Chapter 8

Elevator bell dinged and Heena jumped out of her seat, knocking over the tissue bag on her lap. She removed her gaze away from the computer screen and wiped her tears.

It was late in the day and she wasn't expecting Paula or Merlin at this time. For as much as she had learnt about them for the past few weeks, they were night owls. They liked partying and stuff and she never cared.

The elevator doors opened and a boy and a girl, probably in their early twenties, emerged out of it. They looked calm but there was suppressed tension that Heena sensed with a single look. She quickly straightened on her seat.

"Hi—"

"Hello you two. What can I help you with?"

"We saw this advertisement on our social media and we were hoping to meet with Merlin and Paula Bale for some issues." Said the boy.

"Yes of course. I am Heena, at your assistance. Take the couch, will you? Paula and Merlin will be in soon." Heena said, composing herself pretty quickly from the gloomy television show she is watching.

"Sure thanks. My name is Jenna by the way and this is my friend Ervin." Introduced the girl and the both of them approached the couch sitting in the hall, to the left of Heena.

"You kids need something? Water? Cold soda?" Asked Heena. Both of them shook their heads. Heena tried to read their stances and noticed how Jenna was more restless and fidgety and Ervin was pretty much neutral regarding the scenario, just looked concerned for his friend. She came to conclude that Jenna was in distress and Ervin was there for moral support.

She dialled for Merlin and Paula one by one but none of them picked to the last ring. She nervously smiled at the two.

"Won't be long now." She said, The boy smiled back but the girl just pursed her lips together. She was eager and beautiful with doe like light brown eyes and pixie cut brown hair over olive skin. She had a blue band on her wrist that matched the eye colour of her friend Ervin.

After like twenty-five calls, eleven messages and more than two hours of waiting, the elevator bell dinged again and this time, came out the familiar faces of Merlin and Paula. Both covered in glitter to the last toe and smell of something intense radiating off their body. They cease their conversation, seeing Jenna and Ervin sitting on the couch in the hall area.

Paula regained her composure and approached them while Merlin almost threw up into his own mouth. He recognized Ervin first, the same boy who was standing beside the bonfire in the party he and Leonard crashed. The same dark hair and uncertain gaze.

Paula introduced herself and Merlin and, when they sat across from them in their office room, Jenna went into the detailed description of her P.I. seeking issue.

"So, my father, he was a total liar and a cheater. He was cheating on my mum for a long time until she figured it out five years ago. She threw him out and he never looked back, started living with his new wife and even had a child. We were fine with it and we were happy without him, until last week when he suddenly turned up with his bags and said he has changed, that he wants to make up for the time lost and wants to be a good father and a husband. My mother had just started dating and this will put her back several years and I am afraid she is considering his bluff offer. As for me, I don't care about him anymore, I don't even live at our old house anymore but mum lives there alone and she might be falling for his tactics. He is literally living in our garden in a camping tent."

"How can we help? This sounds like a personal matter."  Said Paula, he eyes stern with undivided focus on Jenna.

"I want you to find proof that my father is a scam and he hasn't changed so that I can prove to my mother that he is still not worth taking in, he will never be. Can you do that?" Jenna was staring right into her eyes. There was both authority and begging in her voice that made Paula feel things out of her comfort.

"Yes. Yes of course." Said Paula. She mentally agreed she was a little impressed by Jenna. Maybe it was her nerdy badass attitude that most keeps hidden until hit too hard or her desperation to kick her own father in the teeth. Either way, it fascinated her.

Merlin and Ervin were quiet this whole time. Merlin was continuously staring at Ervin and Ervin biting his lips while looking at his lap the whole time.

None of them know how they reached there or it was when Ervin asked for the bathroom and Merlin offered to take him while Jenna and Paula were out in the hall chatting with Heena, both of them found themselves heavily making out against the bathroom wall. Merlin pushed Ervin on the sink and held his neck tight from the back and crashed his lips to Ervin's cheeks and then lips, and chin and throat. Ervin dug his nails into Merlin's back and pulled him closer, his legs feeling wobbly and weak. There was a voice in his head that said it was a bad idea, that this human was going to be a trouble but Merlin continued his dexterous work on his body.

When they  came out ten minutes later, neither Paula nor Jenna said anything. Heena made some smug faces but she too stayed quiet. After Jenna and Ervin left, Paula said, "What about the rule of 'no screwing the clients', huh?"

"He is not the client. Jenna is the client. And don't worry, it was a one time thing. Nothing to worry about, you know, as a professional." Merlin said but he didn't want to believe it. He was this big bad vampire who hardly stayed with one human for longer than a few hours of pleasure. Now he wanted to meet Ervin again and he won't stop at a word commitment to Paula.

"By the way he and Jenna, they are housemates and Heena has their address." Paula said and disappeared behind the elevator doors.

Just a minute later his phones pinged with a message, he opened it up and read,

'Vampire hunters killed three vampires. Be careful.'

—Simon