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“Oh, my goodness! Are you all right?!”
Gwendolyn A. Gooch weakly pushed herself up from the carpet. The library page, Jared, had been stocking the shelves when Gwen had fallen nearby. He knelt beside her as the other patrons of the Burlington Public Library looked on.
“I think so … oh, I just got so dizzy,” she said, an uncomfortable expression on her face.
“Oh, you poor thing!” another woman cried.
The library patron joined Jared in helping Gwen to her feet. They escorted her to one of the nearby tables, sitting her in a chair. She weakly leaned back, reaching into the pocket of her modest tweed dress—a blue thing that drew little attention—for a handkerchief.
“I don’t know what happened,” Gwen said, pressing the cloth to her damp brow. “I must havejust gotten so dizzy. Mother hasn’t been feeling well, and I’ve been so busy caring for her, I’m afraid I’ve been neglecting my own health.”
The wave of sympathy was fucking delicious. A delicacy that Gwen had soon realized was her preferred choice of meat, as it was. Nothing quite tasted as good as pity. The more pathetic, the better. Fear was a delicacy, but pity was a lot easier to pull from humans without garnering suspicion. It took all her strength not to smile in glee as she greedily swallowed the human emotions. All the while maintaining a facade of ignorance as Jared and the patron grew exhausted. Her pink hair was always vibrant nowadays.
“Well … I should get back to work,” Jared said, blinking several times. Almost as if he was trying to stay awake.
“Oh, yes, of course,” Gwen said. “Thank you, thank both of you. I think I feel a lot better.”
Once the pair were out of eyesight, Gwen quickly changed her forlorn posture. Shifting in her seat to cross her legs as she pulled a pen from the inside of her jacket. Gwen opened her palm and quickly scribbled onto her hand.
I miss you.
The ink on her hand slowly faded as Gwen glanced around the library. She placed the pen back inside her jacket, pushed her chair in, and slowly made her way to the new fiction section. Gwen was in the middle of organizing one of the display tables when a familiar burning sensation seared her palm. As casually as she could, Gwen opened her palm.
I miss you more.
I can’t wait to ruin you.
Gwen grinned. Fuck, he was so romantic and—
“Letme guess, your boyfriend’s gonna be in town?”
Gwen whirled, then glared at the familiar model smile.
“Baron, what are you doing here?” Gwen hissed. “Especially looking like this?”
Dr. Monday, or as Gwen had come to know him over the past year, Baron Monday, was so much more than Gwen could have ever anticipated. What had once just been the handsome face of her dentist was now someone Gwen actually called friend. It took a special kind of person to befriend a monster, so naturally it was in Gwen’s favor that Baron happened to be one.
“What’s wrong with how I look?” Baron asked, glancing at his outfit.
He was bundled up; appropriate given it was the end of December. The library still had Christmas decorations that would need to be pulled come January first. That was if Gwen could wrangle the newer library pages into doing it.
“Theproblemis you look like Dr. Monday,” Gwen said with a saccharine smile as she shuffled more books. “The same Dr. Monday that’s working forthem.”
“Well, it’s funny that you mention it,” Baron said, voice slipping from the American accent of Dr. Monday to his more natural Irish. “That’s exactly why I’ve come by.”
“Baron,” Gwen sighed. “Not this again.”
“Oh, c’mon Gwennie,” Baron all but whined.
“Don’t ‘c’mon Gwennie’ me, mister,” Gwen huffed as she walked toward the fiction section.
There were fewer prying eyes there.
“Why not?” he asked, trailing Gwen like her beloved Piki.
“Because it’s kind of in bad taste to ask the fiancé of the demon who was imprisoned by the same organization you work for to join said organization,” Gwen said plainly.
It was one of the unfortunate obstacles in their friendship. It had been over a year since Ambrosius was forced to leave, and it had been really hard on Gwen. And with theHobby Store Cult Murdersmaking news, Gwen had fled Everett fairly quickly. Thankfully, Ambrosius’ power had a funny impact on the security cameras, and all evidence of her involvement had been erased. Gwen had traveled north, found a small condo to rent, and was now a library assistant at the Burlington Public Library.