Nikki didn’t answer. She closed her eyes, and I saw all her energy morphing and starting to swirl around her, almost in a protective way.
She was going to teleport.
Away from me.
Me!
This was not like Nikki, not at all. Something was definitely off.
What the hell?
So…
Well.
I did something.
I had to.
I had done it once. The results had been disastrous, so I never did it again.
But I had no choice right now.
So I did what I did.
I grabbed her energy and I took hold.
She started to teleport, and—well, if I’d taken enough and held on, I would’ve too.
I only took a little, enough to ground her so she couldn’t teleport. That, and she wasn’t strong enough to teleport with me yet either.
When she didn’t go anywhere, she sucked in her breath. Her head twisted to me. Her eyes flashed black, and she shoved me away from her.
She hissed, “This is a demon thing. Stay in your lane.”
I relented and let her go, and she was off…but I knew three things.
One, that wasn’t my best friend. Or that wasn’t the best friend I loved.
Two, I should’ve been way more active in doing whatever I could’ve when she started working there.
And three, I didn’t give a rat’s ass about her lane, my lane. We were on this trip together.
I was going to Bass.
I looked around the room, seeing she’d left her glass untouched, and I headed over.
I might need a little something something to soften the edge because damn, humans on Halloween were annoying.
I drank hers. Mine.
I grabbed the rest of the bottle and headed out.
3
Thank You. Jeez
I was walking down the highway when my Uber pulled up.
The front window rolled down, and the driver leaned over. “You can’t bring that in here.” His bald head was shinier than normal, and the cross he was wearing swung toward me. It fell out of his sweatsuit, and not just any sweatsuit. This driver was wearing a red velvet sweatsuit.
Someone had aspirations to be a pimp. I wasn’t stereotyping pimps. He’d actually told me this was his goal in life on another day when I had almost a full bourbon bottle with me.
I looked at my current bottle. There was a third left.
We non-humans could put the booze away and still function quite efficiently. I believe it’s what you all call a high-tolerance level. Ours was epic.
I held it up and leaned down to look at the driver. “Come on, Ralph.”
He shook his head. “Can’t do it. I got my boss breathing down my neck as it is—”
“Take me to Bass,” and I shook the bottle and its contents at him, “and what’s left of it is yours—”
“Why are you still standing out there? Get in, Caley Girl!”
That was easy.
I slid in the back, and groaned when I smelled what I smelled. That stuff was not legal in Minnesota. “Really? You bust my balls over my booze?”
He shrugged, lifting up his joint for a drag. “Don’t tell on me.”
I groaned, leaning back as he took off into traffic.
Normally, this was bad. Very bad. Normally, I’d never allow myself or a driver under the influence to drive, but Ralph was different. I was different (well, I was being responsible. I ordered the Uber.) I knew Ralph toked up daily, so that was like him popping a cough drop. If he didn’t, his throat would start getting scratchy.
“Why you going to Bass?”
“Nik’s working.”
He looked at me in the rearview mirror. “Why you going to Bass tonight?”
“’Cause Nik’s working.”
He was staring at me.
I was staring back.
Good thing we were at a red light.
That’s when I knew.
I leaned forward, folding my arms over my knees and tucking my chin on the shoulder rest of the passenger seat. “You been feeling it too, haven’t you?”
He pffted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The light turned green, and he started forward, breaking our stare-off.
But I knew, and now he knew that I knew that he knew.
“What do you know, Ralph?”
We non-humans liked to use services from other non-humans. Because of this, our circle wasn’t actually that small, but it felt small. Hence why I had called Ralph of all the drivers I knew, and I knew a lot. I mean, I grew up here.
I also knew Ralph knew because Ralph was like me. Except he wasn’t.
It’s confusing, I know.
“I don’t know anything, Micaela.”
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t use my full name, Ralphianetterson.”
Yes. That was his full name.
He stiffened.
“Tell me.”
He cursed, hitting the turn signal and easing into the exit lane. “You shouldn’t be going to Bass tonight, Caley Girl.”
I relaxed. I really didn’t like when someone used my full name.
I said quietly, “Why, Ralph?”
A small sigh from him as he eased into the right turning lane. “Does there have to be a reason? It’s Hallo-fucking-ween tonight. That shit’s enough.”
“Why you driving?”
“Because I’m being selective tonight.”
Meaning he was only picking up females. He had to pick me up. Cousins.
I tried again, “What do you know? Just tell me.”
“I know what you know.”
“And that’s what? I just sense a Big Bad in town.”
His eyes flicked up to mine. “And yet you’re still going to Bass?”
Enough said.
Ralph and I were both energy sensors. That also meant we were energy magnets. Where we went, whoever’s energy was around us, some of it stuck to us. Good and bad energy. I actively fought against that. I never wanted to take someone’s energy. Too much and that was a drunk level that I never wanted to feel the hangover from. Some energy sensors never came back from it. They got addicted to it…and liked to keep rolling and rolling. Scary shit could take you over if you let it.
The other problem with that is that we were like drugs to other beings.
They liked to snack on us, in whatever way their species called for them to do, and they got a buzz from us. Blood. Sex. Just sniffing. Other ways. So we were like walking
