Dead Men Walking: Chapter 4

Calcifer


I half expected Leo to be stupid enough to follow me, yet I was greeted by silence as I stomped my way down six flights of stairs and out the doors, grumbling to myself the whole way. To moody to jump onto my stark black Megelli sports motorcycle, I walked the whole eight blocks from our apartment to the only bar where I could drink myself into unconsciousness and not end up in some jail. After almost getting run over by about seven different cars I decided that I should abandon trying to rant to myself and actually pay attention to where I was going. I substituted the ranting for a cigarette from the breast pocket of my black dress shirt and made sure no one was paying attention to me before using my pointer finger to light it. The power to wield fire was one of the rarest among demons and extremely difficult to control. Even though I had the power I almost never used it. What was the point? I had strength enough to rule this puny world. What would the point be in ruling a world full of criminal activity when I could be romping around in the middle of said activity, drunk off my ass? No point at all.

Thirty minutes and four cigarettes later I arrived at the Shallows only a few moments after the suns last bit of light flickered out of the city sky, a signal that the night dwellers currently residing in the city would soon be romping around with me, if they weren't already.
I am greeted by one such night dweller as I made for the Shallows front door. Standing in the shadows of the doorway under the flickering sign was a most unpleasing sight, one even more repulsive than the building itself. A woman. She wore only a very skimpy red dress that was missing the large section of cloth that was meant to cover her tan, almost orange stomach, and a pair of ghastly high heeled shoes that could be used as a weapon by even the most untrained of men. The amount of dark makeup around her eyes made it look like she had recently escaped a bar fight, while her dark auburn hair fell around her unrealistically large breasts. My scowl turned quickly into a sneer as she tried to block my way, stumbling over herself every other step. I could smell Bloody Marys and whisky on her breath. Envy creeping up my spine.

"Hey there sexy, want to have the time of your life tonight?" Her words were slurred to the point that only a fellow drunkard would be able to understand her attempt at flirting. Instead of being turned on by her as I usually would be I was completely repulsed. How could she think dressing like that would boost her chance of getting fucked? Not wanting to piss myself off even more than I already was I shook my head and shoved past her and through the bar door only to run right into a small blue haired boy, throwing him of balance. On most cases I would apologize and buy him a drink, and maybe I would after I got a few drinks in me, but not right then. I continued past him, as he leaned on a chair to keep himself upright. When he hissed at me, all I did was grunt rudely without slowing down.

That is until he made a stupid ass comment. "Thank you, I'm alright, just to let you know." I probably should have kept going, I was only allowing myself to be pushed deeper into my foul mood, but the demon in me couldn't help but throw a nasty glare over my shoulder. His attempt to hold my glare with his own was oddly amusing. I took the moment of eye contact to study the very petite, almost girly boy; he had oddly colored eyes and hair, both a very bright shade of blue that was obviously natural, meaning the shrimp wasn't human. Another demon? No, he was way too small and scrawny to be a demon, so definitely not worth my time. Even though he wouldn't be a challenge the only thing stopping me from teaching the sassy little prick a lesson was the unmistakable aroma of whisky all around me. So instead of getting into a pointless fight, I casually shrugged and continued to the least populated side of the bar where Vince almost instantly slid a shot glass of my usual across the bar, directly into my right hand.

I down the shot, not waiting to savor the satisfactory taste of it as it burned its way down my throat to settle nicely in my stomach. Letting out a pleased sigh, I waited for Vince to finish his rounds before flagging him down.

"Haven't seen you 'round for a while Ryan. Where you been?" Vince knew my real name but we had a mutual respect for one another. He never used my name and I didn't kill anyone in his bar.

"Sober for five weeks, so hand me two bottles of whisky and then, once I've finished them, we can share pleasantries, ey?" I try to keep the snarl out of my voice but it’s useless now.

"Anything for my best costumer," he laughed, setting my requested drinks on the bar in front of me then leaving to make his rounds again. I finish the first bottle in three gulps then wait a few moments for the effect to hit me. As a demon, my metabolism is much stronger than just about every living thing making it difficult to drink myself into a stupor. I almost laugh with delight as I feel my foul mood slowly slip away. The urge to kill everyone just for the hell of it was replaced by a happy, almost bubbly feeling in my gut. I take my time with the second bottle, sipping it quickly and then giggling to myself for no reason. I made a quick promise to myself to never let some squabbling little bitch tell me I can’t drink while on duty ever again. The thought of the poor, now headless man sent me into another fit of laughter.

Vince smiled broadly at my new and improved mood and made his way over to my side of the bar. "There's the Ryan I know and love! What can I get ya my good man?" He didn't have to ask, he only did so out of habit, he was already pulling out three more bottles of whisky and two bottles of rum.

"Oh Vincent, you know me too well," I purred, downing the rum. "What would I do without you?" I made a quick realization that I will soon be beyond help and had to hold back a snarl. I have gone soft!

"Hey now, I'm just the bar keep, don't you start flirting with me, there are plenty of other people in this bar for you to harass, you crazy little shit," he laughed, shaking his head slowly. He wandered off again as more people wander into the rustic little hole in the wall bar, leaving me to my drinks.

After a few minutes a group of five men and a really sparkly and very drunk young lady stumble over to the empty seats next to me, all of them eyeballing her as if she were a piece of meat. Snickering at the girl’s misfortune I turn my attention back to drinking, or I would have, but someone must have stolen my drinks while I wasn't looking because all of them were empty. I stare at them, dumbfounded for a moment or two before I turn to the stool next to me. "Just sitting there like an innocent bystander," I snapped at it. "I know you took my drinks, but I'm not going to to kill you for it because I know you were only doing it to get my attention." Turning away from it, I flagged down Vince, getting two more whiskeys and downing one before turning to the stool again only to find the very cute blue haired boy I had run into earlier sitting on the lovely stool. I sat there, frowning at the back of his head.

He must have felt my eyes on him because he turned slowly, almost mechanically to meet my gaze. "What?" he snapped. I didn't answer, and after a few seconds the boy’s tough face melted away into one of nervousness, his hands shaking slightly. "What do you want with me?" he hissed.

"Get off of him," I said plainly. Cute Little Blue Boys eyes widened in surprise as he seemingly tried to process what I was saying. "You heard me, get off of him!" He still didn't listen so I rose out of my seat and gently pushed the now terrified looking boy off of the stool. "Get off of him," I snarled, scooping the stool into my arms and cradling it like a babe. "He is a stool not your slave," I hissed. "Now, Cute Little Blue Boy, apologize to the stool." Instead of doing as I ordered, the boys mouth flopped open and closed like a fish gasping for air. "I said get-" a pair of bony hands clamped onto my shoulders and spun me around roughly. "Hey! I'm - Leo!" I squealed with delight when I came face to face with his curly brown hair and sparkling green eyes.

"What are you doing scaring people, Cal?" He groaned.

"He was sitting on him," I muttered innocently.

"The chair, you are going to start a fight over a chair you drunken imbecile?" I was going to answer with some kind of smart ass remark, but Leo held his hand up, stopping me from answering and then pulled the stool from my hands and apologized to the cute blue boy for my "rudeness." What the hell? I'm not the one being rude, it was him! I snarled loudly and was going to argue but a wave of dizziness hit me, causing me to topple sideways into the bar, squishing the little boy underneath me and breaking the stool.

"Woops," I grumbled, rolling off of the boy who groaned and cursed while pulling himself to his feet.

"Fucking baby whale," he snarled between gasps for breath.

I would have replied or even questioned why I was being called a whale, but as I was forming a witty comeback in my mind, and Leo was paying for my bill, the very sparkly lady with blond hair let out a loud whoop as she was hoisted onto a man's shoulders. She was placed onto bar where she slowly started to remove her skimpy dress while swaying dangerously on bright red stiletto heels. The whole bar chanted for her to strip. With some difficulty, she removed the skimpy dress to reveal the fakest boobs I had ever seen. They were practically spilling out of a cheap, black laced bra that I could clearly see her nipples through and a nasty pink colored thong flossing her ass and showing off a rose tramp stamp.

"Ohhhhhh!" I squealed with delight. "That looks like fun!" Leo tried to catch me as I scrambled onto the bar, but his hold wasn't strong enough and soon I was next the half naked girl ripping my own shirt off, laughing like a madman. The girl snarled at me and even went far enough to trying to push me off the bar while I was busy struggling to take my pants off.

If I had been even remotely sober, I would have been embarrassed that everyone now had clear view of my tail that was usually wrapped around my torso. Its fuzzy end made it, according to Leo, extremely cute.

It took almost six men to drag me off the bar where Leo snarled and grabbed me by my very sensitive pointed ear. "You just go around stripping everywhere you go?" He shrieked.

"Let go of me ear, Leo!" I whined like a child. He didn't of course; no he dragged me out of the bar in my boxers, apologizing to the bars occupants the whole way. Somehow I ended up sprawled out on the floor of our living room while Leo paced and ranted at me for being an irresponsible idiot. All I could do was smile and laugh at the drunken pounding in my skull.