I feel like I've been here before. The basement of the police station is full of people. There's easily over a hundred people down here. It's a mix of humans, witches and vampires.

Will was going to meet me here. Stella came with me.

"The pizza isn't bad!" Stella says loudly over the sea of voices around us. She wears a long green corduroy dress. I'm wearing a long black skirt with a white shirt.

"What kind did you get?"

"Plain, but I want to go back up to get the meat lovers one. I knew I should have got that one. I'm starving. God, I should probably call Colin. I completely forgot to tell him we left. Oopsie!"

She leaves the long picnic table and practically skips over to the table on the other side of the room where the food is. There are a few other long tables beside ours stretching to the opposite end of the room. Most people are eating now.

There's speakers along the walls that play country music. Not exactly my taste, but I can't complain when I'm getting a free meal and drinks since I work here. The coven paid for our food tonight.

It's nice to see coven members mingling among humans. They may not be exactly talking to the vampires, as much as they don't like the police, they sit among them and tolerate each other for the sake of peace.

There's some TVs down here too along the white painted walls playing sports games that I don't follow. I thought it would be hard to relax with all the people here but it isn't so bad. It's kind of cool to see so many different people at the same time sharing a meal.

At the far end of the room, by the steps, is a big fireplace behind a glass wall. Stella and I recognized some of the people down there as MSSL members from the news. I recognize some of them from my trip up the mountain too. Most of them are older and I don't think there's any vampires among them.

I look down at my newly empty plate feeling content with the two slices of pizza I just gobbled up. The line Stella is in to get more food is pretty long.

Feeling a little bored, I tap my phone hoping to see a message from Will. He definitely should be here by now. There's some pizza sauce smudged on my white shirt. I better get that out before it stains. I wonder where the bathroom is down here?

Curious, I stand up and start to make my way around the crowd of people.

"Valerie, leaving so soon? Where's William?"

Embarrassed, I blush a little hearing my boss's voice behind me. His dark blonde hair is gelled back neatly and he wears a blue dress shirt that matches his eyes.

"Hi, Nick. He should be here soon. Do you know where the bathroom might be?"

"Of course, I do. I can show you where it is," he offers while stepping out in front of me to lead the way. "This way!"

The beer in his hand sloshes around as he maneuvers around the crowd.

"Did you come with Regina? Will and I had such a nice time visiting you," I say quickly. I know I'm lying through my teeth, but I don't really feel relaxed at all around him, or Regina, after that event. All I feel is nervous and on edge.

"Regina's here somewhere," Nick answers. We've made it to the opposite end of the room by the steps leading up to the front desk. There's a dead-end hallway beside the staircase. "Bathroom's down that hall."

"Oh!" I reply rapidly, "Perfect! Thanks!"

"Not a problem. Do you want me to wait out here for you?" Nick asks. He sets his drink down a little clumsily on the railing by the staircase. It's really warm in this area of the basement because the fireplace is on this side. "I wanna make sure you get back to your friend okay-"

"Oh, what makes you think I'd have trouble finding my way back?" I don't know why I blurted that out. I don't mean to be rude or awkward. "Sorry, I just wasn't expecting you to know I came with Stella. You must have seen us come in."

"Yes, I did. You're my halfling, remember? How do you feel around me? After, you know, the incident at my house last week."

My face feels so red. I feel on the spot and I definitely think I am.

"I'm not comfortable talking about it," I tell him, "Sorry, I really need to go to the bathroom."

Amusement dances in his eyes. "Absolutely. It's right there," he says.

In a hurry, I turn on my heels and scurry down the dark hallway like a mouse. Thank god the bathroom isn't occupied. I head inside and do my business. After washing my hands, I look in the bathroom mirror and try to get the pizza sauce off my shirt. It's not really coming out with water. Oh, well.

Will still hasn't texted back or called. I try calling him again but he doesn't answer. He said he would be here. Maybe, the service is bad down here.

"Okay," I say to myself while stuffing my phone back into my purse, "I'll just continue walking around until I find him."

I shove the bathroom door open. Thankfully, Nick isn't waiting out in the hall anymore. I'm sure my boss has more important people to talk with tonight. So, I head toward the fireplace in search of Will. It's a really tall fireplace with very high flames. The flames are taller than me. It's a massive fire behind a wall of glass.

There's some people sitting on a couple couches around it. Will is seated among them drinking a beer in deep discussion. It looks like he's comfortable and getting along with the vampires he's chatting with. I don't really want to interrupt them. I try to catch his eye standing in front of the fireplace and giving him a small wave, but he isn't looking in my direction.

"Will?" I try.

He doesn't hear me over all the chatter. That's okay, I've found him now and maybe I should go back to Stella until he's finished talking with them. Relieved I found him, I wander behind the couches and begin to head back to where Stella is seated on the other side of the room.

There's tables of food along the wall cluttered around black and orange confetti. Someone decorated the basement walls with black ribbons and lit-up neon white welcome signs for our visitors. They did a good job decorating.

Eventually, I pass by the table with the pizzas. Most of the boxes are empty. A really old bald man in a black suit stands in front of the table rubbing his chin. His glass of beer is empty just like the cooler nearby the table on the floor. He bends down, determined to find a drink somewhere buried in the melting pile of ice in the box, with a deep frown.

"Damn young'ins gone and drank it all up!" he grumbles while standing up. I try to sneak by him. "Young lady, didn't your coven bring more drinks? I don't suppose they'd expect me to drink up that ice-water?" he jokes.

The man has a long pointed nose and dark brown eyes. His face kind of reminds me of a goblin. He must be a witch and read my aura. I don't know why else he'd associate me with the coven. I'm surprised he thinks I look young. My hair is thinner and not thick like it was before I died. My skin is kind of thin and bruises easier like an old person's.

"Did you hear me?"

"Yes!" I hurry out, "Are you from the MSSL? I don't think I recognize you from the coven."

"Why, yes, I am. My name is Gregory Auclair. I'm the president of the MSSL. And who would you be?"

"Valerie Parway."

"The woman who rose from the dead? I say, dear, you don't look a day older than nineteen! Where can I get another drink? It's an oven down here!"

"There's another cooler by that table."

A couple vampire police officers stand around it. Will appears from behind the crowd around them. With an excited smile, he waves for me and Gregory to join their group. When I begin walking over to Will, I check to see if Gregory is coming. I don't see him at all. He's gone. How did he disappear so quickly? It's not so crowded anymore because people have started to leave.

"Will, where did Gregory go? He was just standing by me."

"I know. He could've been summoned back to the hotel. Sorry, I couldn't talk earlier. I got your texts and saw you called. I've been trying to talk to a lot of people here-"

"When did you get here?" I ask with growing agitation. I can't help it. I don't like coming to things like this without him. I ended up abandoning Stella during my search for him, but I guess that's my fault. I should have just stayed with her. "I was looking for you basically this whole time!" I whisper-yell.

"That's not my fault. Relax," Will says lightly. His words only make me more frustrated. I tap my foot impatiently. I really want to leave. I need to be alone. I don't want this to let me get upset. It's not that big of a deal, it's just miscommunication. "Are you mad at me? You can't be serious. Come on, let's sit down and chat for a little."

"No, Will. I'm not mad. I'd like to go home now, though."

"Seriously? I only just caught up with you. Oh my god. Why can't you just be happy? Everything I do irritates you and you can't even talk to me about it. You'll just give me the silent treatment again-"

"Silent treatment?" I argue, "I was trying to reach out to you all night and you ignored me. I have a right to feel annoyed by that."

"Did it ever occur to you that I'm not intentionally trying to upset you? I care a lot about you, Val. I love you. I'll take you home now if that's what you want."

I should have just kept my mouth shut. Bottling up my feelings, I shake my head 'no' and sit down at the table pretending to do things on my phone.

"I'll be here!" I say in a cheery voice. I feel like my entire body is shaking. "I'm not in any hurry to leave. I'm sorry, I'm glad we found each other. Go on, I'll be here when you're done talking. I'll just, uh, play on my phone."

Will kisses the side of my face. From my peripheral vision, I see him walk away. Further down the table, Regina and Nick are talking to some coven members. I probably shouldn't be staring, but it's hard not to. I'm curious about my boss's personal life and I'm curious about Regina. I know I shouldn't be. No matter how hard I try not to, I can't stop ruminating about what happened at their house.

At least, I was able to keep my mouth shut about that tonight. This is supposed to be a fun party but all I feel is stress. Will left his phone with me. It rests on the table by my purse.

I tap its surface and see a picture of his truck on the lock screen. There's three new message bubbles below the clock on the lock screen. I can't see the contents of the messages, just a strange red triangle with a smiley face inside. It must be some kind of app notification.

"What are you doing?" I jump hearing Will's voice arrive right behind me. "Are you trying to get into my phone? You could have just asked before snooping."

"I was just looking at it. I was wondering what those notifications were. It looks like you got a couple messages."

"It's an app called Fishbowl. I play games on there with my friends and we talk online. Don't you have games on your phone? That's what you said you'd be doing before I walked away, right?"

"I don't remember, but I guess I lied if that's what I said to you. I don't have games. I'm sorry. The phones make me anxious. I'm still kind of new to them. I'm so sorry, Will. I'm not feeling like myself and would really like to go home. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I wasn't trying to break your trust. I was just curious."

"Well, stop being so anxious. I know you'd never do anything against me. You don't have one bad bone in your body. You got nothing to worry about, baby. You can look at my phone as much as you want tomorrow when I stop by after work. I promise, okay? Maybe, you should just go home with Stella tonight so you can chill out."

"Okay," I agree, "I think that would be a good idea. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."

🌜