"You better be here tomorrow if you care about anyone who's ever set foot in this place, Ryleigh."
I... I'm trapped.
I can't leave. He won't let me.
My life, Dottie, Sasha, my regulars- all of them. He threatened all of them. My gut curled as he spoke. I had a hunch he meant it. I don't doubt he couldn't do it either. I might not know what he is but I do know he's cold enough to do it without batting an eye.
I raised my hand above me. I could see the ceiling of my room through my fingers. My shaking fingers... My shaking hand. I hadn't slept after I got home last night. It had been impossible to close my eyes.
In the darkness, all I saw was him-his real form when he'd come to my bar a day ago. It horrified me each time to think that the handsome stranger that had walked in could turn into that.
My phone buzzed beside me and broke me out of my thoughts. It was almost time to leave for work. He would come again tonight. He'd promised me he would. He'd threatened me with what would happen if I didn't turn up.
I don't know how long he intends to toy with me like this. I don't know how long my heart can take it.
Forcing myself up, I trudged to work again. I was cheery and bubbly the entire day so I wouldn't worry Dottie and Sasha again. I can't have them worry about me, they'll want to send me home. They did notice the bags under my eyes, but I brushed it away with ease. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered but the wait.
People came and people went. The lunch rush flew by, and so did the dinner crowd. It was last call again before I knew it. My hands started to clench and unclench under the bar even before he walked in. Eyes went to him, and those eyes stayed on him. He was the most pleasant thing to look at in the bar right now.
Right up until his switch was flipped. He wasn't human. He looked human. He looked like a beautiful human, but any attraction I'd felt towards him was dead.
"Good evening, Ryleigh." He smiled at me, with his perfect perfect teeth as took the same seat he had the last two times. "It's a beautiful night outside."
"Is that so?" Close hands, open hands. Close hands, open hands. "I wouldn't know. Haven't had a chance to go outside yet."
"Busy night?" He raised an eyebrow.
Close hands, open hands. "It's never a busy night apart from holidays or festivals. It's why we close at midnight."
"Makes sense." He nodded. "I'll take my usual, if you don't mind."
"Three of them again?"
"No. Not today." He leaned forward, elbows on the bar, dark eyes glinting cheerily. "I have a lot more time to spare today."
"Lucky me." Close hands, open hands. Grab a glass. I have to serve him.
"You don't know how much." His smile widened. "Oh, and I'll have some of those peanuts you keep."
"Sure." My hand slipped under the bar, grabbing a packet of peanuts and sliding it towards him.
He sighed as he looked at the packet. "The service in this bar is truly stellar."
I walked over to him to place down the glass of scotch. "There are always other bars you could go to."
Lou chuckled as he reached for the packet. "I'm sorry, Ryleigh. It won't be that easy to get rid of me."
I rolled my eyes on the way back to the register. "I'm not going to be holding my breath."
"It's better you don't." He replied easily. "This place has a certain charm to it. I think I'll stick around for a while."
"Lucky me." I repeated, voice a little duller than before as I wrote up the customer's bill.
I tried to muster up a smile for the rest of the people left in the bar. I tried my best not to sound as hopeless as I felt. He wasn't going anywhere for a while. Hard to feel any good prospects about that. Even the tips he gave wouldn't work to raise my mood.
I didn't make anymore conversation with Lou up until the last regular left shortly before midnight. Once they were all gone, I grabbed the bottle of scotch and dragged my stool over to where Lou was. He smiled as I sat down in front of him. "Well, that's a pleasant surprise. I didn't have to say anything."
"I learn fast." I growled out, truly feeling like a broken dog.
"Interesting." I refilled his glass. "How was your day, Ryleigh?"
"Better without you in it."
"Ouch. You hurt me so much, Ryleigh."
"The amount of fucks I give about that are astronomically non-existent."
"That's a lot of big words for you."
I raised an eyebrow. "You calling me stupid, Lou?"
"Not at all." He smirked and took a sip. "You've just not been very... eloquent with me."
"That's a fairly complicated word for you, Lou."
He laughed. "You calling me dumb, Ryleigh?"
"Yes. Yes, I am."
"Well, that's rude." Lou's eyes sparkled with mirth as he faked a frown. "I have been nothing but a gentleman to you."
"Sure, you have." I absently tapped the table. "Scare me to the point of passing out the first day, barge your way in the next, order me around like a dog, and threaten the only people I care about and who care about me before leaving. Very, very gentlemanly behaviour on your part, Lou."
"Well, when you put it like that." He mumbled against his glass.
"In fact..." My tapping stopped as I looked up at him. "You're not a gentleman."
He sighed. "You've got your point across, Ry-"
"You're not a man at all." I cocked my head. "You're not human, Lou... if that is even your name. What are you?"
"Now, we're getting somewhere." He chuckled. He forward and placing his chin in his palm. "I'm surprised you didn't ask me this earlier."
"I thought you were a vampire for a while." I paused as he grimaced. "But then I realised I don't really have much knowledge of cold supernatural... beings."
"First of all," he raised a finger "I'm not cold most of the time. And second of all, I can't believe you called me a vampire. I do not want to be even mistakenly associated with those cold, stinking creeps."
I felt my jaw drop open. "Vampires are real?" I squeaked.
"Of course, they are." He paused to take a sip. "Most of them are stinking rich, and masquerading as socialites who have early mysterious deaths where no bodies are found and then they resurface years later- still looking the same, still as popular." He waved a hand to gesture around the place. "They wouldn't even glance at this place if they were passing by."
"That's a relief." I exhaled loudly.
"Why?" He leaned forward again, a teasing tone in his voice. "Am I too much for you to handle?"
"More than enough." I moved back from him. I'm not having any of that seductive shit. Though I will not deny he still smells nice. "And I still don't know what you are."
"Ah, right. The question of the night." He smirked. "What do you think I am?"
I rolled my eyes. "I already told you I don't know, and you also shot down my half-baked vampire hypothesis. So, please put me out of my misery."
"Half-baked? It wasn't even in the kitchen." Ouch. "Also, if you want me to put you out of your misery, all you need to do is ask."
I felt my heart skip a beat. I knew it was a joke, but my mouth still went dry. I managed a tight smile in response to the smirk that wasn't leaving his face.
He was silent for a while as he watched me. Lou probably expected me to say something, but I just shifted uncomfortably with his eyes on me.
"You really have no clue, do you?"
"Not an idea." I reached up to rub the back of my neck. "I've never been into fiction or mythology."
"You know, to some people those are as big of an escape as alcohol was to you."
"I was never addicted." I replied immediately.
"Didn't say you were."
"Stop dodging the question. What are you, Lou?"
"Calm down. It's nothing big." He took a swig from his tumbler to show how relaxed he was. "I'm just a simple demon."
I raised an eyebrow. "A demon?"
"Yes. A demon." He smiled at me, his eyes got darker. I felt my body go cold as I watched him change. The lights flickered as his skin lost several shades, and his eyes went dark. Veins grew more prominent under his skin. The fingers wrapped around the glass grew longer as his talons extended. The tumbler seemed tiny in his grasp, like he could crush it without a second thought.
He was still seated, but at the same time it felt like he towered over me. The breath that escaped my parted lips turned into a visible mist as the temperature dropped. He grinned at me with needle like sharp teeth. "This... is what a demon is."
I barely hung onto my stool. My fingers were wrapped tightly around the edge of it. My gut had curled up into a tight ball and it was hard to breathe again. This was it. This was what had terrorised me on the first day.
"So?" He prompted in his rasping voice. A serrated tongue slipped over his teeth. "What do you think?"
He wanted me to speak again. He wanted me to speak again? I can't even breathe properly right. It's freezing cold in here and I... I have to reply to him. Or he'll get angry.
I forced my mouth shut as I tried to forget about my racing heart. I'm pretty sure I'd lost my colour as well, but not as drastically as him. "I-it... It's n-nothing I haven't seen before, I-I guess."
He threw his head back to laugh in a booming manner that seemed to shake the ceiling. I bit down on the inside of my cheek as the lights flickered again. I need him to go back to normal. I can't take this. I need him to go back to normal. I can't d-
"Well, you seem to be enjoying this rather a lot." He still grinned at me. "Maybe I can let myself hang loose for however long I decide to hang around here."
"Please... no." An unchecked whimper escaped me. I stiffened immediately as he heard it.
His smile went slightly stiff, hollow eyes roamed over my body and read my face. He relaxed after another moment. The grin dropping to a wide smile. "It'll take you a while to get used to me like this." His smile shrunk down to a normal one... as did his size, as did his fingers and as did his being. He was normal again, but his eyes still weren't. I could see the faint veins under his skin. It made my skin crawl.
"I'll take another drink now." He tapped his glass.
I flinched at the shrill sound. My eyes darted between him and the drink. Grasping the neck of the bottle, I placed it on top of the bar. My legs shook under me as I stood up. "I need to go to the washroom." I whispered. I couldn't seem to find my voice.
"Pissed your pants, Ryleigh?"
I couldn't reply to that as I away from him and exited the bar to head to bathrooms. I walked over to the sink to catch my breath. My heart thudded out of my chest, my legs had gone numb. I felt like I was going to throw up.
A demon? What the fuck is a demon? I know about it in the biblical sense of the word, but what the hell is one otherwise. He doesn't seem like the biblical kind. Or is this just a human who's been possessed? Actually, how would I know?
I looked up from the white porcelain. My hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail so my horrified features were very clearly out for the world to see. Pale skin, wide eyes, clammy palms, shaky legs- the entire package. He'd-he'd got me with that party trick. Except, it was no trick. It was real. It was all real, and I was somehow in the mi-
I'm going to throw up.
I stumbled over to the washroom, the door slammed shut behind me as I fell to my knees. Whatever was left of my lunch flew out of my mouth. Tears streamed down my face, as my nose and throat burned. However, I wasn't over the toilet bowl for long— I hadn't eaten much all day. But I pulled back once I was done. My back hit the cubicle wall and I slid down against it. Tears streamed down my face. I didn't know why I was crying. Was I crying for myself? Was I crying because I felt like I was going to die? There was no point in that. If he killed me, he killed me. I was too powerless to do anything about him or his presence in my bar.
He was here. He was my customer, for lack of a better word. I was being forced to stay here for his amusement and for his service. But he was still a customer.
I'd been a bartender for five years. In those five years, I'd met a lot of people. Some stuck in my memory, some didn't. Some were douchebags, some were pretty nice. Some liked to overshare, some liked to drink in silence. Lou-or whatever he is- qualified for all of the worst parts of the above criteria.
But Lou was a customer. And like the horrible, memorable and quiet customers I'd had over the years, I'd served them. I'd given them their drink no matter how much they tipped, or what they said, or how they acted. The only way Lou was different was because he wasn't human. And I was forced to serve him.
I'm a bartender. I tend bar. I'm a therapist for the price of a drink and a free ear to listen to.
Lou was here to drink. Lou was here to talk. And my job somehow made me qualify for both.
I pressed my hands to my face and forced in some steady breaths to calm my racing heart. The longer I stayed like that, the better I felt. My heart slowed down, and my gut uncoiled. I'm fine. I would be fine. All he-that thing- wants is a drink and a person to talk to. And I can do that.
Sure, I'm scared of him. I almost shit my pants just thinking about him. But as long as I maintain the professional boundary, I'll be safe. He's acknowledged me as his personal bartender, more or less, which means he won't hurt me for as long as he needs me. He'll keep me around for the drink and the banter. And I could do that. Hell, I'm good at that.
I exhaled loudly in the silence. My head fell back up to stare at the ceiling. I'd made several decisions while throwing up in washrooms. Some good, some bad. But none concerning a supernatural being like a demon. None so important that my literal life hinges on it.
It all boiled down to one thing. And one thing only.
Lou, out there, was my customer. And while I might be reluctantly forced into duty beyond my working hours, I'm still a bartender.
"Fuck me." I whispered to myself as I got off the floor. I flushed the toilet before walking over to wash my hands and my face. My reflection looked like shit. It looked exactly like someone who'd thrown up in a bar's bathroom would look. Wisps of brown hair stuck to the water on my forehead, veiny brown eyes, pale skin and a very obvious lack of motivation visible in my body posture.
"Let's do this." I mumbled to myself, as I turned to head out the door, and back towards the literal demon of a customer waiting for me.
**********
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Ryleigh finally seems to be taking matters into her own hand. Her pride as a bartender finally kicked in and took over her fear of what Lou is.
Ryleigh can deal with Lou... right?
Read on to find out more!
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