“You alright?” she asks. She smells like citrus and sage, the scent just as encapsulating as she is.
“Yeah,” I say and nod. “Just happy to not be alone for a change.”
She brings my hand up to her lips and gently kisses my knuckles. “The feeling is mutual.”
Khalid reaches Reina and Sofie, staring as the drinks still in their hands slosh onto the floor as they move. Taking both glasses, he tries walking back to the barstools but bumps into a taller lupion, spilling some of the liquid onto him. The atmosphere in the room changes immediately. Everything feels warmer and more tense, and my breath hitches, unable to keep my eyes off them.
“Do you have a problem?” the lupion asks, shoving Khalid’s chest, and Kayoda shakes his head, trying to get between them.
“Nope. No problem here. Actually, we were just leaving,” he says, desperate to intervene and fix the situation before anything more serious can occur.
My brother isn’t as diplomatic.
“You shouldnothave done that,” Khalid growls.
In one quick motion he drops the drinks, glass shattering to the floor as his fire magic crackles at his fingertips. The older lupion swings his fist, but Khalid ducks, and the punch lands on some half-demon bystander.
Everything escalates quicker than my head can wrap itself around. More punches are thrown, and the stench of blood and alcohol permeates the air.
Khalid knocks the older lupion down and I look over to see Ivan getting absolutely pummeled by a half-demon with pink skin and sharp, spiky horns. A felion I don’t recognize is getting tail-whipped by another lupion, and there’s someone’s tooth on the floor next to my feet.
What should’ve been a fun birthday celebration has turned into an all-out brawl. It’s madness and melee as the Cathedral’s employees attempt to break up the fight. Maybe if a felion hadn’t killed a lupion this week, this wouldn’t be happening. Or maybe it would. It’s hard to tell anymore.
The bartender and I try to wade through the wildness and hide behind the bartop.
“Afraid of a fight?” she whispers and I shake my head.
“No, but I really like this dress and I’m not trying to get blood on it,” I jest, and she laughs. “You?”
“If I get hurt, my father would have the culprits' heads, so it’s better I don’t get involved.”
I nod, wondering who her father must be. “Noted.”
“Grab your friends, and I can help you get the Hel out of here,” she says. “Meet me back here in two minutes.”
We head in opposite directions, and I find Khalid and Reina in the thick of the fight. Blood is splattered across my brother’s face and both sets of ears, but Reina appears unharmed.
“We have to get out of here,” I whisper-shout, and they both nod, pushing past a half-demon and following me back to the bar.
I don’t see any of the others, but when we meet back up with the bartender, Roxanne and Kayoda are by her side.
“Follow me,” she says, and we do.
She takes us through a narrow hallway and back into the kitchen. There are lupion everywhere, but they don’t pay us any mind as she waves them off, until finally we reach a door.
“What about Ivan and Sofie?” Roxanne asks, concern lacing her features.
“You’re on your own, but I’ll try to get your friends out of here safely next,” the bartender says, and I nod.
“Thank you.”
She opens the door, revealing a night sky covered in stars, and my friends and brother all exit. I stop in my tracks.
“What’s your name?” I ask, wishing the night had gone differently.
“Tempest,” she says. It’s familiar, but I can’t place my finger on it. Footsteps come from down the hall, and her eyes widen. “Go.”
The door slams behind me, and anxiety seems to move through my body in waves, before settling into the pit of my stomach.
