The smoking jacket and matching pyjama bottoms.
“Yes, one of the things seemed very you and I hoped we got it right.”
“We?”
“The twins helped me.”
“So, how did your visit go?”
“How about I tell you back home, hey? Rather than us standing at the bottom of the hill all night?”
“You called it home.”
I looked up at the strange looking house at the top of the hill.
“Seems it is my home, and I intend to make it feel more homely for sure. But other than some dusting—of furniture, not vampires that is—tomorrow is another day, and tonight, I’d like to enjoy some downtime. I might get a book from the library.”
“The Librarian has already left you some books she thinks you’d like in your living room. Before you retire for the evening though, we need to meet the wayward spirit I’m hoping you can help.”
“Oh yes. I guess I should find out a little more about my actual job.”
“See you up there?” Death nodded to the house.
“Yep.”
I closed my eyes and imagined being outside the front door.
As I appeared, Death ran towards me armed with a bucket.
“I’m fine. Don’t feel sick. Just a little dizzy,” I said, walking towards the house and losing my equilibrium and landing in a muddy puddle.
Death
I knew I shouldn’t have laughed, but I couldn’t help myself. Mya stood up, made a growling noise at me and stomped off into the house.
“Don’t forget we need to meet the spirit,” I told her.
She walked back towards me but just scowled as she picked up one of the boxes that had been delivered for her.
“Shall I bring the rest to your living room?” I asked.
“Whatever. I’m going to grab a shower, though I’m not expecting the bathroom to make me much cleaner if its like the rest of this hellhole.”
I shook my head. “The hellhole is in the basement.”
Her teeth ground together. “You need to learn when to shut up.”
“Sorrryyy, just I usually do get the final word. Goodbye, or you’re dead.”
“Well, now you don’t. You’re far too chipper for Death right now. You need to go brood somewhere.”
She flounced off. I wasn’t expecting her mood to be any better this evening, because she was right about the bathroom. I had no idea when it had last been cleaned. Also, I doubted her washing machine worked, or many other things for that matter. It was all ancient. Maybe I should have made an effort to modernise before appointing a queen, but I’d already been working two jobs and I thought they’d want to make the place their own.
I took the rest of the belongings through into her living room and left her to it because I could hear her swearing in the distance and so yes, I escaped before I became the focus of her rant.
After about thirty minutes, there was a knock on the door. “Come in.”
Mya walked in. She’d changed her clothes and was wearing a bright yellow silk shirt and a short black skirt. She had good legs, I noticed. I also noticed she was carrying a package wrapped in brown paper.
Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. “I didn’t buy shampoo,” she sighed.
“I have some you can borrow?”
She shook her head, “No. I’ll sort it all tomorrow. I know you said I wouldn’t need much sleep, but I am tired, Big D. There’s been a lot to take in.”
“You can become mentally exhausted, Mya. You just won’t need a lot of sleep before feeling refreshed. When I saw Lawrie earlier, he did advise an extra blood bag each evening for your first week, so take a seat and I’ll go fetch that for you.”
She held a hand up. “No, stay there. I can get it myself. I’ll drink it in the kitchen and come back. Also, I’m sequestering one of these upstairs rooms for an office, for us both. It’s not appropriate for me to be seen keeping coming to your bedroom.”
“As you wish. The house is yours.”
“So you keep saying, but I want you to know it’s yours too. Yes, you have to share this floor with the souls, but this is your home.”
“Thank you, Mya.”
“Okay. I’m going to feed. Don’t touch the parcel.” She placed it on the desk next to The Book of the Dead and then she walked out, closing the door behind her.
I’d spent a lot of today thinking about the woman I’d made queen. I’d met so many people in my time on earth and I’d got an in-depth knowledge and understanding of people. Huh, I knew more about some than they knew about themselves. I could recognise Mya’s inner strength. She might be mentally fatigued right now, but she’d still gone to feed, ready to return to meet the spirit. She was strong and I knew that once she was used to where her undeath was, she would thrive.
When she returned, her face was flushed with evidence of her feed, and her eyes shone bright.
“God, I feel amazing now,” she declared.
“Mentally too?” I queried.
“Yeah, I feel refreshed, so we can meet the spirit now.”
“Right now?” I looked at the package.
“Ooooh.” Mya placed a finger on her lips. “Shall we do the gift before or after?”
“You might be too tired after.”
“We’d better do it now then.” Her eyes sparkled with mischief as she picked the parcel up and added, “or shall we wait?”
“Are you ticklish, Mya Malone? Because in a minute we shall find out.”
She threw the parcel at me. I caught it one-handed and sat on the bed and carefully took off the wrapping paper so I could re-use it. It was Amazon packaging paper smoothed out and tied with string.
“Mya, it’s exquisite. I love it.” I held up the smoking jacket. It was velvety, crimson in colour, and there were matching trousers to it.
“Now you have loungewear after all, but it’s sophisticated loungewear befitting your status, don’t you think?”
I held it up against me while I looked in the tall, thin mirror I had hanging on the wall. “I do. I really do.” I couldn’t stop feeling the fabric.
“Did you get something equally flamboyant? You are a queen now after all.”
“I sleep naked,” she announced, and I almost choked on fresh air. “Though I have bought some fluffy pjs for temporary use given how filthy everything is.”
Yup, especially my mind right now.
“Oh, and that reminds me. I have a question. Who launders your clothes because that washing machine is as dead as you and I are?”
“There’s a laundry service in Gnarly.”
“There is? So I have no need of a washing machine? I can send all my stuff out and it will return clean and pressed?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure this isn’t Heaven?”
“No, but you can get there through the attic room.”
“What attic room?” Between her brows creased. She looked so cute when that happened.
“If you look at the ceiling when we step outside, there’s a loft hatch. When you open it, there’s a fold out ladder that leads up to that space. Heaven’s that way for spirits.”