"Perfect!" Kari exclaimed. "I cannot wait to see you again."
"Me too." Ellie ended the call and stared at her phone. What on earth had she just gotten herself into?
*****
Ellie pulled into the driveway, turned off the car, and looked up at the modest two-story brownstone wondering how she was going to explain all of this to her grandmother. After the death of her parents, her grandparents became her world. When they lost her grandfather, she and her gram became inseparable; Ellie didn't know what she would do without her rock steady support.
Climbing out of the car, she trudged her way up to the front steps. When she opened the door, she smiled. The scent of freshly baked bread mingled with the mouth-watering aroma of the special blend of savory spices her grandmother used in her famous beef stew. She made her way to the kitchen. "Hey Gram."
The tall woman turned to her. There were many days she had wished she had inherited her grandmother's height. Instead, she took after her mother, which meant she was shorter and rounder.
Her grandmother wore her graying hair piled up on her head in a messy yet stylish bun. She was elegant in a way Ellie could only dream of.
Her grandmother frowned. "What on earth are you doing home at this hour? Aren't you supposed to be at work?" she asked.
Ellie gave self-deprecating laugh. "I quit," she announced.
Marjoram Johanson's eyes widened. "Oh dear! All right, sit down and tell me all about it." She pulled off her apron, went over to the coffee pot, and started the pot to brew. Above the coffee pot, she opened up the cabinet and pulled down two old mugs. One had a cartoon character of a baby elephant; the other had a cartoon character of a momma elephant. Ellie loved those mugs. Her mother had bought them for the two of them to use during their morning coffee. After she passed away, her grandmother continued using them to keep her memory alive. They were the mugs that Ellie drank out of when she was feeling sad, and they always seemed to make her smile.
Marjoram placed the mugs on the table and raised an arched brow at her. "Well..." she prompted.
"Director Redly advised me that I didn't look thin enough to do the presentation tonight, and because of my weight, I looked sloppy. I was told that I would not impress potential backers to ensure any fundraising."
Marjoram's nostrils flared. "Oh he did, did he?" She went to the refrigerator to keep her hands busy and pulled out the cream, placing it on the table before sitting down.
"That's when you quit?"
Ellie nodded. "And that's when I quit."
A devilish smile crossed Marjoram's lips. "And what did he say when he found out he would be losing all of your research?"
Eleanor gave her an answering smile. "He was still imploding when I walked out. I don't think he or the directors realized that the hospital doesn't own any of the research. They assumed that because I worked there, all of the research belonged to them. But I've been logging, time stamping, and cataloguing all of my results and experiments. I've done them all on my own time, with my own money. They can't claim a smidge of it."
When the coffee pot sounded that it was done, Marjoram rose gracefully, went to get the carafe, and poured them both a cup of coffee. She set the carafe on the stone hot plate in the middle of the table. "So what would you like to do next? I know you love working with children. I'm sure there are other hospitals around the country that would love to get their hands on you."
Ellie winced. It wasn't as easy as that. Because she didn't age like humans, she had to rotate through the hospitals where she worked. There were very few that actually did any good work for children. She'd been to all of them in the past fifty years, and she couldn't go back to them anytime soon. "I may have to work on my own for a while, Gram, maybe work at a small clinic or something. But before we figure that out, I had a phone call from Kari Delaney right after I left the hospital."
"The corporate girl?"
"Yep." Ellie added three packets of sugar and a lot of cream to her coffee. "She's in Noctem Falls now."
Marjoram stirred her coffee. "Is that the same girl you told me hated Noctem Falls with a passion?"
"Yeah, seems she went there because of the recent murders."
Marjoram clucked her tongue. "I told you we should have gone to Lycaonia. It isn't safe any more. I know there haven't been any deaths around here, but why tempt fate?"
"Actually, Kari asked if I could go to Noctem Falls."
"Why on earth would you go to the vampire city?"
"Kari said that some of the children there are sort of sick."
"There aren't any children in Noctem Falls." Her grandmother snorted. "As if those stuck up, dried up, old vampires could do anything other than stab each other in the backs."