Moonhair didn’t bother looking up from her task. “I am not here to kill, even though it would much more interesting. Unfortunately, I am here to protect you.”
“Protect me from what?” Ginny twisted around briefly to find Larissa’s upper half now sagging off the bed. “What did you do to her?”
“A little conk.” She used the flat of the blade to tap herself in the middle of the forehead. “Right here. Lights out.”
The woman handed Ginny back her sharpened kitchen knife and she had no choice but to take it, bolstered by the fact that, if nothing else, she’d have an easier time chopping carrots now. “Does you being here have anything to do with Jonas?”
“Yes.” Moonhair leaned back against the wall, regarding Ginny with smug speculation. “So you are the one, hmm?”
“The one…?”
“The one making the prince tear out his perfect hair.”
“The prince?”
“I refer to Jonas, obviously.”
“Oh.” Ginny scoffed to hide her smile. “Was he…talking about me or something?”
Moonhair let out a throaty laugh. “It goes both ways, I see. This can only end in disaster.” She shrugged. “At least it will be entertaining.”
“Why did you call him a prince?”
“Among his kind, he is something of a…reluctant leader, one could say.” She studied the tip of her blade with a sniff. “He has morals and principles and things of that nature. I can’t stand him, really.”
This conversation was completely insane and Ginny had no choice but to keep having it. This woman knew Jonas. Having the barest connection to him, even in the form of this potentially murderous woman, replenished her lungs with oxygen. It meant he was real. “What’s your name?”
“Roksana.” She gave a sarcastic curtsey. “At your service.”
An abrupt snore from Larissa almost sent Ginny skyrocketing through the roof. Under Roksana’s sharp regard, she pressed a hand over her racing heart and waited for it to slow back down to a normal tempo. “Can we go somewhere else and talk?” She shifted on her feet. “I’m feeling a little guilty discussing anything other than my stepmother’s possible concussion when she’s right behind me.”
“That’s fair.” Roksana pushed off the wall and stomped out into the hallway. “Let’s talk in the morgue so you can show me the bodies.”
“Oh…I was thinking we could use my room.”
“Whatever.”
Ginny jogged to keep up with the long-legged Roksana down the hallway, around the bend and into the second door on the right. “I’m trying not to be worried that you know exactly where my room is,” Ginny said, shutting the door behind her. “How did you know, by the way?”
Roksana frowned as if she’d asked a ridiculous question. “I’ve been here all night. You think I didn’t map the layout?”
“I’m so confused right now.”
“Not my concern. I’m only here to make sure no one murders you.” Roksana used her index finger to pull down the blinds, the morning sun leaving a stripe of light across her eyes. “That should be the only explanation necessary.”
“You can stand the sunlight, so you must not be a vampire…” Ginny murmured, mostly to herself.
Roksana released the blinds with a snap and spat on the floor. “Hell no, I am not one of those pale parasites. They are a plague. A disease.”
“I-I thought you were friends with Jonas,” Ginny sputtered.
“I’m friend to no one.” She lifted her chin. “I have sworn an oath to slaughter the prince and his two shit-for-brains roommates someday soon. Three stakes in the chest—boom, boom, boom. Probably tomorrow. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Oh.” Ginny massaged the throb in her forehead, trying to forestall the urge to push Roksana out the window. She was the furthest thing from a violent person, but something fierce and protective welled inside her at having Jonas threatened. “Please…don’t do that.”
“If you want to shout, why don’t you just shout?” Roksana mused, now standing inches away.
Ginny jerked back and slammed into the door. “Wow, you move fast.”
“Yes, I know.” Roksana wiggled a finger at her, then the door. “Please try not to give yourself a concussion. I’m not positive I could win a battle against Jonas if he’s riled over you being hurt. Any other time, I’d take him no problem.”
“Right.” Ginny swallowed, her brain trying to make sense of the conversation. Of, well…everything. “So you hate Jonas, but he asked you to protect me and you said yes? Why help him if you think he’s part of a plague?”
“I slay their kind.” Roksana’s finger poked the air. “It’s my job.”
“Okay. You slay vampires. That’s a real thing.”
“Yes, of course. I’m just…” A touch of uncertainty passed across her features. “I’m lulling them into a false sense of security. And maybe I’m taking a little bit of a vacation while I’m at it. Tomorrow, though…” She stomped away with a dark laugh. “Tomorrow I slaughter them all.”
Lord, this was a heavy conversation to have when her coffee light was on empty. “And in the meantime, you’re going to protect me.”
Roksana settled a fist over her heart and turned briefly serious. “To the death.” She flipped her knife end over end and caught it. “Can we see the bodies now?”
Ginny did not show Roksana the bodies.
She made the vampire slayer breakfast. How often did someone get to say that? Roksana wasn’t talkative during the meal and ate with her ankles crossed on the table, but Ginny was thrilled for the company, nonetheless. She wasn’t sure how their arrangement was going to work exactly, but quickly found out the slayer would be shadowing her every move.
Roksana trailed Ginny to the grocery store and back. Then to the fabric shop to buy two yards of persimmon chiffon for the new, fall-inspired dress she was planning. Everyone who passed was given a suspicious once-over from Roksana. To be fair, she got quite a few once-overs in return. Coney Island was full of eccentricities and yet Roksana stood out among the crowd. It might have had a lot to do with the knife tucked into the back of her leather pants, but Ginny was only speculating.
Ginny was in her room preparing for the night shift downstairs when Larissa stumbled into her doorway. The former queen of the Coney Island Mermaid Parade was one of the most beautiful women Ginny had ever seen, even in a dressing gown and a head of curlers.
Every year, Ginny and her father had gone to watch the floats and revelers go past, always standing in their same spot outside the Famiglia snackbar. That afternoon in 2015, he’d gone silent as Larissa passed by in the sunshine, completing her pageant wave and dazzling crowds with a movie star smile, which she’d seemed to aim directly at him.
When the parade ended, Ginny’s father had found Larissa and asked to take her out for pierogis, an event that had shocked Ginny, considering her father spent his days trying to blend in with the wood paneling that lined their viewing rooms. Still, Larissa had said yes and a week later, she’d moved into the P. Lynn Funeral Home and never left.