Three is company

1 - Love is selfish

Long long before the stories of magical creatures humans tell each other for entertainment purposes, there lived many of those same creatures. They originally from three energies of magic. The races of light magic, dark magic, and balancing magic. These three kinds created hundreds of children. And these children fought as many siblings do.

Nymphs, nyads, centaur, and most of the magic forest folk came from the light magic race. These creatures took their power from within themselves and put it out into the world. They created and animated. Vampires, banshie, chimera, hell hounds, and life draining creatures came from the dark magic race. These were the monsters who stole life and energy often to power themselves. The balance magic users birthed only three races: dragons, witches, and the mythical phoenix. This breed of magic users could both harness internal energy and external energy. They were tasked with protecting the non-magical races - primarily the human race.

This protection was best achieved through hiding the existence of magic in old stories and years of well run propaganda. This propaganda machine mixed truth with lies to make much of the mythology the human race obsessed over. It was easier to share the stories as fantastic happiness that were dreamed up in the cultural subconscious than to have to go behind each sighting to cover it up. This practice worked for thousands of years.

Valentine's Day 18 months before the break up:

I sat at one of those little table in the back of the bar watching couples go up and sing horrible karaoke duets. I had a bad feeling that I'd be called into work tonight. Holidays were always bad. Especially ones that involved heavy drinking, lovers quarles, and the depressing realization you had no one to call yours.

I hate these holidays.

The current couple butchuring a love song were cute together. She was a short blonde with wide blue doll eyes. Her hair was a clean bob cut I suspected of being a wig. She wore a cute pink dress shirt with a pink and white plaid skirt. He was a tall lumberjack man. He even wore a matching pink plaid shirt. He had squinty almond shaped brown eyes that twinkled every time he looked at her.

"Cute couple." I turned to see a girl with long brown hair that went down to her waist. Her face was very angular. Her eyes a startling green. She had a warm inviting smile and looked at me with wide beautiful eyes. "Where's your boyfriend?" Her words were not slurred, but she spoke as if each word was a dry cotton ball falling out of her mouth.

"Girlfriend. She's in the back with the owner." I smiled politely. I could see slight disappointment in the face at the fact I wasn't single.

Her dress was too much for the bar's lovey dovey karaoke. It was very form fitting and dipped low showing her cleavage. Her lipstick was smudged. She was a little more than tipsy. "This isn't Karen's is it?" She looked bashful. A cute blush covering her alcohol reddened cheeks.

"The lesbian bar? No. That's across the street." I laughed at the sudden realization that crossed her face. Relief quickly took its place. "Next time start taking your liquid courage closer to your destination."

She giggled. It was oddly bubbly. It lightly trickled out. She had a very wide smile. Little inhibitions made this girl very happy. "I was told Karen's was having a single ladies thing." She laughed even louder now. A snort catching me off guard sending me into a fit of laughter. I could smell vodka on her breath. I could also smell a sweet hint of cranberries and oranges. Screwdrivers? "Thank you." She smiled at me. "Have a good night." The blush returned to her cheeks as she hurried across the street. I hoped she found someone to laugh with her every night after. She deserved it.

Sophia walked out from the back carrying a styrofoam cup. When she drank from the straw a thick dark red liquid flowed through. Her "special bloody mary". I felt my stomach flipping over itself. Years into our relationship and the thought of her drinking blood still made my skin crawl. I wish she would move to draining psychic energy like most vampires in moderate to large cities. It made life easier. It was also a lot cleaner. I could just imagine the blood stains.