Spirits

Mentor

Chapter 15 - Spirits

Link doesn't wear glasses. And I don't wear contacts, because I hate them. I can never forget that they're there, and the slow focus changes that happen when I blink annoy the hell out of me. But for the sake of verisimilitude, Link was wearing contacts on Halloween.

The headscarf / long cap looked better with my oil slick colors than it had when I'd first tried it on. Maybe not any more realistic, but the green of my scarf brought out the greens in my hair's dark rainbow streaks.

I'm pretty sure Link also doesn't drink, but I was taking an Uber to Gabby's so that I could do exactly that.

Because Halloween fell on a Monday, Gabby's suspended the usual weekly party in favor of an eighteen-plus event which

would

have alcohol. I wondered how they'd handle ID checking, but discovered it to be simple. I presented my ID at the door and received a green witch stamped on the back of my wrist. Anyone under twenty-one had a red toad stamp.

Halloween night was cold, and I wore my heavy coat. For a larger than normal event, the club had opened a cloakroom, so I traded my coat for a claim ticket. Carrying my plastic sword, I looked around for my friends. The club was crowded, both the lighted bar area and the darker dance area, where I found them. I accepted Tiff the fairy's praise for my costume. Since I was already wearing the harness, and couldn't add the sword without loosening it, I asked her to clip it into place on my back.

Emma was present with Tiff, of course, but unfortunately, neither Margot nor Heather would be there. The coffee shop was staying open late for Halloween, both for junior trick-or-treaters and costumed patrons of any age. Now that Cyndy was spending more time running the place, Heather had been taking more responsibility, so she was on last shift. Margot was there to support her.

Before I could sit, a short Grim Reaper took my arm to draw me close, and gave me a brief but surprisingly intense kiss on the lips as Tiff and Emma looked on in amusement.

"Hey, Anita," I said, smiling at the diminutive cloaked figure. "Don't worry, your black lipstick's fine."

"Good to know," Anita replied. Under her black cloak she wore a black high-necked crop-top, black skirt and black fishnet hose. She was dwarfed by the plastic scythe on her back. I hadn't seen a Grim Reaper in a crop-top before.

"I

love

your costume," she said, her eyes travelling the length of my body. "I'm a huge fan of 'Breath of the Wild,' but I've played most of the games. BOTW Link would be blue, of course."

"How long have we known each other for me not to know you were a Zelda fan?" I said, with a laugh. "You know there's a co-op mod now? We should try it together."

"I'd like that," Anita said. "Would you like to dance, later?"

"Sure," I said. "As long as your scythe doesn't get entangled with my sword."

"

I don't kno-oww....

" came Emma's sing-song voice. "That sounds like fun to me..."

I rolled my eyes. I'd somehow forgotten we weren't alone. "I'll find you later," I told Anita, with a smile.

"Hey, Kayla," said Emma. "We're going to go dance, so we'll probably lose the table. I'm sure we'll run into each other later."

"Sure," I said. "I'm going to get a drink and then I'll probably hang out on the dance floor. You two have a great night!"

On the way to the bar I paused for a while to watch the band. They were all cross-dress costumed, playing Halloween-themed covers. Their rendition of Oingo Boingo's "Dead Man's Party" was spot on. Especially after the previous week's unhappy sounds, it was good to experience a band who knew what they were doing.

A woman approached me from my left, surprising me by leaning her shoulder against mine. I turned to regard long, dark curls, a black cage dress with separate long sleeves, scarlet lipstick, and a red tattoo above significant cleavage. "Fi?" I asked. "I barely recognize you."

"Is that good, or bad?" she asked, with a smirk.

"Yes," I said. "Who are you?"

She grinned more broadly. "You don't recognize

Lust?

"

"I often recognize lust," I said, "but not as a person."

"She's from an anime," Fi said, taking my arm.

"That would explain it," I told her. "Corporate stooges don't have time for anime."

"Drone, not stooge. You want to dance?"

"I want to get a drink first," I said. "Join me?"

"Sure," Fi said.

~~~~~

There were printed menus for Halloween-themed drinks. The second bar was open, the one behind the dividing curtains, and Michelle was working there, with backup. She approached Fi and myself to take our order.

"Are the themed drinks different from the ones they're based on?" I asked.

"They're all different, but most aren't

very

different," she said.

"Death on the beach...?"

"Sex on the beach with coconut rum instead of vodka," she replied instantly.

"I'll try that. And whatever Fi wants," I said.

"I'll try it, too," Fi said.

Michelle checked our hand stamps and set to work.

"You know," I said to Fi, "I didn't even think about this, but I didn't know if you were over twenty-one."

"Not by much," she admitted. "I turned twenty-one just before we first met."

I paid for the cocktails, and we stayed at the bar to drink them. Death on the beach had a nice cool undertone from the coconut rum.

"Are you driving?" Fi asked.

"Not a chance," I replied. "You?"

Fi shook her head. "Got a ride with a friend. I'll do the same to get back, or, y'know, go home with a friend?" She waggled her brows suggestively.

"You're not meaning me, I hope?" I asked, with amusement. "You and I had our one night. Just dancing today."

"You said you'd like to get together again," Fi said, with a mock pout.

"I did," I agreed. "One day, maybe."

"Let's finish these and dance," Fi suggested, so we did. I consumed the last half of my drink as quickly as I could.

~~~~~

Dancing with Fi reminded me of my first day at the club. She did like dancing very close, and I was good with that. We'd danced for about a quarter hour when she leaned forward to speak to me.

"I was going to ask you to dance last week," she said, raising her voice to be heard above the music, "but I don't think you were aware of anyone but Val. The speed you got together, and then left..."

"You jealous?" I asked, with a grin. "Val and I had... unfinished business from the week before."

Fi's fingers drew over my side, before she rested her palms on either side of my waist. "Did you finish your business?"

"Oh, yeah," I said. "Several times."

A look flashed across Fi's face that was gone before I could identify it. She leaned in to me and kissed the base of my neck. "But I guess," she said, moving her lips to my ear, "if I'd had the chance to dance with you last week, I wouldn't have this great view today..."

"Like the dress, do you?" I asked.

"You know I do," she said. "I'd like even more to peel it off you."

My breath caught with the sudden arousal. "And you were complaining that I was too direct, last time?" I said.

Her hands began to caress my waist. "You said I was only the second girl you'd slept with," Fi breathed, directly into my ear. She'd leaned forward, her cage straps dimpling my neckline. "But I can't get that night out of my mind, and now you've had so many more partners, I just know you'd be even more amazing. Take me home later, Kayla?"

"I already said no, Fi," I said. "One day, maybe."

"Let me kiss you, at least?" Fi begged, her hands sliding around my back, then down to my butt.

"I don't think so, Fi," I said. "Not today." I lowered my hands to take her arms, levering them away from me. "I think I need to go get a drink." I stepped back, disengaging. Fi pouted again.

Leaving Fi behind, I hurried off the dance floor, quickly enough that's she'd understand that I wasn't looking for her to join me for another drink. What had gotten into her? She'd seemed the most reticent of any of the girls I'd shared a bed with lately. Even adorable Kennedy had been less reserved than Fi, and now she was trying to seduce me on the dance floor? That was weird, and weirdly uncomfortable.

~~~~~

At the bar, I saw someone walking away with a drink that smoked and glowed with a pale bluish white light. When the bartender, a guy about my age, reached me, I described it to him and asked what it was. And if the glow was entirely safe to drink.

"Jekyll and Gin," he responded, promptly. "The glow is just tonic. It glows under black light. It's gin, tonic, lemon, grenadine. Hardly any mutagenic ooze at all."

He said the last so deadpan that it took a moment for the statement to register. By the time I'd realized it was a joke, he'd already moved on. "Small cube of dry ice for the smoke. It's safe, but wait until the dry ice is gone, and there's no new smoke, before drinking. Would you like one?"

"Hell, yes," I said. "I've never had a mutagenic drink before."

After he'd mixed and poured the drink, he took it to a girl who wore heavy gloves and held long-handled tongs. She opened a cooler, taking a small piece of dry ice to drop in the drink. It seemed that was her sole task, as I saw Michelle approach her with another drink to treat. When the bartender returned to me, dry ice fog was already pouring over the sides.

I tipped the bartender well for the drink. He and all of the crew had a tough job tonight, and were handling it well. For good measure, I snapped a photo of the drink with my phone, too. I'd be disappointed when the fog faded. Except that then I'd be able to drink it, of course.

At a table by the dance floor were three of the Village People. I recognized Imani and Clare, though not the third member of the group. Her skin was as dark as Clare's, though with more of an olive hue. I headed for their table. "May I join you?" I asked Imani.

"Of course Kayla," she said. She frowned at my drink as I pulled out a chair. "I've seen those. What is it?"

I was explaining what the bartender had told me, when a voice came from behind my left shoulder. "Didn't know you were into Frankenjuice, Kayla?"

I looked over my shoulder and did a double take, though I thought I'd recognized the voice, especially the rising tone. "Alex? I wasn't expecting you to be here. Why aren't you at the campus party?"

"Too many kegs?" Alex replied. "Looked boring? This is where all the women are?"

Given Alex's vocal manner, I really didn't know if the final sentence was part of her answer to my question or a rhetorical question of her own. Across the table, the olive-skinned woman said, "Why do I suddenly have the strongest urge to sign up for an online dating account?'

"I knooow?" Alex replied. "I already had to fend off one over-zealous app user already?"

Her head turned to me. "Hey, what can I say?" I shrugged. "I have to push buttons." Then, before she could try to get me into more trouble, I said, "Alex, these are my friends Imani and Clare." I turned to the other girl. "I don't think we've ever met."

"Lyra," she said, with a wave.

"Orpheus's harp," said Alex.

Lyra's eyebrows shot up. "Huh. That's not where most people go. If they comment about the name, it's Lyra from The Golden Compass movie."

"Alex is short for Alexis," Alex said. "A few generations back, we were Greek, and I've read the myth. Not in Greek?" she added, hastily. "'Cause that's Greek to me."

Holding Alex's gaze, Lyra pointed at me. "Is she the only one allowed to push your buttons?"

Alex frowned. I picked up the implication before she did. "We're not together," I said. "Alex is a good friend."

Lyra touched the chair beside her. "Then come talk to me, Alexis," she said. "I promise not to swipe right. Yet."

Alex looked at me again. I shrugged. "Do you want a Frankendrink?" I asked, before she sat beside Lyra. When she responded yes, I took my drink back to the bar, to sip while waiting to get a second Jekyll and Gin.

After delivering Alex's smoking beacon, I stayed to talk to Imani, feeling a little buzzed when my glowing drink was gone. By then, Lyra seemed to have tuned out of the group, having turned her chair so that her thigh was pressed to Alex's, her hand on my friend's arm, as she said something that made Alex laugh. Apparently Alex was taking full advantage of abandoning her "token straight friend" label. And more power to her.

Since those two were temporarily in an alternate dimension, I asked Imani and Clare both to dance. I didn't want to leave either one behind, though I wasn't sure how well it would work. After we'd danced in a triangle for a while, Imani took my hand and Clare's both, turning us to face each other, while she danced off to the side. Then she turned us both back toward her and spun us around. She was a natural at taking the lead.

After several minutes, Imani turned Clare toward herself again, while twirling me to directly face a short Grim Reaper on the dance floor. Looking back, I saw Imani wink at me and shoo me away.

I took Anita's hand, and we swung our arms in sync. Then I drew her closer and spoke into her ear. "You and I have never danced together before, have we?"

She considered the question for a moment. "No, I don't think we have. Now's our chance to correct that."

"Well, great," I said. I drew back from her ear, but kept her close. The song the band was playing wasn't slow, but our steps and swaying movements were half tempo at best. She rested her head on my shoulder.

"How has your reaper been received?" I asked. "Has anyone said, 'You can take my soul anytime'?"

She quivered against me as she chuckled. "No, not yet. Has anyone said, 'It's dangerous to go alone! Take me!'?"

"I like that," I said, "but no."

After several more minutes, during which we did separate, though still danced closely together, Anita asked if she could buy me a drink. Of course I agreed, so we made our way to the bar, holding hands.

I decided to try the Witches' Brew this time. It was a yellowy-green drink that didn't glow in the dark, but should have, since it was closer to mutagenic goo than the Frankenjekyll drink. Anita ordered a regular G and T, though the black light made the tonic glow anyway.

"I'm sticking to what I know," Anita said, raising her voice over the crowd and the music. "Mixing drinks gets me in trouble."

Maybe that would have make sense for me, too, but this was my third, all different, so it probably was too late for consideration.

We stood against the back wall, since there was no seating anywhere now, including at the bar. After we'd talked for a while, two girls in blue dresses approached us, holding hands. In clearly practiced unison, they said, "Come play with us, Anita, forever and ever."

Anita's eyes widened, but she grinned. "Nice job, you two." They both stood still, their faces expressionless, holding hands, their blank stares fixed on Anita. She sighed, and turned to me. "Looks like I'm being summoned, Kayla. I was hoping we could spend more time together, but this really isn't the place, I guess. If I don't see you later I'll text soon."

I nodded to her, still watching the girls. I wondered if one of them was the redhead that I kept seeing her with. The girls were wearing identical wigs, and I had never studied Anita's friend closely enough to know her face well, but I didn't

think

either of them was her.

"Why are you alone? Isn't that dangerous?" came a voice from my right, as I watched Anita being dragged away by the Grady twins.

I laughed. "You're only the second person to make that joke," I said, turning to see the origin of the voice. "Hi, Kennedy. Are you enjoying the evening?"

"I am," she said. "I just saw Anita leaving. I thought I'd see how you were doing. Sorry that my costume isn't up to your standards."

"I like it," I said. "No need to worry about that." She was wearing a plain black, long-sleeved tee that hugged her slender frame, with plain black tights. A skeleton was hand-painted on both garments. The color was a fluorescent green, which glowed brightly in the UV light.

"I don't have a lot of cash to spare," she confided, "so it's a cheap costume, but the painting is all mine."

I leaned close, my chest touching hers. "It hugs you so closely it reminds me of a certain night..." I whispered into her ear.

"I hope it's a good memory," she whispered back.

"It's a

very

good memory," I admitted. "How have you been?"

"Great," she said. "I'm here with someone tonight."

"Grace?" I asked.

Kennedy shook her head. "But I was two weeks ago. I really don't think I've thanked you enough for helping me to be with her. We might go out on a real date one day."

"You thanked me plenty," I said, but she shook her head and took my hand.

"Come with me," she whispered, and led me to the corner of the room. Turning to face me, she scooted back as closely as she could into the corner. "Stand in front of me," she said. "The skeleton on the back glows, too, and I don't want anyone to find me for a few minutes."

"Okay," I said, standing directly in front of her body, hiding the glowing paint from most of the room. "Why?"

"So that I can do this," she said, resting her hands on my hips, then sliding them up to my rib cage. Pulling me in, she unleashed a take-no-prisoners kiss.

As intense as it began, she deepened the kiss even further as I responded. When we broke apart, both of us were panting, our chests heaving. "I think that's saying thanks in the best way I know," she said. Then she mock-pouted, adding, "Well, there may be better ways, but I do have a date later..."

As I chuckled, she dipped her head and ran her tongue along my neckline, circling just above each nipple. Then she looked up, her eyes seeming black in the low light.

Wrapping her arms around my neck, she kissed me again, so fiercely that my thighs strained to keep me upright against my raging arousal. I couldn't help myself. I cupped her left breast and squeezed it until she finally broke the kiss.

Gasping, Kennedy pushed me back. "Now I think I need to run some cold water over my face before heading back to my date, or she'll ask embarrassing questions."

"Alright, my pretty teen lover," I said to her. "I'll see you around."

Kennedy dashed off toward the restroom. Only three weeks, and she was already a different girl. Recognizing her own inner strength and beauty had changed her. But damn, did I need a cold shower now. Or a date of my own, maybe. The safest thing to do would be to head home and break out the suction vibe. Instead, I headed for the bar to get a drink to relax me. Which wasn't at all smart, given how buzzed I was already feeling.

A single seat at the bar became available while I was waiting to order, so I slipped into it. A minute later, Michelle appeared to take my order. I'd been studying the menu, so I already knew what I wanted. "A zombie, please, Michelle," I said, only slurring the Z slightly.

I finished the drink quickly, because I'd decided to get back on the dance floor before I left. I danced solo, except when Val turned me to face her for several minutes. God, she was the sexiest schoolgirl I'd ever seen, in that plunging blouse and microskirt. And It had only been a week since she'd been at my place, screaming loud enough to wake the neighbors. Remembering that encounter did nothing to stifle my arousal. My breath quickened and my chest rose higher. My nipples stiffened, pushing into the low bra.

Val leaned in to give me a peck on the lips, but fortunately she backed away before I could grab her and turn it into more. Then she left the dance floor, and ten minutes later I saw her with drink in hand talking to a tall blonde girl who definitely wasn't Suse.