DRIPPING DARKNESS

Ch-24: Joyeux Anniversaire

The man turned towards Malia. 

The reflection of the neon lights exposed the brownish tint of his eyes, along with his blonde, highlighted locks, but he seemed absorbed in finishing his glass of vodka, with few pieces of ice cubes precipitated at the bottom, as if ignoring her. 

With his somewhat visible facial and jaw bone structures, he was predictably around twenty-six years or so. Gelled back hair, dark black luxurious tux with a tagline that read 'Be American', a formal tie tied around the neck so tight, as if it would strangle and kill him any moment, a Gucci wristwatch worth at least a thousand dollars was probably enough for any girl to turn down for him. 

The strangest part of his uniform that Malia didn't pay attention to, was that the branded tux was torn up around the sides of the torso. 

But all of these were nothing but a mere fancy show and annoyance to Malia. She never was and never will be a fan of 'the profoundly aesthetic stuff'.

But something about him was uncanny. Something that made Malia doubt whether they were here for the right guy. 

But what was it? 

Was it his scent that kept changing every few seconds? or, was it that the fact that he didn't look into her eyes even for once? She wasn't sure but she had to find out soon enough.

"I'll have a..... single shot of whiskey.....and a..... double shot of whiskey and...." The guy finally took notice of her. "She'll have a water...." He pointed his fingers at Malia. 

"Oh, what the hell!...... it's our anniversary. Bring her a godamn Pepsi." he cackled and jokingly ordered the waiter, being ignorant of his audiences who were watching him with nothing but irritation.

Malia grumped at the sudden change in his attitude. She tried suppressing her anger by clenching her jaws and fists while slightly scowling at his words. Her increased pulse rate made her fangs grow out a little bit, but she managed to sway herself from her violent side.

'Ok, need to act normal. At least just for a bit.' She thought to herself.

"Sorry Honey. No Pepsis today," she said, trying to sound calm.

"Whaaaatttt?.... Youuuu ....you sure you're in the right place?" the drunk guy looked surprised, still in his element of joke.

"I am. I Just don't like the drink." She let out a smile with a sprinkle of anger on it while the confused bartender awkwardly waited for their customer's order as the tension in the air grew thicker every consecutive second.

The exact next second after her statement, the guy paused, took some time to process what she told. More oddly, he spoke up,

"Well, I don't trust any bastard who doesn't drink. People who don't drink are afraid of revealing themselves."

Malia had already lost her temper way back when he had bad-mouthed her. She just couldn't hold it any longer. She stood up, gently speaking to him after coming close,

"Joyeux Anniversaire." (Happy Anniversary{french})

"What the fu..?" he was befuddled at the unanticipated change in the unfamiliar mode of conversation.

"That's French dumbass. You didn't do your homework." Malia spoke out of context, as usual. "But I did."

She revealed her gradually glowing cerulean blue eyes facing him, when the half nervous-half terrified man moved back his right arm, trying to reach for the handgun on his side pocket.