I retreated to the bar once again, and Sofia slid another drink to me. "Those were some moves," she teased, and I groaned, covering my face with my palms.
"Forget you ever saw them."
She laughed, then flitted away to serve someone else as I lost myself in my thoughts. Or lack thereof. Drinking was quite fun. I'd have to do this again. This was much better than sitting in my house, staring at a blank wall, or hanging out with my friends and watching them make out with their mates.
"This one is your last. Did you drive here?"
I blinked, then realized the bar had gotten quiet. What the...? I glanced around and realized the bar was practically deserted, with only a few stragglers left behind, including me.
I shook my head as I sipped my drink, taking my time with it since it was apparently my last. I'd have to go back to the Sanctuary soon. Was it wrong that I didn't want to? That I'd felt more at peace in this loud, noisy bar than I had in my own home for weeks?
Nolan
I eyed the shtriga as I finished cleaning up. He'd been sitting at the bar for hours, except for his brief foray into dancing. He'd consumed drink after drink, and didn't seem to have any interest in leaving. It was closing time, though, which meant I needed him out of here.
At the same time, I couldn't set a drunk shtriga loose into the streets, not when I didn't know him at all. I'd met a few of his kind over the years, and while they'd been good people, I knew they'd worked hard to be so. A shtriga under the influence could easily lose control, especially if he hadn't fed in a while.
Sofia shot a look at me as she took away his empty glass, and I nodded. Smiling, she went into the back as I walked over to stand in front of the shtriga. I'd heard him mention Haruto, and it made me wonder.
'"Do you live at the Sanctuary?" I asked, and he peered up at me.
He has pretty eyes. The thought came out of nowhere, and I shook my head, forcing it away. His eyes were dark brown. Plain, simple brown with nothing special about them. Nothing at all.
"Yeah. You know about it?"
"Yep. Come on, I'll walk you home."
He raised a brow at me, resting his chin on his fists as he watched me. He had a neat beard, the same black shade as the curls on his head. "Do you walk all your patrons home?"
"Just the ones who might be a danger to others when drunk," I joked, but his gaze cooled as he glanced away, then got to his feet.
"Right. Well, let's go then."
I'd hit a nerve, hadn't I? I would walk him home, but it was very likely I'd never see him again after that.
I ducked into the back to tell Sofia what I was doing, and she assured me she'd lock up.
As I joined the shtriga, he tugged at the collar of his dark green turtleneck before stalking toward the exit at a pace far too fast for someone who'd been drinking for the last four hours.
I kept pace with him, which annoyed him if the grunt he let out was anything to go by, and I shook my head. I had put my foot in my mouth with that comment, hadn't I?
"I'm Nolan, by the way. And sorry about what I said before. I didn't mean anything by it."
"Zamir." That was all he offered, and I figured I wasn't going to get anything else from him.
Stars twinkled above as we walked—Zamir a few steps ahead of me—the short distance from my bar to the abandoned building the Sanctuary was anchored to. I'd never been inside, but I knew the sorcerer who'd created the pocket realm must be one strong magic wielder. I had no idea how one person managed to keep that place running, especially when the human residents had no magic to contribute to the place. Didn't that unbalance things?
I'd only ever met one other sorcerer who had enough power to do something like this, and that had been centuries ago, and not under the best circumstances. I hoped to meet the sorcerer one day so I could pick his brain about the whole thing.
A cool breeze brushed against the back of my neck, and I breathed in, enjoying the empty streets. Usually, this part of town was busy, but after midnight, the place calmed down, turning almost pleasant.
I dropped the magic that kept my senses shielded now that I was out of the bar—it was the only way I could work all night with the music pounding in my ears—and the sound of crickets,rustling leaves, and the distant meowing of some stray cat hit my ears all at once. The air was thick with the scent of exhaust, with notes of spices, cheese, and coffee reaching my nose, probably from the diner at the end of the street.
"Here we are," I said as we stopped in front of the building. It must've been a gathering hall at some point, but for years now, it'd lain abandoned—or so the humans believed.
While the residents of the Sanctuary didn't live in this building itself, the door to the Sanctuary was anchored to the door of this building, and while a human would step into the building when he opened the door, a supe like Zamir—who lived at the Sanctuary—would reach the pocket realm. It was an ingenious bit of magic.
Zamir nodded, then glanced at me. "Thank you, for walking me home."
