I took my newly acquired file to the cafeteria to browse through while I grabbed a snack to tide me over. I didn’t really know what Alex had planned and being hungry if I had to eat some strange place was easier than making myself eat. The line was near empty at this hour, but…

I walked the long way to the Archives. I was still carrying the envelope with the paperwork in my hand. It was heavier than I expected the more I walked. My father was right. Margo was right. Fuck, but moving was going to be difficult on the best of days. Right now while I was…

At twenty after 9 I headed down to the Infirmary where I would meet with my therapist. Dr. Margo Silverman had been my therapist for the past 19 years. We’d met every Monday at 9:30 since I was 6 years old and just out of detention. She had to come visit me then, when it…

Sleep came sans blue eyes but the red never failed to haunt me. I was up and going and looking through the files that Ms. Dowager had delivered to me while I was gone to Ant’s. The files were stacked high on my counter blocking any use of the counter except for a small spot…

The last match lasted an hour. Ant won – he always won. But that was mostly because he had more advantages over Ryan and I. Ant walked me home the normal way. He didn’t try to make me chat. He didn’t push just walked with me. Ant walked with me up the stairs. “You know,…

It was also instantaneous that I lost my very awesome steak into the nearby bin that was placed there just for that occasion. Ant was shaking his head while I used the back of my hand to wipe my mouth. I headed for the bathroom to brush my teeth. It had been one of the…

We laid in my bed. He was holding me against his chest. It could have been more. Could have turned into more but I was still on the edge of a freak out. It don’t take much to push me over the edge. Lack of sleep. Changed up routine. A date. The feeling I should…

We talked. Rather I talked and he asked a bazillion questions. Sometimes he’d ask about something I hadn’t even said out loud. Which was weird, but oddly familiar. It was a vague deja vu moment. He’d come at three and we talked while we ate and around five Alex was leaning against the couch stroking…

“Another question. What’s with all these doors?” We walked farther down the hallway before he added. “You live in a fucking closet?” He asked dumbfounded. “You’ll see.” The rune on my door started to light up when I got near mostly because I willed it so, so Alex could see it. I touched the door…

My father knocked me on my ass three more times before we called it. I had enough time to grab a shower and start preparing for my late lunch early dinner. That was also probably part of my problem – I was starving. And my biggest problem was deciding between impressing Alex with a five…

I made it back to my apartment just in time for my anxiety to hit full swing. And as I opened the door Ophelia sat in front of the door with a fucking dead mouse at her feet. “Mother fucker!” I said and shut my door on the cat and walked away. I walked around…

I was a walking zombie after feeding Armande. It wasn’t that he took too much, he barely had anything, but I was exhausted. Dead on my feet didn’t even cover it. I barely made it through my nightly yoga routine before I passed out on the bed sans covers and everything. I had only prolonged…

Dae’lin’s office was across the hall from the main conference room also known as the fish bowl. There was another more private conference room but that was reserved for council meetings and high profile meetings. Us peons didn’t get to use it. I only glanced to see what was going on inside. There was a…

I got called to Dae’lin’s office. It was a normal call. But she said no rush. So I took my time walking to her office. It was down a few floors and I took the stairs anytime it wasn’t a rush. It was a short walk but I made it last an hour. But really…

I busied myself with work on my laptop. Dae’lin had me doing research on several other cases. She never told anyone who was doing the research or how some of the intel was found. And she never told them when I had interfered. But I had connections no other Venatori had. My father of course…

I sat on the sofa where I’d been when I had called Alex. Now, I sat trying to catch my breath. What the hell had just happened. Did I have a date? The first in over 4 years. Fuck only the third I’d actually been on? Really. My heart was beating so fast I thought…

I patted the front pocket of my hoodie and pulled out the card he’d stuff in it. I flipped it over and there was a number with a date and time printed on the back, ‘6/19 3PM’. The front was some game place out in Long Island City – a thirty min train ride. I…