by Aaron Crash
Gabby’s eyes shone brightly and then faded, as did her halo. She pulled her wings in, and they were gone. She sighed. “That was wonderful. Thank you, Ginger. Bailey must be very full after all that lust. And yet, I felt it too. It’s very strange, but very wonderful. Having a body feels so good!”
Ginger laughed, then sat back down on the bench to kiss Bailey.
Bailey was quiet and seemed very content. “Ginger, sweetie, I am so thankful that you had that fantasy, and that you let us act it out. Next time, I’ll let you play with my tail.”
“Your tail?” Ginger blinked.
Leave it to Bailey to surprise a stripper who’d seen it all.
Chapter Twenty-Four
THEY HELPED GINGER get cleaned up and got her back into the dressing room. Bailey went to wipe Ginger’s memory, and Jack asked, “Do we have to do that? She seems like she’d want to remember how much pleasure we all gave each other.”
Bailey shook her head. “This was the best fuck of her life. You really want her to spend the rest of her existence being disappointed?”
Jack shrugged. “Just seems like a waste.”
“Bailey’s right,” Gabby said to his surprise. “Humans who experience the supernatural can be forever changed by it. They’ll do anything, even destroy themselves, to get back to that high.”
“At least she’ll have a brain full of endorphins and shaky legs to remember us by,” Bailey said with a wink, and wiped Ginger’s memory clean.
Back in his car, Jack started time again with a swish of his thumb over the side of his hand. The migraine had been far-off, maybe even hours away. He was getting far more powerful and could see a time where he could stop time for days on end without any negative effects.
He drove the girls back to his apartment. He was going to take a nap, and then they could figure out how to sell the gold. He had an idea of a place they could go.
Both the angel and the demon were strangely quiet. Back at his apartment, Jack showered first since his feet and his knees were covered in mud. Gabby went next because Bailey said she could wait. The sex demon liked being dirty.
While Bailey waited for her turn in the bathroom, she sat on the fire escape and smoked a cigarette. Jack wasn’t sure where she’d gotten the cancer stick, but there she was, smoking away. Then it was her turn.
Gabby went out to sit on the fire escape on one of his kitchen chairs. Officially, they weren’t supposed to be out there, but he didn’t want to tell the angel that. She was lawful good and would hate breaking the rules.
Jack joined her. The air was chilly, but it wasn’t so bad. Actually, the cold smelled good, tinged with the woodsmoke of some nearby houses’ fireplace. It was the perfume of fall in Colorado.
“Are you feeling okay, Gabby?” Jack asked.
The angel knit her brows. “I didn’t mean to get sexual with Ginger. Or with you, for that matter. It just felt so right. This body has such powerful needs. You know, for the last ten months, I’ve been very judgmental of humans. Sex seemed like such a simple thing to me, and yet, you all were so obsessed with it. Now I understand. I don’t understand everything that is happening to me, but I understand that.”
Bailey came out of the shower, naked and dripping water across his carpet and the linoleum of his small kitchen. She was drying her hair. Her tail was back, flicking behind her. “What are you two talking about?”
“How I lost control today. With Ginger.” Gabby looked worried. “And I went against an angel. I have no idea what my legion is going to think of me. Or what my commander, Pinturicchio, will say to me.”
Bailey rolled her eyes. “You worry way too much. I guess it’s an angel thing. You and I are outside the law at this point, Feathers. We are way off the reservation, but we’re helping Annie, right? And we’re giving people experiences. Granted, no one will remember them, but we will. And that’s saying something.”
“I’ll have to check in at some point,” Gabby said meditatively.
“Not tonight,” the demon said. “Tonight we fence stolen goods.”
Jack realized that with the gathering darkness outside, and the lights on inside, anyone could see Bailey walking around naked. And there was the water to take care of.
Before Jack could say anything, Gabby shook her head. “Bailey, you have to dry off completely in the shower. You can’t track water all over Jack’s apartment. And we’re not selling stolen goods. We retrieved items lost in time and space, and we’ll be finding a good home for them. We’ll get some money in return, but that’s not the point.”
Bailey smirked. “It’s kind of the only point.”
“And we need the money.” Jack didn’t mention that they didn’t just have the golden bejeweled goblets; they also had Meriton’s bracelets and belt, as well as his damaged horn. Bailey had grabbed it and thrown it into the bag.
Jack took his Beretta in the shoulder holster, but he also stuck the Eternity Cannon, wrapped in a towel, in an old backpack, along with the goblets and the angel gear. Then he got the girls back into his Ford Whatever. They drove down Plum Creek Boulevard and got on Highway 67, which would take them into the mountains toward Deckers and Woodland Park. Highway 67 would eventually take them to Highway 24 and then to 285 South.
Way before all that, though, Jack got off the highway and drove to Pinetree’s Bar and Grill, which was an interesting little mountain bar that served Plum Creek, Deckers, and the surrounding region. Even people from Sedalia drove in for a drink. Pinetree’s bar had been built on the side of a cliff surrounded by lodgepole pines. Back in the sixties, it had been an artist residence, which was why the architecture was so funky.
Then someone did the rezoning to make it a little watering hole, knocked out some of the walls to make a big room, and took out a floor as well, just to give it an airy feeling. All in all, it was a cool place and had its regulars.
The parking lot was dirt, though Pinetree kept thinking he’d get it paved at some point.
Jack knew he couldn’t slip into the bar unnoticed—no, he was going to make an entrance, walking into the place with two otherworldly women, both gorgeous. Gabby was in white slacks with a tight white sweater. Bailey was back in her red dress and strutting around in her black stilettos.
Jack was just Jack—jeans, a T-shirt, his boots, and his leather coat.
They walked into the place, which had the Pistol Annies playing on the jukebox. It was mostly country and western music, which was just fine with Jack.
The place had tables scattered across the hardwood floor with the bar on the right and a wall of windows on the left. They showed a nice sunrise in the morning. There had been times where they’d spent all night drinking, talking, and laughing.
Above were the leftovers of the old artist rooms, exposed since the front part of the floor had been removed. Pinetree had decorated them with mannequins wearing Old West gear: leather vests, cowboy hats, boots with spurs, that kind of thing. The female dummies wore the big frilly skirts. It was odd, but it was a conversation starter, and it was popular with the European tourist crowd. Upstairs. behind the mannequin rooms, Pinetree had a little apartment and a guest suite that his folks would stay in when they visited from Florida.
Pinetree would also sometimes rent out the room to drunks who he thought he could trust. Which meant he was always getting screwed over for rent.
Behind the bar was Pinetree, who started losing his hair at nineteen. He’d fought that battle with every bit of money, science, and magical potions he could find. Even still, he refused to go fully bald. So there was a light fringe just above his ears that showed when he wore a hat, a bandana, or a bad toupee.
Tonight was a baseball cap night, and his cap said, “Fuck!” on it in big, scrolly letters. Pinetree was always trying something new with his facial hair, and he’d gone with a trimmed 1990s goatee, which didn’t help his face much. He wore flannel over an old AC/DC For Those About to Rock T-shirt.
He was in his normal position, leaning on the bar
, resting his weight on his palms. His regulars were there, as well as a couple of tables of European tourists. That was a new business for Pinetree. He’d managed to get himself into a European travel guide, so he had Germans, French, and Dutch travelers flocking in for his chicken tenders and onion ring combo. Pinetree couldn’t cook, but he did have a waitress that was fearless when it came to breading most anything and tossing whatever into the fryer.
Jack learned early that you didn’t order anything off the menu that wasn’t deep-fat fried.
Jack and Pinetree had gone to Plum Creek High School together. And after Andy died of cancer, Pinetree was the only brother Jack had left—not blood, but in some ways, friends who became brothers could be just as close or closer.
Pinetree straightened up right quick and in a hurry. “Hey, Jack, long time no see!” Though his eyes were on Jack, the bartender was fully aware of Gabby and Bailey. Everyone in the place was staring. Alone, each had a beauty that would stop people in their tracks. Together, they were a major event, and everyone was looking, including a table with a pair of older couples at a booth on the side. They were European and looked relatively wealthy—Jack could tell that their clothes weren’t American. The women were in their fifties but had fashionable haircuts. The men wore suit coats but odd shoes, a cross between dress shoes and sneakers.
“Pinetree, I’ll take an order of your best buffalo wings, extra spicy.” Jack then remembered the angel’s dietary restrictions. “And some onion rings. Gabby is a vegan.”
Pinetree adjusted his cap. “Vegan? Does that mean she eats vegetarians? Is that right?”
Jack shook his head. “Don’t ask.”
Bailey rapped her knuckles on the bar. “I want a fish and chips, and make the fish extra pussy. I mean, extra fishy. What’s that called? A Freudian slip?”
Pinetree smiled like he didn’t know if he wanted to laugh or get horny. Probably both. “Sure thing, ma’am.”
Bailey wasn’t done. “And I want a shot and a beer and keep them coming.”
“Can I have a salad and some warm almond milk?” Gabby asked.
Pinetree winced. “Ma’am, you don’t want a salad here. And I have milk, but not almond milk. Can’t find the nipples.”
Gabby chuckled. “Nipples. I understand your joke. Mammals feed milk to their young using their mammary glands. It’s a play on words.”
Pinetree quirked an eyebrow but chuckled along with her.
“Feathers will have beer,” Bailey said loudly. “Come on, Feathers. Drink with me.”
“Beers,” Jack said.
Pinetree yelled to the back to get their food started and then started pouring beers. He threw Bailey two shots. Of course he did. Get that hot brunette coming back night after night and it would triple his business. Never underestimate the power of a pretty girl in a bar.
One of the waitresses, Libby, came out of the kitchen with a tray and started slinging food.
A drunk down the bar, some guy they called Harvey for some reason no one remembered, couldn’t stop staring.
Bailey loved the attention, but Gabby obviously didn’t. She glanced around nervously. She had nothing to be nervous about. Any sign of trouble she could summon her sword and horn and wipe out any threat.
Jack needed privacy. “Hey, Pinetree, is the roof open?”
The bartender shook his head. “Only on the weekends this time of year. Weeknights I lose money on the fuel for the heaters. Why? You don’t want to be social?”
Bailey slammed the shot and drank half the beer, then stuffed pretzels in her mouth. She talked while chewing. “No, Paul, we’re here to sell gold, and Jack here wanted privacy.”
Pinetree laughed nervously. “Jack? What’s going on? And who are your beautiful friends?”
Bailey went to answer, probably to scream she was a sex demon and that Gabby was an angel. Jack shut down that action fast. “This is Bailey to my right, Gabby to my left, and we’re just here to eat and have a few drinks.” He threw Pinetree a look to make sure the bartender knew that they needed to talk in private.
Pinetree had a very healthy skepticism of the law, and running a bar had given him a rather flexible morality. Still, they couldn’t very well discuss business in front of the drunks and the tourists.
“Show him what you can do, Jack,” Bailey urged.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, Bailey,” Gabby said stiffly. She hadn’t taken a sip of her beer. She looked painfully uncomfortable. Bailey, on the other hand, would’ve fit in at a bar ten times dirtier.
Pinetree looked like he needed answers, and Jack wasn’t going to keep his talent hidden from his best friend. He turned to the sex demon. “Do you have enough juice to pull him out of the Tempus Influunt?”
Bailey rolled her eyes. “Of course. What we did with Ginger behind the Cupid’s Arrow was so hot.”
When Pinetree heard that, his mouth dropped open.
“Let’s wait for our food,” Jack said. “We can eat and then talk, really talk. I’ll tell you the whole story then, Pine.”
The bartender nodded, mystified, and kept his customers fed and happy.
Meanwhile, Bailey wasn’t about to shut up. “You know, I looked at the bracelets. Did you notice the Enochian script? My Enochian isn’t so good, but they were a listing of Meriton’s achievements. Is that a thing you featherheads do?”
“We do.” Gabby showed her own bracelets. The left one had some scrollwork on it. “This says I am a member of the Pinturicchio Legion, and that I have finished my training.”
“A billion fucking years later.” Bailey laughed loudly. “Nice work, there, all that schoolwork.”
“Be nice, Bailey.” Jack sipped his beer, but he noticed that one of the European men was gazing at them with more than a little interest. And it wasn’t just the beauty of the women. Who was that guy?
Gabby frowned. “I know, I...I wanted to make sure I was perfect when I started this important work. And there was the...the thing we can’t talk about to consider as well. It didn’t get bad until recently. Or it will get bad.”
Jack wanted to make Gabby feel better. “You’re amazing, Gabby. We wouldn’t have survived the Cast Away, Gone Astray without you. Hey, Pinetree, can you get my friend something other than beer? How about a Shirley Temple?”
“Sure thing.” The bartender got to work.
Bailey tossed a pretzel at the angel. “Yeah, Feathers, you’re wonderful. But really, Jack, it was that Cannon. How many shots do you have left?”
“Two,” he said. “Any idea on how to get reloads? I’d be surprised if I could just get normal powder, patches, and lead and make them work.”
“I have some ideas,” Bailey said. Then she shouted, “Hey, barkeep, I want another shot, or else I’ll tell everyone what kind of porn you like.”
Jack had had enough of the demon. A loud beautiful woman set everyone on edge. And he didn’t want Gabby dying of embarrassment. “Bailey, behave yourself. You know what I’m talking about.” He stared into the demon’s eyes to make sure she understood he wasn’t fucking around.
Bailey glanced away. “Yeah, fine. I’ll be the good little girl for you, Daddy. This will be so much easier when you stop time. Then I can do whatever I want.”
“No, you can’t,” Gabby said.
That wasn’t going to make things better.
Before Bailey could respond, Libby came rushing out of the kitchen and set their plates in front of them. Big piles of fried fish and fries for Bailey, buffalo wings for Jack, and a big basket of onion rings for the angel.
Who loved the taste. Her eyes fluttered. “This food, it is so bad for this body, but tastes so good. Why would the divine torture you humans so?”
“Dramatic irony, bitch.” Bailey slid her shot glass across the bar so Pinetree could fill it with more Jack Daniels. She then grabbed the beer she’d ordered for Gabby and drained half of it.
Pinetree topped her off. Gabby sipped her soda, and again, more eyelid fluttering. “It
’s so sweet and happy! Why would anyone want to drink intoxicating liquors when there is this ambrosia?”
Bailey rolled her eyes. “And you didn’t want me embarrassing you.”
“Hey, Pinetree, want to see a trick?” Jack asked.
Pinetree shrugged. “Sure.”
Jack brushed his thumb across the soldier tattoo.
Everything stopped. Dead silence descended.
Bailey climbed halfway on the bar and gave Pinetree a shove, and the bartender was yanked out of the timestream.
He glanced around in shock. “Okay. Well. This night got a fuck-ton more interesting.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
STANDING BEHIND HIS bar, Pinetree blinked. “Hey, Jack, what’s going on?”
The chatter had all ceased. Libby was frozen on her way back to the kitchen, her tray full of dirty dishes. The jukebox had stopped singing. The place was silent.
“I can stop time, Pinetree. Meet Gabby, as in Gabriella. She’s an angel. And this is Bailey, as in Beyazul Baal. She’s a demon. My life has gotten complicated.”
Pinetree immediately poured himself a shot and drank it down. This was completely out of the ordinary. The guy knew he couldn’t run a bar if he was drunk all the time. Even with all his wits about him, keeping any kind of business afloat was a rough one.
Jack filled in his friend about the weirdest days of his life.
“Yeah, you talked about Annie,” the bartender said. “So, heaven and hell are real. That’s going to keep me up at nights.”
“Not unless you want Bailey to wipe your memory.” Jack rubbed Bailey’s back.
“Because she’s a demon.” Pinetree squinted at the brunette.
Bailey grew horns, blackened her eyes, and showed him her fangs.
Pinetree swallowed. “Heaven help me.”
“Gladly.” Gabby let her halo shine, which lit up the room. It was cleaner than Jack would’ve thought.
