The Daylighter Chronicles

Chapter Five: Stronger Than Coffee

Eerie

I was a bit leery as I sat down at the table that Kai was already occupying, but then he smiled and slid a cup of delicious smelling coffee across the table towards me. I looked from him to the cup as I asked,

"What did you do to it?" His smile turned into a scowl,

"What? I can't just be nice?" I shook my head,

"No. Not with your track record you can't." He then leaned back in his chair as he crossed his arms over his broad chest,

"I was young and stupid, and I have now seen the error of my ways." I snorted as I mimicked his posture,

"You are as old as dirt and have been for a very long time, so cut the crap and tell me what is going on because you are never nice unless I'm dying." My eyes widened, "I'm not right? You didn't find out I have some freaky vampire disease, right?" He just rolled his eyes at me,

"Just your normal vampire brain damage." I stuck my tongue out at him, then asked,

"So, why did you want to see me? You usually relish the time that I am in class." He sighed as he rubbed the back of his head,

"Baen just had one of his freaky visions and there are agents from the Soldiers of the Sun in town. He wants me to be your shadow, so as of tomorrow I will be your new classmate." I felt my eyes go wide and my breathing speed up as I felt like I had just been plunged under water. Kai leaned forward, and I saw his lips moving but I couldn't hear a word he was saying. I struggled to get control of myself. I always knew that this might happen, and I knew that I had to face my fear. I closed my eyes and tried to take a few deep steady breaths before I looked at Kai again. I then looked at the coffee in front of me and asked,

"Any chance I could get something a little stronger?" He smiled crookedly as he said,

"I know the perfect place."

When Kai said he knew the perfect place I was expecting something a little more loud and crowded and a little less hole in the wall, but after my third zombie drink, which the bartender informed me was made with three different kinds of rum and tasted like pineapple, I couldn't seem to care where we were, and my fears and problems felt like they were melting away. Well except for my new problem, one of the few patrons here was singing Coldplay in their head, and it was driving me crazy. I finished the fourth drink just as I spied a jukebox in the corner. I then looked to Kai, who was sipping on his bourbon and held out my hand. He looked at me like I had grown a second head as he asked,

"What?" I sighed,

"Someone's mind singing is driving me insane. I need to play some good music." I then pointed to the jukebox. He just rolled his eyes at me and handed his wallet over,

"Knock yourself out, kiddo." I smiled and hopped off the bar stool, which caused me to stumble a bit and then giggle because of the stumbling, but once I made it to the jukebox I was perfectly fine. I fed the box of music a twenty and began to sift through the playlists stored inside.

Once I had finished selecting all the good music I could and the beat to the first song I picked began to play through the speakers, I began to sway to the music as I made my way back to the bar for another well-deserved drink. After a couple more of the tasty pineapple drinks, I heard the bartender thinking if I was alright, seeing as they usually only serve people two of that particular drink because they are so strong, and I was on number six (or was it seven?), and I was still going strong. Well, maybe strong wasn't really the right word. Let's just say I had yet to puke or pass out, which were the usual side effects of this drink. Suddenly I heard the music switch over, and I smiled and looked at Kai,