The Night Beat

we hurt anyone?” He sounded tense. I could understand -- it was hard to comprehend.
    “No. Two different planes of existence, intersecting here. On our side of things, we choose to see the human side as, oh, holographic images, I guess. Almost as moving background. Undeads are used to living in more than one plane. The unborn -- those born as an undead of some kind -- they have no learning curve. They see all the planes their species can with ease and without issue. Those of us who become undead, well, it’s a little harder, but you adjust fast.”
    “What about humans?” He pulled into my underground parking garage. Conveniently, we had visitor parking underground, too. I lived in a good building, one of the perks of an Enforcement job.
    “It’s very hard for humans. Makes most of them go crazy.”
    Jack was quiet as he found a parking place. “Artists, human artists. Do they see the other planes?”
    And yet another reason I panted after this guy -- he was smart and intuitive. “Yes, most of them. Some don’t realize it, some think they dream it, some know , and that knowledge puts them over the edge.”
    “All artists?”
    “Most. All the creative types, yeah. Their gift and their curse, I suppose.”
    “Why don’t the undeads help them?”
    We got out and headed up into my building. Because we were talking about it, my ability to focus on one plane or the other wasn’t functioning well. Fortunately for me, I’d been purposely housed in this location because it was one of the few areas where Prosaic City’s layout coincided with Necropolis’. High-rise apartment in Prosaic City on top of and next to high-rise Necropolis Enforcement Housing. I wasn’t the only undercover agent, and all of us housed here.
    I was on the top floor of the Prosaic City building. As we rode the elevator -- and I watched a group of banshees and succubae flying up the side of the other building on their ways home -- I answered Jack’s question. “It’s cruel to let someone sit in a sort of madness, yes. At least, in a way. But it’s crueler to take away their gift, the thing that sparks their creativity. It’s like killing them but leaving them alive, and not in the undead way of being alive.”
    “Why don’t you make all the humans undeads? You all seem so much…I don’t know, better than we are.”
    “We have our foibles and failings, just like humans do. Some more than humans do. Besides, we can’t make everyone an undead. The universes need humans, too. The gods need them. Heck, even the monsters need them, and I mean the monsters like Slimy, not the monsters like me.”
    “You’re not a monster,” he said softly. “None of the people I’ve met last night and today are monsters. You’re just…different.”
    “Yeah. With some serious dietary challenges. But…thanks.”
    He smiled. “No need to thank me.” We got out of the elevator and Jack looked around. He’d been here before, to pick me up for shift, usually. But now he looked like he was seeing it for the first time. “How do you afford to live in a penthouse suite on a cop’s salary?” he asked as we went inside.
    “I can’t. Necropolis Enforcement pays for it as needs of the assignment.”
    “Why didn’t I ever ask that before?”
    I grinned. “Well, because you were influenced not to notice.”
    “You can influence?”
    I snorted. “Hardly. Not a werewolf gift. But one of our stronger warlocks cast an influence spell on my building and my apartment in particular. Any human comes up or in, they don’t notice that it’s more pricey than I should be able to afford.”
    “But, I’m a human.”
    “You’re also a human in the know, now. The spell can’t work on you any more.”
    Jack looked around. “Nice place. Always been nice, but I feel like I’ve never really looked at it before.”
    “You probably haven’t.” I took his hand. “This is the human side. I’d rather sleep on the Necropolis side.” I walked us through the outer wall of the human building, stepped through the outer wall of the Necropolis building, and into what I considered the other half of my home.
    Jack gaped. “That was amazing!” His head swiveled like he was an owl. “I can still see the human side.”
    I was shocked but kept that to myself. “Don’t try to slide over without my help, at least not until you get good at it, okay?”
    He nodded, still looking around like a tourist. “You know, put together, you have an incredible layout