by Jeff Hale
“Not dressed in sweats I won’t…”
“Ya mean ta tell me that ya dance now?”
“Yeah. Kinda. I guess. Even if I didn’t, I think I owe you a few.”
“Darn right ya do!” She seemed to perk right up and hurried out of the room. I finished cleaning up and headed downstairs to wait. I knew she’d be a few minutes while she got ready.
When she came down the stairs my jaw dropped and my heart skipped a beat. She was wearing a tight-fitting leather vest with only one button done right in the center and a pair of tight fitting cut-off shorts and a pair of cowboy boots.
I hated the whole cowboy thing, despite being born in Oklahoma, but she made it look good. I hoped Lucien didn’t care if I roughed up some of his clientele tonight. With Serena looking like that, I just knew some fights were in the offing.
We headed out and I told her to drive us to the Velvet Flame. We agreed to have no music on this time. We chatted a bit on the way, primarily talking a bit more about the last several years of my life. When we pulled up I noticed a line wrapped around the block to get into the club. I had Serena take the side alley that led to the parking garage. When we got there, two guards stood at the entrance. One walked over and turned his flashlight on us.
“Only V.I.P.s in this parking area. Move along!” he said, pointing the flashlight in Serena’s face.
“You let us by and stop pointing that light in the pretty girl’s eyes or Lucien will be replacing you tonight, Winston,” I called out.
“Mr. Kerensky?”
“Yeah. You’re gonna make me get out of this car, aren’t you?”
“No, sir! Go right on ahead, you two!” he said, turning the flashlight off.
I directed her to where Raven usually parked. Then we headed back to where the line was. I wasn’t wasting any time tonight. I pushed my way through the crowded line, holding Serena’s hand the whole way through. I pushed and elbowed those who didn’t get out of my way and had to deck two guys for touching Serena. One of them just laid there on the sidewalk, stunned, as his girlfriend began kicking him for being a jerk. The second started to try and make a fight out of it until I shackled him to the ground with ice.
When we got the front, I started to walk past the bouncer. It wasn’t Rob and I didn’t recognize the guy. He stopped me. Must have been a new guy.
“Where do you think you’re going, asshole?” he asked rudely.
Yep a new guy. His question was echoed by more than a few people in the line who got up the courage to call me an asshole after the bouncer did. I looked the bouncer up and down.
He was a big guy, pumped up like one of those wrestlers on TV. He had a short mohawk and several piercings in his ears, nose and eyebrows. He had tattoos on either side of his head, down his neck, and sleeved on his arms. Had I been any other person, I’d wet myself if this guy was pissed at me. Which he was. Didn’t help when Serena got in his face.
“Don’t ya cuss at mah man like that! Ya treat him with some dignity and respect! Or are ya too small of a man ta treat people with a little courtesy?” she asked, holding up her finger and thumb, measuring about a half inch.
“Look, little bitch, you guys can’t go in unless you’re on the list, and you need to go to the back of the line before I get pissed off,” he said, sneering at her.
He really had no idea what he was in for. Serena was pure and innocent, and a southern belle, but she was from the south, and like any southerner, Serena didn’t back down from a fight.
“Little? Who are ya calling little? And I’m a lady! So ya definitely do not call me that word ya jus’ called me!” She reached up and grabbed the chain that was connecting the bouncer’s nose ring to several of his earrings, and pulled. He cried out in pain and held his face in his hands. “Ain’t so tough now, are ya?” Serena kicked him hard in the shin then made to head in, only to be headed off by one of the Cyclopes bouncers, Theros to be exact. I got between him and her as quickly as possible.
“Might want to inform the new guy of who I am. And that you don’t call a southern belle a bitch. Ever,” I said, motioning for Serena to give Theros the pilfered jewelry. She did so, smiling innocently as she dropped it in his palm. Theros nodded at me, smiled and then moved aside, and I swore I could hear him chuckling as we walked past.
We made our way quickly through the dining area and into the club proper. The place was full, though that was a massive understatement. Lucien had changed the place. Again. As we walked in there was a bar to our left and one against the front wall to the right. The one to the right seemed to be serving strictly icy-type drinks and Jell-O shooters. Against the far right wall was yet another bar, this one serving food. Further in, past where all the people were standing in line at the bars, were several round tables with chairs around them.
There was a glass archway in the form of two bird-like serpents intertwined that had flames running all through it. Beyond the archway was one of the dance floors, which looked to be glass over clouds with lightning playing through them. It had a cool effect, especially with the mirrored ceiling over the floor itself. There were a couple of cages and raised areas for those who like to show off.
To the right past the bars, lines, and tables was a separator wall which had booths on this side of it. The top portion of the wall was glass and there was a curtain separating this dance floor and the other side of the wall. My guess was that the curtain and glass were sound-proof and that there was probably a secondary dance floor on the other side.
I walked over to the bar to the left and pushed my way to the front. It looked like Lily was tending bar tonight.
Great.
“Heya, gorgeous!” she said as she walked over to face me across the counter. Someone shouted a complaint about me cutting in line and she held up a finger and mouthed the words ‘excuse me’ and then looked over to the complainant. “For one, anyone who can rock my world for six hours straight can do what he wants at my bar. For two, he’s a close friend of the owner’s and I can tell you that anyone disrespecting this man will find themselves in a dangerous situation with the owner. Believe me, you don’t want that.”
Serena looked up and me with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. She wasn’t happy. Far, far from it.
“Six hours, huh?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah, this man has a package the size of…” Lily began before she caught Serena’s glare.
“Uh… Lily… this is Serena,” I said awkwardly, trying to cut the tension, even just a little.
“Oh! I’m so sorry. I thought you were just another one of his friends. Like Raven. Wait, weren’t you…?
“Dead? Yeah. Well. I’m back now,” Serena said sweetly. Too sweetly. After the incident with the bouncer outside, I knew that Serena was in a fighting mood.
“So, uh… your usual, Rick?” Lily asked, automatically going for the vodka.
“Yeah,” I said, then turned to Serena. “Look we had… a one night thing, okay? It was a mistake. We never dated and it probably wouldn’t have worked out anyway. You were, I dunno, I thought you were dead at the time, okay? You going to be mad over every girl you find out I was with?”
“No, but I jus’ get the idea she wants ta have a repeat of that six hours.”
“No, trust me. Even if she does, can you trust me enough to know that it will never happen?”
“Okay, I guess I can be nice, then.”
“Please? I do consider her a friend.”
“Fine.” She wasn’t fine with it, not really, but I let it drop.
“Here ya go, gorgeous,” Lily said, handing me my drink. “And for you?” she asked Serena.
“Oh. I cain’t. I’m drivin’.”
“Oh, well free soda or water if you want it then.”
“Oh, in that case I’ll have a Pepsi,” Serena told her.
“You got it.”
“So you ever get into that dance school?” I asked Lily when she returned with the drink.
“Oh. Yeah. I’m learning quite a
bit,” she said happily.
“That’s good! You should have told me so I could have at least watched you once.” The moment the words were out of my mouth, I almost regretted them. I glanced at Serena. She was smiling, but it was forced.
“You got to watch me plenty … er, um… I better get back to work.” She looked Serena’s way and smiled briefly and went to another customer. Serena looked supremely proud of herself as we walked away from the bar.
“You said you’d be nice,” I reminded gently.
“I was. I didn’t say anythin’,” she defended.
“But you were glaring and looking all angry. Cute too. But that’s not the point.”
“So? I still didn’t say anything, an’ I didn’t claw her eyes or pull clumps of her hair out like I wanted ta.” She shot a quick, murderous glare back at Lily.
“You’re jealous of her? Come on.”
“Shouldn’t I be? She’s skinnier than me. She was wearing a skirt. I saw those legs.”
“You have nice legs too, you know. And your bust size is substantially higher,” I complimented.
“True enough, I guess.”
“And I love you. Not her.”
“Okay. Ya got me there.” She wrapped her arm around me and we walked towards the second dance floor, because I was pretty sure that Lucien’s office would be past it. We stepped through the curtain, only to blasted with entirely different music as the curtain fell in place behind us and cut off the noise from where we had just been. The second dance floor had glass tubes running around the edges of the floor, up the corners of the room, and along the ceiling around the same dimensions as it ran on the floor. Through these tubes ran purple and black flames.
“Hey, sexy baby. Wanna come get a drink and dance with me?” a guy said as we passed him. He was one of those mid-thirties guys that liked to hit on young women in bars. Polo shirt, blue jeans, spiked hair, cigar, looked like an ex-college football player.
“She’s with me,” I said as I moved past him.
He grabbed Serena by the arm. “I asked you a question. Aren’t you going to have the decency to answer me?”
“I’m with him,” she said and tried to pull free. The guy didn’t take that as an answer. He yanked her suddenly and she had to let go of my arm. The man grabbed her by the shoulder with his other hand and started to try and grind on her. I had had about enough.
Sorry, Lucien.
The guy wasn’t expecting the punch, or the kick to the head that followed. He stumbled back and then lunged at me, pushing Serena roughly aside. She fell to her butt and sat there stunned for a second. I grabbed the man’s hand as his punch went wide, and I called on the Aether to enhance my strength. I crushed every bone in his hand to powder. He screamed in agony, holding his ruin of a hand as he went to his knees sobbing.
“Wow. That’s too bad. Now you you’re not getting laid and you can’t masturbate,” I said. I helped Serena stand. The guy’s friends all came over and tried to discern whether or not they should try me. I held up my hand and conjured a brief flame. Enough to get them to think twice.
Lucien came storming out of his office. He was wearing a yellow suit with a black shirt. Only he could pull it off. “Who dares to use their Aetheric gifts upon mortals in my establishment?!” he thundered over the music.
“Lucien. Calm down, we both know you aren’t going to hurt me for defending Serena.” I walked up to him, leading Serena along.
“It was you, then?” Lucien asked, peering around.
“Yeah. It was me.”
“All right, then. Something you needed?” He seemed to relax.
“Yeah. We need to find out what’s going on with Serena.”
“Follow me.” He walked back to his office and we followed. When we entered I was surprised to find that it looked like a normal office, though there was a parrot sitting on his file cabinet. We sat down, and Serena told Lucien everything. I filled in what I had seen with my Aetheric Sight.
“The answer is simple. Raven was right. You were in Purgatory. Though for what reason a pure soul such as yourself would be in Purgatory is beyond me. You should have gone into the Aetheric Winds to be reincarnated. Only the truly damned reside in Purgatory. You must have been a beacon to them there. That is what you see, those souls still trapped there. They know you somehow managed to get out, and they want to find a way to do the same. That, and you would have been the purest soul there, so they would have wanted to extinguish your light. That is why you feel that they want to devour you. In a sense, you’re correct in that assessment.”
“Can… can they hurt me?” Serena asked, her voice trembling
“No. Not while you’re here. I daresay I’m not sure how you survived over there exactly. By all rights you should no longer exist.”
“That’s a comforting thought,” Serena said sarcastically as she grabbed my hand and squeezed.
“How you managed to come back would also be a good question to ask. I’ll have to look into things. I would think I would have been aware of your transition from the dead to the living. It is within my purview to know such things,” Lucien said, rubbing his chin briefly in thought. “Go. Enjoy the night, and enjoy each other. Dark times may be ahead, and you may not have opportunities such as this very often.” He waved us out.
We headed out and I got a few more drinks before I lived up to my promise and danced with Serena. We danced quite a bit, until I couldn’t quite handle the constant groping, and rubbing, and grinding she was doing to me on the dance floor. We had a great time and just enjoyed being with each other.
After a while, we headed back to her house. Once we got there we spent the entire night staying up and watching movies that she had never seen. Serena had always been a bit of a comic book geek, and she had missed out on all the new movies that had come out since her death. I hadn’t even seen some of them, since I tended to get pretty busy juggling my Aetheric life with my normal life, which was especially hard these days.
We both fell asleep in the early hours of the morning without a single thought towards responsibilities or anything else outside of being with each other. It was nice to be a hundred percent relaxed and content for once.
Of course it would never last.
Not in my life.
NINETEEN
“Wakey, wakey,” I heard a soft voice whisper in my ear. The next thing my senses noticed was the smell of homemade food, pancakes in particular. Serena made some awesome pancakes, a fact that I had completely forgotten about until just now. I sat up, not even opening my eyes, just taking in the aroma of fresh pancakes and bacon.
I opened my eyes and found myself looking straight down Serena’s tight fitting tank top. It was cut to just below her breasts, and she was wearing a pair of really short shorts that were once sweat pants. Which meant she was barely dressed at all. It was enough to awaken another hunger, this one lower than my stomach.
“Now that’s a view I could get used to waking up to,” I said, giving her an evil grin while also being truthful at the same time. I had expected her to be gone when I woke up. I wasn’t used to having her around still, and I held on to every moment I had with her as though it was tenuous and would end at any time.
“Oh stop. Not until after breakfast, otherwise it’ll get cold,” she said, giggling and blushing slightly at my attention. I reached to grab a breast and she playfully swatted my hand away and moved a few steps away from me, arms wrapped around herself in self-defense. I grinned again and lunged after her.
I chased her into the kitchen, tickling and groping her the entire way while she giggled and squealed the whole time. When we got into the kitchen I grabbed her under her arms and lifted her to sit on the kitchen counter and kissed her. I pulled back and just stared at her in amazement.
“I love you,” I said softly.
“I love ya too,” she whispered.
“No. I mean, I really do love you. I never told you before, and I should have. That was a mistake, and I want you to re
ally know how much I do love you.”
“I always knew. Ya didn’t have ta tell me. I mean, I wanted ya ta tell me, but I was fine just the same because I knew how ya felt. It didn’t need ta be vocalized.”
“I was so confused at the time. Half the time I didn’t know how to act around you. Hell, I still don’t really.” I shook my head.
“First off, language. Second, jus’ be yerself. I love ya fer who ya are, not fer someone you’re tryin’ ta pretend ta be.”
“I know, it’s just that… I don’t know. There are parts of me that I’m scared to show you. I’m not sure you could love that part of me.”
“I love ya, completely and totally. Good and bad. I even find yer arrogance kinda cute.” She leaned in and kissed me on the nose.
“That’s the least of what I’m talking about.”
“I know you’ve killed people. I could nevah do something’ like that, but I’m fine with the fact that ya have. I know ya did it fer a greater good. And that’s the point; I know ya, Ricky. Ya aren’t an inherently bad person, no matter what ya try an’ convince yourself, me, or anyone else of. Now, let’s go and eat. I’m starvin’… and I want ta get ta the after breakfast activities you’re obviously plannin’.”
I laughed and headed to the table. She served up the food, and I dug in. The pancakes were better than I remembered, but that could just because I had thought I’d never taste them again. We ate breakfast and took a shower together, though I’m not sure how clean we really got.
I didn’t have much to do for the time being since all I could do was wait for Lucien or Raven to get back to me with information or work. I would look into some of this myself except I had no clue where to begin looking. Lucien and Raven had contacts and information I didn’t, and when it came down to it, they were my contacts.
I was lounging with Serena on the bed after our shower, neither of us having bothered to get dressed. I felt her cool skin on mine, felt her breath on my chest where her head lay, felt the rise and fall of her breast up against my side, and I felt truly comforted. I had her back, and it was starting to finally settle into my mind that she was here. I could share all those things I had always wanted to with her. I was going to start today, while I could.
