Every culture has them, mythical beasts, urban legends like Bigfoot or The Loch Ness Monster; Greek mythology is full of Satyrs and Centaurs, every culture on the planet seems to have some form of dragon legend going back to the earliest recorded tales told around the first campfires. So where do they come from, the vampires and werewolves, what is their true origin? I used to think I knew, the fabric of imagination; I'm not so sure anymore.
"Can I buy you a drink?" the tall redhead with the piercing green eyes and the luscious full ruby red lips walked up and sat down next to me. I wasn't used to a woman being so forward but when you look like Lilly does, I guess you can do about whatever you want.
"Um, sure," I smiled. I'm Jack.
"Two scotch neat, top-shelf," Lilly ordered for me, something else I was not accustomed to.
"Nice to meet you, Jack, I'm Lilith, or Lilly to my friends," her smile about knocked me off my barstool. The bartender set the two drinks down in front of us, "to new adventures," there was that smile again.
"To new adventures," I shook my head and sipped the scotch, Lilly downed hers in one gulp.
"Jackie dear, you are going to have to do better than that if you want to keep up with me," this time it was a smirk and a glint in her eye, the look on her face sent a charge of energy straight to my crotch. I downed the rest of my drink in one shot.
Let me back up a bit, my name is Jack Stripper, yeah, I caught hell growing up but it's an old family name, bullshit, my mom worked in Vegas at a low-end gentlemen's club, she died in childbirth and I got the last name from a clerical error.
I grew up in orphanages throughout the southwest. I almost got adopted twice, until the people figured out that I was a boy and not a girl, so, yeah, I had that going for me, too, all of 5'7" tall and a whopping 120 pounds, I was set up for the good life. The boys at school ridiculed me for my size and feminine features, I had been stuffed in more lockers and tossed in more dumpsters than I could count. I would push back, getting in fights and almost always losing, but never giving an inch. The girls weren't much better, laughing in my face should I dare to ask one out on a date, so I stopped asking.
My grades were barely good enough to graduate, I'm not stupid, just rebellious, and was usually in enough trouble that I was in detention or suspended most of my high school career. If it hadn't been for the auto shop teacher, Mr. Sprague, I would probably have spent my adult life asking people if they wanted fries with that. Mr. Sprague introduced me to my one true love, American Muscle, 60's and 70's classic American cars, Ford, Mopar, Chevy, I didn't care, I was a magician with a wrench, and I loved what I did.
I was in a small bar in Vermont chasing the Holy Grail, a 1963 split window Corvette, a barn car with 8,368 original miles on the odometer, and I got her. She was in a garage down the street where I had made a deal with the owner for space to get her road worthy, so I could drive her to Dallas for the Mecum auction. I was also going to help him out around his garage to help defray costs.
I had been working on Audrey, I named the car after Audrey Hepburn for her undeniable elegance and beauty, for about a week, it was Friday, and I was ready to relax. A gorgeous woman like Lilly was the last thing I expected to be dealing with, especially one that was buying me scotch, and good scotch.
"I have to be honest," Lilly touched my arm, "I thought you were a woman at first."
"Yeah, I get that a lot," I was almost numb to it now and I just laughed, "not too disappointed, are you?"
"Actually, no," she smiled again, "it's just that you and I are the only ones here alone and I thought 'what the hell'" she shrugged her shoulders.
I spent the next hour talking about Audrey, how I had found her and the small bidding war that I had finally won by showing up on the old farmer's doorstep with a bottle of his favorite bourbon and a box of his favorite cigars and listening to him tell me about his cars; he loved them as much as I did.
Lily didn't say much about herself, always deflecting my more in-depth questions and turning them around to get more information about me, loner, no family, always picked on for any of several reasons, twenty-two years old and had lost my virginity to a prostitute, not, that's not fair, she was a hooker. The shots I had to get after cost three times what she did but hey, at least I wasn't a virgin.
Except for the cars, my life was a mess and always had been, but with Audrey, that was all going to change, with what I was expecting to get at auction, I could open my own shop and then I'd finally be in control of my life.
I had lost track of time and of how much I had to drink, when I woke up, I couldn't move, and my head felt like someone was still hitting me with the hammer they had used to knock me out.
"Drink this, it will make you feel better," a straw touched my lips, and I took a long drink, it tasted like pickle juice. "There's vitamins b12 and C in there, plus a few Advil, drink it all up. I promise it will help." I drained the cup.
It helped with my hangover but not with my confusion, I was in a strange room and I couldn't move, I could feel the collar around my neck and the belt around my waist, the straps on my ankles, just above my knees, and on my wrists, there was something on my penis, but I couldn't lift my head enough to see what it was.
"What the fuck," I started.
"Now Jackie, just relax and I'll explain," Lilly interrupted me, "you have something you are not using that I want, and I have something that you need. You may not know it, but you really do, so I decided to help you."
"Let me up from here, you crazy bitch!" I shouted.
"Now, now, Jackie, there's no need for that, trust me, everything is going to be just fine."
