Cat dropped Indi off back at home. She didn’t hang around though. Her finely tuned sportscar had squealed out of sight before Indi had even reached her front steps. It was at her front steps that Indi paused, for even though she knew Falco could not have possibly beaten her home, the lights in the house were very obviously on.
She hesitated and then climbed a few steps. She could see shadows moving through the glass windows that lined the front door. She bit her lip. Maybe it was Falco? Maybe he had beaten her home? Except his car wasn’t in the driveway.
She glanced around the rest of the street and soon spotted a new car, a silver sedan, one she recognised but which didn’t belong to Falco. She raced up the front steps and threw the door open.
“Sly!” She exclaimed.
“Hmm?” The fridge door in the kitchen was open. The light from the fridge caused shadows to dance near her feet. A man’s face peaked up from behind the fridge door in mild surprise. His lips were stained dark red. He stared at her for a moment, blinked once, and then he licked the blood off them. He ducked down behind the fridge door again. “Oh sorry, one sec.”
Indi waited patiently for him to put his blood sachet back in the fridge but the moment he stood up again and, as he began to swing the fridge door closed, she raced at him and wrapped him in a tight hug.
Sly was taller than her and skinnier. He fit the more standard vampire stature of lean and wiry. He kept his brown hair long and tied back loosely in a pony tail. Like Indi, his eyesight was awful, but unlike Indi, Sly opted for contacts rather than glasses. In one of his ears, there hung a small gold hooped earring. Indi thought it made him look a little like a pirate. His clothes were more dressy though, with dark jeans and a black blazer with sleeves ending just below his elbows, Sly could have fit in anywhere from an upmarket BBQ to a wedding. Perhaps an urban pirate then?
“Heey, missed you too sis,” he remarked gently as he hugged her back.
“How did you get in?” She asked as she looked up to see his matching violet eyes staring down warmly. He smelt like wool and pine with a touch of something chemical, maybe paint or varnish, a dash of turpentine. Scents more down to earth than his clothing choices. It reminded her of her childhood home. Sly had always loved woodworking. He could make anything with his hands, from a tiny wooden piano sized for his sister’s toy doll right up to full-sized, finely crafted, tables, chairs, and clocks, all of which he sometimes sold for profit.
“I found your spare key. It wasn’t hidden very well. You could have anybody just walk on in here.” He said it with a smile, meant to tease, but Indi could hear a slight note of concern for her in there too. Sly was a sweetheart.
She shook her head as they pulled apart, and she shrugged. “Cat says if someone really wanted in then they’d just break a window.”
“Cat?”
“Oh, she’s friend. You should meet her, I think you’d...” Indi paused mid-thought then she smiled sheepishly, “Well actually she can be a bit of an acquired taste for some people, but she’s great once you get to know her. I think you’d get on. You should meet all my new friends, although not so new anymore, but new to you. And I haven’t even given you a tour of my new house yet.” She gestured widely.
“I’d like that.” Sly smiled and he looked around the open plan living and kitchen area. He spent awhile looking out toward the sea. He glanced back toward Indi and nodded. “I can see you went for the house with the largest windows.” He spoke slowly and calmly, always in a comfortable mood, always a light tone, but Indi could hear the worry back again. She knew her brother too well to miss it.
“You should see the view in the day time.” With a little too much glee she added, “It’s to die for.”
Sly raised an eyebrow. There was a twitch of a smile but his eyes were serious.”
“Oh don’t worry. The bedroom curtains could probably block out a supernova, and I don’t come out here without sunscreen. So what have you been up to? Where have you been? Why haven’t you come to visit? It’s been almost two years.”
“We had dinner two months ago.”
“At your place. I mean it’s been almost two years since I moved in here and every time I invite you you’re always out of town.”
Sly frowned and scratched his head. “Has it really been two years?”
Indi nodded.
“Huh, I suppose it has. I guess I’ve just been busy.” He rested his buttocks on the back of one of the plush leather couches.
Indi took a seat on one of the barstools opposite him. “Sooo, what have you been doing then?And what’s the deal with you and Sara? Are you really getting divorced?”
“Ah, it’s a long story.”
“You want me to make you some din...” She trailed off as she remembered what he’d been doing when she’d first walked in the door. “Oh, did I interrupt you before? I don’t mind if you... um...”
“No, it’s okay.” Sly waved his hand. “I’d already eaten earlier anyway.” Unlike Indi, Sly did consume blood for a portion of meals, however he was usually pretty careful about not doing it in front of her, since he knew she didn’t like it. He ate regular food too, just not as often. He met her eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean for you to walk in when you did.”
“It’s okay,” Indi replied quietly. She knew how much effort he usually put into avoiding the topic of blood consumption. This past week was just different, but it seemed like it had been a rough one for Sly. If he and Sara really were splitting up, she couldn’t blame him for being a little off his game. But the smell of blood was a potent one, she could almost taste it in the air. There was the question too, around why he was eating here and not at his place, especially when this was the first time he’d shown up here. They were only about 30 minutes drive from each other. Indi had so many questions floating around in her head it was hard to focus on just one. “So...”
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“What have I been up too lately?” Sly finished for her with a smile.
Sly must know how she felt, maybe even that she could still smell the blood. It probably didn’t stink as much to him as it did to her but Sly was an empath. He could sense how she felt with his powers. He would know that she was slightly uncomfortable. He could manipulate emotions as well as read them. He could, if he wanted, make her feel at ease with the smell of it too but Indi would not have liked feeling like that in hindsight, and Sly knew that, so he wouldn’t do that.
“Yeah.” Indi smiled back at him. She was happy to see him too and he would pick up on that. “And why are you visiting here now? Not that I’m not happy to see you but...”
Sly’s smile widened then he winced apologetically. “Well, I was actually hoping I could crash here for a few days.”
Indi frowned, not because she didn’t want her brother to stay, but because the request made her far more worried about him than she had been a few minutes ago.
“Just on the couch is fine if you don’t have a spare room. Although I suppose I’ll have to put sunscreen on before bed if I’m waking up in this room.”
Indi shook her head. “There’s a spare room downstairs but... did Sara kick you out? I thought you said she was out of town? And where’s Bree?”
“Bree’s at mum and dads, just for a few more nights. Sara’s down in the Emerald city, joining in the blood protest there. And no, not exactly. I just need to lay low for a few days. No biggie, it’s nothing to worry about.”
“What do you mean lay low?” That had been altogether too much information to swallow in one go and Indi felt all of a sudden very tired and worried at the same time.
Indi had picked up her own daughter from her parents about a week ago and Bree had been there then too. She couldn’t really judge though. Jewel was elsewhere tonight again, sleeping over at a friend’s place. And at least Bree wasn’t near the protests.
She wasn’t surprised Sara was joining in the protests. Sara wasn’t a vampire but she’d always been a bit overzealous when she found a cause to fight for. Not that this was an unreasonable cause, but Indi hated the idea of violence. It never ended well. It oversimplified things and made things murkier at the same time and Indi was certain there were nicer, more logical ways to achieve the same goals. Sly didn’t always agree, neither with Indi nor Sara, but he would defend Sara if Indi tried to poke holes in Sara’s methodologies, especially when she wasn’t here, and Indi really didn’t want to argue with her brother right now. Plus, Indi was the master at avoiding thinking about depressing stuff she couldn’t control. She would fix a thing or she would find something better to focus on.
Sly’s last statement was just the thing. It wasn’t a dark, depressing thing yet. At the moment it was just a mystery. One Indi needed to know the answer to. And if it turned out it was something unpleasant, well, then maybe she could make it better. In the unknown lay hope.
Sly fiddled with his earring. “I just owe some people some money that’s all and it’s better they don’t find me until I have it.”
“I can loan you some.” Indi had never been able to decide if Sly was very good with money or very very bad. He was good at making money quickly, but he was also good at losing money quickly. Sly liked to gamble, on the stocks and in the casinos. He was smart and very good with numbers but he also liked to take risks. He’d been kicked out of more than one casino for counting cards. He’d borrowed money from her before but he’d always paid her back, always with unrequired interest, but not always right when he said he would.
Sly waved her off. “No, no, I’ve got an investment which I expect to turn a profit in a few days, I just gotta bide some time until then.”
“You’re not making it up in the casinos?” Indi asked.
“No, that’s where I was, in Mercy, doing some legit work for once too, sort of. Doing some work for the house of all things. Made a bad bid, slightly more than I was supposed to.” At the look on his sister’s face and the belly dropping feeling he could sense she had, he quickly added. “Don’t worry. They’re not likely to take my fingers or anything, as long as I pay them back more than I lost.”
“Not likely?” Indi’s eye’s were wide as dinner plates.
Sly shook his head and flashed his sister a cheeky smile. “The boss likes me, and he’s easy to manipulate.” Sly finished off with a wink. There was not a sign of worry in his posture or voice.
Indi sighed. Her brother was always finding new trouble but as much as she worried, Sly could weasel his way out of anything. It almost seemed he enjoyed the challenge of it.
“So, how are you planning on paying them back then?”
“Know a guy who took a shorted position. I’ve got a deal to sell him some shares at market price in couple weeks, whatever the market price may be.” Sly grinned, revealing his sharp, half vampire length canines.
Indi frowned. This was still a puzzle. “Another gamble?”
Sly shook his head. “Not for me. I’ve got some information about which way things are headed.” The grin never left his face.
“Sly.” Indi chided him. But she didn’t rebuke him too harshly. Sly wouldn’t give up his games, and at least, she knew, he only conned those who could afford to lose. Not that she approved of that either. She would have preferred he just stuck to furniture making and regular investing. Even his automated fast frequency trading programs were a little too risky for her tastes. At least he seemed to be enjoying himself. Indi unconsciously fiddled with the sleeves of her jersey. “But doesn’t Mercy clamp down hard on that sort of stuff?”
He shook his head. “This one’s not in Mercy. It’s with a guy in Paradise.”
“So far away.”
“Closer than Mercy given I haven’t been teleporting, and we’ll meet half way. There’s this little spa he likes to frequent.” Sly smiled. He could sense his sister’s resignation. "Anyway, I meant to thank you, for picking up that blood for me. You really didn't..." Sly trailed off as he sensed the sudden spike in Indi's emotions. "...have to. Are you alright? Did something happen? Indi?"
Indi tried to brush him off but even the best pokerface couldn’t hide their emotions from Sly, and Indi was terrible at poker to begin with.
She shook her head. "No. Nothing happened," she lied. ,"It's just been a long day."
But everything was catching up to her. The trip to the blood bank, the events of the day, the child-sized cocoons, the maybe zombie child they might have to kill. That all contrasted with her favorite (and only) brother finally visiting her new house. Her lower lip trembled even as she started to shake her head again.
Before she could get another protest out Sly was up off the couch and had wrapped her in the tightest most comforting hug in existence.
"Tell me about it."
So they sat on the couch together and Indi started off by relaying him the events of the day, after she’d spent a minute or two sobbing in his arms, because that hug had really been the last straw on the dam wall. But once she’d calmed down, she told him about the house.
“And there was this room with all these stuffed animals and a really creepy clown and-”
She was cut off as a dinging noise sounded from her computer. She sat up straight and turned sharply toward it. Then she leapt of the couch in a frenzy.
“What is that?” Sly asked after her.
Indi moved her mouse and the screen lit up. She entered her password and then laughed at the small message that had appeared in the middle of her screen. Turning back to Sly with the widest grin, she replied, “Oh, err, this other job we did, I’ve been trying to decrypt some data for the last week. It just finished.”