"I was nothing but broken pieces in an open grave, until you stitched me together with your smile and brought me back to life with your love... Ha! Always so romantic, Frank. How many girls have you fooled like me?" Evie whispered, reading what he had written. The place already smelled of gardenia perfume, and Sue had used a little of her magic to make it look a little mystical and sparkling. "Can't you use your powers to finish faster?"
"Oh, I can do it, but it's very romantic to do it manually," Sue said, using her fingers as a lighter to light the candles one by one. "There's a lot to do. The petals are in the black bag, so help me out with those. There's nothing better than rose petals for a night of passion, don't you think?"
"I highly doubt things will go that far, Sue. Frank is not that kind of guy," said Evie across the room.
"He hasn't told you about his dark times?" Sue asked.
"Yes he has, and yes, maybe he's actually... Forget it."
"You're jealous?" Sue asked. Evie laughed a little in her classic top model pose with her hands on her waist. "I mean, we all know you still love Frank."
"Frank and I are friends," Evie replied quickly as Sue put candles on the nightstands beside the bed. "He doesn't love me anymore and I've made my peace with it."
"I heard he still writes songs about you," Sue said, shaking her head.
"And almost all of them are about heartbreak."
"I bet you wish it was you and not Jade who is on a date with him right now," Sue said as Evie ran a finger along the edge of the bed. She didn't know whether to be happy for Frank, or angry.
"If Frank wanted my hand in marriage, he would have asked for it," Evie replied as she got closer to the bag of rose petals, which smelled even more delicious when she opened it.
"And why did you fall apart? It's not that I'm a gossip, but I heard that the boys wanted something with you, all of them. Why did everyone tell you they loved you and now Frank is giving you the middle finger like that?"
"Ask him."
"Maybe I will," Sue wiggled her eyebrows and Evie rolled her eyes. "Maybe I can be your cupid."
"Love is for children. I'm already too busy for romance." Evie lied to herself to endure this pain easier. Sue had a knowing smirk on her face. "What are you grinning about?"
"You are such a liar," Sue crossed her arms. "Speak up, I'm an expert on these topics."
"What if you shut up and continue setting the room?"
"Frank says he just wants to come here and watch silly romance movies with his special girl. Do you think that's true?" asked Sue, "Did you and Frank ever make it to bed?"
"None of your business."
"I know you love him, you can't deny it, and I know it hurts to see him move on," Sue said as if she knew everything about Evie. Silly. She didn't know anything, not even Evie herself knew everything about herself, "You do too much for them, and now a perfect stranger..."
"It's my job," Evie replied.
"Sounds like a façade to me. I'm sure you do everything you do because you love all of them."
"It's not about being in love, Sue," Evie sighed. There was no way to make this girl shut up, so she relented. "You have no idea how many times hunters tried to kidnap them during the last two weeks of the tour, good luck I was there to stop them." Evie took the bag of rose petals from the table. "The hunters were everywhere. Some became allies, others I had to eliminate, but it was always the same: They never knew who had hired them, all they knew was that their boss was a woman and wanted the guys alive. And guess what? I did everything I could because that's what I get paid for!"
"Yes, of course. And they also pay you to give the monster slayers a chance to redeem themselves?" Sue said as she placed one more candle on the night stand. "Typical Monster Mash choice."
"When you are a hunter, you have no choice," Evie replied. "But the boys are good people and they allow us to redeem ourselves. If we protect them, we protect all the people who depend on them, from employees to charities. It's a good way to clean the blood on the floor."
Evie scattered the rose petals, but then there were three knocks on the door.
"I'll check that," Sue stopped lighting candles. When she opened the door, she raised an eyebrow. "Wow. Hey! There's a handsome boy here!"
"Who?" Evie asked.
"He's maybe five-foot-six quite athletic, Zeth's body type, firm pecs, and an obvious six-pack under that black compression shirt. Oooohhh! It squeezes his body delightfully!"
"You're terrible at giving descriptions," Evie said and approached.
"BC-13 reporting," the boy said. "And I am five-foot-seven."
"BC-13?" Sue took a quick look at Evie, who was smiling slightly.
Sue quick-scanned the boy again. She raised her eyebrows when she saw a gun in a holster around his right leg, and a grapple gun in the left one. His pants were baggy, very sporty, but also black.
"Speak of the devil," Sue complained.
"BC-13? Did something happen?" Evie asked.
"Kind of," the boy replied.
"Come in, don't just stand there," Evie stepped away from the door. Sue knew that face well... That smile said a lot.
This guy had Evie going crazy, even though she tried to hide it.
But could Sue blame her?
This guy was a damn near perfect specimen.
He was perfect for getting over her ex.
"Susan, you are so wrong," Evie said. Sue was shocked.
"How did you know what I was thinking? Are you telepathic?"
"You're not even close," Evie replied, though BC-13 looked a little hopeful. "Why are you here, BC-13?"
"My job," the handsome boy said, "I lost communication with the wall's bodyguards. I'm here to go down through that window into the rose garden."
"I'll go with you," Evie said, grabbing her grapple gun from the bed.
"No. I can handle this alone," BC-13 winked.
"And we're almost done," Evie said, sounding a little worried, "I'll go with you."
"I work better alone," BC-13 shook his head, "Don't interfere. I don't want anything bad to happen to you."
"She was a hunter, boy. I don't think you should protect her from anything." Sue said and crossed her arms.
"Is Jade with Frank?" Evie asked, patting BC-13's shoulder as he walked past her.
"The last thing I heard was that she was embarrassed and decided to leave the restaurant. I don't know if they are still together or if they went their separate ways." BC-13 said, approaching the window, opening it with both hands. Then he took out his grapple gun from its holster, aiming at the ceiling, firing. The shot made Sue jump, and BC-13 made sure the hook didn't come loose before inspecting the metal wire coming from the cannon of the gun.
"Wait. How come you don't know what happened?" Evie asked, hands behind her back, pressing a button of her bracelet to activate the microphone she put on BC-13's shoulder.
"The microphone you put on Jade's necklace stopped transmitting, I guess because of Frank's electromagnetism," BC-13 jumped up to the edge of the window, gripping the grapple gun tightly, "The boy must be very in love or upset for his powers to do that. Evie, I don't want you around. I don't want us to be a burden on each other." BC-13 said, looking down at the rose garden fifteen floors below, "I'll meet you in the utility room upstairs."
"Oh! How chivalrous," Sue scoffed, lighting another candle with a flaming finger, "Get your own room, will you?" Sue turned up to look at BC-13, but raised her eyebrows and double-checked. He was nowhere to be seen. "Wow, he didn't even say goodbye." She looked up at the ceiling. Not even the hook or the metal wire were there.
"It's a hunter's tradition to disappear," Evie said, scanning the room. Candles, rose petals, dim light, a delicious smell in the air. What a waste. "I think this was all for nothing. I told you so, Sue. Now you have to blow out all the candles and pick up everything." Evie climbed onto the window frame, an leant back fearlessly, firing her grapple gun at a ledge above from outside, "Hold me tight. We'll take the quick way up. We'll come back later to deal with this romantic disaster."
"You're crazy if you think I'm going to do that," Sue said, snapping her fingers, and all the candles and petals disappeared, "I can teleport."
"Wow. I need your powers for when my room is a mess," Evie said, very impressed. "Anyway, I'll see you upstairs in the utility room. Don't be late," and with the sound of the metallic wire retracting, Evie moved up at full speed.