Authors: J.D. Moon
“Barnaby, will you walk me to the water for a swim?” Asha was sitting up now, still naked. Her nipples were hard and she felt a chill from the air. Barnaby handed her a blanket and she wrapped it around herself. Then she leaned in and wrapped her hands around his thick, hairy waist. His eyes were still glowing, and he held her close as the music continued outside. Children were laughing and Asha though she heard a dog bark. She sighed and closed her eyes, wanting to treasure the moment. It occurred to her that this might be her new place to call home.
“I would love to walk you down to the water,” said Barnaby. Pedro had sat up now, as well, and soon the four inside were quiet, all of them listening to the lovely music being played by all of the healers. Barnaby reached for Asha’s hand, and kissed it. She smiled and then watched as the multi-colored butterfly flew before his face. Then the two opened up the flap to the lodge, and headed into the brisk and ancient night.
THE END
“Ugh, it’s a rough crowd in here tonight.” Miranda said to her co-worker, Angelisa.
“It sure is. Then again, it’s no worse than usual.”
“You got that right!”
“Hey, give me another hot shot!” came a gruff voice from the end of the bar. “And make it snappy, doll.”
Miranda rolled her blue eyes at the guy at the end of the bar as she shouted back, “You’ll get it when I give it to ya, Mike!” Mike was a regular at the bar and he was always rude. Miranda leaned over toward Angelisa and said, “I hate when he gets drunk like that. He’s such an ass.”
“Only to you.”
“Yeah, I don’t get that. I mean the usual crowd in this place is full of assholes, but he seems to go out of his way to be more of an ass to me. I haven’t even done anything. The fucker is lucky if I don’t slip him a mickey to shut him up.”
Angelisa laughed at the prospect of Mike being quite. He was harmless—more bark than bite—but that didn’t make him any less annoying. “Maybe it’s the fact that you’re a blonde?”
“Hey now, not all blondes are dumb. I happen to have a Master’s Degree in English.”
“And yet you work here? Shouldn’t you be teaching somewhere, Miss Smarty-Pants?”
“I don’t like kids. Well, I don’t like OTHER people’s kids. Honestly, I don’t even know if I like kids in general.”
“Yeah, so what are you doing here? These are nothing but overgrown children.”
“True, but they have money. I definitely like money.” Miranda and Angelisa exchanged glasses and then erupted with laughter.
Miranda Stone and Angelisa Beckman have been friends since the fifth grade when Miranda witnessed Angelisa getting beaten up by one of the junior cheerleaders and her friends. Miranda stepped in and broke the head cheerleader’s nose and gave another one a black eye. The two have been inseparable ever since. They even attended the same college, though Miranda attended longer than Angelisa. Angelisa just wanted her Associate’s and to be done. They got an apartment on the upper east side of Union Valley, Pennsylvania after graduation and began working at Ravenstone. Ravenstone looked like a horrible dive bar on the outside, but inside, it was decked out in a gothic style. Chains hung from the ceiling like curtains separating the areas of the interior. The bar was covered in a marbleized black and red dyed shellac. The barstools were covered in a red, sparkly naugahyde. Dark and gothic rock music blared from large speakers that were affixed in the corners.
Many people commented on how Miranda and Angelisa looked like they could be sisters. The only difference was that Miranda had one blue eye and one green eye. She often wore a blue-colored contact to hide the difference despite Angelisa’s insistence that nothing was wrong with her eyes. Both women were tall and medium in build, but Miranda was more toned as she loved to work out. Angelisa was more into comfort, but she remained fit. Her thought process was that if she was healthy, then nothing was wrong with what she was doing. Why fix something that wasn’t broke?
Miranda and Angelisa could pass for twins as both had very similar facial features. Both had a soft, round jaw line, beautiful doe-shaped eyes, a slight up-turned nose, and perfectly shaped ears. The only two differences were the fact that while Miranda was blonde, Angelisa had coffee-brown hair. Angelisa also had brown eyes.
Closing time was fast approaching, so Angelisa did the honors of making the announcement for last call for alcohol. “I’m so ready for this night to be over.” Angelisa said as she wiped the thin layer of sweat from her brow.
“Yeah, me too. Hey, who are those guys sitting over there? Most everyone has left except Mike and his crew, but they’re always here until we get ready to lock up. I don’t know those two. Do you?”
Angelisa looked over to where Miranda was pointing and saw the two men. “No, I don’t know them, but I sure would like to!”
“Angelisa Beckman!” Miranda said sharply. “You’re so bad!”
“What? You wouldn’t like to get to know either one—or both? Personally, I like the dark-haired one, but I’d definitely do them both.”
Miranda stared harder at the two strange men. You know, the one on the right IS kind of hot, she thought to herself. I wonder if they’re the new locals.
“I’ll go let them know we’re closing up.” Miranda said. “You stay here and cool your jets. I’m afraid you’ll have a massive orgasm and embarrass yourself.” Miranda stepped out from behind the bar and walked over toward the two men.
“Hardee har har,” shouted Angelisa as she dried the last of the double shot glasses.
Miranda stopped midstride to stick her tongue out at Angelisa, turned back around, and walked toward the men.
“Be careful to put that to good use!” shouted Angelisa in retaliation. Miranda could feel her face turning red as she flipped Angelisa the bird and continued toward the two men.
***
Zechariah Wingfield and Lucius Blackwood arrived in Union Valley, Pennsylvania last night. They were anxious to sample the local culture. Their current life had led them on the road to a quieter town.
“So, where to tonight?” Zechariah asked. At six feet and five inches tall, Zechariah Wingfield was not a man to be easily intimidated. He appeared to be close to thirty years old, but looks were always deceiving. His raven black hair, appearing tussled and oily, would have normally looked dirty on most men, but on him it looked classic. He let his hair fall into a natural part to the left of the center of his face, and often had to tuck the loose ends of his bangs behind his ears. He and his long-time friend, Lucius Blackwood were discussing plans for their first evening out in their new home.
Lucius Blackwood was fair-haired, which went along very well with his fair complexion. His Irish accent gave him away more often than not, but he discovered as time went on that it was a great way to meet women. When it failed to serve a purpose, he managed to keep it hidden with his American accent. His ability to switch accents also kept things lively—which was good as he often found life boring at times.
“I saw this place as we were driving in last night. It looks like a fairly quiet boozer, but private.”
“Yeah? I don’t know, Luce. I mean ‘quiet’ usually equals boring.”
“Well, we could use a little boring at the moment…especially since you banjaxed everything in the last time. You just had to get in that fight with that arsehole, didn’t ya?”
“What the hell was I supposed to do? Let him rape the poor girl? Someone had to teach him an effing lesson. I’m sure he has done it and gotten away with it before.”
Zechariah had a penchant for vigilantism. He hated seeing people cause harm to others without provocation.
“It never occurred to you to call the police? The others are already after us because of the trail of blood you have left behind ‘saving the world’. I wish you’d quit acting the maggot and grow out of your culchie ways!”
“What the fuck did you just call me?”
“We have been friends all these years and yet you still don’t understand me?”
“That Galway shit you’re blabbering doesn’t suit my palate.”
“Ah, tis a fine man that can understand Galway. They certainly did not make songs about culchie girls, now did they?”
“Argh!” Zechariah exclaimed. “Okay, try English.”
“I am.”
The two men bantered often like this. They have been friends for far too long and have seen far too much for anything to truly come between them, that is, until they walked into Ravenstone that first night.
They walked in and noticed the décor immediately and were a little unimpressed by it. “Not another Goth bar,” Zechariah whined. He looked around and was disappointed by the chain curtains, black painted walls, and red upholstered booths.
“I actually don’t think it’s quite like that.” Lucius said. “Look.” He pointed at the two lovely women behind the bar. Neither were wearing gothic clothes, nor did they have gothic make-up on. “The one with the brown hair is cute, but check out the blonde!”
Zechariah looked to where Lucius motioned and was equally astounded by the beauty that beheld his eyes. She was beautiful. All of her curves were in the right places and her straw-colored blonde hair was pulled into a sloppy ponytail with wavy wisps and tendrils that broke free, framing her face. Her full rose-colored lips stood out against her porcelain skin like two juicy red apple slices waiting to be tasted. Zechariah couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into her. His fingers ached to trace the outlines of her beautiful frame.
“Lucius, your description of her does her no justice. She is absolutely exquisite. She looks just like…”
“I know. Don’t say a word. We’re not here to stir up trouble. We’re just here to try to let things die down before we return home. You have to keep your distance. Let’s just sit down and order something so they won’t kick us out for loitering.”
“Fine. You don’t have to be such a dick about it.”
“You would choose now to talk about my dick? Wow, and I thought you liked the blonde one.” Lucius said.
Zechariah punched Lucius hard in the upper right arm. “Shut the fuck up, man. Just shut. The. Fuck. Up.”
Lucius rubbed his arm, feigning pain. Zechariah didn’t actually hurt him. It took a lot more than a simple fist thrown at his flesh to feel any real pain, but that didn’t mean it was any less than annoying. “If I knew you were going to be so butt hurt about it…”
“Let’s just go sit down, jackass. Jesus H. Christ, you’re such a stupid mother fucker.” Zechariah said to Lucius.
The two men walked over to a booth positioned in such a manner that they could keep their eyes on the women for the evening. They knew they should stay away, but something drew both of them to the blonde one. If only she realized what a tease she had been.
As they continued to watch the people in the room while keeping their eyes on the blonde woman behind the bar, they heard a gruff voice shout, “Gimme another hot shot, and make it snappy, doll!” Zechariah began to rise to his feet, but Lucius stopped him.
“That jackass shouldn’t speak to her that way.”
Lucius was growing weary of being the sane and rational one. Zechariah was always getting into trouble. He was the ‘eternal boy’, it seemed. “Listen, Zach. We are in a bar in what I believe to be the seedy part of town. That man is obviously bolloxed, so let it go.”
“It doesn’t matter. He needs a fist in his face to plug up that fat cake hole of his. I think my fist is just the size.”
“If he physically assaults her, we’ll step in, but not a moment before. Deal?”
Zechariah, rarely one to back down from a brawl of any sort, looked at his friend and again at the women. They seemed to be accustomed to such trash talk, but he still didn’t think it was right. “Fine. I’ll chill for now, but the second that drunk ass gets up to hurt her, I’ll rip his throat out.”
“As long as you don’t do it in public. Remember the last time?”
“Yeah, yeah. That douche canoe deserved it.”
“Yes, but you’re not supposed to leave witnesses behind.”
“You wouldn’t let me do anything about that, either.”
“We don’t hurt the innocent. Sometimes, they can’t defend themselves. If we’re bored, then we step in. Otherwise, we mind our own business.”
Zechariah and Lucius continued their conversation long into the evening and seemed to be unaware that people were making their way out of the bar as it was nearing closing time. Last call had been made. Just then, after a night of avoiding her at all costs, the blonde woman began heading directly towards them. They overheard her banter with the other woman behind the bar, which they found quite entertaining.
Leaning towards Lucius, Zechariah said, “And she’s feisty, too.” His lips curved upward in a predatory smile. “I wonder exactly how feisty she could be.” Little did they know, an opportunity just might present itself.
***
Angelisa and Miranda not only were best friends and worked together. They also rented an apartment together. It was approximately three o’clock in the afternoon.
“Mir, you work tonight right?” Angelisa asked.
“Nope. Why? What’s up?”
“Wait a minute. How did you rank a Saturday night off? That’s usually the busiest night of the week!”