Primal Inheritance: Freedom [COMPLETED]

Chapter 18: Danielle

Allen

As I walked into the bar, I saw a completely different crowd from last time. For starters, there actually was a crowd. According to Sam, everyone hid from me last time, but now, aside from a couple careful glances, nobody cared. I moved over to the same stool I sat on last time, but someone was already sitting there. I sniffed the air around them, and immediately knew he was a vampire. I thought about questioning them then, but I decided to wait after a few drinks. I sat down next to him, and the bartender thrust his hand into my face.

With a hearty laugh he said, "Man, your probably the first one to make it back alive!"
"Excuse me?" I answered. What the heck was he talking about?
"You know, the witch girl. She's been coming in here, recruiting folks to help her with her little mission. Every time she came back, she was alone. I'd ask her what happened to them, and she'd say they died, fighting some big ol' something." If what he said was true, and I'm not the first to help her, how did she get other people to help her?

"I bet she used magic on them too, didn't she?" I asked. The bartender shook his head. "Each time, it was a different promise, a different trick. She'd reuse some of those tricks, but never back to back."

Listening to this guy made me hate her even more. "So, using magic, making the person like her and convincing them to help her, did she use that alot?"
The bartender stroked his beard. "Naw, that was trick number 7." I'd heard enough. I was about to start asking the locals about anybody suspicious, but the bartender continued.

"Wait! You must tell me how you survived. Did you... did you kill the witch?" I noticed that the vampire next to me, had turned his attention towards us. In fact, it had gotten quiet, and everyone was staring at us, listening in to the conversation.

After looking at everyone, I looked back at the bartender. "She must be a big deal around here."
"You're damn right she is." Said the vampire next to me. "Took my brother a month ago. Said she could reverse our vampirism. She came back two weeks later without him, saying he got mauled to death by some huge beast."
Another man sitting at one of regular tables walked over to us. He looked Italian, he had long hair put back into a ponytail, a lip ring, and cat eyes. "I remember that," he interrupted. "Everyone in the bar had a little.... disagreement that night."

"Why?" I asked. This time, the vampire spoke again. "It's kind of simple. Some thought that since she was a girl, I shouldn't hit her. The others thought I should rip her teeth out of her head until she told the truth about what happened to him."

The bartender laughed, and started passing out free drinks. He must have been drunk as well.
"That was the biggest barfight I'd ever seen. Fairies, werewolves, vampires, and wendigos. Everything was fighting."

"Did you fight too?" I asked.
"I had to. Some of those bastards was just using the chaos to get free beer, so I had to..."
His voice started trailing off when he said free beer. He looked at us, and all the drinks he had filled since the conversation started.  He started snatching the mugs of booze, making some of it slosh and spill. The group of strangers laughed and patted each other on the backs as the bartender pulled out a calculator.
He started punching some numbers in. "All of you owe me-" the vampire to the left of me pulled out a stack of cash. He tossed it onto the counter. "This should cover it, and pay for another round."

The bartender cracked a smile while everyone cheered and applauded the vampire. He waved them off like it was no big deal. "Let's get straight to the point guys. How did you stop that chick?"

They quieted down so I could tell my story.
"The only reason I agreed to help her was because she promised she'd help me find my roommate Jacob. In fact, that's the reason why I'm here today."