Mundane Lives of The Supernatural (1x1)

garlic

garlic

an important addition to any meal
Carmine leaned back into the couch, stirring sugar into her afternoon blood, massaging her own hairless temple. The little old lady was roused her slumber a little too early for her tastes. Darn traffic, and darn "niece" calling her at the ungodly hour of 3 pm. She couldn't go outside now, the sun was still up shining like the obnoxious ball of radiation it is.

She could't go back to sleep either. Especially not when Marley, her supposed "niece", wakes her up just to tell her about police investigations on missing person cases in a certain neighbourhood. Cases that both of them had a hand to play in. Well, not directly for Marley anyways. She was human, rarely directly involved in her so-called aunt's business. She was merely an accomplice, covering for the elderly vampire as her only living relative and caretaker. They weren't even related.

Carmine, on the other hand, was very much the cause of all this. She did after all run Blood Clot Cafe, a business that required a steady supply of human blood among other things. "For vampires, by vampires" was their tagline. Not the most creative one but the only thing Carmine could come up with when she started out roughly 5 decades ago.

They've run into some rough spots along the years. This was nothing, the old vampire tried to reassure herself as she downs the rest of her drink. Nothing, she tells herself. Might as well catch up on the news before getting ready for the night.

She leaves the house 3 hours later as soon as the sun was completely down, walking cane in one hand and a suspiciously bulging handbag in the other. Her bald head was now covered in a silvery grey wig and a red scarf embroidered with roses was wrapped snug around her neck. She takes the lift down the apartment building and hobbles to the bus stop just across the street.

Blood Clot Cafe opens at 9.30 pm but there is still much to do before then.


@BrookeDi
 
Forest yawned as her alarm went off. She was due at the hospital by nine, but she had promised her girlfriend she would go buy groceries before leaving for work. She'd also promised not to try cooking with said groceries as that never ended well. The brunette looked over at her sleeping girlfriend, sighed, and climbed out of her very warm bed.

In the kitchen she made herself a very health conscious breakfast of Oreo pop-tarts--it's a health conscious choice because she's aware that it is a terrible breakfast, okay?--and skims through that day's newspaper while she munches.

She considers dressing in her scrubs so she won't have to do it when she returns with the groceries, but opts to dress in jeans and a long sleeved shirt instead, her long hair pulled back into a ponytail. The store isn't far and she decides to walk; as much as she stands in the operating room, she doesn't actually get a lot of exercise, something her mom grumbles about every time she see's her daughter. All she's got with her, as she walks through the neighborhood, is her small purse slung across her body, and a handgun she'd bought when the disappearances had started.
 
The bus ride was as dull as always and Carmine had almost dozed off on the way. Almost. She's starting to wonder if she really was getting old. Or rather, if this whole elderly retiree shtick was just getting to her. No, she couldn't afford that. Now was not the time for her to be letting down her guard (nor was any time, really). As unreliable as they tend to be, gossip and rumours were always something worth paying attention to. The details didn't really matter. What really mattered were the emotions and tone carried in the talk - the growing notes of worry and suspicion. And in an enclosed space like a bus, listening in was much easier.

It also helped that half of the time, the gossip can get rather juicy.

She finally alighted at a bus stop. The grocery store just across the street was still somewhat busy with humans either picking up groceries for the week or instant meals for the night. She checked her wristwatch. Just as estimated, she still had enough time to drop by and pick up some more cleaning supplies. Bleach, stain removers, disposable gloves, and what not. Working with blood can get messy sometimes and accidents happen.
 
Once inside pushing her basket, Forest decides that she absolutely hates the grocery store. Even this late at night there are still far too many people for her tastes and she scowls at a woman and her child who can't seem to get the hint that "Excuse me," means please move out of the god damn way so she can just grab her apples. Irritated, she eyes the cart and wills it to push forward enough that she can slip between the woman and basket, in and out. With that task done, the brunette pushes maneuvers out of the poorly designed produce aisle into the rest of the grocery store that is, for the most part, less crowded.

She paused to consider her list and cross of Oreos, because did she really need them?
 
Despite her thin bony frame and her withered looking fingers, Carmine's physical strength was nothing to scoff at. She picks out what she needs , as much as she could carry without raising a few eyebrows. A little old lady carrying her body's weight in cleaning supplies without breaking a sweat would surely raise questions, wouldn't it? Or was she just worrying too much now? She looks at the floor cleaner in her hand and then to the contents of her basket- a huge pack of paper towels and a bottle of bleach.

Well, an extra bottle wouldn't hurt. Or two extra bottles. She glances around. Yeah, nothing suspicious here. Just a little old lady who loves cleanliness. She makes her way out of the relatively empty aisle only to be stopped by the slow moving line at the cashier. Carmine sighs.
 
Grocery shopping was a chore and people who enjoy it have something seriously wrong with them. Forest was tired and decided that instead of shopping she probably could have spent another hour in bed. The brunette glanced at the contents of her basket and sighed. Probably not, there was nothing in her kitchen except a hot pocket in her freezer that she was pretty sure expired two years ago.

The other thing about coming at night was the lack of registers open. With a yawn the doctor pulled her cart behind a little old lady who would no doubt take for every to move through the line and get out of the way. Bored, she surveyed the contents of the lady's basket and decided that she was either OCD or hiding a body. The last thought made her laugh out loud. This lady hardly looked like she could carry all that bleach, let alone an entire body. She must look a loon, standing here giggling to herself.
 
The vampire feels the vague feeling you get when someone is looking over your shoulder. The fact that someone actually was right behind her now didn't make things any better. But then again, it's most likely just some nosy shopper, no need to get her bloomers in a twist.

And then she hears ...giggling? Was it directed at her? Was there something she'd neglected to hide? Was it that darn wig slipping off again?

Carmine sets her basket down on the floor for a while and turns around slightly to give the amused stranger a questioning look.
 
The old woman turned and Forest blushed pink. Her mother would kill her if she knew that she'd been laughing, openly, at a poor old woman. She offered the older woman a pretty smile and faced away. Nothing to see here, lady.

Almost hysterical, though, at this point. Another giggle bubbled up and she made this weird choking/coughing/laughing sound. Yes, staying in bed would have been a better plan of action for the day.
 
Carmine merely raised an eyebrow at the smile. Ah yes, nothing suspicious about that lovely young lady behind her. She turns back around only to hear a strange choking sound from around. She glances back, more confused than concerned. But the normal thing to do in this case, of course, would be to show concern.

"Are you alright there?"
 
Forest shook her head, "I'm sorry... I think I might be a little delirious." She offered a more genuine smile. "I probably look like a lunatic. I'm just tired. Promise." The line inched forward and Forest wondered if there was some way to use her ability to speed up the process. People would probably notice if the items suddenly went through the scanner all on their own, though.

"Slow line," She smartly observed.
 
"Oh my," Carmine puts a hand to her mouth. "I suppose that does happen."

She was still a tad suspicious about this young woman, but it's not like she could do much here without drawing attention to herself as well. Moving along the line, she decided that she might as well make some small talk.

"Indeed."The old lady nods at the young lady's observation."Perhaps I should have dropped by earlier."
 
The young woman checked her watch and nodded her agreement, "You and me both. Thought, it wouldn't have been possible to wake up in time to go any sooner." She gestured toward the mound of cleaning supplies. "Big cleaning project?" It was lame, but she'd never really been great at small talk.
 
The old lady nods in agreement. Sure, this young lady might just be talking about regular afternoon naps rather than a completely nocturnal lifestyle, but that is indeed a sentiment she could relate to.

"Oh, these?" Carmine glances at her little pile of supplies,"Not really. I just prefer to buy enough for a long time. I don't go out much, you see. And my niece...always, forgetting to pick things up on the way back."

The line moves on. In a moment of distraction, she picks the basket up in one hand almost effortlessly before setting it back down a few steps forward. Slip ups happen.
 
"Oh yeah," Forest nodded emphatically. "I hardly have time to go to the store and when I do have spare time I don't want to be spending it shopping." She smiled at the sweet old lady and then raised a brow behind the woman's back.

That's what she gets for underestimating the little old lady. There might be a dead body after all. This time, Forest manages to contain her mirth as she moves her and her basket forward.
 
"Of course, of course. I used to be that way when I used to work as well," Carmine smiles.

They were at the cashier now. The little old lady lifts her basket onto the counter, now deliberately showing more effort than before. She wasn't so shabby when it comes to acting, she had decades of practice. But if one was already suspicious of her, the way she acted would have felt a bit off.
 
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Forest returns the smile. She feels bad for making fun of the little old lady, if even in her mind, so she decides to help the lady out by giving her a little extra telekinetic lift in the groceries, hopefully making it a little easier to carry. If she was having to act before... now most half of the already easy work is being done for her.
 
The little old lady hoists the basket onto the counter with what seems like just a little too much force. The contents of her shopping basket seemed to have oddly lost weight... Carmine just blinks blankly at the basket and then her eyes glanced around. Something was up, she could feel it.

For now, she just lets the cashier had already started scanning her purchases and placing them into plastic bags.
 
Oops. Too much help. Forest eased off a little and then, when the little old lady had bagged up her items and paid, Forest smiled a pretty goodbye before checking out herself.

It never crossed her mind that there could be something about that little old lady, too.

Much, much later in the evening Forest had long forgotten about her grocery store encounter. She was working in the ER when a patient came in suffering from severe blood loss. She had been found near the same neighborhood with all the missing person's cases and the EMT hadn't been able to find where she was losing blood from. It was the third time this week. Forest started wearing a small cross though she wasn't religious in the slightest.
 
As she left, Carmine looked back to see the seemingly friendly young lady smiling at her. She smiled back.

---

Tonight was not Carmine's night. First, one of the freezers was out of commission, leading the vampiric staff to stuff whatever blood that was not close to spoiling into the functioning freezers.

Then one of the younger of her employees came barging in with clear panic. He had let a victim escape. Or rather, he was almost caught while draining a human. In his panic, he fled, leaving the unconscious body in the alley. And Carmine pinched the bridge of her nose at this rookie mistake.

From now on, they were hunting somewhere else.
 
The patient was delirious when she was awake, crying about vampires taking her blood. The police just said there was likely a sick weirdo who wished they were a vampire, draining the blood from people on the street. Forest was of the opinion that people who do not know the abnormal will think of anything to explain the unexplainable, to keep things rational. She could move things with her mind and communicate with her twin brother telepathically. Her best friend in high school could influence the weather.

Was it so impossible that there are vampires? She checked on the patient more than the others one her rounds and with the transfusion going through her blood she was getting some color. It wasn't enough, though. At 4:37am the woman died. It was next to impossible to replace that amount of blood that quickly. Forest was the first to respond to the Code, but nothing she did saved the woman. It was one of her rougher nights that week.
 
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