6: what's the dumbest reason to be in a gas station before sunrise?

So there's one more thing Midge is right about. When we make it to the vampire-attacked gas station (a location priorly found through lots of arguing and fervent use of Google Maps), the place is swamped with police guys. We're standing behind this shrub, trying to get a good look at the place, but mostly it's just an array of blinking red and blue lights and a whole lot of radio static. Every once in a while there's a camera flash or something, but the whole scene's an incomprehensible mess.

I start getting the jitters again. "You know what," I say to Midge, turning around, "maybe this isn't such a good idea after all..."

"Not so fast," Midge snaps, and my feet lock in place without my consent. I try to look at her over my shoulder, but I can't do that either. It's like every muscle in my body has frozen. "You agreed to this. Now you're going to tell me this plan and then we're going in there."

My mouth can barely move, so the words sound slurred, like I'm drunk. "Fine, woman. Unspell me already."

There's a spark, and then I'm free. It feels like a weight's been lifted from my chest, and I return to Midge's side with a sigh, casting another wary glance at the densely populated gas station. The air smells thickly of blood and petroleum, and just this once, I'm kinda wishing for some of Sybil's incense.

Midge faces me. "Your solution, Grey."

"Right," I groan reluctantly, itching at the back of my neck. I can't remember the last time I used this power on such a big scale. It was probably when I was six and was trying to steal one of Sybil's cookies. The woman's insane, but she makes insanely good cookies. "Well, there's...this thing, that I can do."

Midge pouts her lips a bit. "Which is?"

I decide it would be way cooler if I just showed her than if I told her, so that's what I do. I stand there, and I don't know how I do it, but I just do. One moment I'm completely visible, and the next, I've melted into the background. It doesn't feel different, really, except maybe for this weird tingling. But Midge's eyes have widened to the size of saucers. "Where did you—are you still here?"

She can't see me, but I roll my eyes. "Yes! It's just...a demon thing, I guess. I don't know. But here it is. My solution."

"And no one will see you this way?"

"Not unless they're demons, they won't," I tell her, manifesting myself again. Like I said, I'm not exactly sure how I do it. It might be a mental switch, some sort of forced thought, or it might not be. It might just be natural. There's no real way to explain it except that it just happens. "But a policeman's not our preferred occupation, anyway."

"Okay, all that's well and good," Midge says, "but how am I getting in there? You'd think there would be, but there aren't any invisibility or cloaking spells, at least not any that don't need a ton of energy or a vat of chicken blood—"

"Yeah, that's the thing, Midge. You're not going in there. You're going to stay out here and wait."

For a while, Midge just stares at me, and I'm staring back at her, and all I'm thinking about is how itchy this shrub is making me. I kind of want to go home, but this is what I get for obliging.

Then Midge kind of explodes. "What?" she yelps. "But this was my idea! This is my prophecy, I'm not just going to sit back and let you—no, this isn't fair! That's a dumb idea, how can I not—"

"You said it yourself! There's no way for you to safely go in. So let me handle this, alright?" I snap back at her, and she's still yelling, but then I shush her and disappear myself again. It's enough to silence her.

As I'm striding towards the gas station, I almost think I hear her whisper, "Asshole."

I pretend I don't. For her sake.

The invisibility thing makes this pretty easy. I'm walking past all these guys in their bullet proof vests with their cigarettes and notepads in their hands, all huddled together like they're actually trying to figure out what went wrong here. I'm walking right past them, and they don't see me. Then I walk right past this lady cop—she's got blue hair and pointy ears like your typical water nymph—and into the gas station's convenient store.

Ah, here we are. So this is where the attack happened.

You'd think I'd be able to tell because there would be blood everywhere, but with vampires, it's the exact opposite. Where there's no blood at all is where the real carnage is. And I'm right, because there's at least five or six bodies all laying on the floor like empty juice boxes, and there's not a drop of blood anywhere.

The fiends.

I'm already thinking about how I'm going to present this information to Safiya as soon as I get the chance. Surely she won't be able to ignore it now.

I realize that's not what I should be thinking about, but I'm no Sherlock. I'm Grey Meesang, a hybrid human-demon raised by a big scary guy with horns and a psychotic witch. I have no idea what I'm doing. I never do.

I decide to just take a tour of the store first, weaving between the aisles and past the huge commercial refrigerators, in search of evidence. Any evidence at all. But all I can find is a few scuff marks and water droplets on the floor. Even on the bodies there's nothing, nothing except for the two puncture holes you see as a result of any vampire bite ever, fatal or not.

The whole place tells a rather vague story.

Vampires came in. They ate a few people. And then they left.

I get this awful feeling that the story's purposefully this vague. And I'm pacing back and forth in front of the register, still trying to figure this out, when, kid you not, the ceiling cracks open and Midge plummets through it.

The whole shebang startles me into visibility, because who wouldn't be startled when the ceiling literally caves and a girl comes crashing through it in a wave of pastel pink and flailing arms. She starts screaming and I don't know why until I realize she's fallen on one of the dead bodies and then I'm scrambling over there, pulling her off and desperately fighting the need to slap her.

"Midge, you idiot!" I say, caught between a shout and a whisper. We're both standing in the circle of rubble she's just created, a ring of glass and insulation and plaster. "You're going to get us arrested! Do you realize how loud you were?"

"I'm sorry! I casted a really old, really bad spell, but I had to get in here, I mean—"

I press a finger to her lips, glimpsing out the sliding door. Hell. It's just what I thought: the police guys are all shouting and running toward the convenient store. Right towards us. "Shut up!" I tell Midge, grabbing her and slipping behind the counter. "Shut up and don't move."

It's not until we're settled there in the corner and the police have already stormed in with their guns and flashlights that I realize I haven't let Midge go yet. We're one tangle of legs and arms, and my hand is still over her mouth, and I can feel her pulse beating against my chest. I want to let her go and get as far away as possible, but moving would be suicide at this rate. So I stay there, trying to remind myself to breathe.

Her hair's kind of soft. I mean. Softer than I would think—

"Grey, you're breathing in my ear."

"I am not. You're just too close to me."

"Well I can't exactly move, now can I—"

"Oh, don't snap at me, like I'm the one that got us in this situation—"

I move too sharply, and the counter hisses on its wheels, scooting a little bit forward. Both Midge and I stop dead, hoping to God no one heard or saw anything. For a while, there's no proof anyone did, but then rubber shoes scuff the linoleum, and a flashlight beam rounds the corner.

I shove Midge off of me.

"Hey there, officer," I stammer. "I...uh. I can explain?"