Monthly Bonus Content #2—'Not the one they want...' (Ava Version) (Patreon)

The glare of the monitor burns into Ava’s eyes, but she continues to squint at the screen and push through the sting.

“Why would you give something like that?” she mumbles, pausing her scrolling at photo of a bouquet of chocolate roses.

“Looking for something particular?”

Ava slams the laptop shut so fast that the lid almost cracks. “What?!”

Felix rests his elbows on the edge of the desk and leans close, a wide grin spreading across his face. “Well, it is Valentine’s soon, and suddenly you’re spending days researching something ‘personal’.” His eyes glimmer. “I think we can all put two and two together.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Ava stumbles, easing the laptop closer to herself.

He sits on the edge of the desk and places down a palm to lean even closer. “You could go big and bold. People love huge romantic gestures. Haven’t you seen the movies?”

“Movies are not an accurate representation of real life, Felix,” Ava chides.

“But they are what people want their lives to be like.” He sighs. “All right, fine. You’re not a big gesture kind of person. So, go simple.” His fingers spread over the top of the laptop, Ava’s body clenching as his fingers snake towards the edge of it and threaten to expose her search. “As long as it comes from you, the detective will love it.”

She opens her lips, then snaps them shut. Her gaze drops. She releases a breath to ease the strain tightening every fiber of her body.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replies finally. “I thought the detective had…,” the strain returns, her teeth almost rubbed raw as she grinds them together, “a date.”

Felix sighs and shakes his head. “Not with the person they really want to go with.” He bounces down from the desk and strolls away, leaving Ava with an unease swirling in her stomach she can’t seem to shift.

-

Later that day. In the gift shop at The Square.

Ava groans, lifting a card from the stack and cringing at the sickly poem scrawled across the front.

Is this really what humans enjoy? Though not just humans, apparently. She can smell at least two other supernaturals in this shop, having much more luck at finding love tokens than she is.

She blows a breath out and takes another card. It’s simple, clean, a beautiful watercolour of an iris.

Her fingers tighten about the card, and she heads over to the counter, tugging her coat collar as high as it will go lest someone recognize her.

-

At the Warehouse. Evening.

---

“Someone’s waiting downstairs for you,” Nat calls through my door. “I think it’s your date. You made a good choice.” No small amount of approval seeps into those words.

I chuckle, giving myself a last preen in front of the mirror. “Thanks. Tell them I’ll be down in a second.”

I suppose this is as good as it’s going to get. I nod at my reflection, brushing down my top for the hundredth time, and turn to grab my coat from the bed. As I pull the jacket away, a small envelope drops from the thick folds of the fabric.

With a frown, I pick it up and turn it over in my hands. It’s weighty, expensive, and my name is written in incredibly fancy handwriting across the front.

It can’t be from my date as they’ve never been in the house.

Have I really received a proper Valentine’s card from someone? The idea brings a smile to my face.

I dig my fingers into the envelope to rip it open as quickly as I can.

The card inside is gorgeous. A simple watercolour illustration of an iris. I slip my thumb into the middle to open the front flap.

Only two words mark the otherwise blank interior of the card.

‘Tu omnia.’

Time seems to stand still as I read the words over and over. They swirl and crash inside my mind before sinking further down my body and whirling in my chest.

A knock at the door makes me flinch and the card drops from my grasp onto the bed.

“Yeah?” I barely get the word out through my tight throat.

The door eases open and my date peers around the door. “You all right?”

“Oh, uh, yes. Fine. Completely.”

Thankfully, they don’t seem to notice the lie.

“Our reservations—”

I nod and step forward. “Right. Let’s get going.”

Their gaze flashes over the unease on my expression before giving a smile. “You sure you’re okay?”

I nod. “I will be.”

I turn back inside before closing the door, the card laying discarded on my bed…along with my heart.