Prompt: "The moon is my guiding star and the bane of my existence."
“The moon is my guiding star and the bane of my existence,” he slurred into his glass.
I rolled my eyes and continued polishing glasses. It was the first night of the full moon. The local pack of werewolves had been coming in all night, trying to either forget what they had just done, or if they could afford it, buy some of my wolfsbane potion off of me. Morrey had elected to choke down the potion with whiskey.
Morrey could never handle his liquor.
“Shut up, Morrey,” slurred another one of the wolf pack. Jackson, I think it was. “The moon isn’t a star, dumbass.” There was a slight scuffle. I looked up from behind the bar – they were too drunk and tired from their transformations to wrestle properly. There was little chance of damage.
“Am I going to have to separate you two?” I said, arching an eyebrow. It was like I’d kicked them.
Never piss off a sorceress, as they say. Especially one that keeps you from transforming into a slathering beast. And when your wife had no idea that you were a werewolf in the first place.
“It’s just a metaphor, Jackson,” Morrey said, his face flushed from the exertion and probably also the whiskey. “Not that you would understand it, you idiot.”
Instead of pounding on him, like I fully expected him to do, Jackson threw his head back and laughed. “You wouldn’t know what a metaphor was if it bit you on the ass.” Morrey, being the idiotic hothead that he was, stood up so fast that he knocked his stool over. The red on his cheeks and neck deepened to a light purple. He had grabbed Jackson by the lapels, pulling him to his feet. Jackson continued to grin like an idiot, which of course only enraged Morrey further.
“Don’t make me come over there,” I said, setting the glasses down once and for all. I leaned against the bar counter. “Remember what happened last time you crossed me?”
Morrey paled. Jackson’s face fell. “Sorry, Amber,” they both mumbled. Morrey dropped Jackson, who dusted off his shirt, or whatever was left of it. He hadn’t transformed in a while. Didn’t end so well.
“It’s 3 am, gentlemen,” I said, stepping back from behind the bar. “You need to get out because it’s time for me to go to bed. I don’t care where you go, but you can’t stay here.”
There was a flicker of interest from Jackson as I said the word bed, but there must have been something extra forbidding in my expression because he tucked tail and scampered out behind Morrey. One day I would have to get them to settle up their tabs with cash. Not today though. Too much effort. The look on my face made them tuck their tails between their legs and file out the door, grumbling.
I sighed. Finally, some peace. I mumbled the cleaning spell that I had modified when I bought this place and shut off the lights. The stools flipped themselves onto the tables. The mop dragged itself out of the closet and began cleaning the floors. By the time I came back down tomorrow afternoon, this place would be far cleaner than it ever could have been using elbow grease. I don’t know how the mortals can possibly stand to do anything the long way.
Finally, I was able to make my way out the back door and into the alley. It was pitch dark back here, being sandwiched between two skyscrapers with nary a streetlight to light my way. It usually didn’t bother me. The nightvision was something that I’d inherited as a moon sorceress. Turning to lock the door behind me, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I took a deep breath and turned the lock with my key. I fought to keep my breathing from quickening, to ignore the low panting that I could hear behind me. I traced a warding sigil with my finger on the back of the door. Anything that tried to mess with my bar would be blasted into next week.
“Listen, creepazoid,” I began. I turned, fully expecting to be faced with the big bad ifrit that I’d had to ban from the premises last week for charming mortals and drawing attention of the cops.
But there was nothing there.
Still, the feeling of being watched remained. I could still hear that low panting. I stamped my foot and murmured a “revelare”. A blue mist appeared to show me that the spell had worked, but I still didn’t see anything in front of me.
“Fine, be like that,” I grumbled. “I’m going home.” This would probably be a good time to use one of those teleportation spells that my mentor was trying to teach me, but it was the middle of the night and they created an awful flash. Besides, I was curious enough to wonder what exactly was trying to get the jump on one of the Pythonissam coven’s strongest acolytes.
I made my way out of the alley behind the bar, reaching just slightly into the ether to have a ball of plasma ready to go if I needed it. The panting followed me out into the dimly lit street.
“Listen, pal,” I said, turning on my heel to face my new stalker. Still no one there. I let the ball of plasma fully coalesce.
Then I heard a slight whine coming from below.
A little creature was cowering at my feet, eyes trained on the ball of plasma in my hand. I sent it back to the ether, and crouched down in front of the creature to take a closer look.
It was flat black, with no visible eyes or nose. It was still sort of… dog shaped. I could see the outline of pointed ears and three tails. There was also the slight stench of sulfur coming from it, which meant it must be some kind of hellhound.
“Alright, go back to your master,” I said, standing up. I put a little power behind my words. The little hellhound flinched but didn’t disappear as I’d meant it to. This guy had some serious will power.
I considered throwing an exilium at it, but that seemed cruel. I’ve always been a sucker for dogs, even the demon kind. And the way that this one had flinched just at the sight of a plasma ball made me think that this one hadn’t been treated right by its master. How could I send it back in good conscience?
Oh, the girls in my coven were going to get a kick out of this.
“Alright, you can come home with me,” I said resignedly. “But absolutely no hellfire in the apartment, and if I catch you bringing back anything live to eat on my new couch, I’ll send you right back to wherever you came from.”
My new little friend made a sound that approximated a bark and trotted down the street after me. I’d have to figure out a way to glamour it to make it look a little more normal. Maybe Josie would know something about it? She was the oldest sorceress that I knew of, and she’d actually spent some time in the demon realms.
Ugh. I was never going to live this one down.
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