I fight evil creatures, I don't date them (Preface)

I walk into my apartment and throw my bag on the couch. I’m the complete opposite of happy.

“Black, what have I done?” I ask her as I grab her from the kitchen table and pet her.

“You know you can’t go on a date with him.” I look up to the doorway to see William closing my front door. “But I’m sure you’ve already figured that out.”

“This isn’t any of your business, William,” I say standing up. “I can handle my own affairs.”

“Can you?” he asks amused. “Because it looks to me like you just agreed to go on a date with that human—”

“Reese! His name is Reese, not ‘that human’.” I blush as I realize what I’m doing. William chuckles.

“Frankly, Celeste, it doesn’t matter what his name is. Seeing him just leaves you with an extra appendage; a weakness that you can bet they’ll use against you, against us.” I breathe heavily through my nose and eye him angrily. As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right; he’s exactly right.

“What do you want me to do about it, then?” I ask. William shrugs.

“Blow him off, move away, get in a fight, I don’t care.” He sits down on my couch petting Black. “But you have to get him away from you. If you don’t, he’s in danger; you can’t protect him.”

Now I’m fuming.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I can protect him if he needs protecting!”

“Not forever; you can’t keep constant watch over him.” William’s voice is even as he strokes Black. “You should have known that people like you cannot get involved with people like him. You humans amaze me.” William looks away from me in disgust and I scoff at him.

“It’s always us isn’t it? It’s never you, heaven forbid! Who do you think you are?” William gets off the couch and crosses swiftly to me to meet my eyes. His gaze is intense but my anger is, too.

“Humans are weak; they are food to those that would see them as such and useless to those who see them otherwise.” He never breaks my gaze as he says this.

“And what of me? Am I weak?”

“You are human,” he says simply.

“And my immortality counts for nothing? I don’t think so.”

“Don’t try and hold your age over me. What you have in years I more than make up for in strength.”

“Killing humans isn’t strength, William. Humans kill humans; spiders kill humans, look at it that way.” I sit down next to Black and cross my arms over my chest. “The advantage of having a spider kill you, however, is that they don’t speak.”

“You know what I’m talking about. You trying to make relationships with them compromises our goal,” he says evenly.

“If you’ll kindly remember, I’m not aware of our goal. You’re going to have to fill me in. Until then, I’ll deal with my own relationships without your help.” William’s dark eyes stare angrily at me. He releases an exasperated sigh.

“You make this difficult for me, Celeste.” His tone is calm. “My feelings about humans aside, you must consider the consequences of your actions – especially in this circumstance.”

“I have and I assure you that I am aware of the mistake I’ve made. It will be remedied as soon as possible.” We never break eye contact as we speak, but as my anger leaves me it becomes harder to look at him.

“I’m relieved,” he says. He hooks his finger and pulls my chin up to his. His touch is icy and makes my face flush. “You’re safety is a prime concern, Celeste. I hope you know that.” Then he’s out my door and gone before I can speak. I inhale and exhale loudly.

“Goddamn it,” I say, walking into my room.