I'm back with another free short story for you all to read and enjoy! I actually quite like this one and I think that it may end up being part of a much longer story in the future. I hope that you are all doing well and staying safe. Enjoy! Next Drink is on Me
By Sheri Velarde Gwen slammed the whiskey in front of her as she waited for the bar to close to mortals and the real drinks to start flowing. “God I miss hunting. Stupid new laws.” She mumbled to herself. Truth be told, she missed a lot of things about the old days. Gwen longed for the shadows, for the friends that can only be made out of need and trust. Everything had become far too open and fake for her liking. Maybe she didn’t belong in this century, maybe she should take a long sleep and hope that when she woke up things had changed. As she sat there lost in her morose thoughts, she barely noticed someone sit down next to her. “You look like you could use another drink.” “Piss off.” Gwen said not even looking up. “Now is that anyway to greet an old friend?” Gwen turned and nearly fell off her stool, which only made the man sitting next to her laugh. “You’re still the only clumsy vampire that I have ever come across in all of my long years.” “Jacob! It’s been over a hundred years! What are you doing here in a secret vampire bar in Chicago of all places? Last I heard you would never leave Europe for the new world.” “It’s been closer to two hundred years actually and I said I’d never sail to the Americas, there is this thing called an airplane now and it makes travel much easier, not to mention quicker so that I can get back to my ancestral lands before I start to lose the magic of my blood.” Jacob signaled for the bartender to bring them more whiskey. “I still can’t believe it’s you. I haven’t seen anyone from our old crew since I came to America. You still haven’t answered what you are doing here.” Gwen said as she regained some of her senses. Jacob was actually here sitting in front of her after all this time. Once upon a time she had begged him to come with her, but he wouldn’t leave his homeland. He also wouldn’t go against his clan and have a romance with a night walker like her. Truth be told the man sitting next to her now was the reason she had never returned to Europe and her old friends. “Would you believe that the seer of my clan sent me here?” Jacob shrugged, though his eyes told that there was much more than he said. “That Cassandra pretender actually let you leave? Last I remember she tried to keep you on a short leash, mainly because she thought that if she threw herself at you enough that you two could pop out a couple of pups.” Gwen took another shot. “I can see that you have lost none of your bite over the years, still as snarky as ever. You know that could be why you are drinking alone in a bar, you send out unfriendly vibes.” Rolling her eyes, Gwen turned to look at him, “You used to find me friendly enough once upon a time, until the opinion of others swayed your way of thinking. Funny that your seer would send you to me of all people, she had to know that I lived here. So spill it, what are you doing here Jacob?” “Do you remember when I used to tell you the legends of the werewolves? Of how the magic in our blood has certain demands?” “Of course I do, we were just talking about how you can’t leave your homeland for long or you might start aging despite the magic of your kind. What of it? So you can travel more freely now with planes, what does that have to do you with showing up here after all this time? Just spit it out, you know I have no patience and it’s still an hour before my kind get the good stuff to drink and I’m getting crankier by the moment.” “Aren’t you at least a little happy to see me? You used to be quite fond of me, are you telling me all those feelings have disappeared?” Jacob reached out and brushed a finger down her cheek, sending a shiver throughout her body. “Please Jacob, tell me why you are here. I don’t like to be teased.” To her shock Jacob seemed to grow nervous, clearing his throat and shifting in his seat like he didn’t know what to say. “You see my kind, all shifters to be told, we are not meant to be solitary creatures.” “Yes, yes, you are pack creatures, will you please get to the point?” Gwen interrupted. “To truly be happy we need more than our pack, we need love to truly live.” Jacob lifted her chin so that she had to look at him. The look in his eyes, it couldn’t mean what she thought it did. “And what does this have to do with me?” Gwen gulped as she waited for his reply. “I think that you know what that means. I was wrong to let you go all those years ago, never has a werewolf found his match in a non-shifter, I deluded myself that I had to let you go in order to find the one I was meant to be with. As it turned out you and I were meant to be all along and I was an idiot to not see that.” He leaned closer, his voice now barely a whisper. “Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?” “You know that I have not truly felt alive since I left you.” Gwen whispered. Jacob frowned, “I will spend the rest of eternity making that you to you if you let me. I am sorrier than I can ever convey for hurting you, I…” Gwen leaned in and pressed her lips against his, “Next drink is on me.” Jacob smiled and kissed her back.
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AuthorAuthor, artist, jewelry maker and all around creative person. I write in many genres and have a lot of fun doing so. Please take a look around and enjoy! Archives
January 2022
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