Chapter 15 – A Very Suspicious Contact.

The branch of the tree creaked, and on one of the higher branches of an oak in the park, a small black bat was hanging upside down, with its wings folded against its body, its little eyes closed, and its breathing so slow it was almost imperceptible.

Several hours had passed. The sky, which a little while ago was black with the full moon high overhead, was now painted with a dark gray band at the edge of the horizon.

It wasn't dawn yet, since there was still a little ways to go, but you could already tell that the night was about to end.

And inside the bat's head, the voice spoke for the first time in hours.

"Hey."

'...'

"Hey, human."

'...Mmm...'

"It's time."

'...Time for what?'

"It's safe now. You can go back."

Lyon opened one little red bat eye, half asleep.

'You sure?'

"Very sure. I scanned the area around the building like five times while you were sleeping. The helicopters already moved on to the other side of the city. The police went back to their normal patrols. There's nobody prowling near the building, or near the apartment, or near the window."

'...Uh-huh.'

"And I also asked the—"

'Your contact, yeah, I know.'

"Correct."

'Okay. Let's go.'

Lyon opened his wings.

Fwoop.

The bat dropped off the branch, flapped twice against the early morning air, and left the park heading toward his apartment.

◇◆◇

The bedroom window was still cracked open. The small bat slipped through the exact gap, dropped to the floor, and touched the tiles of the room with a clumsiness that had built up over the hours of flying. He stayed there, on the bedroom tiles, wings still spread, breathing.

And he didn't transform.

'Not yet.'

"Oh, no."

'What?'

"Don't tell me you're going to—"

'Yes. Again.'

"But I already told you I checked everything—"

'I'm going to check too.'

Lyon, in bat form, crawled three little steps to the shadow under the bed. He stayed there, half plastered to the floor, and closed his eyes and listened with everything a bat body was capable of listening with.

The dripping of the kitchen faucet. The hum of the empty refrigerator. The faint creaking of the pipes on the floor above. The breathing of a woman on the floor below who was sleeping. The TV on in an apartment three doors down, where somebody had left the news playing softly.

And inside the apartment, nothing.

Not a single heartbeat that wasn't his.

Not a single extra breath.

Not a single creak of human weight against the wood floor.

'Nothing.'

"Ah, surprise. Nothing. Same as the five times I checked before. Look at that."

'Shut up.'

Fwoop.

The red light wrapped around him, and where before there had been a bat, now there was Lyon.

Not the girl. Lyon with the brown hair a little longer than usual because of how much time he'd spent transformed, the green eyes, his regular height, everything in its place.

And on top of all of that, the tattered clothes from the girl. Which, on Lyon's male body, looked even worse than before.

The white t-shirt in strips. The shorts singed at the edges. The gray bra hanging off an arm because during the transformation it had come loose on its own. And a raincoat that was no longer a raincoat but a rag wrapped around the other arm.

"...Oh."

'Shut up.'

"Oh, I can't handle this."

'SHUT UP.'

"It's just that you look so weird. That gray bra hanging off your elbow. I don't know why, but it's the saddest image I've ever seen in my life."

'I'm going to the bathroom.'

Lyon walked to the bathroom with the bra hanging off his elbow like an accessory, closed the door behind him with more force than necessary, and got into the shower directly with the clothes on.

Blast of cold water.

"AH!"

A small yelp slipped out of Lyon from how cold the water was, and after a few seconds he warmed it up.

The shreds of the clothes started coming off on their own with the water. The t-shirt fell at his feet. The shorts fell at his feet. The jacket-turned-rag fell next to his feet. The bra, which had ended up hanging from his elbow, slipped down to the floor too.

Lyon looked at the pile of clothes at the bottom of the shower.

He kicked it into the corner with his foot and washed himself as fast as he could. Then he got out, dried himself off with an old towel, and picked up the whole wet pile with two fingers as if it were something toxic and walked back to the room, opened the trash can, and threw it all inside.

Inside his head, the voice sighed.

"Goodbye, clothes. You were good clothes. You had a short but intense life. We're going to miss you."

'We're not going to miss it.'

"I will."

Lyon walked to the closet, opened the door, and stared. Inside there was one pair of pants.

Just one.

And a t-shirt with a tomato-sauce stain the size of a quarter near the belly button, and some boxers. Nothing else.

'...'

"Is that your last clean change of clothes?"

'That's my last clean change of clothes.'

"And the rest?"

'Dirty. All dirty.'

"When was the last time you did laundry?"

'...'

"When?"

'I don't remember.'

"Ah."

Lyon grabbed the pants, put them on. Grabbed the t-shirt with the stain, put it on. Looked at himself in the bedroom mirror. He had a tomato-sauce stain on his belly button and hair still a little damp, and his stomach, at that moment, decided to join the conversation.

Grrrrrr.

It was a long growl. A serious growl. One of those growls a stomach only makes when it's gone twelve hours without receiving anything other than water.

Lyon brought a hand to his abdomen.

'...Ugh.'

"You're hungry."

'Yes.'

"Really hungry."

'Yes.'

"And you don't have any money."

'Yes.'

"And the fridge has been empty since yesterday morning."

'Yes.'

"Mmm."

Lyon walked over to the couch and dropped down onto it. He brought both hands to his face and ran his fingers through his damp hair.

"Hey," said the voice, in a tone that Lyon recognized instantly as a tone that heralded a dangerous idea. "I have an idea."

'No.'

"I haven't even told you yet."

'I already know I'm not going to like it.'

"Hear me out first."

'Fine. Talk.'

"If you're not going to use the phone Cya gave you... why don't you sell it?"

Silence.

Lyon lowered his hands from his face slowly and turned his head toward the couch. He looked at the metal box of the phone, still intact, still closed, still sitting next to the cushion where he'd left it the previous afternoon.

Then he turned his head to the other side, toward the ceiling of the apartment, and breathed in deep through his nose.

'...Are you stupid?'

"Uh-oh."

'Seriously? Sell the phone? Is that seriously your idea?'

"Yes, that's my idea. It's a very expensive phone. That model, you'd sell it on the second-hand market in five minutes, you'd have cash for food in your pocket before noon."

'It's a ridiculously expensive phone with biometric pairing and with emergency priority set to the Hogwarts guild! Cya's going to find out the second another person tries to turn it on!'

"Oh, right. There's that detail."

'AND ALSO, it's bad manners to sell what someone gives you!'

Silence.

Absolute silence from the voice.

A silence so long that Lyon started to wonder if he had finally convinced her with a reasonable argument.

And then the voice laughed. She laughed so hard that Lyon could almost feel the vibration behind his eyes.

"BAHAHAHAHAHA."

'What?'

"BAHAHAHA."

'What?'

"'It's bad manners to sell what someone gives you.' BAHAHAHA."

'But it's true.'

"Oh, my human. Oh, my little human. That argument is so YOU. It's so human. It's so stupid and so adorable at the same time!"

'It's not stupid!'

"It's super stupid. It's literally the stupidest argument you've said all day. And today you said you had diarrhea to escape from a five-star hotel. That argument beat that argument. You're getting better at producing stupidities! It's beautiful to watch you grow!"

'SHUT UP.'

Lyon clenched his teeth, clicked his tongue, and sank deeper into the couch. And there, while he tried to calm the embarrassment, something crossed his mind.

Something that had never crossed his mind before.

'Hey.'

"Yes?"

'Speaking of your contact.'

Silence.

'Who is it?'

Silence again.

And then, the voice spoke, and her tone was the most amused Lyon had heard from her all day.

"Oh ho ho ho."

'What?'

"Oh ho ho ho ho ho."

'What?'

"Nothing, nothing. It's just that I was thinking something."

'What were you thinking?'

"That well. That well, well, well. That it only took a few months, what, eight? nine?"

'Shut up.'

"You only had to lose all your money."

'Shut up.'

"And you had to lose your phone."

'Shut up.'

"You also had to end up half-naked on national television."

'SHUT UP.'

"Only after all of that had to happen did you, my human, finally get curious enough to even have the decency to ask who my contact was. Oh, my human. Oh, how I feel right now. I am living, in this very instant, an important moment in our relationship."

'Stop rambling and answer.'

"Okay, okay."

The voice took a deep breath, dramatically, inside Lyon's head.

It was a breath that Lyon felt with total clarity, because the voice did things she technically shouldn't be able to do without a body, but that she did anyway because she liked the drama.

"Let's see," said the voice. "Get ready."

'I'm ready.'

"As heirs to the throne of the vampire queen..."

'...'

"...each one of us is assigned, from birth, a royal bodyguard."

Silence.

'A what?'

"A royal bodyguard. A guardian. A shadow. Whatever you want to call it. It's an official figure of the vampire court. They assign one to us at birth and it accompanies us our entire lives to protect us and to watch over us. And, occasionally..."

The voice paused.

"...it grants us whims."

'Whims?'

"Whims. Yes. Whatever whims one has as an heir."

'Uh-huh.'

"But you, my human, you're something else. Your whim is a little more..."

'Don't say it.'

"...extravagant."

'Don't say it.'

"Your whim is being a secret superhero."

'IT'S NOT A WHIM.'

"It's a whim, my human. A huge whim. It's the biggest, most expensive whim to maintain that I've seen in my life. And since it's your whim, the guard respects it. Respects it and supports it. That's why every security camera in this city has been going out exactly five minutes before you show up, every month, without missing once, without leaving a trace of your identity in any official file."

Lyon stared at the ceiling.

And laughed.

He laughed a short, joyless laugh.

"Ha."

'Don't talk nonsense.'

"It's not nonsense."

'I've never noticed any bodyguard.'

"Oh, sweetheart."

'Never.'

"Oh, my human."

'Not once. Not in my room, not on the street, not at the university. Nothing. No shadow vampire. No strange figure. Nothing. I have good senses, you know? I hear everything. I smell everything. And I haven't noticed anything.'

"Oh."

'Oh what?'

"It's just that if you don't notice her..."

The voice paused dramatically again.

"...then she's very good at her job. Right?"

'...'

"Unlike you, sweetheart. Who ended up half-naked on national television today. And every day that passes, that Cya woman is closer to figuring out who you are."

Lyon sat up on the couch.

'You're lying to me.'

"Oh ho ho ho."

'You're lying to me. There's no bodyguard. You're making all this up right now to avoid answering my question.'

"Uh-huh."

'You're making it up.'

"Fine, my human, if you say so."

'You're making it up!'

"Okay. Let's say I'm making it up. Let's say. Then answer me a very simple question."

'Talk.'

"How do you think, my logical human, my reasonable human, my clear-minded human, that the cameras in this city still don't have the exact location of where you live? How do you think that neither the Hunters' Association, nor the Hogwarts guild, nor any criminal group, nor any journalist with good tracking software, has managed to locate your building in eight months of your activity as the Night Watcher?"

'...'

"How?"

'...By my own merit.'

Silence.

Very heavy silence.

And then, the voice let out a burst of laughter that echoed in Lyon's ears from the inside.

"BAHAHAHAHAHA."

'Don't laugh!'

"'By my own merit.' BAHAHAHAHA."

'IT IS MY OWN MERIT!'

"Sweetheart, this morning Cya showed up at your apartment to ask you if you'd seen a bat come in through the window. Straight to the apartment. With the exact address and the door number. Does that seem like your own merit to you?"

'...'

"Yeah?"

'...Fine.'

"'Fine' what."

'...Fine, in that case, Cya noticed something specific. It's because the bat went in right when she was passing nearby. It's a coincidence.'

"Ah. A coincidence."

'Yes.'

"Uh-huh."

'Yes. A coincidence.'

"Sweetheart. Your entire concealment technique just collapsed because of a coincidence. And yet, you, in eight months, have evaded every tracking system in the city. Doesn't that seem a little disproportionate to you? Your technique is so bad that it breaks with one coincidence, but it's also so good that it beats every official system? Seriously?"

'...'

"Think about it."

'...'

"Think about it hard."

'...'

"Lyon, you're a noob."

'I'm not a noob!'

"You're a noob lost on a high-level server. You're the classic new player who logs into a hard game without reading the tutorial. You go around in Night Watcher mode like you know what you're doing, but really it's the guard who's carrying you. It's the guard who camouflages you. It's the guard who wipes the cameras. It's the guard who makes you, my human, have the complete illusion that you're being a professional at concealment."

'That's not true!'

"It's true. The guard is a pro. You're a noob. It's like when your friends talk to you online while you're gaming and they say, 'don't do that, that's a noob move.' Well. It's you. You're the noob in that sentence."

'I'M NOT A NOOB!'

"You are, sweetheart. I say it with much love."

Lyon got up from the couch in one motion. He stood in the middle of the living room, with the stained t-shirt and the pants on backwards, with his cheeks red from the accumulated embarrassment and the accumulated hunger and the accumulated exasperation of an entire day.

And he shouted.

"Fine! FINE! Order that guard to appear in front of me!"

Silence.

"Order that guard to introduce herself! To identify herself! To come out of wherever she's hiding! And also to bring me food! Because if she does her job so well, and if she cares so much about my whims, and if she's so attentive to me, then she can bring me food right now! NOW! I'm hungry and she's nowhere to be found! TELL HER!"

Silence.

Silence, silence, silence.

And then the voice, in the calmest and most satisfied tone she had used all night, answered.

"I don't wanna~."

Lyon blinked.

'...What?'

"I said I don't wanna, sweetheart."

'What do you mean you don't wanna?!'

"I don't want to. Period. I don't feel like it."

'YOU JUST TOLD ME SHE EXISTS! YOU JUST SWORE TO ME THAT SHE EXISTS! INTRODUCE HER TO ME!'

"Yes, she exists. She exists a hundred percent. But I'm not going to introduce you."

'WHY NOT?!'

"Because I'm having fun."

'...'

"And also, because if I introduce her to you like this, just like that, all the magic is lost. All the mystery. All the drama. It's better for you to discover her yourself, at the right moment, with the right impact, with the right revelation. It's going to be an important moment in your life. I'm not going to ruin it over a stomach growl."

'IT'S MORE THAN A STOMACH GROWL! I HAVEN'T EATEN IN HOURS!'

"Deal with it."

'I CAN'T DEAL WITH IT!'

"Deal with it. It builds character."

'I DON'T WANT CHARACTER, I WANT FOOD!'

"Oh, my human. So much need. So much human need. It's beautiful to hear you ask for things. Keep going. Keep asking. I feed on that."

'YOU ARE UNBEARABLE!'

"I know. It's my best quality."