The Ghosts

Chapter Five, Part One

I narrowed my eyes. “Why? I figured some of the men would be pissed at me for riling him up.”

“Everyone pisses him off at some point. It just makes you one of us, kid. You maybe Captain’s recruit but you have our respect. After what you did today…” He shrugged. “Now, let’s go.”

“Do I have to?”

He hooked his arm around my neck. “You know it. Can’t get out of it.”

“But I don’t drink.”

“Tonight you do. Captain tells you to jump…”

“I jump. Blah, blah, blah. Why does everyone have to be difficult? I just want to go to bed, get some sleep…”

“He is your mentor.” Jesse pulled open the door. “You can’t do any of that until he tells you you can. And right now he says you go to the Tavern.”

We walked out into the cool night after telling Hank goodbye.

“Jesse?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Do you like this life?”

He chuckled, not fully understanding why I was asking. “It’s not bad.”

“Yeah but…”

“I don’t have anything against it. Its good pay, I get to kick a little ass…” he looked at me and smiled, “and at the end of night I get to go home to my wife.”

“Wife?” I grinned. “You have a wife?”

“Yeah. Her name’s Maria. She works in the real world.”

“Slayer?”

He shook his head. “Human. But she knows all about this. Doesn’t really care. She just got her Masters this past May and now she’s working at a publishing company.”

“Wow. I never thought you’d be married. You don’t seem like the type.”

He squeezed my shoulders in a friendly manner. It reminded me of my brother. It was something he might’ve done. “Don’t worry. You’ll get to meet her. She comes in every Friday for lunch and she’s really excited to meet you. I told her all about you last night. She couldn’t believe Phillies let a girl into his office pool.”

“Oh goodie.”

“Don’t worry.” He pulled open the door to the Tavern. “You’ll like her.”

“How do you know?”

He just smiled and opened the second door. I didn’t take off my jacket since I wasn’t planning on staying long. I had some wallowing I wanted to do and I didn’t intend on doing it in public. I’d take my tongue lashing and go back to the apartment.

Gregori sat on the same barstool as he always seemed to. I noticed he never sat at a table or booth like some of the others. Perhaps he just liked to drink alone, choosing to not regale the crowd with tales of past triumphs. A half empty glass of whiskey sat in front of him while he stared down at it.

I slid onto the stool next to him and hoped this would be over quickly. “What’s up?”

He didn’t respond right away. “You went off script today.”

I nodded. “It happens.”

He twirled the glass around. “You are a recruit, Vertigo. You’re not supposed to go off script. Ever.”