Date Night!

The night had been going so well that I didn’t even register the first time I got stabbed. It was so surprising, in fact, that they got two more in before I remembered I was probably supposed to react.

They were professional, whoever they were. As their one arm pumped the blade in and out beneath my ribs, their other hand was at the back of my neck, ready to guide my body silently to the ground. They weren’t alone, either, as I felt another set of hands already trying to remove my watch and rings.

It took them several seconds to notice that I was just standing there, not moving. I felt their mood change from one of calm but hurried professionalism to nervousness. I was supposed to be on the ground bleeding out, so they could search me quickly for valuables. For some reason, I wasn’t cooperating.

I sighed as I felt the hand move from my back. The bastard left the knife in me, though. I reached back, trying to grab the handle, but the angle was awful. I turned to them, faster than they anticipated.

“Little help here guys?” I said. Their eyes were huge, faces pale. As one, without looking at each other, they turned and bolted. “Guys, please, this is partially your fault!” They were almost around the corner before I remembered why we were here, and tied a tracking spell to the one that stabbed me. 

There was no one else around, so I put my jacket on, covering the knife jutting from just below my ribs. It was still an unusual bulge, but if anyone saw me on the way up to our apartment, they would just ignore it. People  in this part of town didn’t get involved in other people’s business if they could help it.

I disarmed the wards and entered the run-down, three room apartment that was our base of operations. There was a clatter coming from the kitchen, where my partner Evadne was elbow deep in something special.

“Honey, I’m home!” I called as I set down my parcel and removed my jacket.

“Hey, how was the concert?” she asked as she came around the corner. Her smile was wide as she approached me. She was dusting her hands on her apron as I stepped up for a kiss. Evadne was small; I had to lean over. I picked her up and wiggled her a little, just to hear her giggle.

“Great, wonderful, but the trip back had some problems.” I set her down and broke the embrace. I turned my back on her and gestured toward the obvious knife in me. “Someone ruined the shirt I bought. Do you think you could take the knife out?”

She gripped it and pulled it. Her strength was far beyond that of a simple mugger, so it came out without any trouble. My flesh mended over the gash, but sadly my new concert shirt didn’t have the same benefit. I pulled it off and threw it into the corner.

“What are you working on?” I stepped into the kitchen to see what she had been doing. There were knives, trays, jars of powders and herbs. More esoteric instruments dominated the counter, surrounding a bubbling black cauldron. “I can’t make out what you are doing?”

“Making some gumbo,” she replied as she followed me in. Her hand drifted along my lower back for longer than it should have tingled with a primal signal. I realized I was hungry in more ways than one.

Far more.

“Oh, I thought it was something magical.” 

Evadne whirled on me with her preternatural speed. Her apron swirled around her hips in a very distracting fashion, but I focused on her eyes. They were burning with a passion I couldn’t help but respond to.

“Do not say my gumbo isn’t magical until you try it.” The usual barely constrained laughter in her voice was gone, hidden behind the seriousness of what she was saying. I guessed I hit a nerve.

“I’m sorry, I will be delighted to have some. Is it ready?”

“It needs to simmer for a few hours. How about we go out for our other meal?”

“I hit him with a tracking spell. I can follow him.” Evadne doffed her apron and started for the other room. 

We both got dressed for a fight. For Evadne, this meant a wig, glasses, and all the jewelry she could handle. Her afro wig was enchanted to enhance her already powerful senses. The glasses were purple, designer, and enchanted so that active spell forms stood out if you looked through them. That kept her from walking into a trap more than once. The jewelry was enchanted with all kinds of fancy spells, a swiss army knife for a one-woman army of doom. 

My own gear was much simpler. A chain mail vest over light ballistic armor for protection. I had a pistol in the small of my back, and a knife under each arm. My enchantment skills were nowhere near close to Evadne’s, and my only enchanted gear was a single ring containing a fire wave spell. Nothing flashy.

Watching her change did nothing to help my growing hunger.

We set out, pacing easily in the early hour. We were alone on the street, looking like a fashionable student and her boyfriend for a stroll. The tracking spell led us to a small, condemned building. The door was hanging ajar, from a single hinge.

We approached slowly, examining for any surprises. We passed by the place once, then quickly turned and vanished into the shadows. The approach on the back of the street was less noticeable, so we climbed in there.

The two thieves were sitting there in the light of a camping lantern. They were both pale, nervous. Evadne snuck up behind one, I the other. There was no fight as our fangs flash out, burying in their necks. We drank them dry in under ten minutes. A quick check showed us the house was empty, aside from some drug paraphernalia in another room. No evidence of any crimes. 

“This must have been a local safe house,” Evadne said as we came back into the room with the two fresh corpses.

“What do we do with them?” 

She didn’t answer, instead kneeling down and kindling a fire in her hands. I watched how she did it, marveling at her skill. She set it down on one of the boxes they had been sitting on. It caught instantly, and started burning merrily. Evadne looked up at me, noticing that I was appreciating her skill. She gave a slow, languid smile as she straightened.

We left, walking a more circuitous route back to our apartment. This time we acted more like the young lovers we appeared to be. Packed full of fresh blood, we were more giddy, arm in arm and giggling at what each other said. 

We stumbled through the door already taking each other’s clothing off. Our mouths met, kissing deeply. Our senses were heightened far beyond anything a human could know. Neither of us needed to breathe. Out hunger was soon sated.

And it turned out the gumbo was damned good too.