Free Web NovelMatt was sitting inside a car far too luxurious for someone who still had cat ears on his soul.
Not literally, because he had left them at the café.
But he could feel them.
That was worse.
The vehicle moved smoothly through the streets, barely making a sound.
The seats were black leather, the windows were tinted, and the interior was so spacious Matt was sure it could fit a small table, two more people, and maybe his lost dignity.
Up front, a man in a suit drove in complete silence.
He didn’t speak.
He didn’t look in the mirror.
He didn’t ask questions.
Matt stared out the window with a frown.
'Great. I can’t even complain about the transportation.'
The car was comfortable.
Too comfortable.
That irritated him.
Beside him, the white-haired girl sat with her legs crossed, glancing at him every now and then with those red eyes that seemed to enjoy his discomfort way too much.
Matt tried to ignore her.
Five seconds later, he noticed something.
She was closer.
Matt looked at the space inside the car.
It was huge.
Then he looked at her.
Her shoulder was almost touching his.
Matt frowned.
"What are you doing?"
The girl tilted her head ever so slightly.
"Sitting."
"There’s, like, half a car free."
"I know."
"Then use it."
She smiled softly.
"I don’t see the need."
Matt raised a hand and pushed her by the shoulder, moving her a few inches away.
"Respect my personal space."
The girl let him move her, but her smile didn’t disappear.
"Personal space?" she repeated, as if the phrase amused her. "Did you forget the time when we were one?"
Matt looked at her with an empty expression.
"Ah, yes," he replied sarcastically. "What a beautiful time. You parasitizing my mind with the goal of possessing my body. Very nostalgic. We should make a family album."
The girl let out a small laugh.
Not a full laugh.
Just a low, elegant, irritating laugh.
"You’re still exaggerating."
"You tried to eat me from the inside."
"That sounds worse than it was."
"That is exactly what it was."
The girl leaned back against the seat, amused.
Then her gaze lowered to Matt’s uniform.
The apron.
The lace.
The ribbon.
All of it.
Matt felt a new part of his soul crack.
"Besides," she said, smiling, "that uniform looks cute on you."
Matt slowly closed his eyes.
'Breathe. I can’t throw you out of a moving car. Well, I can, but she’d regenerate and it would hurt a lot.'
Matt opened his eyes.
"I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that."
"It suits you better than I expected."
"I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that either."
The girl raised a hand and pointed at her own chest with total ease.
"Don’t you miss the body the queen gave you when she turned you into her daughter?"
Matt went still.
The driver didn’t react.
The car kept moving.
Matt slowly turned his head toward her.
"Excuse me?"
The girl smiled, as if remembering something pleasant.
"It was a perfect body. Stronger. More beautiful. More worthy of standing beside us."
Matt stared at her for a few seconds.
Then he looked down at himself.
His current body.
His original body.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The body from when he had still been simply Matt.
Human.
Male.
Normal.
"I prefer this body by far," Matt said. "This one is mine."
The girl watched him in silence.
Matt clenched his jaw.
"Not one they gave me so I could become someone else’s vessel."
She laughed softly again.
"You’re lucky."
Matt frowned.
"Lucky?"
"The queen is very fond of you," she said. "She even allowed you to say goodbye to your family."
Matt felt the air inside the car grow heavier.
He tightened his fingers over his knees.
"Don’t twist things."
The girl did not answer.
Matt looked out the window.
Familiar streets began to appear.
Simple houses.
Small businesses.
Old utility poles with wires crossing from one side to the other.
His neighborhood.
"If the queen is acting like this with me," Matt said quietly, "it’s probably because she needs me again to deal with some annoying problem."
The girl only smiled.
She didn’t deny it.
That irritated him more.
The car turned a corner and drove a few more yards before stopping in front of a simple one-story house.
Matt stared at the entrance.
The slightly worn paint.
The flowerpots beside the door.
The curtain in the window shifting faintly from inside.
His house.
For one second, all the exhaustion and anger mixed with something worse.
Fear.
Matt swallowed.
The white-haired girl glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
"You have ten minutes."
Matt turned his head toward her.
"Ten?"
"Ten."
"How touchingly generous."
"Don’t try to run."
Matt opened the car door. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com
Before getting out, he looked at her with annoyance.
"Rot."
The girl smiled a little more.
"Don’t take too long."
Matt stepped out of the vehicle and shut the door harder than necessary.
Tac!
The sound was dry.
Far too small for all the rage he had inside.
He stood for a few seconds in front of his house, staring at the door.
'Okay.'
He took a deep breath.
'I just have to go in. Say something normal. Lie a little. Leave.'
His hands felt cold.
'Easy.'
Matt took one step.
Then another.
Every step toward the door felt heavier than the last.
When he arrived, he lifted his hand and left it hovering in front of the knob for a second.
He didn’t want to go in.
Not because he didn’t want to see his mother.
But because seeing her made everything more real.
In the end, he opened it.
Clack!
The door gave way with its usual familiar sound.
"Mom?"
Inside, the house smelled like cleaner, freshly washed clothes, and leftovers from the night before.
Matt felt a lump form in his throat.
From the living room, his mother appeared with a rag in one hand and a surprised expression.
She was a woman with a kind, though tired, face. Her hair was tied up in whatever way, and she wore an old T-shirt she used for cleaning.
When she saw him, she stopped.
"Matt?"
Matt awkwardly raised one hand.
"Hi."
His mother looked him up and down.
Then looked at him again.
Her eyes stopped on the uniform.
The shirt with white trim.
The apron.
The lace.
The ribbon.
Matt felt the lump in his throat get replaced by shame.
'Damn it. I should’ve ripped this thing off before coming in.'
"Why are you home so early?" his mother asked, coming closer. "Did something happen at work?"
Matt tried to smile.
It went badly.
"No, nothing serious."
His mother frowned.
"And why are you still wearing the uniform?"
"I didn’t have time to change."
She looked at him in silence.
Matt looked away.
'Don’t look at me like that.'
"Matt," she said more softly. "Did something happen?"
"No."
"You seem strange."
"I’m not strange."
"Yes, you are."
Matt opened his mouth to deny it again.
But he couldn’t.
His mother knew him too well.
That was unfair.
A person should have the right to lie badly to their mother without getting caught in three seconds.
Matt lowered his gaze.
His hand slowly closed.
The ten minutes were still ticking down.
And outside, a vampire was probably watching him through the car window like this was a boring TV scene.
"I’m going on a trip for a while," he finally said.
His mother blinked.
"A trip?"
"Yeah."
"Now?"
"Yeah."
"In that uniform?"
Matt closed his eyes for a second.
"That’s not important."
"It is to me."
Matt let out a dry laugh, but it died quickly.
"A friend from work needs help with something," he said. "It’s… kind of far."
His mother set the rag down on a nearby table.
"What friend?"
Matt froze.
'Good question.'
"One from work."
"Name?"
Matt felt a cold sweat.
'Think. Think. Any name.'
"Claudio."
His mother looked at him.
"Claudio?"
"Yeah."
"He works at the café?"
"Yeah."
"And what does he need?"
"A thing."
"What thing?"
"Something complicated."
His mother crossed her arms.
Matt pressed his lips together.
'This is going horribly.'
She watched him for a few seconds.
She didn’t look angry.
That was worse.
She looked worried.
"How long will you be gone?"
Matt swallowed.
"Two or three days, maybe."
"Maybe?"
"The place is far."
"Where?"
Matt looked to the side.
"Far."
His mother said nothing.
The silence became uncomfortable.
Heavy.
Matt felt every second like a hand squeezing his chest.
He knew she didn’t believe him.
Of course she didn’t believe him.
Even he wouldn’t believe that lie.
Before she could ask anything else, Matt took a step forward and hugged her.
His mother went still for an instant.
Matt closed his eyes.
The smell of cleaner and soap filled his nose.
It was ridiculous.
He had fought monsters.
He had shared a body with a vampire.
He had survived things that made no sense.
But hugging his mother in that moment almost broke him.
"I’ll come back," he murmured.
His mother took a second to respond.
Then she hugged him too.
Hard.
Too hard.
As if she were afraid that, if she let go, Matt would disappear right then and there.
"Are you going to disappear again?" she asked quietly.
Matt felt something stab into his chest.
Again.
That word hurt more than he expected.
"No," he answered quickly. "I’m not going to disappear."
His mother tightened the hug.
"Really? You’re not lying to me?"
Matt didn’t know how to answer.
Because it was true.
Because it had happened.
Matt disappearing.
No warning.
No explanation.
No way of knowing if he was alive.
"Not this time," Matt said, his voice lower. "I promise."
His mother didn’t pull away.
Neither did Matt.
For a few seconds, the world outside stopped existing.
There were no vampires.
No queen.
No threats.
Only his house.
His mother.
And that hug he didn’t want to end.
"I love you," Matt said.
His mother took a deep breath.
Then she let out a small, sad laugh.
"If you disappear, your sister is going to miss you a lot."
Matt opened one eye.
"Only my sister?"
"And she’s going to complain."
Matt let out a low laugh.
"Don’t be dramatic."
"I’m not dramatic. You’re the one who walks in dressed like a maid, says he’s going on a trip with some guy named Claudio, and then hugs me like he’s going off to war."
Matt went quiet.
So did his mother.
The joke died too quickly.
Matt slowly pulled away.
It was hard.
Very hard.
More than he wanted to admit.
His mother looked him in the eyes.
"Matt…"
He shook his head.
"I’ll come back."
She pressed her lips together, as if she wanted to say many things at once.
But in the end, she only raised a hand and straightened the ribbon on his uniform a little.
Matt felt the urge to complain.
He didn’t.
"You look ridiculous," she said.
Matt let out an involuntary laugh.
"Thanks for the support."
"But you’re alive."
Matt felt his smile fade a little.
"Yeah."
His mother lowered her hand.
"Then come back alive too."
Matt nodded.
"I will."
He didn’t know if it was a promise he could keep.
But he said it anyway.
Because he needed to say it.
Because she needed to hear it.
And because if he didn’t say it, maybe he wouldn’t have the strength to walk out that door.
Matt took a step back.
Then another.
"Take care of my sister," he said.
His mother frowned.
"Matt."
"Just… take care of her."
She looked at him in silence.
Then she slowly nodded.
Matt turned toward the door.
Every step back felt worse than when he had entered.
He opened it.
The outside air hit his face.
Before leaving, he looked back one last time.
His mother was still there, standing in the middle of the living room, holding the rag in one hand and looking at him like she wanted to stop him.
Matt barely smiled.
"I’ll be back soon."
And he closed the door before his expression broke.
The white-haired girl was sitting inside the car with the window open.
Matt noticed it as soon as he stepped outside.
Of course she had been watching him.
Obviously.
She couldn’t even give him five minutes of emotional privacy.
Matt walked toward the vehicle with a frown.
She rested her chin on one hand, watching him with a slight smile.
"How touching," she said.
Matt opened the rear door.
"Shut up."
"I didn’t know you could hug like that."
Matt froze.
The girl tilted her head slightly.
"You’ve never hugged me like that."
Matt looked at her with an empty expression.
"Because you bite."
"Not Mother either."
Matt clenched his jaw.
"I already told you not to call her that."
The girl smiled.
"It bothers you a lot."
"It bothers me because it’s disgusting."
"She created us."
"Monsters create problems too. That doesn’t make them mothers."
