Norman sat on the couch, smoking a cigarette. He didn’t normally smoke cigarettes, but he needed something to help relax after the awful shit he had experienced today and he was all out of weed.

Reliving being tossed around by a dog wasn’t even that bad. Not in comparison to dying from starvation in a live trap, someone had forgotten about. It made him instantly remove the live traps from his garage.

But despite the horrific things he witnessed, he did learn some things. The most important bit of information he learned was that he didn’t need the whole ritual aspect. Not unless he wanted to experience the full host of sensations as his subject died. And who in their right mind would want to go through that?

He should have just assumed that was the case after his second test, but no, he had to be thorough and make sure with a follow-up test.

Thankfully, the visions only showed the final minute of the creatures' lives. Any more than that and Norman might just erase these tests from his notebook and try something else out. He didn’t though, because progress was progress. Even if that progress was painful.

But this left Norman with a dilemma. He now knew he needed the magical powder to make his form of magic work, at least for this spell. He doubted the elves were gonna volunteer blood. More than likely they would kill him if they ever found out he was debasing a part of their bodies for his own gain. That left him in his current pickle. His small supply of the magical powder was nearly used up from just tests he had run today.

Norman needed more, but he wasn't a fighter and he certainly didn’t want to tangle with the Jorik. Any of those blue-skinned assholes outside their cities were liable to be powerful casters and almost always hostile. Funnily enough, that also made them perfect targets for what he needed since no human would really care if he killed one. Not that Norman had ever killed anyone or anything before. Heck, he used live traps for anything bigger than a mouse, and that was because he couldn’t find a live trap small enough to contain the little buggers.

He ran his hands through his hair in frustration. Now that he had a way forward, stopping felt wrong. But he couldn’t just run out into the wilderness and hope to catch a Jorik unawares, then hope to kill or capture them. And he couldn’t just trust this information with anyone. It had been a risk just asking Toby to get those bodies for him. But it wasn’t much a secret that he was trying to be a necromancer anymore so the risk was minimal. Asking some rando or those muscle heads at the guild to get him Jorik blood would throw up some huge red flags, even for those idiots.

Norman put the cigarette out in the ashtray, it wasn’t helping. He grabbed his phone and wallet and decided to go for a walk to try and clear his head.

He jerked the door open, getting a squeak of surprise from Anna as she ran into his stomach instead of the door. Norman coughed as the air was nearly knocked out of him. He groaned and rubbed his chest where she had hit him. “Stop trying to bash my door in, you could just knock.”

“I’m so sorry, Norm, are you ok?”

“I’m fine. Why are you here anyway?” He was slightly annoyed that she was here, he didn’t need the added complication of dealing with her and his current issues at the same time.

“I’m bored.”

“…”

Anna didn’t clarify further before trying to change the subject.

“Where are you going? Mind if I join you?”

Norman sighed, he realized she was probably going to tag no matter what he said. He shrugged, “whatever. I’m just going for a walk, maybe I’ll hit up downtown.”

Anna beamed as she followed along and tried to get Norman to hold her hand. Norman ignored her attempts and she eventually gave up on her attempts, instead settling on holding the crook of his arm.

Norman just shook his head and sighed, slowing his pace. He was much taller than his friend's sister and she was struggling to keep up with his normal walking speed.

“This is nice,” she said suddenly.

“Huh?”

Norman saw the girl's face turn beet red. “Ge- getting out and about. Toby says it's too dangerous to go walking alone.”

“I guess so. Though I don’t see many of the alien creatures lately anymore. Then again they tend to avoid me. I guess I’m too big a target for them.” Norman was on the taller side at six foot three.

“Your lucky,” she sighed.

“Huh, how so?” He responded absently.

“Well, you’re free to come and go as you please. I know Toby just wants to keep me safe since Mom and Dad are gone but he isn’t my parent. I sometimes feel like I’m a prisoner in my own home.” Anna kicked some rocks from the sidewalk as she paused her thoughts. “You and Toby are the only people I really know, especially since they canceled the schools.”

“What about your classmates, surely you had some friends you message or still talk to?” Norman felt bad for the girl, especially if Toby and he were the only two people she normally interacted with.

“Friends,” she huffed, releasing Norman’s arm to cross hers. “Those backstabbers gave up all pretense at friendship when they realized they would no longer have easy access to drugs through my brother.”

“You’re probably better off without them.” Norman knew plenty of people like who Anna described.

Norman had similar difficulties in school. Perhaps that was why he was so reluctant to push Anna away completely, her situation reminded him of his own a bit. Where it diverted was Norman was the source of drugs for his friends and others during his time in school.

It didn’t stop his friends from vanishing like smoke in the wind when Norman stopped hosting raging parties at his house. The choice hadn’t been completely his. Police had raided his house and Norman had had to go into hiding for a few weeks to avoid being arrested back then.

The memory made Norman smile.

“Hold up for a moment,” Anna called from behind.

Norman paused and turned. He realized he had left Anna behind while lost in his thoughts.

He watched in confusion as the girl picked up a piece of broken concrete about the size of a fist. She hefted it in her hand and then turned toward the house they were walking past.

“Traitor!” With a scream, she heaved the chunk through a large picture window in the front of the darkened house.

Norman was shocked by the girl's outburst, it was just so out of character for the mild-mannered girl that he was speechless for a moment. When reality caught back up, Norman looked around to ensure nobody else had seen the act of vandalism.

While most of the people outside the wall had abandoned their homes for safety inside the walls, some were still around. And the city had declared vandalism a serious crime. The police didn’t have much else to do anymore so cracked down hard on offenders. Toby said they wanted to ensure homes remained intact if they were forced to push people back out from the wall. Norman had no reason to dispute that information.

Norman quickly grabbed Anna’s arm and jerked her along as he ran. The smaller girl didn’t resist as she was pulled along, she just laughed.

“You’re fucking nuts.”

That only seemed to make her laugh more.

“Fuck it!” She yelled as Norman hurried her along.

Norman could only shake his head in exasperation as he pulled her down an alley and out of sight of the house. He cursed when he heard the sirens in the distance. It seems someone had reported the incident, he could only hope whoever did, didn’t get a good look at them.

He pulled Anna down a thin alleyway between two buildings moments before a cop car went racing past. He poked his head out of the alley and watched as the police car turned down another road. Norman sighed in relief, they weren’t going in the direction the pair had come from.

Norman turned to reprimand Anna, but before he could, she wrapped her arms around his torso and pressed herself against him.

“Hold me.”

“What? Stop! What the hell has gotten into you?” Norman pushed the nonsensical girl off of him and held her at length.

“Nothing,” she pouted, crossing her arms.

“Your little stunt could have gotten us both arrested.”

“Oh please, besides, that was my former friend Becky’s house. She got what she deserved.”

“That’s not the point, I’m taking you back home.” Norman tried to pull her forward but the girl was surprisingly nimble as she slipped from his grasp.

“No! I won’t let Becky ruin this date.”

“What are you on about?” Date? What date? Norman didn’t have time to process anymore before Anna rushed past him and down the street towards downtown.

“Anna, get back here. If you get hurt, Toby is going to kill me.”

“No, if you want to keep me safe, you’ll just have to finish our date. I want dinner and a show.”

Norman cursed under his breath as he raced to catch up to the girl. He could try and drag her back home but if they got stopped he had the sinking suspicion that Anna would say he was kidnapping her or some other such nonsense. It was clear she wasn’t acting like herself. Norman knew from Toby that Anna had issues but it was the first time he had gotten to experience it himself and he wasn’t enjoying it.

With no other choice, Norman followed behind her until they got past the wall, where she grabbed his arm again and steered him towards the market district. Norman despised this but he needed to ensure she got home safe and sound.

Anna dragged him around the market with an iron grip on his arm. He allowed it since it seemed to calm the erratic girl.

Norman watched the girl’s eyes light up as she spotted items of interest and pulled him over to one stall or another.

“Norman, look,” she pointed to a random-looking necklace.

“Yeah? What about it?”

“It’s magical, Jorik made, I think.”

“I doubt it.” Norman took a closer look at this supposed necklace, the merchant eyeing him suspiciously.

To Norman, it just looked like one of those cheap birthstone necklaces that they sold at flea markets. The chain wasn’t even gold or platinum, it was just cheap brass or copper. But he thought he saw a slight blue glow emanating from the crystal so maybe it was magical.

“Buy it for me, Norman.”

“What, are you out of your mind?” That was the wrong thing to say.

Anna stomped her foot and crossed her arms.

“I’m not made of money, Anna.” She didn’t budge, just staring at him and getting angrier with each passing moment.

Norman signed, “Fine.” He didn’t want to deal with another outburst from the girl. “How much?” He asked the seller, an older-looking woman wearing an unflattering faded denim shirt and jeans that were way too tight on her and made her look like an overstuffed sausage.

The woman sashayed over, in what she probably thought was a sexy manner but came across as desperate and gross. Norman wished he could wipe the image from his brain.

“Oh, this little beauty?” The woman picked up the necklace and draped it over her hand as you see in those shitty late-night infomercials. “It came off a dead elf, it’s the real deal.”

“…”

Norman waited for the woman to tell him what the item did but she didn’t expound on its virtues or the price. Norman knew this trick and he wasn’t about to humor the woman, too bad Anna was naïve.

“Oh, what does it do?”

Norman saw the quick smirk on the merchant's face as she turned toward Anna.

“This little beauty is said to bring luck in one's love life.” The merchant flicked her eyes between the pair

Norman shuddered in revulsion at the implied look. Thankfully, Anna was completely engrossed and didn’t notice his reaction. Anna asked a follow-up question.

“How does it do that?”

“Magic my dear girl, magic.”

Norman snorted derisively at that, earning a slight frown from the merchant.

“But, how do you know that’s what it does? You said it came off a dead elf, so how would you know?” The question earned a full-on glare from the merchant as well as Anna. He just rolled his eyes.

“It was appraised by the Guild. They were the ones that told me it was a necklace of bound souls.”

Norman wanted to roll his eyes when he heard the guild’s name. They were a group of idiots that called themselves adventurers like this was some sort of stupid Isekai novel.

Like adventurers from those stories, they went out and fought “monsters”. It was part of the reason that the alien animals were so scarce around the area. So they weren’t completely useless.

“That sounds more like some dark magic fuckery than a love necklace.” Norman may be forced to buy this shitty necklace but he certainly wasn’t going to make it easy on this merchant.

The merchant scoffed. “If that were the case, the Guild would have destroyed it instead of letting me sell it.

Norman doubted the ‘Guild’ knew their ass from a hole in the ground. “I’ll give you twenty-five bucks for it.”

The woman scoffed in faux outrage. “I couldn’t do less than two hundred.”

Norman shrugged, “That’s your problem.” He began to walk away.

“One fifty!”

“Seventy-five.”

“Ninety.”

The merchant eventually settled on eighty-five, which was eighty-five more than he wanted to spend on the piece of junk. Norman knew the same thing the seedy merchant probably knew but didn’t bother disclosing. The necklace wasn’t worth more than the materials it was made from.

No magical items he had seen from the elves worked for humans. Nobody could figure out why, but Norman was beginning to suspect it was the same reason their blood contained power.

Never in a million years, even if Anna threw the monster of all tantrums would Norman have purchased a ‘love necklace’ for the unstable girl if he had any inkling that it would work for her. He didn’t need that sort of headache. Norman decided to hide the fact that the necklace was useless from Anna, seeing as she seemed happy with the trinket and it meant he could finally take her home.

She quickly put it on and seemed to be in a much-improved mood, this allowed Norman to lead her instead of the other way around and they eventually returned home where he was glad to drop her off and be done with the whole day.

At least one good thing came of the situation, he had been able to get his mind off of his troubles during the time he had been out with Anna. Despite that, he was going to have to avoid the girl for the next few months. She was clingy before, after this ‘date’ she would probably be insufferable.