Page 45 of Soft Flannel Hank

“Nat,” Hank said, turning to face the vampire, his voice full of warning. “Be nice.”

Nat crossed his arms. He wore a white t-shirt that was spattered with mud and it was on the top of Esther’s tongue to ask how he wasn’t cold when she remembered that he was dead.Vampires don’t get cold.

She took a deep breath and blew it out. “So you want me to start at the beginning?” she asked, hesitant.

Hank nodded, taking a deep sip of his coffee, relaxed as could be. It was a stark contrast to Nat’s barely contained energy, evident in his bouncing leg and fidgeting hands.

Finally, Nat sighed, which Esther knew to be an affectation since vampires didn’t breathe any more than they got cold. “Please.”

His face softened, and he looked young. So much younger than he’d looked when his face was contorted by fury. Now he just looked tired.Could vampires even get tired?She didn’t know.

It took her about an hour to tell the story. From her grandmother’s death to finding the secret room where the vampires fed on their human targets to the bit where she told Callum for the rest of the week that she couldn’t source the right ingredients to make the elixirs but kept showing up to work so as to not rouse suspicion. How she’d been working at home on a potion to neutralize the vampires upon feeding. How she’d disguised it as the old elixirs.

They let her talk, only interrupting to ask a question here or there.

“It was just supposed to make the vampires catatonic for a few hours so that I could get away and figure out what they’d done with their last victims. And then get the hell out of Dodge.”

“Callum said that whatever you gave them made all of the vampires in his club super sick.”

“Sick how?”

“He didn’t say.”

Esther knit her brows together, staring at a spot on the table where the varnish had worn off. “It would have made them feel hungover, maybe. But they weren’t in any danger of dying.” She coughed. “Dying more.”

“Why not?” Nat asked incredulously.

“Because two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“So they would have just felt hungover, you say?”

“I mean, it probably would have felt like a hell of a hangover. And y’all aren’t used to feeling anything other than incredible, I wager.”

Nat nodded grudgingly.

“I swear, all I wanted was to save those people and get as far away as possible.”

They were silent for a few moments. Hank sipped his coffee, and Esther fidgeted with her chipped nail polish, scratching more off.

“And did you?” Nat asked quietly.

“Did I what?”

“Save them.”

Esther huffed out a breath. “I did. I snuck them all out the back staircase at closing time before clearing out the till, giving them the cash for their trouble, and running away.”

“So you robbed Callum, then?”

Esther was about to answer that with a sharp comment when Hank’s deep voice broke through.

“Did Callum tell you the humans were unwilling, Nat?”

Nat at least had the decency to look embarrassed. “No. They were unwilling, Esther?”

“I cant imagine them signing up for something like that. Do y’all believe me?” Esther asked, not liking the desperation in her voice. “Please say y’all believe me.”

Hank looked at Nat, who dropped his head back, looking at the ceiling as he groaned, “Yes.”