Date: Mon, 26 Aug 1996 19:47:01 -0300 From: Dona Katya Subject: Under New Management Just a little offering. I guess you could consider this to have Last Knight Spoilers in it, I have no idea if that's still in effect or not, so Under New Management She staggered into my bar tonight, which, in and of itself, wasn't all that unusual. I'm used to seeing the down-on-their-luck depressives here, along with the junkies, streetwalkers and who-knew-whats. That it was her was the strange part, since I hadn't seen her for about a month, when she had always been real regular about it. Every Tuesday night at eleven, and Saturdays and Sundays at eight. So when she didn't show, I figured she had moved. Or died. Or something. But in she came, banging into the paintings as she almost fell down the stairs. The paintings weren't to my taste, really, but the old guy I bought the place from insisted that the decor not change too much. Funny, that, since I could of sworn that he had changed the place completely around between when he closed it and when he put it up for sale. Not that it was really up for sale, you understand, but I have a friend who has a friend who knows somebody. That's how the world works, nowadays. Now the guy who sold the place was really something. Nice looking, if a bit too much like somebody's father, or uncle. Half of me wouldn't have minded getting to know him better, while the other half simply wanted to run as fast as possible in the opposite direction. But he was heading out of town, so it's sort of a moot point. From what I heard, one of his kids died, and the other one snuffed himself. I feel for the guy, I really do. No-one should have to lose a kid, never mind two. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about. But I digress. I was telling you about the bar. I bought it for a song, really, far less than what it was worth. I guess he had enough money, and just wanted to unload the property. I had to agree to a few weirdness', though. Keep the decor and the bartender, which I didn't mind to much. The place wouldn't feel right any other way, and Miki's a good kid. Keeps his nose out of people's affairs, and does the job right. And he makes a mean Manhattan. Oh yeah, and I can't boot out the strays that come around looking for a rest. Not a problem, really. I used to work with kids like that, until I couldn't take the pain and death and the might-have-beens and if-onlys any longer. And now I run a club. Lo, how the mighty have fallen. But she looked even worse then the ragamuffins and hookers that wander through my doors. Not physically, I mean, she was stumbling, but she could'a been already tanked up for the night, or lost a contact lens or something. And not the way she looked when she wandered in here the first night that I opened. She looked heartsore, then. And something close to homesickness, like she was missing something or someone awful bad. And she stayed that way for a while, coming in and staring around, like she thought she'd find whoever she was looking for here, behind one of the pillars or sitting at the bar. I guess she never did find him, because after a time she stopped looking. Just made a beeline for the bar and a glass. I could have told her that drowning your troubles is the surest way to increase them, but what do I know. Her problems could just have been a dry mouth, for all that she talked about them. And even though I've only been a barkeep for a short time, I know that most people tend to talk about what's bugging them when they've got a drink in their hand. As though alcohol were a substitute for the headshrinker's couch. Tonight was different, though, and I'm sorry that I keep swerving away from the topic. Jase used to tease me about that all the time, before I left the force. But that's another story completely. Tonight she looked as though she wasn't even a part of this world, or she was seeing everything for the first time and wasn't entirely sure of where she was. She wandered around the club, making a circuit of the place before sitting down. Miki was taking her order before I even started moving towards her, and by the time I got there, she was downing a glass of wine. That "House Special" stuff that Miki kept in stock for some reason. I didn't know what it was, or where he got it, but I was sure it was something I wanted no part of. Maybe the old boss *was* involved in a smuggling ring, but my nose was staying clean, thank you. But she downed it, and asked for another. Two things out of whack. She always stayed away from wine, and when she did have it, she'd nurse it all night. Usually after five or six shots of something stronger. She didn't look at me when I leaned on the bar beside her. Miki gave me The Look, but this time I wasn't buying it. Something was seriously wrong, and I was still enough of a cop that I couldn't let it go. I touched her arm, gently, mind you, just enough to let her know that I was there. She whipped around on the stool and *growled* at me, and I'll swear by everything that I hold holy, that her eyes were yellow and her teeth looked like hallowe'en props.. While I may spend all my waking hours in a bar, I wasn't drunk. Certainly not drunk enough to hallucinate *that*, let me tell you. I'd never seen *anything* like she was then, and the gods grant that I never will again. Well, to make a long story short, I backed off. I went and sat in the corner, and nursed a grudge. And I kept an eye on the Fanged One, that's for sure. I still wasn't sure what had happened, but I knew she didn't want me around. She had made that abundantly clear. So I was perched on a stool in the corner of the room, watching the room with one eye and her with another, when the door opened and the second mystery of the night walked through. She was an eyeful, that's for sure. Even I was stunned, and I don't lean that way. Curly black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a velvet dress wrapped around a figure that would have made an emperor sit up and beg. She walked in as if she owned the place, and headed across the dance floor to the bar. Now this being a Saturday night, the place was packed, but I'll be damned if a pathway didn't open up for her like the Red Sea for Moses. She walked, glided would be more accurate, over to the bar and stopped just behind our mutual friend. Now Jase had a sister who had a friend who was deaf, and he taught me how to read lips, once. And if you don't mind me saying so, I'm not half bad at it. Our friend asked The Lady, because that's the only thing she could be, how she, meaning The Lady, had found her. The Lady replied that not only were they "bound", and before you ask, I've got no idea what she meant, but that where else would she have gone. Our friend laughed, and asked what would happen now. The Lady said that they had to leave. Then she turned, and looked straight at me. Yes, at me. And she smiled. And I don't mind telling you that at that moment I would have done anything that she asked me to, just to see that smile again, and I *don't* lean that way. I hated to imagine what that smile would do to a man, and I shuddered in anticipation of what she might say to me. But all she did was smile, and then she turned to face our friend, who was apparently her friend too, and so I didn't see what else she said. But they left together, and I never saw either one again. Now I looked in the records, and I found out that The Lady had owned the joint before the old man. She built it, so the file said, and ran it for years. She didn't look old enough, though, to have been around for so long. And then there was the thing with the fangs, the "House Special", and the not-quite-people that seemed to frequent the place. So I got to thinking. I did some checks, and called in a few favours. And now I'm certain of it. I can't go to the media with what I know, they'd never believe me, so it's up to you to help me, sir. I know you have some important connections, and can help me prove it. I'll tell it to you as simply as I can. I know that it sounds farfetched, Mr.Valdez, but there are vampires in Toronto. ************************************************* Flames, comments, etc to Katya@ibm.net Katya.