The apartment was one of three Daniels rented on different floors in the building. Although this one was roomy, it wasn’t supposed to have more than one level. Most of the floor space was taken by boxes, shelving, and cabinets storing everything from medical equipment to back issues of old Justice League comic books. Cole had been there before, so he wasn’t shocked to hear a voice from the closet say, “Upstairs!”
Instead of coats or a vacuum cleaner, the hall closet contained a ladder up to a unit on the next floor. A similar ladder led to the apartment on the third floor. It was an expensive way for the Nymar chemist to get a lot of extra space and indulge an even bigger helping of paranoia.
Cole climbed up to the second floor, which was normally where Daniels did his work. While there were still plenty of test tube racks, bottles of chemicals, and other lab equipment in the kitchen and dining room, the rest of the apartment had been spruced up considerably. The reason for the change was currently seated on the couch. “Hello, Sally,” he said with a friendly wave.
Sally sat nestled with her feet curled beneath her on a faded cushion that hugged her rounded frame. Her blond hair, cut just above the shoulders, was held back by a pink scrunchie. Her clothes were brightly colored, moderately fashionable, and were featured on the same shopping channel that she currently watched on a thirty-six-inch TV. “Hi, Cole. Where’s Paige?”
“She’s in the car keeping her eye on a new recruit. Doing something different with your hair?”
“A little. Thanks for noticing.”
“I’m glad you weren’t scared away after what happened a while ago.”
Sally shrugged and tried to hide a wince. Considering she’d been attacked by a hungry Nymar while a werewolf tore its way between all three of Daniels’s apartments, it was a pretty brave reaction. “Scared, yes. Scared away . . . not quite. Doesn’t seem like a lot compared to everything that’s been going on since then.”
“How do you like living here?”
She opened her arms as if to embrace the area around her, which was dust free and noticeably tidier than the rest of the cobbled-together complex. It was a perfectly arranged space with clean carpet and newer furniture. More than anything else, the reduced amount of clutter made it clear that someone other than Daniels had been set loose in that place. “What’s there not to like? Anything that brings me closer to Danny makes everything else worth the trouble.”
“Really?” Cole asked. “I mean . . . that’s great. At least you convinced your boyfriend to keep the heat on. Any other time I came up here during a cold snap, he had the windows cracked open. Said something about keeping his samples fresher.”
“That was easy. When the insurance and maintenance people came through after all the damage was done, he told them the holes in the floor were made by that creature that ripped through everything. We agreed to fix the holes ourselves and take the cost out of our rent. Since he’s not going to fix the holes, the lower rent more than makes up for keeping all three places nice and toasty.”
Cole looked from the TV to the woman watching it. Although she could have been anywhere from her early forties to mid-fifties, Sally’s eyes made her seem a bit older. They weren’t wrinkled or cloudy, but were very weary. “Are you all right?” he asked. “Paige told me things got pretty rough when that Nymar broke into your place.”
Nodding slowly, she said, “It was rough, but she killed that son of a bitch. Thank her again for that, will you?”
“She’s in the car if you’d like to talk to her.”
Her lips pressed together in a way that made it clear she had plenty to say but no desire to delve any further into the subject matter. “How are you feeling? Last time you were here was pretty rough.”
The last time he’d been there, he was nearly killed by his own partner after the Nymar spore was freshly implanted inside of him. Sometimes when he was drifting between wakefulness and asleep, he could still see Paige looming over him with that stake in her hand. “I’m fine,” he lied. “Better, anyway.”
“It’s still inside you, isn’t it?”
He wanted to lie, if only to distract himself from the cinching pain that had become a part of his everyday life, but knew better. The look in Sally’s eyes told him that she didn’t need him to answer the question anyway.
“I know how hard it can get,” she said. “Danny gets so cranky when he’s hungry. I’ve heard that it can hurt.”
“Yeah, well, me and Paige have to deal with more than our share of scars.”
Sally stood up, a picture of softness from the fuzzy slippers on her feet to the bulky sweater wrapped around her body. Her pants were faded green cotton, and little gold earrings hung from her lobes; pretty and comforting in a way that made it easy for Cole to imagine her smiling while handing over a plate of freshly baked cookies. Perhaps that last part was a stretch, but it had been a long time since he’d eaten and even longer since he’d had freshly baked cookies.
“I can help you,” she said.
Before he could stop himself, Cole asked, “Do you have any cookies?”
Her smile was warmer than her sweater as she walked to the kitchen. “No, but there’s some blood in the fridge.”
“You keep blood in the fridge? I thought that was just some campy gimmick on television shows.”
“It is, but it also works to keep the hunger down for a while. Daniels says it tastes different when it’s not fresh, and most Nymar won’t even touch it unless it’s straight from a—” She looked at him then as if just realizing she’d tried offering a hash brownie to a cop. “Unless it’s fresh.”
“Keep it,” Cole said. “And don’t worry. You get used to the weirdness eventually.”
Once again she motioned to her surroundings. This time, however, it wasn’t in a fond manner. “My boyfriend rents three apartments and uses the bottom one as a lookout station. Instead of using the stairs outside, he knocked holes in the closets so he could climb between them without exposing himself to outside threats. He twitches whenever the phone rings and installed his own cameras to watch the parking lot. Anyone in my spot would have either run away screaming by now or kept a bag packed for the inevitable moment when he asked me to jump into a cab and leave town for a while. Fortunately, weird rolls off me like water off a duck’s back.”
“Me too,” Cole said. “And just to be fair, Daniels twitches a lot anyway.”
“I know. It’s cute.” Sally didn’t ask about the specifics of his visit. Having sat back down and tucked her legs in again, she was content to watch the parade of discount jewelry on TV.
Cole climbed up to the third floor. It had always been the Nymar’s main residence, but since he’d last been there, the apartment had fallen more into the “man cave” category. The furniture was the same, although stained with a few more spots of spilled pop and pizza sauce. The television was larger than the one downstairs and bristling with wires leading to four different video game systems. Even the DVDs in the racks beside the TV reeked of a single man’s tastes, including bad science fiction, campy fantasy movies from the eighties, and a large chunk of shelf space dedicated to comic book inspired movies from the last few decades, both animated and live action.
Daniels stormed down a short hallway. His arms were wrapped around a bundle of papers and books large enough to cover all but the top of his head. The thick tendrils covering his scalp shifted slightly, as if they were just another part of him that couldn’t stop fidgeting. It seem as if he wore a cheap toupee that was hassled by a stiff breeze. “You guys are real jerks, you know that?”