The Death Thief

Fuzzy Pictures

"Are you all right?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I took one last deep breath and swallowed back all the fear and panic I had bottled up over the past two days. I'd spent my life pushing those down and wearing the mask of normalcy needed to blend into the background. I rarely took any confrontation as a challenge to be met, but to have those monsters of myth threatening to break past every barrier I had built, I took it as an affront to the only thing I'd been particularly good at in my life.

"Oh," said Bungee, watching me with a crooked smile as I staggered back onto my feet, "don't worry about me. Invincible, remember? And no one is foolish enough to maim a zombie. He just threw me around a little. I'll just have a few bruises."

"Bruises that won't go away."

"Yeah, well, I don't think most will be in places people can see."

"He grabbed you by the neck," I said pointing to his throat, "and he lifted you up by it. There's no way that won't bruise."

"I don't know, might make me look like a bit of a bad ass," he replied with a less than convincing laugh.

"Why won't you report him? I can serve as a witness. I can vouch for you."

"Kyra and Everett are good people," he said with a sigh, "and I think they would follow through and take down Ma-a...my attacker, but that would only make things worse for me. I don't know if you saw in your hurry to come to my rescue, but plenty of people walked by this alley and heard me begging for him to stop. No one came to my aid. It's hard to appreciate right now, but zombies are just one rung up from humans on the food chain around here. Tattling on a vamp will only earn me more scorn."

"So it was Matias," I said, tapping my chin as I deliberated what exactly that meant.

"W-what? I never said that. I-I almost did, but I never actually..."

"Is it because you damaged Calista? I know that he is in love with her."

"S-s-shh!" He waved his hands in front of him and cast darting glances around the alley, as if someone may pop out of the shadows and run away with that coveted bit of gossip. Considering who made up the town's population, I supposed it wasn't that absurd to think that someone might be slinking around in the dark. "Look, some things shouldn't be said out loud."

"Why? Because of Bernadette?"

"Lady. Lady Bernadette Derosiers," he corrected through clenched teeth as he tried to suppress a cry of panic. "You really shouldn't be talking about these things out in the open."

"Scarlett didn't seem to have a problem."

"Scarlett is protected. Though if rumors are true, she might not be for long. So she might want to be careful too." It wasn't a threat, but a pained bit of advice drenched in sympathy. Then he sighed and his shoulders hunched. "Of course, she may be well aware that her time with Antonov is coming to an end and has just thrown in the towel. That's how Calista is."

"That's how I know about her and Matias. She was quite vocal about her affections and her suspicions."

"I don't want to hear it," said Bungee, clamping his hands over his ears. "I just want to get back to work and pay for Calista's repair. Then I can put all this behind me."

"Okay," I murmured. Apparently his hold on his ears wasn't that solid because after I acquiesced he withdrew them and took a deep, calming breath.

"Del, I really appreciate what you did for me, but you should leave it at that. Just a squabble between two acquaintances. Nothing more. Now I'll just be getting back to work and you should..."

"A squabble?" I asked, my skin jumping at something I couldn't quite place my finger on. A few words drifted from memory. With my fear slipping back into it's dark corner of my mind, the events leading up to my interjection became clearer. In front of me something was taking form, though I had no idea what or why. "I wouldn't call a lover seeking revenge a squabble."

"It...well...what?" said Bungee with an uncomfortable laugh.

"It's just a weird way to put it. That makes it seem like you were fighting over something you disagreed on. Like you had a misunderstanding." The picture was forming, lines taking shape, but still just noise. "He said you violated his trust."

"He trusted me to be...friends with Calista. Friends don't eat friends." Again an awkward and unconvincing laugh.

"Why did you need to have an agreement about being friends?"

"Just, uh, well, Matias and I are friends and since he was dating Calista, you know, he wanted me to be friends with her."

"You said you were acquaintances earlier."

"Why," he said, licking his lips and stomping his foot as he worked through the words sitting on his tongue, "why are you dissecting everything I say? I just got attacked. I'm a mess. I..."

"You said you were fine."

"Del."

"Bungee, someone killed Calista. Kyra keeps saying they don't have proof because you can't do an autopsy." I stopped for a second as a bell went off in my head. "You can't autopsy because that would seriously maim her and she can't heal now."

"There ya go." He said with a genuine smile.

"Well, anyway, I know Kyra says it's possible she just died, but I don't believe it. I'm not sure anyone does. And if you know something..."

"What would I know?"

"Something about Matias. You broke his trust. How?"

"I told you, I said I was friends with Calista and I hurt her when I shouldn't have."

"It's strange that you made that pact and then were also the first one to find her in the woods." Again I paused, my eyes looking past Bungee and into the dark of the alley where I could see the picture becoming clearer. "He was supposed to meet her. She was upset he didn't come."

"Look," he said, clearing his throat and closing the gap between us so he could grab my shoulders, "I don't know what's going on with Matias and Calista. Anyone with sense in their head would stay a mile away from that since Lady Derosiers is a fiery volcano. Okay?"

He gave my shoulders a little shake so that I turned to face him. I gave him a nod.

"I've talked to Matias a few times. He's a good guy. He's not like some of the other vampires. He's much more tolerant. What you saw here was just a man hurting and trying to make sense of it."

I gave him another nod.

"As for the night Calista died, I was out in the woods hunting for dead meat. Sometimes you'll find a fresh rabbit or deer out there. I like to spice up my diet a little bit."

"And you just so happened to find Calista?"

"We have very good noses when it comes to decay."

I looked at him, studying his soft, scared eyes.

"Okay, Del?" He didn't blink, he just stared right back. I finally broke our gaze when I answered him with a nod. "All right then. Now I really need to get back to work and you should get back to housing. I imagine Gregory is going to want to check up on those bandages of yours."

"You heard about that," I sighed.

"It's a small town," he said with a genuine laugh as he released my shoulders.

"So I hear."

"Good night Del."

"Good night Bungee."

And with that we went our separate ways.