She felt the hair on the back of her neck rise as several of the single men in the bar stared at her. Her mocha skin, silver hair, and golden eyes assured that this sort of reaction was the norm whenever she went out in public on nights like this. Nights when her thoughts got to be too much, when her twin and the rest of her family couldn’t provide enough of a distraction.
This was her territory, really. The darker, yet somehow familiar corners of the mortal world. The places where prostitutes, runaways, nomads, and every other Tom, Dick, and Harry on the lighter side of the underworld gathered.
Oh, and the mob boss sitting up on the second-story balcony. Mm. She’d have to pay him a visit before she headed back to Heaven. In the future, it just might make the guy think twice about hitting the girls he’d taken a liking to.
At five foot two, she wasn’t the most intimidating of women. Especially since her facial structure made her look more like a pixie than a badass. But then, that’s what she’d had him help her with. He’d taught her, over their sporadic meetings, how to be more intimidating. It was all about the look in her eye, he’d told her. “If you’ve got that gleam in your eye, the one that makes you look just a little bit...off, well... No sane human ‘ll wanna cross you.”
When she’d asked him how he figured this out, he just smirked and took another swig of his whisky. That was usually the response she’d get when he wasn’t in a sharing mood. Her response to that typically involved a sarcastic comment and her trademark eye-roll.
She shook her head hard and looked up from the bar’s worn countertop. It only took her snapping her fingers once to get the bartender’s attention. Once the guy saw who it was that was trying to get his attention, he hustled off to get a bottle of “Extra Añejo” tequila. It was expensive, sure, but it was the only thing that woman seemed to drink.
She’d been here over a dozen times in the past eight months, and she never ordered anything else. Tequila, the kind aged over three years, on the rocks, in a whiskey glass, of all things. Funny how her drinking buddy wasn’t with her. The bartender often jumped to conclusions, so he assumed that the guy must’ve been her boyfriend, and they’d broken up. He’d never figure out how far from the truth he was.
When the drink was set down in front of her, she immediately reached out and took a sip. Then she set it down on the counter, cupped her hands around the glass, and stared at the swirling liquor. Eight months. It had been eight months since she had last seen him.
She knew that she should have given up by now. From what she could tell, her...mother and father had thrown in the towel. She hadn’t seen Luke, Coal, or Akan since the day they’d cornered Idan and her in London. They’d demanded to know what Heaven had done with Valoc. The twins just didn’t have an answer for the trio.
Valoc had disappeared without a trace. Twice now, he’d vanished without any sign of where he’d gone. And despite all that, she’d held out hope that maybe, just maybe, he’d show up at their usual meeting place. It was stupid, getting her hopes up like that, and yet...here she was.
An hour passed, and the clock hanging above the bar hit 1 a.m. She’d finished her drink by now, and as she’d expected, felt nothing. No buzz, not even the tiniest hint of her being drunk. Ah well, it had been worth a shot. The young woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a few folded bills, set them on the counter, and made to stand up.
A hand landed on her right shoulder, squeezing none-too-gently. In her distracted musings, she hadn’t even been paying attention to the people milling about the pub. She didn’t need to look at the guy who’d grabbed her; she knew he wasn’t human. Now, the only question was...
“Demon or faery?” Her voice was low, almost swallowed up by the conversations and general noise that were commonplace in a place like this.
Soon-to-be-unconscious-idiot, however, had senses that were a whole lot keener than any mortal’s. He chuckled and the weight of his hand shifted, pressing her back down into her seat as he took the barstool on her right. “Seelie...but I’m curious as to how you know about my kind. You’re obviously not human, but you’re definitely not from the Nevernever.”
The hand left her shoulder, ran down the length of her arm to gently grasp her wrist. A false comfort, considering how she could feel this guy out. He was the kind that liked to hurt people; one of the more dangerous fey that frolicked amongst the humans. She was pulled out of her thoughts once more as the faery continued.
“...definitely remember someone like you.” He was reaching out to grasp her chin, to force her to look at him, she could see it in her peripheral vision.
The woman tensed, ready to turn and break the guy’s wrist-
And someone else stopped him instead. Another hand, covered in a black, fingerless glove, grabbed the faery’s wrist and squeezed. She could hear the bones creaking, ready to break.
The interloper’s voice was pleasant enough. Male, low and smooth; something that probably made most females weak at the knees. “I know you Summer piskies think you’re all that, but it’s pretty obvious to me that the lady doesn’t like you. Do yourself a favor, eh? Back off.” The last sentence had the back of her neck prickling once again, but it wasn’t what the stranger had said so much as how he said it. He’d...growled, for lack of a better word.
The Seelie must’ve seen something in the guy that scared him, because he didn’t even bother with trying to refute the guy’s claim. He was up and out of there like lightning.
New Guy sat down next to her. She could feel the weight of his gaze on her, burning into the side of her head.
She still didn’t look away from the scarred wood that made up the bar. She didn’t know why, but some instinct just told her it wasn’t the right time, yet. “Demon or faery?” She’d asked the first guy because she’d been too lost in thought to properly probe the moron, but with this one, it was a bit...different. No matter how hard she looked, she just couldn’t get a good read on the guy. It was like he wasn’t anything, and yet...there was something familiar about him, something she couldn’t put her finger on.
His quiet chuckle made her skin prickle yet again. “Ah...try a bit of both, sweetie.”
Now if that wasn’t the most convoluted answer she’d ever gotten...it almost reminded her of her AWOL older brother. She still refused to look at him, that little voice in her head was still telling her to wait.
New Guy got the bartender’s attention and put in his order. When Spyder finally felt it was time for her to look up a few minutes later, his silver-blue irises were the first thing to catch her eye. There was an all-too-familiar gleam in the depths of his gaze, something she’d grown familiar to, something she always looked for in...
He was smirking. Oh, she knew he was smirking. It may have been hidden by his glass, but she just knew. And then she realized what kind of drink he’d gotten.
Spyder graciously waited until he’d set his drink down before slugging him in the shoulder.
He started to “complain” (aka: whine) about her attack, but was promptly cut off when Spyder nearly knocked him off of his stool. Valoc only froze for a split second before he wrapped one arm around his little sister and ruffled her hair with a faint smile. “Hey, we had a date, didn’t we? I promised I wouldn’t bail on you this time.”
“Demons aren’t known for keeping their promises,” she muttered into his shirt.
They were making a scene, he could tell, but damn it all, he couldn’t find it in himself to care. Forget the “tough-guy” image he’d planned on displaying when he walked through that door; he’d let it go, just for tonight. He had been gone for almost a year, after all. It’d almost surprised him when he found he’d missed his kid sister. Valoc hadn’t gotten that attached to anyone in...forever, really.
“Yeah, well I ain’t exactly a red-skinned imp toting a pitchfork. ‘Least, not anymore.” He pulled away a bit, noticed that Spyder’s eyes seemed to be watering. His smile shifted into a smirk and he tapped her nose. “C’mon, Spyder, if you start bawling like a baby, then I’ll know that you’ve missed me too much.”
She shoved him away and discreetly wiped her eyes as she turned to flag down the bartender. She’d need another drink to get her through this evening. “Who says I missed you? I was just getting all emotional ‘cause I figured I’d have to cover my own bar tab this time.”
Valoc winced and shook his head. “You sure know how to make a guy feel good about himself, Spider-Girl.”
Spyder snorted and took her drink from the bartender. “Shut your trap, Valerie. You’re worse than I am.”
He smirked at her as they clinked their glasses together. “Ain’t that the truth?”
Spyder, Valoc, Luke, the bartender, and the random unnamed faery are all mine.
Coal, Akan, and Spyder's father (Lucifer/Satan), who are mentioned in passing, belong to my friend, Jessica.
0 comments:
Post a Comment