Three

A day passed. Teamed together, Arthur and Oliver had managed to comb through all the files and form a list of suspects. Twenty names in total had greeted Oliver when he walked into the office the next morning with coffee in tow.

Lilith's name was among the list. Arthur would be due for Oliver's wrath when he arrived, Oliver thought. Rei, the girl who sat across from Oliver in the office place, got Arthur's coffee instead.

"I hope you like it black," Oliver told her. She didn't respond with much more than a hand wave and a murmured thanks.

Later Oliver leaned back in his chair, hands laced behind his head as he regarded the ceiling fan above his head. Around him, the only sound the people of the office made was an occasional cough.

Such slow days, he mused, watching the wood spin. Someone shuffled some papers, somewhere in the large room.

All my work is done for now. All I have to wait on is Sullivan. God knows how long he'll be.

"Johnson."

Her voice cut through the silence like a knife. Oliver kicked forward from his relaxed position. Rei Himura stared at him from her desk, pausing to push her glasses up her nose before speaking again.

"Johnson, I need a day off."

"Don't we all?" he replied. Rei's eyes narrowed.

"I'm starving." Her voice had an edge to it that gave Oliver chills.

"Lack of souls, Shiro?" He struggled to keep his tone even. His heart beat an uneven rhythm in his chest. "I'm sure you can suck what's left of our livelihood from everyone around us."

If she got the joke, Oliver couldn't tell. Her eyes narrowed further.

"I haven't been able to get to a blood bank in days. It's killing me."

Oliver shrugged, though deep down his heart skipped a beat. "And you're telling me this... why?"

Rei sighed, flicking the coffee cup Oliver had given her with one hand. "Because I'm going to go nuts if I don't get any blood. Not even chocolate cuts it anymore, Johnson." She slouched forward in her desk, bringing her hands to her head. Oliver could see the veins through her skin.

She's unnaturally pale today.

"When's the last time you fed?"

She groaned into her hands. "About a week ago."

"Been too busy here?"

Rei chuckled. "Yep. Ain't that a laugh? Been too busy to do jack shit and the irony in all of this is that my suspect is a vamp, too. Ain't that just funny." She coughed into one fist before breaking out into dry laughter. "Ha, ha, ha. The joke is on me for once, eh?"

Unnatural or extreme personality changes... Oliver's hands shook as he leaned forward at his desk. "Shiro, go talk to the Director."

"The fuck is the Director going to do?" Rei slammed a fist into the desk and grunted, her teeth clenched. She squeezed her eyelids shut. "Damn it."

Hunger pains. "I'm serious," Oliver said. "You're going through the first stages of bloodlust. You're going to put us all at risk if you stay here."

"Which is why I need a day off, dammit!" With a sigh, Rei set her forehead on her desk and took several breaths. Oliver watched on, the hair along his arms raised.

Something needs to be done.

"How much longer can you hold out?"

Rei shuddered, her hands clenching and unclenching several times. "Not long," she bit out. "Not a day. Probably not an hour. Not banking on an hour at this rate."

"That bad?" Oliver rose to his feet and stepped around his chair, glancing around before walking towards her. His shoes scratched against the carpet, alerting her to his movements. Rei looked over and held out a hand.

"No!" she said. "S-stay there. Don't get near me."

Oliver clenched his hands into fists and, with a sudden rush of determination, took confident strides in Rei's direction. She lowered her head to the desk and sighed.

"You never – ergh! – never listen to me."

"A hunger attack is nothing to laugh at." Oliver planted a hand on her shoulder, keeping it there even when she flinched. The sudden scent of her fear hit his nose.

"Shh..." Oliver took a deep breath and watched as the world around him turned red around the edges. His claws extended. Moving his hand in small circles, he rubbed Rei's back until she lay still beneath him. Then he leaned over, bringing his lips to her ear.

"You're not going to be able to hold out."

Rei shook her head. "No."

"The nearest blood bank isn't far off," Oliver said. "Want me to take you?"

Rei shuddered, lashing out and grabbing Oliver by the wrist. "No. I'll... I'll end up jumping you or something."

"Don't be stupid. You can't drive like this! You'll get hurt."

Her grip tightened. "Idiot. Stay here." She raised her head about an inch or so and jerked her head towards Oliver's desk. "Here, with your files. Isn't – agh – isn't your sister among them?"

"How'd you –"

"Oh please." Rei winced, tightening her grip around Oliver's wrist. "I heard you yest – ahh – yesterday. You talked about her. Stay here." By now, Oliver could barely feel the fingers of his right hand. "Stay here and help her."

Oliver leaned over and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to her feet as best as he could. She swayed and fell against him, lips parted. Oliver saw her canines protruding from between her lips.

"She can wait," he said. He looked up, glancing around the room before dropping his gaze back to Rei. Dammit. "Right now, you're in danger. This entire office is in danger."

"Johnson—"

Oliver lifted her upright, slinging one of her arms around his shoulders, and helped her balance her weight. She lay her head on his shoulder and sagged against him.

"Johnson, I can't. I can't move. I'm too weak to move right now and the pain is still getting worse..."

"It'll be fine. Can you move your legs?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll help you move."

Rei should have been heavy, Oliver reflected as they began their shuffle across the room, but she wasn't. Holding her up was akin to holding up a laptop case. Or carrying my sister.

Suddenly, Oliver was sixteen years old again, carrying a much younger Lilith Johnson on his back. She squealed into his ear, reaching into the air with a jar and a lid to catch fireflies.

"Oli! I caught one!" she would say. The smell of ash and pine trees would fill his nose. The cold would raise the hair on his arms. "Oli, look!" She'd stretch out her arms, an ashy brown in color (so unlike his own) and press the lid to the top of the jar, waving distressed bugs under Oliver's nose until he would laugh. "Oliver!"

"Oliver!"

...And just like that, Oliver was twenty-four again, half-carrying a vampire in the beginning stages of a hunger attack.

Those days are gone now, he reminded himself. His shoes made shuffling sounds along the carpet, as did Rei's. Her narrow feet slid across the ground. An elevator loomed straight ahead, the doors sliding open before them. From seemingly out of nowhere, Arthur Sullivan came to their side.

"I see you both need some help," he said.

Oliver could only nod.

Arthur wound Rei's free arm around his shoulder and took some of the weight. Oliver lowered his gaze to the floor. Many multi-colored threads littered the otherwise grey expanse, but in that moment, all he could see was red.

#

Rei lay in the back seat of Arthur's Camaro, skin more grey than white. The dark blue and black of her veins formed a twisted maze on her body.

"You didn't... have to take me..."

Arthur's fingers tightened around the steering wheel. "It's for your own good. At least this way we know you're safe."

Oliver leaned back in his seat and stared straight ahead. The tunnel enveloped the Camaro on both sides, bathing it in orange light. Around them sounded a dull hum.

"You know, I really hate this." Oliver waved one hand in the air, the other pressing against the window to his right. His fingers left little prints on the otherwise pristine glass.

"Hate what?" Arthur replied. His knuckles were nearly white.

"This. Vampires. The supernatural." Oliver leaned further back and was about to rest his legs on the dashboard when Arthur reached over and stopped him. Oliver sighed. "I mean, sure, being a demon and shit is fun. But then come instances such as this and it just really sucks."

Arthur nodded once. "I suppose so," he said. "But perhaps this is all what we make it out to be."

"Says the ghoul. You barely have to do anything!"

"Neither do you. Neither does Rei."

"But she needs blood to live. I need souls. You?" Oliver looked over, waving his free hand up and down in Arthur's direction. "You have no such reservations. Sure, you need to eat, but you can nab corpses. But you can take your sweet-ass time about it. Shiro and I don't have that luxury."

"And I realize that – can you please remove your hand from the glass? I just got this car washed again. Thank you. Anyway, I realize this. Doesn't mean I like it any more than you do. But you take what you can get."

Oliver turned away, watching the orange and sepia lights pass them by. The mouth of the tunnel stretched before them.

"I can't talk to anyone I used to know." Oliver tapped the glass with a nail, watching with grim satisfaction as the road grew light and they emerged from the tunnel. The bay spread out to Oliver's right, dotted with sailboats and elongated piers.

"That's just life, Johnson."

"And now I'm stuck working to protect... who? And from what? If my clients don't even know I exist, who's getting the credit?"

"You're just realizing this now, Johnson?" Arthur asked, cutting off Rei as she was about to mumble something. Oliver shook his head and sighed.

"No, of course not. I've been aware of my – our – predicaments. Doesn't mean I dislike it any less."

"There's no use bitching about it now."

Scrabbling sounded from the back of Oliver's seat and Oliver looked behind him. Rei scratched at the leather with needle-thin claws.

"Please hurry," she said, half-frantic. Now, the veins were prominent even around her eyes.

Instead of replying, Oliver took her hand. Her nails ghosted over his skin, at times leaving minute nicks. He grunted each time she made contact.

"Ginger... you shouldn't hold my hand like this..." A gentle sigh escaped her lips and she turned her head. "I'm hurting you. I can smell it."

"We're almost there, Shiro," Arthur said from the driver's seat. "Just a couple more blocks."

"So close and yet so far," Rei rasped.

Before he knew it, Oliver found the Camaro parked in front of a small white building. A banner plastered to one window proclaimed that it was a blood bank and clinic. Before the car was put into park, Oliver unclipped his seatbelt and sprang out onto the pavement. As the car rolled to a gentle stop, he opened the back doors and gestured to Rei.

"Well?" he said when she stared at his hands. "Come on."

On fragile legs, Rei limped towards the entrance of the clinic, leaning hard against Oliver. He fought to ignore the delicious thrill he got every time her orchid shampoo filled his nose. He had bigger things to worry about.

"You're doing great," he said as Arthur pushed them through the doors.

"Don't patronize me, Ginger. I'm just a few moments away from breaking your neck."

The clerk at the desk took one look at them before gasping. With trembling hands, she held out a clipboard. Oliver snatched it up without a word. Shoving Rei into a chair, he took a pen as well and sat down next to her.

"Now time for the real blood-sucker," he said. "Paperwork."

#

Oliver's cellphone rang at around midnight.

He lay back in bed, one arm resting on his forehead and his gaze fixed on the ceiling. His apartment was dead-silent. The mattress he lay on did little to ease his stiff muscles – or his fraying nerves.

The smoke swirled lazy circles above his head. Oliver brought the cigarette to his lips and inhaled.

The moment his ringtone – which was almost-ironically set to Witchy Woman by The Eagles for Rei – blared, Oliver took a moment to roll his head to the side and look over to his bedside table. The phone buzzed against the wood, the small window on the front alight. Rei's name spelled itself out to him in large black letters.

God damn it.

With another drag, he reached for the phone and brought it to the side of his head. He let the song carry on for a moment before he flipped it open and answered.

"Hullo?"

"Hey."

Oliver flicked ashes into his ashtray, the smell of his cigarettes suddenly making his stomach turn. "What do you need?"

"To say thanks, I guess."

She was of course referring to the incident from earlier that day. The three of them had spent three hours – plus the lengthy lecture from Gonzalez afterwards – in the blood bank.

Oliver sighed and rubbed his temples. "It's midnight, Shiro."

"I'm aware of this."

He sighed and took another drag. "Then why are you calling?"

"Because I knew you were awake."

"Oh?" Oliver arched an eyebrow for a heartbeat before his face relaxed again. He lay back down, his body bouncing against the firm mattress beneath him. What I would give to sleep on something a bit more flexible right now.

"And because I just needed to say thanks." She paused. "Can you open your door?"

"Why would –" Oliver paused, the realization dawning on him. Through the phone – and from the hallway outside of his apartment – he heard a chuckle.

"Please? I'll make it worth your while."

Oliver flipped the phone shut and took another drag. God damn it. Then he swung his legs over the side of the bed, forcing himself upright. His cigarette was half-burned by now and as he walked, it left a faint trail of ashes on the floor. He made a note to clean it in the morning. Smoke curled around him, almost like a blanket.

When he cracked open the door, Rei stood outside in the hall. She was in the process of pushing up her glasses when she caught his eye.

"Hey."

"You know, the last time I had sex with a vampire, it turned rather... nasty."

Rei giggled, hiding her mouth behind a hand. "I've also fed today, Ginger. Not to mention" – here she stepped so close that Oliver could barely breathe – "the last time we did any of that, you liked it."

Oliver arched an eyebrow but otherwise didn't reply. Rei cocked her head to the side, narrow eyes giving him a once-over.

"I see my job is already half-done," she said, pointing out his lack of a shirt. Oliver flicked his cigarette and crushed it out with the sole of his foot. It made his skin sizzle, but he didn't feel the pain.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asked.

"No, I'm not in the mood right now. Had enough 'drinks' for one day and... Honestly, everything still tastes like blood. It gets old after a while."

"Ah." Oliver stepped back, allowing Rei just enough room to get into his apartment before shutting the door behind her. "Can I at least take your coat?"

"You're always so cordial." Rei shrugged off her jacket anyway, holding out the grey material for him to take. "Well?" She gave her hand a shake. "Here."

"Thanks." Oliver turned to the closet on his left, taking a moment to hang Rei's coat on a hook before looking back. Rei was easing herself into the couch, throwing her head back and parting her lips with a faint moan.

"God," she said, "I hate humans. Don't you?"

"Yeah." Oliver almost tripped over his carpet upon coming to her side. His temple throbbed. "What happened?"

"They're just always dying and shit. You know what's exhilarating? Feeling their life-force drain out from under my teeth and tongue. But no. That's now 'against the rules'." Here, Rei made air-quotes with her fingers, as if that would accentuate both her point and her sarcasm. "Ever since the Magistrate made some sort of deal with whatever humans can see us... which is few and far between, I'll have you know. No one even cares... until one of us kills them." She threw her head back with dramatic flair before popping her neck and looking over. "And then the rest of us have to pretend we're the good guys for a few hours until the hysteria dies down. It's revolting."

"Yeah." Oliver lowered himself down beside her, the leather of his cushions rolling across his bare skin and sticking to what it could. The feeling made his stomach clench.

"But I'm not here to rant." Rei sat up and planted a hand on Oliver's knee. "I'm here to make sure you're okay."

"O...kay?"

Rei paused to adjust her glasses. "Look... I know hearing about your sister shook you up." For a moment, her face fell. "I knew if I had to see my mother, or my ex-girlfriend." Then she shook herself, her voice trailing. "And I know how hard it's been, not being able to see her. But we're going to do whatever we can to protect her, okay? Nothing will harm her... I hope."

"It's not that I'm worried about," Oliver replied. "Though I suppose that has a role. More like... it's like... There's no way she's guilty, right?" He bit his lip, his mind turning as he fought to find the right words. "That's the last thing I want to think about. No one wants to be forced to arrest their own sister. But if she's guilty—"

"Hey, let's not think of it like that." Rei stood up, reaching for his hands and giving him a tug. "She's an unintentional victim here. I'm sure of it. That's why we need to find out who killed her therapists and why, and if she's in any danger. And if she is, I'm sure we can fix it before the damage is done." She looked up at him through half-lidded eyes. "For now, though... for now." Rei gave his hands a shake. "Let's not worry about any of that, okay? Come on."

Rei pulled him in the direction of the bedroom and Oliver caught on at once.

"I can't treat all my problems with sex, Shiro."

"Of course not." She turned back at his bedroom door and flashed a toothy grin. "But it can certainly help."

With a sudden wave of vigor, Oliver was helpless to do anything but follow.

#

Y'all see that really dope cover? Zuko made it! Thanks IdeoIogicalIy!!