Chapter 31

Elaina was on a mission.

She'd known women like Sharon before and she knew this really wasn't over yet. Sharon liked being "in charge," and she was going to need a bit more convincing, maybe even a lot more, before she accepted the inevitable.

Elaina tooled along the city streets, her Mustang drawing interested and envious glances everywhere she went, the dark-tinted windows adding to the mystery as people strived to see who was driving.

She had time to kill before arriving at her destination, so she drove past the address she had filched from Rob's wallet. As she passed the old brownstone where Dawn lived, she noted there was no activity to indicate that anyone was changing addresses. She parked across the street and got out, figuring that with dusk settling in and the street lights not yet on, she would be difficult to make out standing there. She looked towards the west and saw that the sun had set fire to the artificial valley formed of buildings as it set behind them. She could remember a time when this was all rolling hills of verdant growth...

She shook off the mood and looked to the windows she was sure belonged to Dawn's apartment. A light inside cast the shadow of a woman pacing behind the curtains, stopping occasionally to throw her arms about as if arguing. She knew it had to be Sharon.

She got back into her car and headed toward the downtown area. At twenty-five after five, she parked before a real estate agent's office, in the office manager's slot, and shut down the Mustang. It once more surrendered to the will of its owner, swearing one day to rebel and drive off into the sunset, but like a good steed, it settled down to wait upon its master's whim.

She got out of her car and went in. A chime announced her presence and a male voice called out that he'd be there in a moment. An impatient young man, lowest on the totem pole so he got to stay for the last-minute customer, stormed around the corner. He crashed to a halt upon seeing Elaina and vainly tried to straighten his tie.

"Hi, my name is Tom. How may I help you this evening, Miss..." He held out a hopeful hand.

Elaina smiled a secret smile and ignored his hand. "You can direct me to Ms. Medieras' office, if you please."

"I believe Dawn has gone home for the..."

"Tom, who is it?" Dawn's voice called out. Elaina's smile widened and Tom winced.

"A customer," he called back. "As I was saying..."

"Tom, don't lie to me." Elaina's smile was gone and her voice was flat. "I know my friend's voice. But if you want to be a good boy, you can run back there and tell her that Ms. Aserova is here."

Tom's eyes widened at being caught out, and hurried away to accomplish his task – and to avoid facing his accuser any longer than he had to.

A moment later, Dawn came out, her composure regained and once more in command of herself.

"Ms. Aserova, I'm afraid I don't recall your ... Elaina!" she squeaked in surprise. Not thinking about it, she rushed to Elaina and hugged her. "This is a surprise. What brings you here?"

Elaina had been caught off-guard by the hug, not anticipating affection from her yet. Fortunately, before Dawn noticed anything amiss she returned the hug, perhaps with a little interest added.

"I thought it would be nice to see where you work, and your apartment too, I you like," she answered smoothly. "If we're going to be sharing a man, I thought it might be a good idea to get to know each other without that man hanging about."

Dawn gave her a goober look but didn't dispute it. She had been thinking of sending Tom home and staying to close the office herself because she didn't wanted to face Sharon; she just knew Sharon wasn't gone yet. She dreaded the argument she would face if Sharon was still there when she got home.

"I brought my car," Elaina said enticingly. "Let me give you a ride home. You can show off your neighborhood and your home, and then we can visit for a while." When she wanted to, Elaina could lay on the honey. For insurance, she dropped some pheromones in the air to ease Dawn's decision. One of them must have worked because soon they were ensconced in the Mustang and cruising along.

Elaina had to pretend she hadn't been there, but still act as if she knew the area when Dawn gave her the address.

"This is a really nice car, Elaina. How do you manage a car living in the city?"

"I don't live in the city," she replied warmly.

Elaina named a suburb, and what with Dawn working in real estate, she knew right where it was. She allowed it was one of the better neighborhoods, but advised her that she might think of selling in the next five years as urban sprawl would catch up with it by then.

"In fact, you might want to put it on the market now, before it becomes too obvious what's coming."

Elaina said she'd consider it, but at another time.

They found her neighborhood, and Dawn proceeded to showcase it, playing up the good points while downplaying the bad. She even pointed out some neighboring brownstones that were for sale at a good price.

"Once an agent, always an agent, right, Dawn?" she asked laughingly.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry," she said blushing. "It's just that this is what I've done all my life."

"That's okay, dear. I understand. I can get that way myself from time to time."

"Oh! There's my place!" Dawn suddenly said. Elaina had seen it, of course, but had to wait for Dawn to point it out. They were just passing the perfect parking spot ... on the wrong side of the street. Elaina downshifted and punched it, giving the Mustang its head. The rear wheels squealed in protest as the engine overpowered the traction, and the car spun a hundred eighty degrees in the center of the street, ending up facing the opposite direction. Elaina gently guided it into the open space.

Satisfied with the spot and her place on it, Elaina shut down the engine. Satisfied with being allowed off the chain for that brief moment, the Mustang graciously acceded to its master's will.

Elaina turned in her seat to see a wide-eyed pale-faced Dawn staring back at her.

"What the hell was that?" she screamed.

"I believe the technical term would be a 'one-eighty.' And here we are." Elaina's calm demeanor, and a judicious application of pheromones, reassured Dawn and allowed her to laugh at what was now an exciting moment.

Elaina had seen a curtain being drawn back when she pulled her stunt, so she engaged Dawn in idle chit-chat until the curtain fell back into place. They then climbed out of the car, the old-style bucket seat giving Dawn a problem until Elaina offered a hand. Dawn continued to point out features of her home, now the proud homemaker instead of an agent. She let them in with her keys and they climbed the stairs to the second floor where another key let her in.

She had hesitated at the door, positive she'd heard a noise in the apartment. She had dreaded this moment and hoped she was wrong. She wasn't.

Elaina leaned over and whispered "may I come in?" and got back a distracted "what? yes, of course." She smiled to herself as the constriction at the threshold eased and vanished.

"It's about damned time you got home. You think I got all night?"

Sharon stormed into the room from another part of the apartment. A quick glance showed that Sharon had made no effort to pack up her stuff.

"Get over here! I have some things to tell you and you better..."

"Shut. Your. Mouth!" Both women jumped when Elaina roared. Dawn took a step back when she saw her newest friend step up for her. Sharon tried to snarl at her, but then Elaina showed her what a real snarl looked like.

Getting in Sharon's face so that Dawn wouldn't see what she was about to show Sharon, she opened her eyes wide so Sharon could see the glow in her irises. She knew that Sharon wouldn't see the fangs, after all everybody knew vampires weren't real, but she knew Sharon's subconscious would register them, and Sharon would feel a sense of dread all out of proportion with what she could see. The glow would be passed off as a phenomenon of rage compounded with fear.

"You will leave. Now!"

Sharon jumped. She turned and ran to the couch where a coat and purse lay, grabbed them up and ran from the room. Elaina thought of something and ran her down at the front door.

Holding out her hand, she said, "Keys. All of them, please."

Frightened out of her wits by this strange woman, she dropped the whole ring in her hand, saying "keep them" and ran out the door without shutting it. Elaina knew it would close eventually on its own, but pulled it shut to be sure.

When she returned to the apartment, Dawn was standing there gaping at what she had just witnessed. She closed her mouth with a snap when Elaina handed her the keys. Going through them, they found three sets; aside from the blades and bitting, each set looked different from the others and none looking like what Dawn had. She looked at the three sets then threw them in a side table drawer, slamming the drawer shut.

"You're fast." It was the first thing Dawn had said since walking into the apartment. "Scary fast."

Elaina shrugged. "You get used to it. I've been fast like that since I can remember." Which was true since her memories of being human had faded quite a bit over time. "You wouldn't happen to have any tea, would you? I could really use a cup." Dawn nodded and led her to the kitchen.

Elaina was delighted to find that, like her, Dawn was also a tea snob, and the two of them chatted about their obsession until the water boiled. That's when their first disagreement occurred. Dawn had a solid ball infuser. Oh the rage and tears! Neither convinced the other of the rightness of their way and they agreed to disagree.