Singing Blood

By the Light of The Moon

"So now we're playing historical society hostesses to some writer who's doing his book on small town Virginia," Jenna explained to Alaric.

I had decided to spent my lunch break at the Mystic Grill together with my best friend and the town's vampire hunter. Well, Jenna had decided she needed my emotional support to survive the lunch date with her lying boyfriend. Yesterday Rose and I had finally enlightened her about the supernatural events and people in this town. To say that Jenna had been furious about being kept in the dark by her own boyfriend and family members was an understatement. I hated seeing her this hurt and angry but after what happened to Slater I didn't want to risk her safety anymore. That included telling her the truth about everything - and I really meant everything. I had told both her and Rose everything the twins had told me and we had spent the entire evening musing about the shadow people, the twins' light friends and what the hell happened with Slater's corpse, not that we actually managed to make any sense of this mess.

"Well that sounds..." Alaric was searching for the right word.

"Lame, yeah, but Carol Lockwood played the "dead husband" and "you owe me for missing three days" card, said she was too busy to deal," I said, rolling eyes, remembering the less than pleasant conversation we had this morning.

"Plus, my sister kept most of the archives, so there you have it," Jenna added.

I sighed heavily, downing my glass of orange juice.

"This is going to be a blast," I remarked sarcastically. "As if I don't already have enough on my hands with digitalizing the rest of the newspapers and incorporating the three cart loads of personal files Carol's secretary hauled into my office yesterday into the archive collections. I swear I need a secretary of my own."

Jenna snorted. "Good luck finding one." Her phone started buzzing in her jeans pocket. She pulled it out, looked at the caller Id and groaned. "Or not. Maybe I'll drop out of college and apply for the job. My thesis adviser is driving me crazy. Sometimes I think he gets a kick out of tormenting me."

I laughed.

"You know I'll hire you at the spot, Jen, but sadly that's not my decision to make. Plus I highly doubt you'd survive more than three days with Carol as your boss."

She grimaced.

"True. I'd rather take my chances with the thesis adviser from hell." She stood up. "Unfortunately I have to get running now. Mr. Hellfire is no doubt calling to make sure I haven't unalived myself yet." She gave Alaric a quick and awkward kiss and pulled me into a hug. "Don't forget our appointment with Carol's writer this afternoon."

"I won't. If I don't make it in time, call 911 and tell them I've drowned in sea of personal files."

She laughed before lifting her finger in warning.

"You'll better not. I need my best friend alive and well."

"Aw...love you too, Jen."

Jenna threw me a kiss and then turned around and hurried out of the grill.

Alaric looked at me with an unreadable expression.

"Is it just me or was Jenna acting...strange today? More reserved than usual. As if she's keeping secrets or something."

I stood up and placed a hand on the history teacher's shoulder.

"Or maybe that's just your conscience speaking. You're the one with the secrets, Ric. I suggest coming clear before you lose her."

He sighed.

"You know it's not that easy, Marianne. This world, the supernatural...it will ruin her."

I shook my head.