* * *
Saturday, August 16th
Early in the morning of the next day, Poisonous, in spite of the Light that had forced her away the previous night, decided to make another visit to Fritz Ballinger. Arriving in his hospital room, she saw the Pastor of The Church of The Spirit, and smelled corruption in him. Watching the fool whose mind was under the control of Politically Correct, she paid rapt attention to the words of the deceiver.
“Pastor,” said Fritz, “I was visited last night by a demon. I talked to the nurse on that shift and she told me what had happened. What do I do? I’m confused, and scared at the same time. Is there any way to keep these demons away?”
The pastor smiled, cleared his throat and began his oratory. “You see son, when I’m afraid or nervous when I give a sermon, I just imagine all the parishioners in the pews are naked. Can’t help but laugh; relaxes me. You know: I remember when I used to have bad dreams. I would wake up in a sweat, and go to the kitchen, grab myself a cup of coffee, and start reading a good book. Worked every time.”
She couldn’t contain herself. This man was so full of baloney that she roared with laughter.
“But does that deal with keeping demons away?” Fritz asked.
“You see, son: There is no substitute for finding a way to relax when you’ve had a bad dream.”
More laughter bellowed out of her. “This pastor knows nothing of how we work. What a fool.”
“But this wasn’t a dream, Pastor,” said Fritz.
“I’m sure it was,” said the Pastor. “Goodbye son, and may the good Lord bless you.” The Pastor left, smiling, and Poisonous laughed more. “I couldn’t lead humans away from the truth any better than that man. Oh my, but Politically Correct has him bamboozled.”
* * *
As promised, Poisonous met Shauna Williams outside the main entrance to the Capital Scene. Shauna dressed like most young women having a night on the town: provocative, yet not quite slutty.
“Good. I’m glad to see you managed to make your date,” she said.
“Is he hot?” Shauna asked.
“Oh yes,” she answered. “At least in my opinion; but I’ll let you decide that for yourself.”
Presently, after seven minutes, the young man approached. First, he eyed Shauna, weighing her merits. Then, his gaze turned to Poisonous. “You’ve done well. He handed her five one hundred dollar bills.
“Why is he paying you? Isn’t this a date?”
“Of course, sweetie,” she answered. “I’m sort of a match maker, and he’s paying me my fee, that’s all.”
“Oh.”
Out of the vision of the man, Poisonous’ fiery red eyes burned into Shauna’s. You will not remember ever seeing me.
Then, the man took Shauna by the arm, and led her into the club.
Satisfied, Poisonous flew back to the condo.
* * *
Shauna followed Rob inside the club, They made their way through the crowd, and found the table he had reserved. She had to constantly move to avoid the bodies of the dancers bumping into her. Seated next to her date, she asked, “So what’s your name?”
“I’m Rob. You?”
“Shauna.”
“You ready to party?”
“Yeah. Let’s do it. I need to let loose and have some fun tonight.”
“I think I can arrange that. Let’s go in.”
Electronic Dance Music pulsed throughout all the different levels of the venue, but especially on the Main Floor. Gyrating bodies bounced up and down and swayed from side to side as the beat pounded away. Alcohol flowed constantly, and dancers usually had a drink in one hand as the other rose to the sky in sync with their gyrating bodies. Servers delivered bottles of alcohol with flames shooting up from them where they had tubes inserted in the top, and had been lit to resemble a Roman candle.
“Do you want something to drink?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll have a mojito, please.”
He got up and walked to the bar. She took in all the flashing lights in all sorts of psychedelic colors flashing from every wall and every nook and cranny in the room. The high energy pulsed through her, and she found herself getting up and dancing by herself as first. Soon, a group danced around her and she joined in. A few moments later, Rob returned with two drinks in his hand, and handed hers to her.
“Thanks, Rob,” she said as she continued to dance. Completely caught up in the moment, she had forgotten about Rob, but a tap on her shoulder brought her back to the reason she was here in the first place.
“May I cut in?” he asked, smiling but looking a little threatening.
A little spooked, she answered, “Yeah. Sure.”
They danced to the music for about five minutes as she sipped on her drink. A few sips later, she felt a little loopy. A few sips after that, dizziness overtook her. The closer the liquid in the drink got to the bottom of the glass, the sleepier she felt. Her speech slurred, the room started to look a bit fuzzy, and her stomach roiled within her. “Ohhhhhh…”
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“No. I don’t feel so good.”
“Let me take you somewhere where you can lay down,” he said, sounding reassuring. Carried in his arms, she ended up on a table in a small back room with no other people in it. “Can I get you…” His voice faded into nothingness, and so did she. That was the last thing she remembered.
Waking a few hours later, near four o’clock in the morning, she realized she lay nude on the table where Rob had placed her. Her groin felt a
