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Mira doesn't move a muscle, no matter how much she wants to lift the brim of the sunhat that droops in front of her face. The last time she'd done that, she'd been chastised, and so she certainly won't—
“Mira.” Rumi scolds when her face is revealed behind Mira's outstretched hand and Mira can only offer a sheepish smile that grows unabashed when Zoey's face pops up beside Rumi's.
“You’re supposed to sit still!” Zoey pouts and snatches Mira’s hand, causing the hat to slap her in the face. She hears Rumi snort and she huffs in response, moving to cross her arms but unable to with Zoey still gripping her hand.
“You guys are taking longer than normal.” She grunts as she feels a glove slide onto her fingers. She flexes her hand before another glove is slid onto her other hand and then the hat’s properly being adjusted so she can see Rumi and Zoey’s face clearly.
“We have to make sure you're safe and covered.” Rumi murmurs low before she moves in to press a kiss to Mira's cheek.
“And dressing you up is a long and hard process.” Zoey bemoans dramatically, fluttering a scarf around Mira's neck and essentially covering the entire lower half of her face.
“But it's fun and always worth it for Weekly Trip!” She cheers, dragging Mira to stand, finally, and positioning her in front of the full-length mirror. Her gaze catches, first, on Zoey and Rumi's smiles before they give her exasperated looks and she rolls her eyes to see how they've dressed her up.
It's as it's always been since she's essentially their doll; a mismatch of colors and accessories to make sure that every inch of her is covered to protect her from the sun. She doesn't care about fashion or how she looks— can't, really, when it’s always been for practicality and she knows that she'll stand out already with her extremely long frame and her pale skin and pink hair, but she loves the excitement and care Rumi and Zoey bring every time they dress her up for their Weekly Trip, and she especially loves how she's essentially a shining beacon of being theirs.
“I look terrible.” She says and Rumi laughs while Zoey smirks and loops her arms through one of Mira's.
“Weekly Trip, Weekly Trip!” She chants as she always does as she leads the three of them out of the bedroom and Rumi hums along. Mira can’t stop smiling as she allows herself to be tugged and jostled by them when her smile drops and she freezes suddenly, causing Zoey to trail off as she turns to her with a confused look.
“Mira, what’s wrong?” Rumi says, pressing in from behind her with a hand on her shoulder and Mira turns to look at her with a grave expression that furthers her worry.
“Mira—”
“Stay here.” She commands crisply before she folds into a bat and flies off without a second thought. Rumi looks at where Mira just was with her mouth agape before turning to Zoey.
“What—?”
“I don’t…” The two blink at each other before sparing another glance at the empty spot where their missing piece used to be.
“Where could she have gone?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wait, Zoey,” Rumi starts in a rasp, “can you…?”
“On it.” Zoey confirms and she closes her eyes to focus her senses. She sorts through the scratching of the squirrels racing up trees and the crackling of the critters creeping through the grass before she settles on Mira’s frantic breathing.
Her eyebrows furrow as she tries to decipher what it means, pairs it against the other times she’s heard Mira breathe like this and flushes at the images that flood her mind.
Suddenly, a loud bang startles her out of her thoughts and a shout of, “Guys!” has her and Rumi running to meet Mira in the entryway.
She stands there, skin sizzling from the sunlight, red eyes wide as they glance from the two of them to the lump in her arms.
“Mira…” Rumi says shakily as she takes in the sight, “please tell me that’s not a human that you’re holding.” Mira attempts a smile that quickly collapses.
“Mira, what the hell!” Zoey cries out.
“I don't know!” Mira yells, shuffling the human around in her arms as she kicks the front door shut behind her and stomps her way into the living room.
“I heard him out there and I went to go confront him and then he just— passed out!”
“You probably scared him with your fangs and your burning skin!” Rumi shouts.
“And, just— how you are in general.” Zoey adds unhelpfully and Mira glares at her.
“Anyway, obviously, I couldn’t just leave him out there.” She finishes and Rumi pinches the bridge of her nose between her fingers in irritation.
“Obviously, you shouldn’t have gone out there in the first place! It’s day, Mira, what were you thinking!?” Mira’s shoulders drop at Rumi’s chastising and she has the decency to look ashamed. It softens Rumi up immediately, has her stepping up to Mira and gently caressing her charred cheek.
“It’s sweet, Mira, but please, be more careful.” Rumi sighs. “We care about your wellbeing.” Mira nuzzles into Rumi’s palm, scarlet eyes softening to pink as she stares down at her.
“I’m sorry.” Mira whispers and it pulls a brilliant smile from Rumi, has her leaning in to kiss her when a moaning sound erupts from between them, and they glance down to see the human’s begun shifting back to consciousness.
“He’s waking up, he’s waking up!” Zoey whines, bouncing frantically in place as she points at him.
“What do we do?” She asks and palms Rumi’s shoulder to turn her to meet her worried gaze, whose eyes begin to vibrate as a plan forms in her mind.
“Okay,” Rumi starts, voice clear and crisp as she dictates, “Zoey, carry him.”
“What!?” Zoey chokes out, rearing back with a look of confusion but Rumi’s sharp gaze has her complying quickly. Once the human has been offloaded into Zoey’s reluctant arms, Rumi tells Mira, “Go get some rope,” and heads off into the kitchen to grab a bag of blood.
“Drink.” Rumi commands when she returns to the living room, exchanging the rope in Mira’s hand for the blood bag, and then she turns to Zoey, who’s still holding the human and bouncing him up and down like he’s a baby she’s trying to lull to sleep.
She’s actually humming a lullaby, and Rumi would laugh at that if not for the situation and the fact that it's doing the opposite and making the human more alert.
“Zoey, couch.” She instructs and Zoey obeys, setting the human down on the couch. He’s laid down, though, so Rumi shuffles him upright while she loops the ropes around his wrists and ties them.
She backs away, standing next to Zoey and Mira as the three of them wait for him to wake up.
“Should we duct tape his mouth?” Zoey whispers and Rumi shakes her head.
“We need to find out what he’s doing here.”
“What if he screams?”
“We’re in the middle of nowhere.” Mira mentions.
“Yeah, but—”
“Shh, he’s awake.” Mira steps up towards the groggy human, but Rumi holds her back to step in front of her, who then receives the same treatment from Zoey, leaving her in the front with her face being the first thing the human will see.
“Hi!” Zoey exclaims, eyes and smile wide as his eyes slowly open and take in the sight of her. The man— round, short and middle-aged— blinks as he adjusts to Zoey’s wild expression in his view, before Rumi and Mira squeeze in beside her.
“Well, he hasn’t screamed yet so that’s good.” Zoey murmurs.
“It feels almost… scarier, maybe?” Rumi worries in a whisper. “Like, when babies are born and they don’t cry. That's a thing, right?”
“Doesn’t matter why he’s not screaming. I'll make him scream if he doesn’t tell me what he’s doing here.” Zoey and Rumi share a look before they roll their eyes at Mira's antics.
“You.” The man murmurs almost in wonder as his eyes settle on Mira, who bristles at the attention and narrows her eyes in alertness.
“Me, what.”
“You're a vampire.” He observes and Mira blinks, unimpressed, before he directs his attention to Rumi, eyes zipping around the iridescent lines drawn on her skin.
“And you… what are you?”
“A… demon.” Rumi confesses and Mira groans.
“Rumi.”
“Oh. Sorry.” Rumi says when she realizes she probably shouldn't have shared that. The human then turns to Zoey.
“And she’s…”
“I’m a werewolf!” Zoey informs and Mira sighs.
“Zoey.”
“What?” She shrugs. “I might as well.” And Mira looks up at the ceiling in exasperation.
“Cool…” Draws her gaze back down as the man looks at the three of them with eyes wide in awe.
“Cool?” Mira repeats in confusion.
“He doesn’t seem pretty scared of us.” Zoey notes.
“What are you doing here?” Rumi questions and the human licks his lips, the silence stretching before he opens his lips and slowly answers, “I was… looking for you guys.”
“What?” Rumi rasps.
“You know— the supernatural.” His tied wrists rise upwards as his fingers flex in what’s probably supposed to be some sort of dramatic gesture. “And— and I found not only a vampire, but a werewolf and a demon? This is amazing!” The trio share a brief glance as they process this.
“You do realize you’re not leaving here alive, right?” Mira deadpans.
“Mira.” Rumi groans.
“What?”
“Wait— please, don’t kill me.” The man whimpers, his look of awe quickly cinching into fear.
“We—”
“—won’t.”
“—will.”
“Mira,” Rumi groans again, “you can’t threaten everyone with murder!”
“What do you suggest, then? We let him go so he can tell everyone where we live?”
“I— I won’t!” He interjects quickly and Rumi turns to Mira with a triumphant look.
“See? He won’t.”
“Yeah, he’s definitely not lying.” Mira says with an eye roll.
“Maybe we keep him here until we figure it out.” Zoey pipes up and the man is quick to agree with a, “Y— yeah!”
“You can’t keep taking in random people, Zoey!” Mira scoffs and Rumi turns to her with an indignant look.
“Really?”
“No, wait,” Mira fumbles, grabbing at a pouting Rumi, “I didn’t mean—”
“Sure.”
“Rumi, babe—”
“So, you would kill him then, Mira?” Rumi pivots, uncrossing her arms and flinging one out in exasperation and Mira blinks.
“Um—”
“You wouldn’t drain him so you’d snap his neck?” She stumbles back as Rumi advances on her.
“I don’t…”
“Okay, then Zoey would do it, right? We just hope she wolfs out and rips him to shreds?”
Zoey protests, “I would never—”
“Or I can do it? Summon my claws and gut him?” Rumi declares. “Wouldn’t be too hard for any of us to do, so let’s just do it, then, right?”
“Okay, I get it!” Mira hisses, her fangs coming out in irritation before she looks away to retract them.
“Just— what are we supposed to do then?” She says quietly, her fire drawing to a simmer. She looks at Zoey, looks at Rumi with an open expression.
“There’s a reason my home—” She pauses, lips curling into a gentle smile as she corrects, “our home is here. We can’t have people know about it or else…” Rumi smiles in understanding, something soft, something sweet as she cups Mira's cheek.
“We can figure it out, though, right?” Zoey steps up beside Mira, slips a hand around her waist and presses a kiss to her shoulder, before grabbing Rumi’s other hand.
“As long as we’re together, our home can be anywhere.” Rumi states.
“Yeah, but—” Zoey tugs on her waist, cutting her off with a smile and molding the two of them together as Rumi slings an arm around her neck on the other side and Mira can’t do anything but sigh, “I hate it when you’re right.”
“You love it.” Zoey counters with a squish of her cheek.
“Yeah. I do.” She answers wholeheartedly, smile lingering before her face pinches into a cold look as her blood red eyes settle on the man again.
“Okay, listen here.” She growls. “We are letting you go, but know this; I have your scent. I can and will track you down at any point if you tell anyone about this place. I may not kill you, but I can make your life a living hell. Got it?” Her face is inches away from his, eyes gleaming and fangs out as the picture of nightmares.
“G— Got it.” He whimpers and Mira stares at him longer, allowing the silence to stretch as the red of her eyes darken to black, before she rips off his binds and shifts back.
He looks between the three of them, warily eyeing Zoey’s earnest and Rumi’s sheepish expressions, before he rises slowly and starts shuffling away from them.
His eyes remain on them as they watch him, before he disappears behind the opening to the kitchen and they hear pattering as he breaks out in a run.
“We probably should’ve dropped him off somewhere.” Zoey mentions.
“Oh.” Rumi says.
“Right.” Mira adds before the three of them run after him and reach him in the entryway.
Their presence startles him and he trips and falls, hitting his head on the floor with a sickening crack and a pool of blood slowly spreads outwards from it as a crippling silence stretches.
“There’s no way that just fucking happened.” Mira breathes and Rumi makes some strangled noise in response.
“Wh— maybe, he’s still—”
“No.” Zoey cuts her off in a rasp, eyes wide in horror. “He’s not.” The moment drags on the longer they stare at the body, like at any point the insanity of the situation will unravel itself.
“This is what we get for trying to do good.” Mira murmurs eventually and even Rumi can't say anything in response to that.
Instead, she laughs— a small chortle that escapes her, as evidenced by the way her eyes widen, but she can’t help it as another escapes her and then another and then another before she’s snorting up a storm and Zoey and Mira are watching her helplessly before, inevitably, joining in.
“This is ridiculous.” Rumi murmurs but she's smiling when she says it, and it’s not the reaction Zoey or Mira would expect from her in this situation, but it warms them all the same as she turns to look at them, eyes crinkled in mirth and patterns pulsing a soft pink.
It’s a show of how far Rumi’s come, how much she’s thriving now instead of just surviving, and so they know what it means for her to make that comment despite the circumstances, because whatever she’s feeling, they feel the same way.
“So, what are we gonna do… again?” Zoey says and there’s an unconscious way that her and Rumi’s eyes drift towards Mira.
“I'm not gonna feed off of him!” Mira sputters indignantly.
“Okay, that’s what we thought.” Rumi says.
“Would his blood even be... good?” Zoey wonders and Mira’s face contorts into a snarl before she can stop it.
“That's not the reason why.”
“I know.” Zoey assures quickly, reaching for Mira’s hand to give it a squeeze. “I know.” Mira feels the words embed deep in her and loosen something that’s always tightening.
“We could bury him?” Rumi offers quietly, eyes delayed in moving from the corpse to her friends.
“I like that.” Mira whispers and Zoey nods before she adds, “But we have to find out more about him first— like, just so nothing comes back to us…”
“Right. Good thinking, Zo.” Rumi agrees, directing a beaming smile to Zoey, who preens from the praise.
“Let's search his—” She cuts herself off with a scream as she turns with eyes fixed over Mira and Zoey’s shoulders.
“What—” They break out in screams, too, when they turn to see what Rumi’s looking at.
“What the fuck…” Mira murmurs.
“Holy crap!” A voice calls back, slightly distorted and slightly familiar, because there, shimmering in front of the trio, is the spectral image of the human that lay dead only a few feet away from them.
“No way.” Zoey whispers.
“That's my body.” He calls worriedly, wide and transparent eyes fixed on his limp corpse.
“Oh my God.” He whispers shakily. “I'm dead. I— I died.”
“Oh my God.” Zoey squeals, eyes bouncing between the bloodied body and the phantom form of the human. “We have a ghost!”
“No, no, no.” Mira corrects, clamping Zoey’s wrist to stop her from reaching out for him.
“We don't have anything.” She waves at him like she can wave him away. “Go away.”
“You can’t tell me to go away. You killed me.” He counters.
“You killed yourself.”
“You kidnapped me and then scared me to death— literally! After already threatening to kill me!”
“You invaded our home!” Mira shouts back. “I’m not gonna apologize for protecting it.”
“She doesn’t ever say sorry.” Zoey comments.
“I do!”
“Look.” She intervenes, pulling an indignant Mira behind her and stepping towards the ghost. “Did you ever consider that when you were looking for the ‘supernatural’, that there’s a reason they’re hard to find?” She lets the question linger in the air, watches as the human— or, the ghost actually ponders it.
“Sometimes,” Zoey says, voice soft, “they just want to be left alone… because that’s the only way they can fit in.” Her sad smile and attempt at a nonchalant shrug draw Mira and Rumi in closer to her and she tucks herself into their warmth.
“Oh.” The man murmurs and he watches the three of them wrapped up together with inquisitive eyes. “I never… thought about it like that.”
“Why would you?” Mira says but it lacks any heat.
“I just…” He warbles, ripples in place like he’s shuffling awkwardly before he shrugs. “I didn’t have anything else.” It’s said simply but they hear what's lying underneath the words and it softens some of the tension. In the silence that follows, he looks down at his body, flexing his fingers and moving his limbs as he exercises his new existence. Then, the trio watches as he slowly lifts off the ground and floats in place with a look of wonder.
“You’re taking this pretty well.” Rumi notes.
“I deal with the supernatural, remember?” He quips, but it lacks the mirth, and the silence and the way three of them watch him seems to wear him down.
“You guys were worried that this would be traced back to you,” He comments lowly with eyes downcast, “but the truth is it wouldn’t’ve happened. No one’s gonna come looking for me.” The words hang in the air before dropping on the trio like acid rain; Mira swallows and clenches her arms so hard her nails pierce skin; Zoey shakes in place and can’t meet anyone’s eyes; Rumi goes worryingly still and there’s the briefest flash of red across her patterns before they return to translucent. Each feels the weight of the words in their own way.
“Well, you came to the right place— or, not really.” Zoey says eventually.
“Zoey—”
“Don’t start with me,” She cuts Mira off, “I didn’t suggest anything.”
“Uh huh.”
“Maybe we should hear her out.” Rumi suggests.
“Not you, too, Rumi.”
“Maybe this random person appreciates Zoey’s kindness.”
“Rumi,” Mira nearly whines, “you know that wasn’t what I meant.”
“Rumi, that’s exactly what she meant.” Zoey snickers.
“Zoey—”
“If me and you weren’t soulbonded, she would’ve turned you away.”
“Guys…” This time, Mira does whine, hiding her face in her hands and Zoey and Rumi laugh at her before each grabbing a hand to pull away.
“It’s okay, Mira.” Rumi says.
“Well…” Zoey drawls with a smirk that has Rumi elbowing her.
“Would it be inconvenient,” He interrupts and they startle, like they’d forgotten he was there, “for me to mention that I’m tethered here because I died here?”
“What do you mean ‘tethered’?” Mira growls and the ghost gives a sheepish smile.
“Probably whatever you’re thinking.”
“Oh, great.” She bemoans.
“It’s okay.” He assures. “I’m a quick learner, I’ll figure out a way to get out of your hair.” He sighs a bit dramatically, which has Zoey palming Mira’s shoulder till she turns to meet her. Zoey raises a singular eyebrow before looking at Rumi past Mira’s shoulder, which prompts Mira to turn and meet Rumi’s expectant gaze, before she sighs loudly.
“It appears you can stay here… whether I like it or not.” She grumbles, adding in a mumble, “Like what happened with everyone else here.”
“Hey!” Zoey and Rumi shout and Mira barks out a laugh, shielding herself as they begin playfully hitting her. The ghost watches on silently, a small smile playing on his lips before he mutters, “You don’t have to do that.” Zoey withdraws her hands from around Mira’s neck and Rumi closes her mouth from where she was going to bite Mira as the three of them return their attention to him.
“I know that I disrupted your peace. You don’t have to… take pity on me.” He murmurs remorsefully and Mira’s arms curl tighter around Zoey and Rumi as she eyes the ghost.
“That’s in the past.” She concedes quietly and it draws a timid smile from him as he seems to light up with hope.
“And for the future, you should probably know our names.” Zoey cuts in warmly. “I’m Zoey, that’s Rumi,” She points at Rumi, who smiles awkwardly with a small wave, “and that’s Mira.” Mira simply crosses her arms and nods at the ghost.
“Bobby.” He introduces and bows, but ends up doing a full somersault by accident and nearly floats away.
“Nice to meet you, Bobby.” Zoey chirps and Bobby looks at her skeptically.
“Really?”
“Well—” She giggles, “the circumstances aren’t great but…” She shrugs then shares a brief look and a soft smile with Rumi when déjà vu hits her.
“No, they’re not.” He murmurs solemnly and the trio share a glance as he goes quiet and his whole demeanour stills. He stares endlessly at a nearby table and it’s harder to read his emotions with how he’s incorporeal, but they know what emotions must be creeping up on him now as reality really sets in— after all, they know it’s like for something to happen and to feel like everything’s falling apart.
“Are you gonna be okay?” Rumi asks tentatively but Bobby carries on like he doesn’t hear her, continues to stare straight at the table with a concentrated look.
Suddenly, the mug sitting on it shifts all by itself, a loud screech indicating its movement.
“Yeah,” He turns to them with a slight smile, “I think I will be.”