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It was obvious that Alice was surprised by Valon reveal and subsequent apology. She tried to hide her grin though as he walked out of her store. He was and odd duck, but he didn’t seem too bad. She let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Maybe that’s how he figured out she wasn’t human. Keen observation she hadn’t been breathing. Oops. She rolled her, and mentally chastised herself for being careless.  

Getting back to work was pointless in her opinion. Nina would be in soon to take over for the day. Alice usually only opened the store, and came in when Nina called for help authenticating an item or unlocking the safe. Alice swept her hair over her shoulder and waited for the distinct sound of Nina’s sad blue truck, which was on its last legs. Why the woman didn’t buy a new car with what Alice was paying her made zero sense to Alice. 

This morning had turned out to not be as simple and bland as usual. Thanks to Valon and his…associate? She knew most of the local stationed Guardians, and the old man Calvin was not one of them if she was remembering correctly. There was about twenty of them that worked assignment in the New England region. There was also a handful of Rover Guardians that roamed around here. 

Alice opened the fancy stained glass door, behind the store counter. She went into the brake room that held the more [i]magical[/i] antiques in the store. Things like charmed flying carpets, haunted paintings, and cursed dolls ended up piled in the back room, until she had someone come and unspell them. It was also where she stored her blood bags in a locked mini fridge next to the coffee maker.  The velvet green couch and desked piled under papers were meant to be a place for her employees to relax but, the place was a cluttered mess. 

She unlocked the padlock on the mini fridge and took out an O+ bag and a can of seltzer water.  The cold bags of blood she obtained from a source at Ruxbury hospital had the unfortunate additive of anticoagulants. If you asked any vampire they preferred warm blood, fresh from an artery. But she had been drinking from blood bag for over twenty years now. To be honest the taste didn’t grow on you…  She grabbed a mug from cabinet above the coffee machine and filled it half with blood, and half with seltzer. It was the only mix that made it slightly tolerable besides pouring copious amounts of liquor into it. She really didn’t feel like getting smashed so early in the morning so seltzer is was.  If anyone looked at the contents in the mug is resembled dark red wine. With a sigh, Alice chugged the mug of cold carbonated blood down. 

She was washing out the mug in the tiny sink, when she heard Nina’s truck parking in front of the store. Alice quickly dried off the mug and placed it back in the cabinet before coming out of the back room to greet her. Nina came in with her youngest son in tow. [color=fdc68a]“He has the flu, and Carl had to be at work today. Sorry Alice.”[/color] Nina said apologetically as she scrambled through her tote for tissues. Alice looked at Nina, thought about the condition of the back room, and wrinkled her nose. The place was not exactly safe for a sick five year old boy to rest in. [color=c7deea]“I can call and see if Charlie can take your shift. If not we can just close for the day, it’s not a big deal. The brake room is not exactly set up for little Stanley here anyway.”[/color] Alice said to the woman, smiling at the five year old kid, who looked miserable with a red runny nose. 

[color=fdc68a]“Really that would be great. It’s just this is like the seventh time I’ve dropped my shift in like three weeks. You keep closing the place and I feel bad.”[/color] Nina said crouching down in front of Stanley to wipe the boogers off his face.  [color=c7deea]“It’s not exactly antiquing season right now Nina, we get like three people coming in to browse a week. Our last sale was over a month ago, and it was another engagement ring. It’s fine, just take him home and give the poor kid some soup or something.”[/color] Alice said remembering when Etienne was that age. She grabbed her coat and keys to close up the store. 

[color=fdc68a]“Ok ok. How does that sound Stanley? We can watch Peppa Pig, and have some soup at home.”[/color] Nina said to her son, who just nodded and waited to be picked up. Nina propped him up on her hip and walked out of the shop with Alice right behind. She flipped the open sign to close, and then locked the door.[color=c7deea] “I hope you feel better soon Stanley. Listen to your mama so you can get better.”[/color] Alice said to him. He smiled shyly and hid his face in Nina’s shoulder. [color=fdc68a]“Thanks Alice. I’ll see you Monday.”[/color] Nina said opening the door to her pickup truck, and placing Stanley in his booster seat. [color=c7deea]“Next time just call.”[/color] Alice said waving bye to Stanley, and his mother. 

They drove away, and Alice put on her coat. She walked down the block waving and saying hello to the people who she knew. She’d only lived in Erehwon for two years, but the locals like to be friendly, and once she had established that she was sticking around, she became an honorary local too.