Available Darkness Season 2

place.”
    Tiny interjected. “Hey, guys, I love all this Hallmark stuff, but we need to catch some sleep a bit even if we wind up heading out today.” He turned to Larry. “You got a dark spot where we can crash?”
    “Yeah, I have a spare room upstairs I blacked out just for Johnny, so you guys can share. Sorry, but there’s only one bed. You’re gonna have to bunk together.”
    Tiny smiled, “I dunno, can you keep your hands off me, pretty boy?”
    John smiled. “I’ll try my best to resist.”
    Tiny said, “OK, I’m gonna shower. You wouldn’t happen to also have some fresh clothes?”
    “Got some for John,” Larry said. “But we don’t carry size giant.”
    Tiny laughed. “It’s good to see you again, Larry. Forgot how damned funny you are. So, you got a washer and dryer, then?”
    “Yeah, right through there,” Larry said, pointing at the hallway leading out to the garage. “But I don’t want you walkin’ round my place all naked ‘n’ shit. We got a kid, ya’ know.”
    “Yeah, yeah, I’ll wear a towel,” Tiny said. “How is Abigail doin’ these days?”
    “She’s OK. I think she’s actually taking a shower in the guest bathroom, so let me show you to the master bath,” Larry said as he led Tiny upstairs.
    As John waited for Larry to return, he could feel Abigail — still upstairs in the shower, upset. He couldn’t tell why without probing her mind, and didn’t want to invade the privacy of her thoughts. He paced the kitchen waiting for Larry when his eyes were drawn to the front of the fridge where three of Abigail’s drawings hung, all in crayon.
    He moved closer to look at them.
    One was of a dog playing with a ball on a field. John wondered if it was someone’s dog that she knew, or perhaps a dog she had as a child. He couldn’t remember seeing a dog in any of her previously shared memories. Maybe Abigail wanted a dog, but was afraid she would kill it with her touch. John made a note to tell her she wouldn’t. Their touch was only deadly to humans, non-vampire Otherworlders, and some — but not all — of the monsters from his world. Pets were fine. The second drawing was of what looked like a mermaid, with long blonde hair. The third drawing showed Abigail, Larry, and a woman standing side-by-side, almost like a family portrait.
    This must be Katya.
    John was happy to see Abigail accepting the woman Larry hired, but felt a twitch of jealousy, or maybe regret, that she’d omitted him from the drawing.
    Larry came back downstairs with a serious expression and a hushed, non-hyper Larry voice. He said, “We need to talk.”
    “About what?” John asked.
    “Abigail. She’s not doing well.”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I don’t even know where to start, man. But I suppose the squad of fire trucks down the street is as good a place as any.”

    * * * *

CHAPTER 4 — Hannah

    Hannah froze as Greg pulled his chair from the table and asked her what she was listening to. Her mind flashed back over what she’d heard him say in the recording — what seemed like certain betrayal. Questions screamed in her mind.
    What is he doing?
    What’s going on?
    Who was he talking to?
    What is he planning to do to me, or with me?
    Who is John?
    A second voice split through the madness, the same inner whisper that led her to record Greg in the first place — some wiser part of herself that saw through her “boyfriend’s” charade.
    “Don’t let on that you know anything. Play dumb or you’ll never escape.”
    Escape?
    The thought of suddenly having to escape a man she loved, a man she trusted, seemed ludicrous to Hannah, bordering on insane. Yet, she definitely didn’t imagine Greg on the recording. Those were his words, and his voice. The trusting part of Hannah wanted to believe there was some sort of logical explanation. It wasn’t as though she heard the entire conversation. Maybe there was more. Greg could have said something to clarify his comments a few seconds after the part where she had to pause when Greg appeared in front of her asking what she was listening to.
    I must’ve misheard him.
    “You heard him correctly, girl. Stop second guessing yourself.”
    Hannah promised herself she would listen to the rest of the recording later. For now, she would do as her inner advisor suggested: stay calm and play stupid.
    She slipped the phone back inside her purse, hoping Greg didn’t notice that she was in The Dictator app, and not a music player. Fortunately, he