Warring Logics (Book 1 of The Institute of Fantasiological Studies)

“Are you okay, Alexis?” Max asks as I hang my coat on the coat tree next to the front door in the entryway of the coven house.

I made it to my appointment at the Weiß coven, huffing and puffing- really sexy I’m sure. But I had to get away from Albert; I couldn’t take the drama anymore.

“I’m great” I force a smile on my probably bright red face, “I was late so I ran part of the way.”

Max smiles, “you’re so cute.”

I blush as I grab my bag from the ground, “So, uh, where is my interviewee?” I say ignoring his comment.

“Just in the sitting room. Lisa is our newest recruit so I thought since you said you needed a selection of people, she might be good” Aw, the big bad vampire looks unsure of himself, that’s so adorable.

“Perfect! Thank you so much Max for setting this up” I reward him with a brilliant smile. His face flushes in response to my praise and I think I might enjoy this whole beloved thing.

He waves me towards the sitting room, and I enter to see the goth woman who played monopoly at the house party sitting on one of the chairs. She wears black pants, a black blouse, and black bracelets that match her black skull earrings. Her makeup is dark with black-lined eyes and dark purple lipstick. She looks young but has faint lines around her eyes that make me think she is probably in her late 20s or early 30s. More interestingly, she is still human.

I take my seat opposite her and grab my notebook and recorder from the bag, setting the latter on the wooden coffee table between us. It doesn’t take long to discuss the nature of the interview and get her consent. Her voice is soft despite the hard look of her, perhaps all the black is an effort to hide the gentleness within?

I open my notebook to my preset questions, I will have to modify them a little because she’s new and won’t know how to answer some of the questions, but maybe I can get some interesting answers about why she chose to go down this path.

I smile at her, “Can you tell me a bit about yourself and your role within the coven?”

She picks some white lint off her pants, “My name is Lisa Wagner, I am a secretary at GKBS which is a logistic company out by the airport um… I am new to the coven and was just accepted officially last week”

She pauses and I use the occasion to ask another question, “What made you decide to become a vampire?”

Her eyes jump back up to me and I see that they are a light blue which looks unnatural next to her inky black eyebrows, “My sister and mother died two years ago.”

I wait patiently as she picks off more lint from her pants.

“I have a son, Peter, who… I just realized that life is so fleeting, ja? I’m a single mother, I can’t leave him by himself...”

I feel a wave of pity for her wash over me, but I need to see if I can get her to be more explicit, “so, if I understand you correctly, you are choosing to become a vampire for their longevity? So you can be there for your son Peter?”

She nods still looking down, before replying “yes.”

Ugh, I need to ask more open-ended questions, short answers don’t make interesting findings or quotes.

I look down at my notes, but decide to ask another question off the cuff first, “and why did you choose the Weiß coven?”

Her eyes dash towards the door and my eyes follow to see that it has been closed. “I went to the other coven’s first, because, you know, the older covens are more…. What is the word?

Distinguished, but…” she sighs and looks up at me, I can see the anger in her eyes, “the stuck-up assholes wouldn’t accept me. And why? Because of some moral code, they developed 200 years ago? Who are they to judge me? Who are they to decide who gets to live forever and who gets to die an early death on the side of the autobahn...?”

She starts to hiccup and then cry, and I quickly realize I’ve lost all control over the interview. Shit, I really need to get better at this.

I look over and see a box of tissues on a far ledge and I stand up and grab it. I hand her a tissue, setting the box on the coffee table before sitting down again. I don’t know what to say to make her feel better, or even if my role as a researcher is to make her feel better.

She dabs her eyes and blows her nose before she seems to calm down a little, “they were so mean about it to- just a short letter saying that they wouldn’t accept me for moral reasons. I just…” she looks at the recorder on the table “I don’t mean to eat up all your time with my emotional drama.”

I shake my head at her “no, this is great” I cringe, did I really just say that? “I mean, it’s helpful for me to understand your decision and well, to understand the differences between the covens.”

Lisa nods and dabs her eyes again.

When she doesn’t say anything else, I look down at my notes and ask the next question “what do you think the main purpose of a coven is?”

“Family. We are a family.”

“What do you mean by that?” I ask for clarity.

“We hang out together, have barbecues, one of the women even watched my son when I had to work and my babysitter. No one else ever does that. We all live alone in our apartments in a city filled with people and I don’t even know my downstairs neighbor- he certainly doesn’t care if something bad happens to me. Now with the pandemic, even the few people who cared can’t visit anymore. The coven is our escape from that existence. I have friends now, someone to take care of Peter if I really need it.”

Listening to her I can’t help but ask, “it sounds like you are looking forward to joining the coven, is there anything that concerns you about it?”