Glamour [Book 1] (Completed)

Chapter 12 | LB Bound

Chapter 12

It was my first day on the job. I was wiping off the bar counter minding my own business: the clattering of dishes and utensils filled in all the voices within the restaurant.

I don't care for money but, on the contrary, we need it to make us, witches, seem like normal people living in a human society. If we lived in a town run by our own kind the rules would be set differently and money would not be a problem. Even though we can make money with a snap of our fingers we still need job records. It was the only solution to making accommodations with the humans. But things have changed within the past decade, and being a 'supernatural' in the human eyes was like being a cheat at their own game. We work for the records in order to keep a lifestyle of peace.

"Miss?"

I kept on cleaning the spot of grease that the brown marble table had on it, while listening through my headphones.

"Miss?"

When the presence of a shadow looms over my figure I look up to face the young woman. She was dark skinned, and had a pair of vibrant green eyes. For a girl like her to be in a place such as this one, in Nevada alone, was a rare sight. She was beautiful. She had a nice set of curves and wore a decent amount of makeup. Her lips were glossed over and her eyelashes were grazed lightly with black mascara.

I pop out one of my ear-buds and turn an ear toward her; she smiles giggly. "Do you know where I can..." She slides something on the counter for me to see, it was a couple hundreds and an ID, "find the Mango Tree Section?"

Mango Tree Section: that was code for the Witch and Wizard hideout in the back of The Snack Shack. She was a witch.

I glance down at the ID; it has her social security number, her address, an old picture from a couple years back, and a small glimmer (like glitter) at the cover of the ID.

"This way," I shove the bills and the ID back at her and lead her to a special spot behind the bar. On a door that read Employees Only I turn the metal knob and let her through to the back section of the bar. I had not seen it before, because I was not old enough to enter, but from what I saw it was a large rave: people upon people dancing to music that was glamoured over to silence (the outside world would not be able to feel or hear it). It was sad really, such talent that spewed from the band's stage went straight to the heart.

"Thanks Love." She winks one cat-lined eye at me, and kisses my cheek. When she exits I close and lock the door behind her, then write her name on a notepad. It was required of me to keep track of our special quests.

"Olive Ruin." I write with the cheap pen and go back to the front counter where I was cleaning earlier.

I take my time with the last bits of cleaning the bar, wiping in lazy circles over and over till I could see my own reflection in the marble top.

"Eris?"

I stopped wiping the counter and turned my head to see that my boss, Ryanne Lack, was watching me intently. "Yes?"

"I want to show you something." She tilted her head back, and followed her eyes to the last remaining people. The three men got up, without a word, and exited the restaurant. She looked at me again. "Follow me."

I put the towel and spray below the bar counter and continued to follow Ryanne to the back room of the bar: to the Special Area.

She clicked open the large metal door and lead me through the back room; it was much calmer than I had last remembered ten minutes before.

"Where did everyone go?" I asked, surveying the empty tables and stage. The band was no longer playing rock and punk music but more conventional and tranquil music.

"Closing time is down time. I sent them home. I don't like my guests to be here after dusk. They get bat-shit crazy. I don't want to deal with that. But I do want to introduce you to a friend of mine." She points to the lady I had met earlier: Olive Ruin.

"I remember her." I say as we reach another long and similar bar as the one out front, but it matched more closely to the red stools and tanned wooden floors. It was an elegant room with old pictures and swords hanging on the walls, along with bookshelves filled with unusual items. Eyeballs, vials, plants, and flowers all traced the walls of the room; it was comforting to be around such familiar objects.

We reach Olive, and she sits at the bar with her head dipped over a bear with a long pink straw spiraling out of it. She looks up to me and chinks her drink toward me, "Afternoon."

Ryanne slips behind the bar, and hands me a beer as well while placing a blue straw inside of it. "Here."

I shake my head, trying not to feel awkward standing in front of the bar stool like an idiot. She wanted me to drink? I already told her I was turning seventeen; I was not able to hold down alcohol, especially if I was to drive myself home. "No thanks." I wave a hand to the drink.

"Alright," Ryanne takes the beer for herself, sipping on the straw till it changes color to a deep purple, "at least sit."

I sit on the red cushioned stool, finally relaxing my legs after hours of standing. "So..." I look at Olive, wondering why I was back here with a buzzed stranger and my boss. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go home: I was no longer comfortable in the situation I was put in.

"My name is Olive." Olive says, her unruly curled hair twisting around her face like tentacles. "And I..." She hiccups, "Wanted to tell you..." I wait, scooting away from her as she places a hand to her mouth and muffles a hiccup, "That I have seen your face before."

"My face?" I ask her, wanting to know where she has seen me before. I would have surely remembered seeing her before.

"Last week. I was told to find you. I hunt you, and take you in alive."

She's drunk...she's just drunk...

"To who?" Ryanne has leaned in to Olive, her eyebrows furrowed together. Her elbows glide onto the bar and her body practically creates a divided line between her and I: I was thankful.

"Laurence Bourget."

LB.