Building From Ashes
Page 29

“I’m working in the accounting department.” Emily rolled her eyes and pressed the button for the fifth floor. Her eyes saw Brigid’s floor and widened. “Fourth floor. Posh! And secure, eh? I suppose your family is still—”
“I’m working here, as well. I’m in security. That’s why.”
Emily grinned and leaned against the back wall of the lift. “This is so cool. I wondered so many times over the years. How long has it been? What, two—”
“Three years now. It’s been almost three years since I was… well, since I quit school.”
Emily looked a little confused, but happy, too. “It’s so great to see you.”
“Have you…?” Brigid shifted. “Have you heard from Mark lately?”
Her old friend gave her a soft smile. “London last I heard. He and Jenny Daly were married last year. Pretty sure they moved to London.”
She nodded. “That’s nice.” Brigid tried to think of anyone else from that time that she cared about asking after. There really wasn’t anyone, which made her a little sad. “So, Emily—”
“We should go out to catch up, eh? Just girls?”
Brigid blinked in surprise. “Oh, sure. That’d be fun.”
“There’s this fun club—” Suddenly, Emily broke off. “Oh, do you like dancing now or not?”
Brigid smiled. Though physical contact and crowded rooms no longer gave her the instinctive anxiety she’d once struggled with, she still wanted to avoid the scene. Besides, going to clubs felt too much like work anymore.
“Not really,” she said. “Maybe just lunch or drinks somewhere would be fun.”
“Sure.” Emily yawned. Her blinks were becoming longer and longer. Brigid realized that the lift had stopped on the fourth floor, but she still hadn’t slid the keycard that would open the door. She pushed off from the back wall and got it out, then swiped it and the doors opened with a hiss.
“I better go, Em. I’ll—”
“I’m in flat five-ten above, if you want to stop by whenever.” Emily was staring at the secured fourth floor with owl-eyes and gave Brigid a sleepy wave before the doors swiftly closed. Brigid spun around and started walking toward her flat.
Well, that was unexpected.
It was two weeks later when Brigid finally decided to ring Emily. She’d accessed her information in the security files. Jack had been relentless in teasing Brigid about her lack of a social life, and Brigid decided to take matters into her own hands. She could have a social life. She could. She already had an old friend to catch up with. If she didn’t date much, it just meant the men in Dublin weren’t all that interesting.
Much to Brigid’s relief, Emily did not insist on a club. She also didn’t ask how Brigid had found her number, but then the girl wouldn’t. She’d lived around vampires her whole life.
They met at a busy café in Ringsend. The lunch crowd was bustling, but the restaurant wasn’t overcrowded. It was one of the newer places in the neighborhood, and Brigid found the whitewashed walls, simple art, and mostly vegetarian menu a nice change from the dark rooms where she spent most of her days. She took a deep breath and smiled across the table.
She could see Emily looking around, as well. “Kind of nice to remind ourselves we can walk amongst the living, isn’t it?”
Brigid laughed. “I was just thinking the same thing. I’m very pale, and I have no excuse for it.”
“There’s not many…” Emily glanced around. “Of our kind working in security, are there?”
“No, definitely not.”
“I won’t ask how you got the job, then, but you like it? The work?”
“I do. I’m very happy with it.”
“I remember you wanted to go into the police force. It’s much the same, then. So, are you the one behind the cameras? Should I wave the next time I walk down the hall?”
Brigid grinned. “Not me. I mostly…” Give them information about what I remember from our college days. Try to avoid getting too close to any of the shipments that Murphy intercepts. Avoid thinking about those soothing little pills on my bad days…
She cleared her throat. “Lots of background checks. Clerical work. Computer work. Things they can’t do with their… condition. Stuff like that. Nothing terribly exciting.”
“Well, it’s still got to be more exciting than all the numbers that swim in my head.”
Brigid shook her head. “I never had a brain for those kinds of things. I still need help understanding my bank statement.”
Their friendly server brought two steaming plates. Salmon cakes for Brigid and a steak sandwich for Emily. The girl started to devour the sandwich, eating with gusto, which surprised her. Emily had always been the one worried about her figure, not that she needed to be.
Emily must have caught Brigid’s look, but she only smiled. “Never mind me. I’m trying to incorporate more red meat into my diet.”
“Oh?”
Emily blushed prettily, then swept her collar to the side to reveal two distinct marks that could never be mistaken for anything else.
Brigid’s mouth dropped open. “So… you’re seeing a—”
“Yes. Haven’t said anything to Mum and Dad yet.” The blush spread down her neck, sweeping over the marks that lay at the base of her throat. “You’re actually the first person I’ve told. I know… well, you’re not as judgmental as most people.”