“Moron,” Hank said in a huff. “Can’t even get a cursed sword the right way.”
The room erupted in laughter again.
A few minutes later, the room died down, and Rick nudged me on the shoulder. “So, how did you become immortal anyway, Damian?”
“Oh, here we go,” Isaiah said. “Strap yourselves in.”
I looked straight at Rick, my eyes as serious as I could make them. I took a long sigh and placed a hand on his shoulder. “All I can say is, never lose a drinking battle with the Norse God of Mischief.”
Rick looked up at me, mouth slightly agape, eyes hardened and serious. He gulped in a breath. “R-really?” he said, voice barely over a whisper.
This time, it was my turn to burst out laughing. “Nah, I’m just joking.” I slapped him on the shoulder. “But I sure had you going for a minute, didn’t I?”
Rick chuckled just a little and lowered his head. “Yeah, I guess you did.”
“Besides, Loki can’t hold his liquor. He may think he’s all that and a bag of chips, but really, it’s Thor you need to watch out for. Now there’s a guy you really don’t want to get into a drinking contest with.” I groaned a little as that memory came back to me. That next morning had been literal hell.
Rick’s face paled. “You… you’re serious, aren’t you.”
I nodded. “Indeed. I really did go drinking with both of them. Nice fellows. A little antiquated, but nice all the same.”
Rick’s eyes lit up with wonder. “Wow…” he said, then his voice trailed off.
I envied Rick a little bit. Everything was so new and fresh for him. I wondered what it would feel like to have all those new sensations again. Must be nice, I decided.
The room devolved into a bunch of tiny conversations after that as everyone caught up with one another and asked Mei a million questions about how she was doing and if they could help her out with anything. I paid little attention to all of it and just sipped from my Manhattan, feeling as happy as could be.
And there was plenty to be happy about. Boudicca was gone. Well, trapped in a magic sword, but no longer a threat, at least. Mei was back and looking as good as ever. Everything was slowly going back to normal. Well, as normal as it got around here, anyway.
Sure, I was still alive, but you can’t win them all, am I right? There was always next time for that one. And with my luck, I was somehow sure there would be a next time.
As the night quieted down and a few of the patrons started to filter out of the bar, my cocktail magically refilled itself and Rick started up his line of questions again. He sure had an inquisitive brain. And I didn’t mind so much. It was nice to have someone look at you the way Rick looked at me now. Like someone important.
“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you something for a long time now,” Rick told me.
That piqued my curiosity. We’d only known each other for less than three weeks. What could he have been wanting to know that badly?
“Okay, shoot.”
“How do you get Damian from Li Xiang? It doesn’t make any sense to me.”
I snorted. “That’s your burning question?” I shook my head a little and sighed.
“Just please humor me.”
“Okay,” I said. “The answer is, you really don’t.” I patted him on the back and flashed him a big grin. “But Damian is hella cooler.”
“Tch,” Hank said. “Unlike your tired 90s references.”
Once more, the room erupted into laughter. And even though I was just a little hurt by it, I joined in, too. After all, nights like this didn’t happen too often, where nothing was on fire and that tired voice in the back of my head was finally quiet.
Nights when I was truly happy.
“Whatever, Hank,” I muttered, shaking my head. He gave my shoulder a good squeeze, then went back to nursing his drink.
I flashed him a smile, then rocked back and forth on my stool for a bit, taking in everything. The bar. The booze. The friends. This was perfect. This was what kept me going on all those dark, lonely nights by myself.
Mei’s eyes caught mine a moment later, and she winked at me. I winked back and raised my cocktail in the air to toast her. Then I downed the entire thing in one gulp.
As the buzz started to kick in, one thought came back to me over and over. Tonight was a good night.
What happens when you mix immortals, Fae magic, and a baby? Find out in the next Damian novel, What to Expect When You Have a Fae Baby. Get it on Amazon here.
Author’s Notes
January 31st, 2021
Well, well, well. That was quite a ride, don’t you think? I don’t know about you, but I had a really good time writing this story. Well, I hope you had a good time. You made it all the way to the author’s notes, so I’m assuming you liked it.
If you did like it, please leave a review. They mean the world to me. I read each and every one of them, even the bad ones. Though I like the positive ones a bit more. ☺
The idea for this series came to me one day while I was driving home from the grocery store. I got a little too close to another car and had one of those “oh crap” moments where I wondered what would have happened if I’d hit them. That got me thinking about mortality, which led to thinking about immortality, and how it must suck if you live forever but you don’t really want to.
Then I had an idea for an immortal warrior that wanted to go out in a blaze of glory, but no matter how dangerous the mission was that he went on, he always came out unscathed. His only real gift aside from long
