17. The Not So Logical, Logic

O ctavius bounced happily, giggling as he watched Turney disappear down the slide. The sound his boyfriend let out as he went was a joyful yell. Scarlett and Min-ji had gone before him, and the two had unsurprisingly gone down silently—which was boring, but predictable.

Instead of getting ready for his turn, Octavius waited, letting a few people go before him, so he could watch Turney fly out of the end, into the pool far below the slide that was probably nearly fifty feet high. He couldn’t help but bounce again as the zombie shot out at the end. Waving happily to the man when he resurfaced, Octavius quickly slipped back in line.

“Next!” the man operating the slide announced.

Shaking with excitement, Octavius sat down and got situated in the yellow tube, crossing his legs over one another, before folding his arms over his chest as instructed. Water was already flowing swiftly around him.

“Ready?” the human asked.

“YES!”

“Have fun!” the man sang, as he pressed a button on the panel near him that lifted the board that was keeping Octavius in place.

He let out a squeal as he set off down the tube, yelling, “WHEEE!”

Octavius bounced a few times on the high drops, laughing as he was swept through the loops in the enclosed slide that just seemed to go on and on.

Oh, it would be so much fun to go down this in bat form in someone’s pocket, Octavius thought with a laugh.

He frowned on hearing an odd sound that came from further back in the tube…but it was the smell that followed that sucked away all of the joy—blood.

The water around him began to turn crimson, moments before he shot out of the end of the slide. Plunging into water that had turned increasingly murky, he swam to the surface quickly, spinning back to look at the opening of the slide.

The water flowing out was now blood red, the source of it flying out seconds later. The screaming started even before the headless body landed, though the head was not far behind.

“Shit…” Octavius sighed.

Turney stood there smiling as he waited for Octavius to shoot out the slide. But his body began to tense before he even realized why. That was when the smell finally hit his senses.

He started moving towards the flagged, marked landing zone without hesitation, his heart speeding up as Octavius flew out of the slide, the water around him filled with blood.

Turney rushed forward, but his panic fell away as Octavius popped up out of the bloody water. He found himself stopping completely when what must have been the actual source of the blood came flying out of the tube.

His eyes widened as he watched a headless body in swim trunks, its neck cleanly severed and gushing blood, disappear under water, followed quickly by a head. “What…the fuck…?”

Ignoring the screaming and now panicked people as they splash, rushing to get out of the water—because…dead body. He quickly swam to Octavius, who had continued swimming in place, just staring up at the swirling yellow slide. The vampire glanced at him as he grabbed his hand.

“You aren’t hurt, are you?”

Octavius shook his head. “I’m fine.”

“Come on, let’s get out,” he said as he started towing Octavius away from the landing zone, heading toward Min-ji and Scarlett, who were standing in the shallow end of the pool, as others ran past them.

The vampire remained silent as he tugged him along, standing with him when they reached the women. They all quickly got out. The pool that the slide emptied into was more of a fake beach type of deal, where you could walk out, rather than having to climb.

In their panic, some people had toppled over chairs and umbrellas, but most were now standing back, staring in horror at the murky blood puddle that was growing in the once crystal-clear water.

Scarlett tsked. “Has there possibly been multiple deaths at this park before, or…are you just this unlucky, Octavius?”

The vampire, still staring at the slide with a frown, and clearly not completely focused, slowly said, “There weren’t any deaths mentioned when I looked it up. But then again, Duckvilla is a fairly new park. It’s only been open for five years.” Octavius blinked, his head snapping in Scarlett’s direction. “Unlucky?! Me?” The vampire pointed towards himself, as if offended that she would even suggest it. “What does any of this have to do with me?!”

“I mean,” Turney sighed. “If the police didn’t suspect us, or rather you, before, they may now.”

“Why?” Octavius asked, sounding way too serious, when the answer was obvious.

“Because someone died near you, again.”

“Well, how is that related to me?!” Octavius cried. “I just happened to be here!”

Turney stared blankly at his boyfriend and the pout forming. “First…professional face.”

He sighed again when the man’s pout just set in further. Well, he had tried, and that counted for something…maybe.

“Octavius, you are a detective. Even you would find this suspicious.”

The vampire huffed. “Yes, but I didn’t do anything, so I can’t be suspicious!”

Turney snorted. That was some logic… Not logical, but it was some…logic…

Octavius sighed. “I suppose this means we have to wait for the police…again.” The vampire’s pout deepened. “You don’t think…they will close the whole water park, do you?”

“Octavius!” he gasped. “Someone died.”

“Yes, but only here!” the man huffed. “It’s one slide… Why close everything for one slide…? It was a fun slide, but there are still many others!”

Min-ji, who had remained silent the whole time, mused, “Depends on how greedy the owner is, I suppose. But based on capitalism, I’m sure it will remain open.”

He groaned and started to rub at his temples, attempting to push back the headache that was trying to form. Was he just too sensitive, or…

Scarlett chuckled. “You’ll have to forgive us, Turney. At our age, it’s easy to be desensitized by the deaths of strangers. And…” She smiled. “While I’m sure you’ll be unhappy to hear me say this, but one day…you’ll get there. It won’t be fast, it won’t be sudden, you’ll just realize one day that death, outside of those that you care about and are close to, is too normal of an occurrence to feel anything at all about when it comes to strangers.”

“That’s…not comforting,” Turney grumbled as he let his hands drop back to his sides.

“It should be,” Octavius said softly. His pout had finally gone, and there was a somber smile on his face. “Our lives are too unending to let death into our heads.”

He met his gaze, and…found a touch of sadness there. The vampire grasped onto his hand and brought it up to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on the top of it before letting go.

“Life is long, the one thing that is always constant…is that people die. Your life will be too long to hold on to the empathy you feel at the deaths of strangers, Turney. That pain adds up… No long-living paranormal can hold onto it if they want to keep moving forward without it crushing them. So, for your sake and mine, as I selfishly want to keep you with me for all eternity, I hope you do get there.”

Turney reached out and pulled Octavius to him, wrapping his arms around him. The vampire clung to him. “I’m not going anywhere. Nor will I let my empathy for humans crush me, I promise.”

With his arms folded under his head, Theo let out a soft groan as the masseur worked on his lower back. He smiled when Sprinkle’s purring, which had become a comforting constant rumble, got louder. She was very much enjoying her kitten massage.

He laid there a minute more, just relaxing, before reaching out and feeling for his phone, which he’d left on the corner of the table. Grabbing it, he pressed the button on the side and said, “Send a voice message to Cormac.”

“Ready to receive message,” his phone responded.

“How’s it going?” he asked, pressing the side button again to end the recording and send it.

“Message sent.”

He set his phone back down, and was reaching the feeling of bonelessness when it started to ring.

“Incoming call from Cormac,” his phone repeated.

Theo sighed. “Answer call.”

As it connected, and before his brother had a chance to say anything, he quickly stated, “I’m not alone, so keep it civil.”

More like, keep paranormals out of the discussion , he thought.

“Is that…purring I hear?” Cormac asked with a hesitant laugh.

“Sprinkle is enjoying a massage.”

His brother snorted. “I would complain…but I’m where I want to be, so…”

“How is everything going?”

“It’s…going. It’s a confusing mess, but it’s going. I think we’re going to be here for a while, not going to lie.”

He hummed. “Not driving Henry too insane, are you?”

Cormac chuckled. “Would I do that?”

“Yes.”

“I’m being good. And things are going well, I think. I mean…he’s said more than two words to me, so that’s an improvement. And I’ve learned a few… Well, one thing about his past.”

“You are there to work, not to romance and irritate Henry.”

“I am here to do both, thank you very much!” Cormac snickered.

He rolled his eyes. “Just try to come home in one piece.”

“That is the plan.”

“Well, I figured I’d call to see how long you think you will be…and to sort of give you an update on here. Honestly, I’m assuming Octavius has pushed the case fully from his mind, so if you have anything specifically case related to share, send it to me in a voice message and I’ll listen later. Though, if you think it will take some time, I imagine you won’t have much to send while we are still here.”

“Yeah, it will probably be a bit. I think Henry said he is only supposed to update Octavius if it’s something important.”

“Right, speaking of our chaotic boss, it’s been slightly insane here. Someone was decapitated right in front of Octavius and Turney.”

He felt the masseur’s hands hesitate for a moment before continuing.

“Decapitated?!” a distant voice said, the voice obviously belonging to Henry.

“Hey!” Cormac cried. “No listening in on my phone calls, Henry! At your age, you should know that’s rude.”

He frowned on hearing the vampire say something, but the words were too soft to make sense of.

“Well, that’s different, I’m young and immature!” Cormac huffed.

The cheeky brat… Theo’s nose wrinkled in disgust. He wasn’t sure what his brother was responding to, but…that was not anything someone should be willing to voice out loud. Especially not someone he had a hand in raising.

“Cormac,” he growled.

“Uh...yes, dear brother, who I love so much, who would never embarrass me by scolding me in front of my crush.”

“Hah, is that what you think?”

“Y-yes?”

“Think again,” Theo ground out.

Octavius waved at the police detectives who eyed them very…suspiciously as they walked away. “Well, that was interesting. And by interesting, I mean, repetitive and boring.”

Turney scoffed. “I’m pretty sure being questioned by the police isn’t supposed to be entertaining, Octavius.”

“They could at least attempt it.”

“I think they were hoping to intimidate you,” Scarlett mused.

“That definitely seemed to be their goal,” Min-ji agreed.

“Enough about them! TO THE NEXT SLIDE!” He pointed in the direction of the small slide!