and Kelly I probably wouldn’t have dragged you into all of this…” Her foster father admitted.

“Even with me killing a Creep?” She frowned, because she’d always had fantasies of being a monster hunter and Rey knew about them. (And he still didn’t tell me about all of this…)

Rey grimaced at that reminder, seemingly holding something back, before telling her that, “These Creeps are nowhere near the scariest monsters in this city, and unlike Creeps those ones will ignore you as long as you don’t know they exist.”

“Mnemonic Threats are a bitch no matter where you live.” Hendrickson chimed in, a bit of seriousness bleeding into the old man’s usually laid back attitude. “The more you know about them the more of a pain in the ass they become.”

“Exactly…” Rey sighed as he pulled her into a half-hug. “Knowing what was out there, I couldn’t let you or Fred get involved with all of that. So I did my best to keep both of you out of it all.”

She was quiet for a moment before asking, “And if I… I didn’t want to stay out of it all?”

The way her foster father’s face twisted at that told her exactly how he felt about the idea even if he stayed quiet.

While she’d only ever fantasized about monster hunters, the closest she’d ever been to it was when she’d taken a look at Sanctuary’s programs in high school and found the organization too… military for her. (But if Rey is an actual monster hunter…)

“Why can’t you teach me about this stuff, like you did with my boxing? I mean, not knowing clearly didn’t help me as much as you thought.” She pointed out with a gesture towards Aurelio and Gerry, the pair standing awkwardly to the side.

Rey glared at the vampyric pair once more. Eventually though, he let out a string of curses in Spanish as he ran a hand down his face before mumbling under his breath. “Given everything with the other girls I’m going to have to walk them through all of this too and… Fuck it wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t… Fuck. Fine. I’ll just teach all three of you at once.”

“All three of us?” Aurelio cautiously asked, sounding like he wasn’t sure if he wanted that or not.

“No not you. Fuck you. You bit my daughter, I hope you die in the sunlight leech.” Rey growled with golden eyes and absolutely no reservations.

“Rey!” She frowned, because while she got it -and secretly liked the warm feeling it gave her- it also felt like he’d just used a slur there.

“Ignore him. A vampire stole his girlfriend.” Old Man Hendrickson chimed in.

“That is not what happened!” Rey barked out his teeth looking particularly pointy.

Despite herself she couldn’t help but laugh. (Maybe… maybe this isn’t as bad as I thought?)