Chapter Six
Shawn returned to the table smiling. His smile lit up his face putting him at a rip old age of twenty-one. Please God make him over twenty-five for my sake. The last time I liked a guy after the first glance was back in high school. Things change, people change, everything changes, except crushes I suppose. I had one for sure.
Shawn stared at me from behind a folder his brother left. "Sara, this folder here contains anything and everything you would like to know about our family member."
I wanted to ask how he was kin to the family member, but I dropped it. It wasn't my business.
He handed me the folder and I just placed it in my lap. This way there's no way to lose any of it.
I finally got the nerve to ask him the question I was dying to know, "How old are you?"
"How old do I look?"
"I asked you first," I said in a teasing childish way.
He winked at me. "I'm twenty-six."
For a second there, I was thanking God. What the hell was wrong with me?
We sat there in complete silence for like four minutes. He finally decided that silence wasn't what we needed.
"Have you ever been to St. Louis before?" His eyes twinkled as he stared at me. Damn, he's gorgeous.
"No, this place is strange. From Texas to St. Louis. How am I supposed to reconcile?"
His face lit up as if a big light bulb sat above his head. An idea is it not? "I could show you around if you like."
So thoughtful. "Actually, Shawn, I'd rather stay here. Uh.. No," A faint memory came into my mind, "Do you know where The Downward Spiral is?"
"Yeah, but how did you find out about that place?"
"My mom told me way back then that that's the place my father and her met. My sister told me that when she made her little trip around the United States she wanted to visit there. She usually calls me when she gets to her point of destination for each state, but she never called me. Something's up."
Throughout all that, he still paid attention to me. How sweet. Uh. Get over it Sara.
"Yeah, I can bring you there. Maury took back your jeep so we'll have to take my car."
Just great. I don't have a vehicle. Good way to ruin the day. And it was looking up. Shit.
He politely showed me the way outside. Not daring to open the doors for me. It wasn't that he didn't have manners. He just didn't want to test my courtesy. Very smart man.
His car was midnight blue with dark tint on the windows. A two door Viper. I've never been this close to a Viper. Damn. Keep this up and I might just see my worst nightmare come to life. The Nubian Princess. I never saw her, but I was already afraid. Really bad sign.
The inside of his car was all leather. Black soft leather. Cool. His car only had a driver and passenger's seat. I sure hope he never had any extra people come with him. Like double dates, one night stands. Shut up Sara.
He smoothly backed out of the parking lot. He glided his stick, I mean, yeah, stick, but not the stick I was meaning, into drive and was off. I paid complete attention to the surroundings but didn't take anything in. The place was pretty but it only made me miss Texas more. Well, not really Texas but the idea of home. I saw parents outside with their children and dogs. People having fun. Wholesome fun. Nothing I had in a long while.
I turned my head to look at Shawn. He had on black sunglasses. It wasn't like the inside of this car was living in shadows already. I suppose different strokes for different folks. He sat slumped back in his seat. He was tall enough for it. I watched him breathe in slowly. He quickly took a glance at me and asked, "when did you find out you had your powers?"
I sighed. I wasn't expecting that question. He looked sad as if he didn't mean to hurt me, but it wasn't that bad.
"I was about ten years old. My granny lived next door with my aunt and uncle. Her little baby, which was a cat, died the week before. She cried her eyes out for an entire week until she noticed it was hanging around the house again."
"Whoa. That's horrible."
"I'm not finished."
He smiled, "Continue then." He kept looking back and forth from the road to me wondering what I would say next. I almost wanted to tell him to watch the road but I liked him looking at me. Made me feel better.
"She told me one day that she wanted to come to me and ask if I knew anything about it, but before she could get to my room she felt my power hit her like a wall of bricks."
"Jesus, did you get the power from you grandmother?"
"No, actually she was psychic. Funny huh? I wanted to ask her for a long time why she didn't predict that I was going to be this damn creepy but I never got the nerve."
He laughed which made me smile.
"I got my powers from both my mother and my father. My father was an animator. He called the dead. My mother was a witch. She worked with magic. She never taught me anything about it. She thought I deserved to be a little bit more normal then her. I, unlike both of them, raise the dead completely. Soul included."
"That's why the cat went back to its usual self."
"Bingo."
"Well, I'm glad you took control of your power. It's not too nice to wake up and see a supposed dead person living again."
I smiled. "Yeah, I got control of it. My granny was a good teacher."
He looked at me for about two seconds then back to the road. "We are almost there. About two blocks and we reached your destination."
"Okay."
"You want me to come in and show you around." I wanted to say no, but it would be a good idea to have him around. Unless shit gets started, then bad. Ugh..
"If I tell you no, would you come anyway?"
"You know it, Sara. I don't like to leave women in bad situations." He gave me a smile that was full of sex and meaning. Like he wouldn't leave a woman when she hadn't had an orgasm, or a woman when she was pregnant with his child. Damn.
He parked about three rows back. The place looked like an old building from the 1950s. Covered with brown plaster. It had a huge sign on the building that said "The Downward Spiral." It also had a picture of an artist's rendition of a tornado. The tornado was blue and gray. It kept moving round and round. A nice neon color. I thought they were only used at night. Oh well. Not my electricity bill.
Shawn finally felt the need to be macho and he opened the door for me to go inside "The Downward Spiral." The place took me by complete surprise. It was absolutely breathtaking. Flowers and ferns were everywhere. The place was covered by flowers. Flowers on the walls, floor, and ceiling. I would have never called it downward spiral. More like an exotic garden, but I didn't own the place.
Shawn placed his cute little butt by the bar. I followed just like a little teen completely star struck by him. The bartender was about five-ten with short curly brown hair. He had brown eyes and pouty lips. Did I mention that Shawn had pouty lips? Oops. Sorry.
The bartender watched me walk up behind Shawn. "You two dating?"
I looked at Shawn to find him looking at me. I shook my head slightly and said, "no."
Shawn smiled shyly as if discouraged. Oh well.
The bartender turned his face to Shawn then back to me. "You been here before?"
"No."
"Knew it, I didn't recognize you sweety. What brings you here?"
"Old memories."
"Okay." He didn't ask anymore. I suppose he didn't want to know or didn't want to test me. I wanted to ask him if he knew anything about a Nubian Princess but I didn't want to test that either. Oh well.
"Do you know anything about a vampire that calls herself a Nubian Princess?"
He glared at me while thinking about it. "Yeah, she owns the place."
That made me gasp. The ultimate bitch owns the place. Shit.
"Wanna tell me her name?"
"Her name is Chandra. She's had this bar before I was born. Hence, why the outside looks old and the inside new," he smiled. He wasn't that bad looking for a man working as a bartender.
"Thanks. I really appreciate this."
"Now, Ms., what would you like to drink?"
"Coke. No alcohol."
"Alright and for the gentleman?"
Shawn looked at him and gently said, "Pepsi."
I patted Shawn's back and sat down next to him. I turned my stool around and searched the entire building. There was a small stage up front. The stage included a piano right center, a microphone in the center, and band instruments towards the back. The room was filled with tables. All circles with four chairs around them. The chairs and tables were white. Not completely white but off white.
There were only two other people in the room. Two men. Both were in black business suits. One was a black man with a little bit of an Afro and the other was Mexican or something close. His hair was cut very short. He looked pissed off for some reason or another.
"Ms., if you are looking for the vampire, she'll be up around six tonight. She gets up at six every night. No matter if it's daylight saving times or the other one. She doesn't sweat the sunlight that much even though she can't completely go out into it."
"Go figure." Shawn looked at me and asked, "You want to come back later?"
"Yeah. I don't see why we should stay here when it's only one-thirty."
I left my Coke on the counter and got off my stool. "Okay. I'll pay the bill. Here's the keys to the car. You wanna drive it this time?"
I smiled the widest smile. I didn't know I could smile like that. "Of course." I took the keys and quickly jogged out of the building to the Dodge Viper. Shawn came slowly behind me with a pleased look on his face. He knew he was getting to me and he wouldn't have it any other way.