Writings and Fanfic

“Because you’re never here!” Jordan’s voice rang through the hallway. Callie poked her head out the door of her apartment to hear better.

“It’s not like I’m out partying! I have two jobs!” retorted Malek, his voice likewise filling the hall. In the three years they’d been living in the same building, Callie had never heard Malek and Jordan fight before. “What do you want from me?!”

“Be here more! For God’s sake I never see you! You’re always at the club or the lab! Why can’t you just pick one?!”

There was a low murmur in reply; Callie couldn’t make out what Malek had said. Their door opened. Malek was wearing his black leather coat and looked both exhausted and angry. Callie slipped back into her apartment before Malek could notice her eavesdropping. Once she heard the elevator door shut she left her apartment. Sean too was leaving his apartment.

“I’ll go after Malek, you check on Jordan?” suggested Callie.

“Good idea, you take the violent one.” Sean smirked and walked into Jordan and Malek’s apartment.

“Why did I pick the violent one?” pondered Callie aloud as she entered the elevator. She knew where Malek went when he was upset.

~*~*~*~

“Get out, Sean,” ordered Jordan, pouring himself a drink.

“But… I brought you an Oreo cheesecake cupcake.” Sean held out the cool pastry to Jordan. Jordan paused considering, then sighed and took it.

“Fine, come in.” He plunked down on the sofa.

“Your hair’s cool. Looks kind of like fire,” complimented Sean. Jordan had dyed his hair mostly a bright red-orange but with the roots black at varying heights. He had it all spiked up too to make it really look like fire.

“Thanks.” Jordan munched on the cupcake. “This is really good.”

“I know, I’ve eaten four already.” Sean stuck his tongue out. He shifted uneasily. “So are you guys okay?”

Jordan sighed. “I don’t know. I can’t really believe he just walked out like that.”

“What were you fighting about?”

“I almost never see him. Between his job at the lab and the one at the Host Club, he’s always too tired to…” He paused and glanced at Sean. The guy was a prude. “…play.”

“What do you…?” Sean blushed suddenly. “Oh, never mind!”

Jordan chuckled. “I’m probably just being insensitive, but why does he need to have two jobs if it drains him so much?”

“Isn’t he saving money for something?” pondered Sean.

“That’s what he says, but what for?” Jordan shoved the rest of his cupcake into his mouth.

Sean shrugged. “Maybe he’s working a bunch now so that he can make a more comfortable life for the both of you later when he’s not up for working like mad-man?”

Jordan took a long sip of his drink and sighed in defeat. “Damn, you’re right. I guess just frustrated with it all.”

Sean hummed thoughtfully. “Are you frustrated with Malek or with yourself cause he’s maintaining two jobs to try to build a future with you while you only have one job?”

“I’m not above hitting you, Sean.” Sean squirmed further away from Jordan. Jordan sighed. “Honestly I’m just unfoundedly frustrated.”

~*~*~*~

“There you are!” noted Callie as she located Malek in a secluded park.

“What do you want, Cal?” snapped Malek. He was in no mood to talk to anyone.

“Well… your argument kind of shook the hallway.” Callie approached Malek who kept his back to her.

“I’m not even sure what we were arguing about…” Malek sighed. Suddenly something hard was poking his hand. He looked down. It was the hilt of a wooden practice sword. He grasped it. “Really?”

“Helped when we were kids.” Callie shrugged and took a few steps away from Malek, brandishing a wooden practice sword of her own. They began sparring. “So why were you so angry?”

“I don’t know. I think I’m just exhausted.” Malek’s strikes were more powerful, but Callie was faster.

“Why are you still maintaining two jobs? You can save up plenty of money since you live in a modest apartment with just your lab job.” She got around Malek and nearly got a strike in, but he dodged at the last minute.

“Jordan and I have talked about eventually getting this gorgeous house that’s basically a mansion, with a dog and a cat, and a huge yard, and a cleaning lady. If we want that to be a reality at any reasonable time, then I should definitely be making the effort now to earn as much money as I can.”

“Okay, I get that, but it’s not good if you’re neglecting Jordan.”

“Dammit, I know.” Malek lowered his sword arm and stepped out of Callie’s range. “I think it’s time I cut down my hours at the club.”

“It’ll probably be better for you in the long run.” She likewise lowered her sword arm. They headed back to their building and up to Jordan and Malek’s apartment.

“Hey,” greeted Malek.

“Hey,” replied Jordan. There was a strange dark tension between them.

“Sean, Cal, get out.” Male’s voice was low and threatening. Callie recognized it as the one Malek used at the club.

“Let’s go!” She grabbed Sean’s arm and yanked him out the apartment and into the hallway.

“Ow, ow, ow! Cal! What the heck?” protested Sean as Callie shut the door.

“I don’t think you want to be in there,” she insisted.

“Why not? What happened?”

“That was Malek’s scary voice. He uses it at the club to seduce people.” Callie looked at Sean expectantly. Sean just stared back in confusion. “Sex, Sean! They’re having sex!”

“Uh…” Sean flushed bright red and hurried back to his apartment. Callie laughed and followed him.

“Man I’m so tired…” moaned Sean as he and Callie got in the elevator at their apartment building. They had had a long day of board meetings at the university.

“Yeah me too,” added Callie.

“Hey hold the elevator!” called Malek as he and Jordan raced down towards them. Sean stuck his foot in front of the elevator door, giving Malek and Jordan enough time to get in with them.

“Thanks,” panted Jordan.

“Don’t you two usually get home before us?” noted Callie.

“One of my experiments ran later than I expected,” admitted Malek.

“I was stuck in the lobby waiting for him,” muttered Jordan bitterly.

Malek smiled coyly at him. “I said I’d make up for it.”

“You’d better.” Jordan returned the smile.

“Okay! We’re all in this elevator together! Could you two behave!” insisted Sean.

“Fine, fine.” Malek leaned back against the wall. Suddenly the elevator jerked. They all stumbled forward into each other.

“The Hell was that?” demanded Jordan.

“Good question,” muttered Callie. She pressed the open door button emphatically but nothing happened. The elevator was no longer moving though.

“Try the emergency phone,” suggested Sean.

Callie picked it up and held it against her ear. “There’s no dial tone or anything. I don’t think it’s connected…”

“You can say that again.” Malek pointed to the wire connecting the phone to the elevator panel. It was cut.

“You don’t think we have rats or something?” Sean shuddered.

“This is cut clean, probably some delinquent cut it thinking it would be a funny prank,” noted Malek. “Does anyone have signal?” They all checked their phones and shook their heads. The elevator was dead zone for cell service.

“Now what?” asked Sean, panic mounting in his voice.

“Stay calm, we’re four of the most brilliant people in the city, we can figure this out,” assured Malek.

“If we’re lucky, we’re close to a floor. If we can pry open the doors we might be able to get out,” suggested Callie.

“Aren’t their safety measures to prevent us opening the doors?” asked Jordan.

“Not in models this old,” assured Callie. “I did a whole project on elevators during my undergrad.” She smirked at them.

“Not sure that’s something to really be proud of,” warned Malek. “Jordan, give me a hand.” He and Jordan forced open the elevator doors.

“Great…” muttered Sean when they were looking at only a wall.

“You can see the doors of the next floor up,” indicated Callie. There was about a foot of door that could be seen over their heads.

“Not only can we not reach it from here, but we can’t open it either,” noted Sean. He started pacing back and forth in the small space. Malek clapped his hands on Sean’s shoulders to stop him walking.

“Breathe Sean, we’re going to figure this out,” he assured.

“I might be able to get it started again if I get this casing off,” suggested Callie, gesturing to the wall console.

“Or you could drop the elevator completely,” reminded Jordan.

“Don’t drop us!” shouted Sean.

“Dammit Jordan!” scolded Malek.

“Hey guys, we could climb out the top,” suggested Callie. She was pointing to an access panel on the ceiling of the elevator.

“We could get on top and open the outer doors,” concluded Malek.

“Do we have tools to open it?” Callie looked expectantly at Jordan. Jordan smirked and crouched down to rummage through his heavy-duty tool box. He was a private contractor and so always had his tools with him. He pulled out the appropriate screw driver and handed it to Callie. Jordan and Malek then lifted Callie onto their shoulders so that she could reach the panel. She removed the panel, passing it down to Sean. Then with a little boost from Malek and Jordan, Callie climbed out onto the top of the elevator.

“Alright, my turn. Once we’ve got the door open you two should be able to climb through the gap,” explained Malek.

“I can’t climb like that!” insisted Sean.

“I’ll boost you out,” retorted Jordan. With that, Jordan helped Malek up and out of the elevator. Sean and Jordan could hear Callie and Malek walking on top of the elevator. Sean started pacing again. A few moment later, Malek’s head appeared above the access panel.

“It’s more stuck than the regular doors. You have a crowbar or something?” he asked.

“Yeah of course.” Jordan got a crowbar out of his toolbox and handed it up to Malek.

A few moments later the outer door was open. Callie and Malek hopped down off the elevator and went down on all fours to look into it. Sean was white as sheet and Jordan was somewhere between bored and amused. “Okay, you’re going to have to climb out,” instructed Malek.

“I can’t climb!” insisted Sean.

“Again, I’ll give you a boost,” reminded Jordan.

Sean hesitantly approached the door. He handed up his satchel to Callie who took it and put it aside. Then Jordan gave him basically a leg up. He grabbed hold of Malek and Callie’s hands and they pulled him out of the elevator.

Sean stayed sitting on the ground shaking as Callie and Malek turned their attention to Jordan. He handed them his toolbox first then back up to give himself a bit of momentum. He half ran up the wall, a parkour technique he had learned, and grabbed Malek and Callie’s outstretched hands. They pulled Jordan out of the elevator.

“What floor are we on?” asked Jordan once he righted himself.

“Tenth,” replied Callie, pointing at the apartment numbers.

“Only five more floors to go.” They pulled Sean to his feet and headed to the stairwell. Once they got to their floor the all went to Malek and Jordan’s apartment. Callie, Malek, and Jordan made themselves drinks while Sean got himself some tea.

“We should call the landlord,” noted Sean once he had calmed down a bit thanks to his tea.

Malek, Jordan, Callie and Sean headed back to their building after having had supper together. As they reached the door, Malek patted himself down looking for his keys. “Shit, I left my keys in the apartment,” he moaned.

“Crap, so did I,” added Jordan.

“You guys are—” Sean had been looking for his keys and stopped talking when he realized he didn’t have his either. “Darn…”

“Guys, I don’t have mine either,” said Callie.

“Well someone in the building should be nice enough to let us in.” Jordan started pressing buzzers until someone answered.

“Yes?” came the gruff voice over the intercom.

“Hey, sorry I left my keys in my apartment, do you mind buzzing me in?” he asked.

“Piss off.” The intercom clicked off.

“Rude much?” complained Sean.

Jordan continued to press buzzers. It was Friday night so the building was largely empty and those who did answer accused them of being robbers. “Now what?” he asked turning back to his friends.

“We could call the landlord,” suggested Sean.

“He left to go to Florida yesterday and isn’t coming back until the end of the week,” reminded Malek.

“Do any of you leave your windows unlocked? We could get to them using the fire escape.” asked Callie.

They all shook their heads. “Not since the break-in last week,” added Jordan.

“Isn’t the roof access usually unlocked?” remembered Malek.

“The fire escape doesn’t go up that high… which seems like a building code violation,” said Sean.

“Goes up high enough that we should be able to reach it though,” explained Malek. “Besides, only one of us has to reach it then go open one of the windows.”

“True, this should be fun!” enthused Callie. They made their way to the back of the building. The fire escape there granted access to Jordan and Malek’s apartment. Only there was one problem.

“So… how do we lower it?” asked Sean. The last flight of the fire escape was meant to be lowered from people descending, not from people trying to ascend. It was out of all of their reaches.

Malek glanced around and spotted a rolling dumpster that might give him enough height. “Jordan, give me a hand,” he ordered. The two men pushed the dumpster closer to the fire escape and Malek climbed on top of the lid.

“You’re crazy,” noted Sean. “And I’m pretty sure we could be arrested for this.”

“Don’t be so negative,” insisted Malek. He jumped off the dumpster and grabbed hold of the bottom of the fire escape stairs. They swung down a little faster than he was expecting. Luckily Jordan was there to catch hold of them when Malek hit the ground hard and let go, falling on his ass. “Well that hurt.”

“Yeah, I bet,” mocked Jordan, helping him up. He put his foot on the bottom step to keep it anchored down. They climbed the fire escape and as the last person stepped off of the lower flight, it swung back up into position. They climbed as quietly as they could to avoid alerting anyone in the building.

“We’re going to get caught!” warned Sean in a hushed voice.

“Again with the negativity?” scolded Callie.

“People climb this thing all the time, it’ll be fine,” insisted Malek. The higher they climbed, the more uneasy Malek got. He was terrified of heights.

“You okay?” asked Jordan when he noticed his boyfriend shaking slightly.

“I’m fine,” he assured. Jordan took his hand to comfort him and they kept climbing.

When they finally reached the top they could see right into Malek and Jordan’s apartment. They were glad that they were on the top floor, otherwise it would have looked suspicious to whomever would have been in the apartment. The first thing they did was to check if the window was really locked, and it was. The edge of the roof was a good four feet over their heads.

“Malek, can you do something insane and reach it?” asked Sean.

Malek looked at his shaking hands. “Shit like this takes confidence; at this height I have none.” He sighed and Jordan squeezed his hand. “Callie, Jordan and I should be able to boost you up.”

“That works!” encouraged Callie. Malek and Jordan linked their arms with their hands in a square to create a makeshift step. Callie kicked off her boots to avoid hurting the men unnecessarily. They crouched down a bit and Callie climbed onto their little step. She stayed crouching with her hands on their shoulders while they rose to their full height. Then, using the wall for balance, Callie stood. She gripped the edge of the roof and with a little boost from Jordan and Malek, she jumped and hoisted herself over the edge. “Boots!” she called down once she was up. Sean tossed up her boots and moments later they heard her scurry off.

“I really hope the roof is open,” muttered Sean.

Not a second later, Callie’s face appeared over the roof again. “Guys! It’s locked!”

They groaned. “Wait, it’s not a dead-bolt or even a key-operated lock. Callie!” Malek called up to her.

“Yeah?”

“Do you have a bobby pin?”

“Yeah!”

“Remember when we used a coat hanger to unlock the bathroom door when your brother locked your dog in by accident?”

“Oh! Yeah!” She pulled a bobby pin out of her hair and hurried to the door. It didn’t take long for her to unlock it. The actual door had broken the previous year, so the landlord had an old bathroom door installed in its stead. The only real locking mechanism locked the door handle from the inside so that it wouldn’t turn. It was the simplest lock to pick and almost everyone everywhere knew how.

Callie sprinted down the steps to their floor and rushed into Malek and Jordan’s apartment. She was completely out of breath by the time she reached the window. She opened it up and the three men climbed in.

“Thanks Callie,” said Malek. He patted her shoulder and headed over to their bar.

“Make me one too,” requested Jordan.

“And me!” chimed in Callie.

“Not me,” reminded Sean.

“Ladies, welcome to the Night Castle Host Club,” greeted coolly Malek as a group of twelve women entered. He winked at Callie who was part of the group. The women in her department at the university had decided to have a party at the Host Club that Malek worked nights at. Callie usually skipped out on parties like that, but since Malek had sworn to be one of the three men working that particular party, she decided to go. “I’m Malek,” said the raven-haired man with a strangely cold smile. Callie only ever knew Malek as an awkward introvert. Seeing him work here was totally different.

“I’m Joshua,” greeted a blond man that looking incredibly like you would imagine Prince Charming.

“I’m Corey!” chimed in a cheerful man, who looked somewhat more like a boy. He had to be at least eighteen, it was the only way he could work at this club.

“This way,” ordered Malek as he and his partners led them to private area with three large couches.

“Please, make yourselves comfortable,” insisted Joshua with a bow and a kind smile. The twelve women seated themselves. Callie sat with three other women on one of the couches.

“I hope Malek comes to flirt with us!” whispered Milly to Callie.

“Why?” asked Callie.

“Do you not know how this host club works?” Milly cocked her head.

“Not really no…” She had never bothered to ask Malek about the specifics. She knew that he flirted with women and sometimes other men for tips, but she had no idea how this place worked.

“I had the kitchen make us some delicious sweets!” announced Corey as he sat in the middle of the couch where the older women were. They immediately began to fawn over him.

“Ladies.” Joshua bowed to the women sitting on another couch. “May I join you?” They accepted in squealing voices.

Malek suddenly knelt over Milly. He tilted her head up to meet his gaze. He looked at her with a dangerous expression on his face, unlike anything Callie had ever seen. “You are a beautiful enough gem for me to want to add you to my collection,” he said in soft threatening voice. Milly blushed furiously. The other two girls also on the same couch as Callie and Milly glowered furiously at the girl getting Malek’s attention. Callie was just a bit shocked to see Malek being so forward. He was after all in a committed relationship with another man. She wondered if Jordan knew how Malek did his job.

Malek’s dark gaze suddenly turned to Carol, who was sitting on Milly’s other side. She went from angry to blushing furiously. She glanced away. Malek smirked. “Do I frighten you?” Carol was too flustered to answer. Malek chuckled and rose, backing away from the couch. He walked away from the private area to the dismay and confusion of the girls on that couch.

“Fear not, ladies,” comforted Joshua. “He’s simply gone to retrieve the cakes and other sweets from the kitchen.”

“Yay!” cheered Corey, causing the women around him to fawn over him all over again.

Callie got up and chased after Malek. “Hey Callie,” he greeted as she caught up to him by service window, his smile was normal again. “If you wanted to try your flirting techniques out, you’re sitting on the wrong couch.”

“Forget the flirting techniques I wanted to try, what the hell is up with your fliting technique?!” she demanded.

“Callie, this is a host club. We all take one aspect of our personalities and exaggerate it to create a particular character,” he explained. “Josh isn’t really like that either. He was raised to respect and honour women, but he’s got more personality than that of a ‘Prince Charming’. Corey is silly and playful but he’s far more mature than his character lets on. And before you ask, yes, Jordan is aware of my methods.”

“Okay, it’s still weird though…”

“You are supposed to practice your flirting skills, I would suggest on Josh.”

“How exactly am I supposed to switch couches? Won’t that look weird?” ‘Also I don’t really want to anymore!’ she thought to herself.

“Don’t worry, we planned for this,” Malek smirked. “Go back to the couch, we’ll take care of it.”

Callie went and sat back down on the same couch as before. A few minutes later, Malek returned with a large tray full of cakes and chocolates and cookies and other sweets. Corey cheered and immediately jumped on the tray once Malek had set it down on the small table. Malek turned to Callie and leaned in to whisper in ear. “Look scared, like I said something that actually petrifies you.”

Callie wasn’t very good at acting, but she figured she could manage scared. So she thought of the scariest horror movie her brother ever made her watch. Joshua noted the look and rose to pull Malek off of Callie by the collar of his shirt.

“Problem, Charming?” mocked Malek.

“Must you frighten these lovely ladies?” demanded Joshua.

“My methods are none of your business.” Malek smirked.

“They become my business when you disrespect and frighten our guests.”

“I would like to point out that my methods have a higher success rate than yours.”

“Guys!” interjected Corey. “Don’t fight! Eat cake!” That was the cue for somewhat slow music to start up. Joshua walked past Malek and bowed to Callie.

“Milady, may I have this dance?”

“Uh… sure…” Callie accepted and Joshua pulled her up and started dancing with her.

“What’s your name?” asked Joshua as they danced.

“Callie…” Her dancing skills were suboptimal and as soon as he distracted with her a question, she stepped on his foot. “Sorry!” she apologized quickly.

“It’s okay,” he assured her.

“I’ve got two left feet…”

“You’re doing fine, just relax.”

‘I’m supposed to be flirting but where do I even start?’ she thought to herself.

“You’re very beautiful,” he stated.

“Oh… thanks… so are you.” She suddenly realized what she said. “Wait no! I mean…” ‘This is going well…’

“It’s okay, I know what you meant,” assured the blond.

“You know, you really do look like Prince Charming.”

Joshua chuckled. “Well, thank you Lady Callie. It’s truly humbling to be complimented by a beauty such as yourself.”

‘Damn he’s good! Granted he does this professionally… Man why can’t I think of any of the pickup lines I wanted to try?!’ Callie was beginning to get frustrated with herself which was only worsening her ability to recall the flirting tactics and lines she wanted to try.

“What’s troubling, milady?”

“Uh, nothing.” Callie forced herself to smile. “Where did you learn to dance? Prince Academy?”

Joshua laughed again. “Princes don’t attend academies. We learn from our families.” The music stopped. Joshua backed away and kissed the back of Callie’s hand. “It’s been a pleasure.”

“Y-yeah…” stammered Callie. She glanced over at the couch she had been sitting on before and noticed that her spot had been filled by one of the girls that had started out with Joshua. She went and sat on the couch that Joshua had been giving his attention to.

“Forgive us ladies, but we must momentarily be off to fetch everyone their drinks. In the meantime feel free to dance with Corey,” explained Joshua once they had everyone’s drink orders. He and Malek left the private area.

“So what do you think of her?” asked Malek as they leaned against the bar waiting for the bartender to mix all of the drinks.

“She’s cute but she doesn’t have any game,” admitted Joshua.

“I did warn you. You respond best to failed flirting attempts.” Malek shrugged.

“That why you wanted me on this party with you?” He raised an eyebrow at Malek.

“Obviously. She’s expressed a desire to try flirting a few times, so when she told me about this party I figured you’d be an ideal target.”

“Careful, Scary Malek is leaking through to Normal Malek.”

“Scary Malek is part of Normal Malek. Anyway, their party is scheduled to end in an hour. I’ll see if I can get Callie to hang around longer. If you can give her a couple of pointers, I might be able to get her to try it on some of the other hosts.”

“Yeah. At least there are no repercussions to flirting with a host.” They loaded the drinks onto two trays and brought them to the ladies.

The last hour of the party was spent mostly dancing. Each woman dance at least once with one of the men and most had at least two dances. As the women started to leave, Malek pulled Callie aside. “I’m breaking character twice with a client, so don’t tell anyone. You should stick around, I’ve talked Josh into giving you a couple of pointers on flirting.”

Callie blushed. “Oh man, was I that bad?”

“Well… it wasn’t good. Josh has been doing this a long time, trust me, he can tailor a flirting strategy to you and you can try it out on a couple of the hosts here. It’s pretty much the safest way.” Malek pulled Callie towards the bar where Joshua was waiting.

“You’re going to make me stay aren’t you?” she realized bitterly.

“Chill, your drinks are on me.”

“Oh, okay then.” She brightened and sat at the bar next to Joshua and Malek left to go handle some new clients. Callie ordered a chocolate martini from the bartender before turning to address Joshua. “So… Malek says you can help my flirting game.”

He smirked. He was breaking character as well. “I tailor make all of new hosts’ flirting strategies,” he admitted.

“Well good luck with me. I’m too awkward to flirt properly.” She shrugged.

“Then your flirting strategy should play into that.” Joshua turned so that he was facing the main club part where the hosts were dancing or flirting with the walk-ins. “Now, normally I’d steer clear of any obvious pickup lines, but with you we should play it up. Some sort of obvious, but cleverly worded pickup line.”

“Really? I thought that would be bad idea…” Callie paused to think about it and take a sip of her drink.

“Well?” Joshua raised an eyebrow at her.

“All the ones I can think of are terrible,” she admitted.

“Then that’s perfect.”

“Great… and after I drop a horrible pickup line?”

“Then comes the trickier part. With the hosts it’ll follow a classic pattern depending on their character, but they’ll likely compliment you. As long as you don’t target Malek or anyone else portraying a dark type. You’ll have to return the compliment with somewhat more grace than you did with me. After that, go with self-deprecating humour, puns, things that suit your personality. It’ll make it more natural to flirt and you’ll find out quickly if the person you’re flirting with is someone you actually want to spend time with or not.”

“How’s this for an opening line: ‘I wish our mouths could face off in the tongue Olympics’?”

Joshua laughed, nearly choking on his drink. “Yeah that’ll work with the hosts and any guy you already know. Don’t say something like that to an actual stranger, or they may take as consent to kiss you there and then. Okay see him?” Joshua gestured to a strongly built brunette man saying goodbye to some clients at the door.

“Yeah…”

“Go try flirting with him.” He sort of shoved Callie in the direction of the host. She cursed him and Malek under her breath but approached the host nonetheless.

“Hey, I wish our mouths could face off in the tongue Olympics,” she said, blushing furiously.

The host laughed. “Well aren’t you cute.”

“You’re not so bad yourself.” Callie was shocked when that came out so naturally.

“I’m Caleb.” The host stuck out his hand. Callie shook it.

“Callie.”

“I’d offer you a dance, but uh… I kind of have two left feet,” he admitted.

“No worries, I can’t dance to save my life.”

“Do you want to sit?” He started to lead her to a booth and they sat facing each other.

At the bar Malek rejoined Joshua. “You set her on Caleb? You realize he might actually fall for her?”

Joshua shrugged. “Yeah, I know he’s new at this, but he fits her flirting strategy best and he’ll actually understand the puns she makes.”

“…so I looked round and the plumber’s pants were nearly at his knees!” concluded Caleb, finishing a story of an incompetent plumber doing work at his family’s farm.

“Guess you could say he something of an ass,” joked Callie. Caleb laughed heartily.

“Maybe even a bit cheeky,” he added.

“Do you think we’re maybe making too many assumptions?”

“Maybe, but it certainly is fun to take a crack at it!” They both laughed as their puns got increasingly terrible.

It was closing time when Caleb and Callie finally said goodnight. Callie headed back to her apartment building. It was three o’clock in the morning but she could hear chatting coming from Jordan and Malek’s apartment. ‘Malek shouldn’t be home yet…’ she thought to herself as she made her way to their apartment. She walked in to see Sean there. She was surprised as it was rare for Sean to stay up this late.

“Hey Callie, how was the party?” greeted Jordan.

“It was great,” she admitted.

“Did Malek manage to get you to flirt with any of the hosts?” teased Sean.

“A bit yeah. Although the last guy I talked to, Caleb, seemed less like flirting and more like punning.” She shrugged and plunked into the bean bag chair. Callie recounted to them the events of the night including her surprise at Malek’s flirting technique and that Joshua was the one that formed her flirting strategy.

As she finished up telling them about all of the butt puns she had made, Malek walked in. He poured himself a scotch and sat between Sean and Jordan.

“How was work?” asked Sean.

“Interesting. Caleb has taken quite a shining to you, Callie,” admitted Malek with a sly smirk.

“Well, I am pretty great,” laughed Callie. “We literally made butt puns for like an hour.”

“What do you think of him?” prodded Malek.

“Hmm… well he gets my puns and finds me funny, but he’s a farm boy and a bit of a jock…”

“But he gets your jokes. Not many people outside this circle do.”

“True… well I did give him my number in case he wanted to hang out outside of work…”

“You gave him your number?!” exclaimed Sean.

“Was that bad? He asked for it…”

“Yes!” continued Sean.

“No,” said Malek and Jordan in unison.

“Caleb is a nice guy, worst case, they end up friends,” noted Malek.

“He is nice, but he did tell me that I suck at flirting,” admitted Callie. The others laughed.

Knock! Knock! The sound reverberated through the empty, silent hall. There was a creaking sound that followed indicating a door was opening. Jordan and Malek rushed to their own door, opening it a crack to peer through. A couple doors down their friend Callie was talking to a boy.

“He’s cute!” whispered Malek excitedly.

"Shh!” scolded Jordan.

“So, uh… ready?” asked the dark haired boy.

“Uh… yeah let’s go.” Callie locked her door and they two walked down the hall.

“Let’s follow them!” suggested Jordan.

“Okay!” The two boys left their apartment and followed Callie and the boy at a safe distance. Once the two got in the elevator, Jordan and Malek slipped into the stairwell.

“So uh… I have a reservation for us at Little Village…” said the boy, shifting awkwardly.

“Oh cool. I’ve never eaten there,” admitted Callie. She hummed thoughtfully at the promise of food.

“You look really nice, by the way.”

“Oh… thanks. So do you, Gareth,” she replied. She toyed with the edge of the red silk shirt she was wearing. It wasn’t part of her normal wardrobe but her normal wardrobe didn’t fit the ‘nice restaurant’ dress code. It had an asymmetrical neckline that she liked, but it felt super thin. It made her feel somewhat naked. She was glad to be able to wear dress pants at least, even though she preferred jeans or cargo pants. Gareth was wearing a black button-down shirt with a red tie and black dress pants. It hadn’t been planned, but they ended up matching.

As they stepped off the elevator, Jordan and Malek remained hidden in the stairwell. Callie however, spotted them and smirked. They had threatened to follow her on her date, and she found herself somewhat comforted by the fact that they were following through.

Once outside they walked up to a nice black sedan. Callie reached for the passenger side handle at the same time as Gareth did. “Oops, sorry…” she apologized.

“N-no, I should apologize. I guess it’s weird nowadays for a guy to open the car door for his date…” They stood there awkwardly for a few moments.

‘I’m not going to hear the end of this from Jordan and Malek!’ thought Callie. Gareth finally reached over and opened the door. Callie slid into the car. “Thanks.”

He chuckled nervously and pushed the door closed, on her purse string. “Ah sorry! Sorry!” He hurriedly opened the door again and she pulled the rest of her purse inside.

“It’s my fault, sorry!” she countered. She felt so embarrassed already and they hadn’t even gotten out of the parking lot. Gareth climbed in and they drove off.

“Let’s go!” said Jordan. Malek turned on his black sport’s car and they followed the sedan a few cars back.

“Where do you think they’re going?” asked Malek.

“No clue. But she was dressed really nice, so my guess is some kind of highly regarded restaurant. Maybe the opera?” suggested Jordan.

Callie was glad that the ride to the restaurant was a short one. They had simply sat in awkward silence the ride there. Callie was both terrible at and despised small talk, so she never struck up any kind of banal conversation. When they pulled into the parking lot, Callie got out of the car too quickly for Gareth to open her door for her.

“I hope you’re hungry,” he said lightly as they headed for the door.

Jordan and Malek watched them enter the restaurant. “We don’t have a reservation for Little Village. It’s impossible to get a table without one,” complained Jordan.

“Maybe, but that café there has window that looks right into the restaurant,” noted Malek.

“Nice!” The two boys headed into the café and got a seat where they could clearly see Callie and Gareth.

As Callie sat down she glanced around. She eventually spotted Malek and Jordan in the café next door. She smiled at them.

“What’s up?” asked Gareth, noticing Callie look around.

“Oh, nothing. I’ve never been here before. It’s really fancy,” she explained. She gingerly picked up the leather-bound menu. She noticed the prices and it nearly ruined her appetite.

“You can have whatever you want, and don’t you dare look at the prices,” warned Gareth.

‘Too late…’ she thought to herself. She knew Gareth’s family had money, but she didn’t want to be a burden or a drain on whatever finances he had.

A waitress came to the table. “Can I get you guys anything to drink?” she asked.

“I’ll have a glass your house red, please,” he said.

“Perfect, and for you?” She turned to Callie.

“Uh… Water is fine.”

“Come on, have one drink,” insisted Gareth. Callie sighed.

“Alright, I’ll have a glass of white sangria.”

“Brilliant. I’ll be right back with those.” The waitress hurried off.

“Seriously, don’t fret over money. My uncle owns this place. The only thing I’ll have to pay for is the waitress’s tip,” assured Gareth. That did make Callie feel better. She had been convinced that he intended to spend ridiculous amounts of money for a single date.

After they got their drinks and ordered they were stuck having to talk while the food was being prepared. “So…” started Gareth, “how’s your job?”

“Pretty good… I mean I’m just an engineer at a university so it’s not all that exciting,” she admitted.

“I think it’s pretty cool. What kind of stuff do you do?”

“I build robots and stuff for the international space station.” She shrugged. She knew her job sounded cool, but it was mostly math, and trial and error. Not to mention that half of her work was classified. “What about you? How’s your job?”

“I work in sales in my dad’s company. Never a dull day I suppose, but some of our clients can be total douchebags,” he admitted. “Like the other day, I was trying to sell one of our clients an upgraded system since it was on sale and would be better for his business, and he totally accused me of being a money grabber and of installing government spyware on his computers! It’s totally ridiculous!”

“Sounds like it! The only insults I get are when my equations refuse to balance.” Callie reached for her glass, but wasn’t paying close enough attention and knocked it over. It splashed over the table and all over Gareth. “Ah damn! I’m so sorry!” Callie jumped up and grabbed a napkin, trying to clean up a bit.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” insisted Gareth as he grabbed another napkin to clean himself up. The waitress came over and finished cleaning up with a proper rag and replaced their napkins and Callie’s drink.

“I’m so sorry!” she repeated.

“It’s fine, really,” assured Gareth.

Callie was extremely relieved when their food came. They just had to eat and leave. This date was totally awkward. Her friends had encouraged her to try dating, and she was not at all pleased with how it was going.

As they ate, she found that Gareth talked a bit too much about himself. He seemed more and more self-absorbed; something that hadn’t been apparent when they had met the first time. They didn’t share any of the same interests, and his intelligence was lower than she expected. Anytime she made a pun she had to explain it to him which was tedious.

“She’s not into him,” noted Malek as he and Jordan watched from the café.

“How can you tell?” asked Jordan.

“Look. See how he’s leaning in and talking a lot. He’s trying to impress her and get close to her. She’s leaning so far away from him she might fall out of her chair, and she’s been talking less and less. Clearly this isn’t going well,” explained Malek.

“Wow, you’re right.” Jordan took a sip of his third coffee. “Shame. Hopefully this won’t discourage her from trying again.”

“Hopefully. Oh, they’re leaving. We should really get back to the building before them.” They got into Malek’s car and sped home. They managed to reach their apartment before Callie and Gareth got there. They slipped in and watched expectantly from the door.

Callie had found the car ride long and the small talk Gareth insisted on tedious. She had come to the conclusion that it was a terrible date. The elevator seemed to be taking an inordinate amount of time to reach her floor, like it was trying to torture her. She wasn’t even listening to what Gareth was saying anymore. He walked her to her door. “Thanks for supper,” she said as she started unlocking the door.

“Yeah. Maybe we can do it again sometime?” he insisted.

‘Or never again,’ she thought to herself. “Maybe, I’ll call you.” She remembered Jordan and Malek had told her that that would be the easiest way to deflect plans for a future date if she wasn’t interested.

“That sounds good.” He smiled and leaned in as she turned back around to say goodbye. She felt a rising panic. He was going to try to kiss her. She did not want that. She quickly side-stepped him and he stumbled forward a bit. She stuck out her hand and he looked at her confused for a moment then sighed and shook it. “That bad?”

“N-no… I just don’t think I’m cut out for dating,” she admitted.

“Alright. Well, if you ever want to hang out, give me a call.” He waved as he walked back to the elevator.

Callie waited until the elevator started to descend then hurried into Malek and Jordan’s apartment. “MOST. AWKWARD. EXPERIENCE. EVER.”

Malek was at their 60’s style bar mixing drinks. “Yes we could tell,” he stated and handed a chocolate martini over to her. He mixed himself one and a litchi martini for Jordan.

“We couldn’t hear what you guys talked about at the restaurant though,” prodded Jordan, accepting the martini from Malek.

“Nothing important. He just described in excruciating detail what he does for a living.” Callie plunked down on the couch next to Jordan. “Ugh!”

“Not all dates go well,” reminded Malek.

“I don’t think dating is for me.” She took a big sip of her martini.

“You really can’t conclude that after one date,” noted Jordan.

“Why not? The whole experience was awkward and stressful. I didn’t like any of it.” She groaned again.

“You just haven’t found someone who makes dating comfortable for you,” said Malek.

“Yeah, a date shouldn’t be a chore. It should basically just be hanging out and getting to know each other,” added Jordan.

“Ugh!” Callie downed the rest of her drink. Malek took her glass and made her another one.

“Here.” He handed her back the glass. “And don’t stress too much about it. If you get too horny, you could always join us for an orgy.” He winked at her and Jordan scooted closer.

“BORED!” said Callie, her voice filling the hallway.

“Me too!” replied Sean from another apartment.

“Wanna come over?” suggested Jordan from his apartment. His boyfriend, Malek, was still at work so he was bored as well. It took less than a minute for Sean and Callie to make their way over to Jordan’s apartment. Jordan wasn’t wearing a shirt when they showed up and his hair was damp, and bright green

“Cool hair colour!” exclaimed Callie.

“Thanks,” replied Jordan as he rifled through a pile of clothes on the ground by the washing machine. “Can’t wear anything red…” he muttered to himself.

“I don’t care if you don’t wear a shirt,” stated Callie.

“I would somewhat rather you do wear one,” added Sean.

“Sean, that’s incentive not to wear one, not to wear one,” mocked Jordan. He pulled out a black tank from the pile and pulled it on

“Is Malek still working at the host club?” asked Callie as she shifted in the bean bag chair on the ground.

“Yeah, it’s good money, despite already having a full time job at the lab,” explained Jordan. He plunked himself down on the couch next to Sean.

“You sound thrilled,” noted Sean sarcastically.

“He’s never home, it annoys me,” retorted Jordan. He got up and got poured himself a tequila sunrise.

“Ooh… what alcohol do you have?” Callie wriggled out of the bean bag chair and scrambled to Jordan’s and Malek’s 60’s style bar.

“There’s some melon flavoured Mojo and that orange Breezer stuff in the fridge too.” Jordan sat back down on the couch as Callie rummaged through the available alcohol. She settled on a bottle of orange Breezer.

The three of them spent the night talking about random things and complaining about their jobs. Around two in the morning Malek came home. He was not surprised to find Sean asleep on the couch and a drunk Callie and tipsy Jordan playing Jenga.

“Why am I not surprised?” chuckled Malek as he took his shoes off and loosened his tie

“Hiya,” said Jordan, looking up lazily at Malek

“Nice hair.

“Thanks.

“Hi Malek!” said Callie loudly. Sean jumped awake, startled by Callie’s voice.

“Hi Callie.” Malek smiled and patted her head as he walked past them to change out of his work clothes. When he came back he was wearing his blue pyjama pants with white bunnies on them and a loose black t-shirt. He plunked himself down next to Sean.

“How was work?” asked Sean, stifling a yawn

“Enh, same old,” replied Malek absently.

“Here.” Jordan forced a rum and coke into Malek’s hand. Malek smirked

“Thanks.” Malek caught the collar of Jordan’s shirt and pulled him in for a quick kiss

“Malek, Malek! We’re going camping tomorrow!” announced Callie, knocking over the precarious Jenga structure.

“Are we?” Malek raised an eyebrow at Jordan. Jordan shrugged, smirking

“Wait were we serious about that?” Sean’s eyes widened suddenly. “I don’t own any camping equipment!

“I do!” Callie thrust her hand into the air, beaming.

“So do we,” added Malek.

“Why do you guys have camping equipment? I’ve never seen you go camping.

“Zombies,” replied Malek and Callie in unison, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

“So we’re actually going camping tomorrow?” Sean looked at Jordan as though he would be the most reasonable of them

“I guess so.” Jordan was amused as Sean’s eyes widened even more. Malek grabbed his laptop from under the coffee table and looked up nearby campsites.

“We could go to the Sable Camping?” suggested Malek. “They have a three tent site close to the beach and the bathrooms we could take.

“Cool, reserve it,” said Jordan

“WHAT IS HAPPENING?!” demanded Sean

“Okay…” Malek ran back to the bedroom to get his wallet. When he sat back down the credit card information had already been filled in. He frowned at Jordan who was pouring himself another drink. He finished the reservation. “There, it says we can show up as of noon, and no glass on site. We’ll have to transfer the alcohol into plastic containers.”

The following day they packed up Jordan’s truck. They were bringing more food than they thought necessary but in the words of Callie, it was better to have too much food than too little. They took both Jordan’s truck and Callie’s sedan to the campsite. They had to check in, have their cars checked, and were given a list of rules before they got to their spot.

They set up camp, two tents, and sat around in their camp chairs drinking. Since Sean didn’t drink alcohol, he was just drinking soft drinks. “So is this it? We just sit around drinking?” asked Sean

“More fun if you actually drink alcohol. But no, let’s just get a nice buzz then we’ll head down to the beach. We can go on that hike tomorrow too if you want,” explained Jordan. Just then a group of college girls in a Jeep pulled into the large campsite across the path. They were giggling and talking in high pitched voices.

“Now would be a good time to go to the beach,” suggested Malek, shifting in his seat.

“Let me just get changed!” Callie dove back into her tent and emerged a few minutes later in a bright blue bikini. She was beaming as she grabbed her towel. Malek removed his shirt and tossed it in his and Jordan’s tent. He pulled out a couple of towels for Jordan and himself.

“I know! I hate it when some girls wear bikinis!” said one of the college girls from the neighbouring campsite.

“That’s off putting,” muttered Callie, taking another swig of her drink. Jordan and Malek both looked at Callie, assessing her body in the bathing suit. Malek and Jordan were both technically pansexual, so they both considered themselves capable of judging the looks of another man or woman.

“They are definitely not talking about you,” flirted Jordan.

“Guys! This is getting weird! Let’s just go to the beach before the orgy discussion starts up again!” Sean jumped up and started down the path towards the beach. Malek, Jordan, and Callie jogged to catch up with him.

When they got to the beach they laid out their towels and relaxed in the sun. However it was not long until the college girls appeared on the beach too. Sean and Jordan were in the water at that point while Callie and Malek were drinking and chatting in the sun. “Oh great,” muttered Callie as she noticed the girls settling down not far from them

“Hey you guys are the group near our camp site, right?” asked one of the girls. If her bikini were any smaller there wouldn’t be anything there. Malek rolled his eyes and laid down on his towel

“Yeah,” replied Callie. She pulled her knees in up to her chest and flicked her long purple hair out her face.

“I’m Karen,” continued the girl, her sandy blond curls bouncing around her shoulders as she settled down on her towel near Callie.

“Callie.

“That you’re boyfriend?” asked Karen, pointing at the blue-black haired man lying next to Callie

“What? No. Malek is basically my older brother,” explained Callie

“What about them?” Karen gesture towards Sean and Jordan who were walking back towards them, dripping lake water. Jordan knelt over Malek and let the water drip onto him

“Cold! That’s cold!” Malek scrambled away from him into the burning sand. Jordan tackled him and the two wrestled, sending puffs of sand in every direction.

“Oh, hi, I’m Sean,” Sean introduce himself to Karen. He grabbed his towel and wrapped it around himself.

“I’m Karen,” she replied with a charming smile.

“Karen! Come on!” called another girl from the water.

“Coming!” Karen got up and paused, “see you later.” She charged into the water after her friends.

“She’s kind of pretty,” noted Sean, sitting down next to Callie.

“Something about her irks me,” admitted Callie.

“I am going to be shaking sand out of my hair and ass for weeks!” groaned Malek as he and Jordan rejoined the group.

“I can help you clean it out.” Jordan winked and smacked Malek’s ass.

“I could kill you,” grumbled Malek. They sat down on their towels. Jordan flicked open the little cooler they had brought and pulled out his water bottle of tequila sunrise. They spent the rest of the day drinking, except for Sean who mocked their drunken state.

The next morning, Callie and Jordan were up first and started making breakfast on the camping stove. It was the smell of bacon that got Malek and Sean out of their respective tents. As soon as Malek was in arm’s reach, Jordan handed him a travel mug full of coffee. Malek accepted it with a lazy smile. “You’re an angel,” he complimented.

“Call me that again, and I’ll spill it on you,” mocked Jordan.

“Was anyone else kept up last night by those college girls?” asked Callie.

“Yeah,” replied the three boys in unison.

They ate breakfast and packed a lunch for their hike. As they were about to take off the girls in the next campsite were getting up. They were all wearing basically lingerie as pyjamas. Sean blushed and turned away, while the other three just moaned their discontent.

Karen trotted over to them. “Hi Sean,” she cooed. “I hope we didn’t keep you guys up too much with our music last night.”

“Not at all,” replied Sean quickly, still trying to avoid looking directly at her skimpily clad frame.

“Actually, you did,” interjected Callie bitterly. She was not afraid to look directly at Karen.

“I’m in no mood to socialize with college girls, can we get our hike on?” asked Malek.

“You’re going hiking?” Karen beamed and turned her attention back to Sean. “Can I come? It’ll only take me five minutes to get ready!”

Sean flushed and looked at his friends who were basically shaking their heads. “Sure. You guys go ahead, we’ll catch up later.” He smiled apologetically.

“Are you sure?” asked Jordan suspiciously.

“Yeah.” Sean’s smile broadened.

“Okay… if you insist…” The three of them left on the hike while Sean waited for Karen.

By one o’clock in the afternoon Jordan, Malek, and Callie had reached the top of the mountain. They collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted. “That was something,” muttered Callie, tossing her backpack aside and lying down.

“I didn’t expect it to be that difficult,” admitted Malek as he too tossed aside his bag and lay down. Jordan joined them.

“Never letting you pick the trail again!” he insisted. They took a minute to catch their breath then lay down a picnic blanket for lunch.

It was another twenty minutes before Sean and Karen joined them. Sean collapsed onto the blanket with them. “Why this trail?!”

“Yeah, Malek is barred from picking trails again,” assured Callie.

“I think it was pretty easy,” admitted Karen as she gingerly sat down with them. She was wearing shorts that if they were any shorter would be underwear and a tank top that was two sizes too small. She started rummaging through her bag. “Dammit… you rushed me so much I forgot my water bottle.”

“Oh, sorry. Here have mine.” Sean handed her his water bottle. She took it and downed nearly half of it in one go. Something about that interaction set off alarms for Jordan and Malek.

“What’s wrong?” asked Callie quietly to Malek and Jordan.

“Not sure yet,” admitted Malek.

Over the next half hour that they sat having their picnic, Malek and Jordan noticed other little things in the interactions between Sean and Karen. Mostly it seemed to be Karen making Sean feel guilty for things that didn’t make sense. He would apologize for things that he didn’t do or wasn’t responsible for. Even Callie started to notice.

It was almost five o’clock in the evening by the time they got back to camp. They had started drinking again about halfway down from the mountain. At camp they were relatively tipsy already. Karen continued to hang out with them for some time.

“You’re such a lightweight!” Malek mocked Callie.

“I’m trying to fix that by drinking more often!” she insisted. Jordan shook his head.

“You’re all lightweights to me!” announced Karen.

“Pfft! I’ve been drinking since I was fourteen, kid. I’ll easily drink you under the table,” challenged Malek.

“Did you just call me a kid?!” She was surprisingly offended. Malek smirked.

“Well duh.” He settled more comfortably in his chair. “I mean, you’re what? Nineteen? Twenty? And relatively immature, that makes you a kid to me.”

“I am twenty-one thank you very much!” she fumed.

“You’re only proving my point.” Malek sighed and took another swig of beer.

“What?! How am I immature?” Karen was standing over Malek now, fuming.

“For one, look at your reaction to a simple little jibe. Then there’s your need to draw attention to yourself by wearing clothes that are clearly too small for you. So you’re clearly still incredibly insecure about yourself. You also rely on basic manipulation to make yourself feel better about yourself by making Sean guilty for your short comings today.” Malek rose out of his chair, towering over her. “Sorry kid, but I can see right through you.” He turned to get himself another beer. He could hear Jordan and Callie snickering.

“Sean, do you think this too?” Karen turned on the lanky bespectacled boy.

“Uh… well…” He didn’t like to be put on the spot, and he did think Karen was very pretty and she had seemed sweet. However, he also knew that Malek had experience dealing with manipulators and would know the signs. “Malek’s usually right about these things.”

“Fine, you’re just a bunch asshats!” She stalked back to her campsite in a huff. Callie burst out laughing.

“That was something!” she noted.

“Was it necessary for you to be quite so mean?” asked Sean as Malek sat back down with a fresh beer.

“Would you rather I be dishonest and let you get taken advantage of or hurt by someone like that?” He raised an eyebrow at his friend. 

“I guess not…” He sighed and pulled a marshmallow out of the bag next to him and roasted it over the fire.

The rest of the night went by in drunken blur, and for Sean in a sugar high. The next morning they packed up camp, signed out, and drove to a diner for breakfast. Jordan, Callie, and Malek continued to mock Sean for having momentarily fallen for Karen, while he mocked them for their drunken nature.

He remains perfectly still, perched on the corner of the building. He knows he can pass as a decorative gargoyle if he doesn’t move; the perfect place to watch the people on the street.  It’s winter, snow drifts down, building up on his pitch black skin. He keeps his huge bat wings tightly folded against his body, fighting the urge to shake off the snow. He uses his spiked tail to anchor himself to the perch, coiling it around the stone protrusion. ‘Dammit,’ he thinks to himself as his scalp begins to itch right at the base of one of his greyish horns. His clawed, gnarled hands and feet tighten on the perch as he resists the temptation to scratch.

He hears the door to the roof open behind him. He shuts his eyes to hide their glimmer. There’s a high-pitched giggle as a little girl, no more than five or six years old, runs out onto the roof. She’s alone. She starts to approach him. ‘Don’t move,’ he says to himself.

“You’re not stone,” says the little girl.

‘Yes I am!’ he replies internally.

“Are you real?” she asks. She gets closer and reaches out to touch him. Her foot slips off the edge and she begins to fall. Before she even has time to scream, the strange creature’s tail shoots out and catches her. It lifts her back onto the roof and he crouches in front of her. He’s slightly relieved to be moving again.

“Are you alright?” he asks.

The girl nods, beaming up at him. Even crouching he’s easily twice, if not three times, her height. “You are real!” she exclaims brightly.

“I am. But I’m not supposed to be, so you have to keep it a secret, okay?” he instructs.

“Yep! I promise!” she proclaims.

“Good. What’s your name?” he asks smiling slightly, revealing a few pointed teeth. The girl isn’t at all bothered.

“Anna. What’s your name?”

“Joran.”

“What are you?”

“A Selkath.”

“You look like the monsters in my book.” Anna removes her backpack and rummages through it to find her book. Once she’s got it, she opens it to a page with a picture of a cartoony demon. “See? Except your eyes.”

“My eyes?” Joran looks at the demon in the book. It does look like a Selkath, but its eyes are red. Joran’s, and all Selkath’s, are emerald green.

“Yep, you have the same eyes as the hero-prince!” Anna flips through the book until she finds a picture of the prince. It’s a classic: tall, blond prince with bright green eyes. He’s wearing very colourful clothing.

“You know, some Selkath can use transformation magic to make themselves look like this,” explains Joran.

“Really?! Can you?” Anna stares at Joran full of wonder and excitement.

“I’m not very good, but I can try.” Joran’s body shrinks and changes colour. Within seconds he looks human, dressed in colourful silk, with blond hair like the prince in Anna’s book.

“Almost! Your horns are still showing,” she points out. “Oh wait! I know!” She puts her book back in her bag and pulls out a yellow paper crown; the kind found in Christmas poppers. Joran smiles and kneels in front of her, bowing his head. She gingerly places the crown on his head, hiding the horns. “I dub thee, Prince Joran of the roof!” she declares with practised grace.

“I am deeply honoured, Princess Anna,” thanks Joran, standing up again. They proceed to spend the better part of an hour fighting imaginary monsters.

Suddenly Joran senses a powerful presence. He pushes Anna to the side and turns, changing back into his true form just in time to catch the shaft of the spear before it plunges into his abdomen. The paper crown is still on his head, caught on a couple of his horns. He locks eyes with the being holding the spear. It’s an Eltheras; often mistaken for angels because of their four white, feathery wings and golden hair. The Eltheras’ cold blue eyes stare back at Joran. “Michael!” mutters Joran.

Michael smirks. “So you have heard of me.” He notices the little girl standing quite close to Joran. “Little girl, get away from this monster, quickly!” he orders.

“Joran’s my friend!” protests Anna as Michael pushes harder on the spear, causing it to nock Joran’s stomach.

“Anna, get back, please. I don’t want you to get hurt,” advises Joran. Anna puffs up and grabs the rubber ball they had been pretending was a fireball to attack the imaginary monsters. She throws it as hard as she can at Michael. It bounces lightly off his leg, but it’s enough to distract him.

Joran forces the spear to the side, not letting go of it, and hits Michael hard with his tail. The Eltheras relinquishes the spear as he falls to the ground on his back. Joran leaps forward and lands on Michael, pinning his arms and wings to the ground. He holds the tip of the spear to Michael’s throat. He stood to his full height with wings splayed to block out the light. “You single-handedly wiped out more than half of my brethren.”

“Then kill me,” taunts Michael. Joran pulls the spear back and then thrusts it forward. There’s a loud crack as the blade is buried into the stone surface of the roof. Joran steps off the Eltheras, and heads back towards Anna. “Why?” asks Michael, getting up.

Joran smiles at Anna before addressing Michael. “What kind of prince would I be if I didn’t show mercy?” Anna smiles brightly, showing her approval.

She stands alone at the train station with nothing to keep her company but the distant sounds of the city. Even the rain is silent as it mists down from the black sky, decorating the lone girl’s hair with beads that glimmer like gemstones in the lamp’s failing glow.

A chill runs down her spine and she pulls her leather coat tighter around herself. “I knew I should have worn my windbreaker,” she mutters bitterly. Another chill runs through her and it occurs to her that it isn’t the cold causing it. She gets a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach and clenches the knife in her pocket.

Suddenly the wind picks up. It’s blowing harder than she’s ever felt before, threatening to throw her onto the tracks. She wraps her arm around the lamp post and turns her back to the wind. That’s when she sees it; a tall dark figure, not bothered by the wind, striding towards her. Once it steps into the light she can see that it’s a man cloaked entirely in black, and she can just make out his face. He’s very pale, too pale, and his eyes are red and wild. His long black hair whips out from under his hood as he locks his gaze on hers. He smiles, his thin grey lips extending beyond human length up the sides of his face.

He opens his mouth as if to speak when a silvery blade comes out instead, covered in a black goo. The wind abruptly stops. The strange man falls forward sliding off the blade. The girl’s gaze follows the tip of the blade, down the shaft of the spear, and to the being holding it. The man there is more beautiful than anything she’s seen before, and completely impossible. He’s tall, pale, has a sharp angular face, and blue almond-shaped eyes. His straw-coloured hair is braided down to his lower back. More importantly, his ears are finely pointed, and from his back protrude four fluffy, white wings. The largest pair stems from his shoulders, and the smaller pair from his lower back. He’s clad entirely in form-fitting, white clothing with gold embroidery and detailing.

“Damn Therions are learning wind magic?!” he groans, straightening himself and wiping the black goo from his spear. He doesn’t seem to notice the girl there still gripping the lamp post and staring at him in disbelief.

“What are you?” she finally manages to say. He looks at her and his eyes widen.

“Oh shit.” The bell sounds and they both look down the track to the incoming train. Its lights brighten more and more of the station as the rattling of it on the tracks draws nearer. In a few seconds the train comes to a full stop, and some twenty passengers disembark onto an empty platform.

 Disoriented, the girl looks around. She suddenly finds herself standing in a luxurious living room. There’s a plush red carpet underfoot, large, black couches sitting in U-shape in front of a huge granite fireplace, and the walls are a dark wood with windows covered in red velvet curtains.

“You’re not going to fall over, are you?” The voice pulls the girl from her reverie and she notices the winged man standing in fron of her, staring at her intently.

“I’m fine,” she states defiantly, turning away from him slightly.

“What’s your name?” he asks.

“Jade.” She starts to walk around the room, inspecting some of the paintings on the wall. She stops in front of one that has a winged man, slightly different from the one with her now, facing a green-eyed, bat-winged demon. “Are you an angel?”

The winged man scoffs. “Hell no, I’m an Eltheras. With the exception of our wings, we most closely resemble human depiction of warrior elves,” he explains.

“Angelo, what is the meaning of this?!” demands another blond winged man as he bursts into the room. He looks surprisingly like the winged man in the painting Jade had been inspecting. He strides over to Angelo and gets threateningly close.

“A complication,” states Angelo.

“That is no excuse!” exclaims the other man.

“Michael, I did not sense her presence.”

“Then I’ll have to send you back to the training camp!” Michael throws his arms up in exasperation, causing his wings to quiver slightly.

“Brother, you aren’t listening. Close your eyes,” orders Angelo. Michael frowns at him suspiciously but closes eyes all the same. Angelo looks over at Jade, who’s still standing by the painting. “As silently as you can, move to another area.” She obeys, walking over to the couches on tip-toe. Angelo returns his attention to Michael. “Well, where is she?”

Michael’s frown deepens. “I can’t tell.” He opens his eyes and whips his head around to locate the girl, sending strand of his straw-coloured hair whipping about in every direction. Once finds her he locks eyes with her. “Who are your parents?”

She frowns at the question. “I don’t know, I grew up in a group home,” she finally admits. In a white blur, Michael suddenly appears directly in front of Jade. With his finger under her chin he forces her to look up at him as he stares intently into her eyes. She’s so shocked by his quick movements that she can’t react.

As he inspects the green of her eyes she sees his eyes widen and he floats back a few feet. “Impossible,” he mutters. She frowns at Michael, trying to figure out why fear was now written all over his face. “I’m truly sorry. I’m sure you’re a perfectly nice girl, but I can’t allow the Selkath to return.” His eyes dart to the side. Jade follows his gaze back to the painting she had been inspecting a moment ago.

A sharp pain spreads from her abdomen. She looks down to see her dark red blood spilling out over the shiny blade sticking into her. She watches it drip to the ground as she feels it filling her lungs. She sees her pale skin begin to melt off and she looks up to catch a reflection of herself in the glass of a painting on the far wall. All of her hair has fallen out and her clothes ripped to shreds. Her body is that of a seven-foot gargoyle with skin so black it swallows light. From her black scalp protrude several greyish horns that match the claws on her gnarled hands and feet. An enormous pair of bat wings with a translucent membrane extends from her shoulders up to the ceiling while her long spiked tail coils on the ground.

She looks around the room to see Angelo and Michael staring at her with nothing but fear in their eyes. She locks her emerald eyes with the ice blue ones of the Eltheras who stabbed her and smiles, revealing a row of pointed teeth. “We will rise,” she manages before her vision fades to black and the embrace of nothingness takes her.