Warning: This chapter contains some graphic descriptions toward the end. Don't read if you are easily grossed out. You were warned.

BEER GOGGLES AND RED COATS

By Angel Sentier and Lady Parsley

Chapter Six

Where the fuck are my car keys? Tessa couldn't even find the pocket she put them in. I know I had them when I went in the restaurant... I can't go back in there to look for them! Did I lose them in the alley? Crap! All of a sudden, she realized... She was wearing a skirt. It didn't have pockets. Shit!

She grabbed her purse to her chest and fumbled with the zipper. Her hands were shaking so badly, if the purse strap hadn't been on her shoulder, she would have dropped it. After the zipper got stuck a couple times, she managed to get her car keys out, but not without dropping a pen, her wallet, and a tampon on the ground. Damn it! She bent and stuffed her things back in her bag, and in the process dropped her keys. She bent once more and picked them up, only to drop them again. They bounced under her car. "Fuck!" she exclaimed, kneeling down to reach under the vehicle and pick them up.

She remained kneeling as she tried to fit the key in the lock, having to use her left hand and the odd angle making the simple task difficult. While her right hand seemed to be healing at a remarkable rate, it still hurt like crazy. Her breath was coming very quickly, but she didn't realize it was because she was sobbing, tears just pouring from her eyes and dripping onto her blouse.

An eternity later, the key finally managed to go into the lock... and it wouldn't turn. After a moment of confusion and mounting panic, she realized that it wasn't her car, just one that kind of looked like it.

A hysterical scream erupted all the way from her soul to echo around the cement parking lot. A few people looked her way, but she really didn't care at the moment. She sat there on the ground and covered her face. She wasn't sure how long she was like that before a pair of capable hands came down and helped her to her feet.

She turned and buried her wet face in Jeff's apron. Rather than make a smart remark about him stalking her, he was exactly the person she needed at the moment.

"Jeff, I don't understand what's going on!" she wailed hysterically. "My hand's better and it shouldn't be. I growled at my friends! I don't know how to growl! My hand still hurts like hell. I just ate a live cow, and I liked it! What is wrong with me? I couldn't find my keys, and this isn't my car... I'm confused and I want to know what's happening, damn it!"

In the midst of the tirade, she was dimly aware of Jeff's comforting "Shh... I know. I know. It's all right..." but not totally conscious of it. He held her close and stroked her hair while her hysterics cried themselves out.

"Hey," he said at last, when the sobbing had trickled down to heavy sniffling. "Why don't I take you out tonight?"

She wiped her eyes with her left fist. "No offence, Jeff, but I really don't feel like fucking tonight."

He laughed softly and tilted her face up to gently brush away her tears with his apron. "No. I mean... let's go on a date. We haven't had one of those. Let's go."

She sniffled. "A date?"

"Yeah. I'll take you out to dinner."

"Where?"

"Well, I know a great French place..."

"You're not taking me back to your work, you cheap bastard!"

He laughed again. "I thought that might get your attention. Don't worry, we'll go someplace nice. To a movie, for a drive, look at some stars. We'll do something fun." He ran his fingers through her hair, brushing it back from her face. "You look like you could use a distraction."

She nodded. "Okay."

He steered her to her car and unlocked the door for her. "I'll pick you up at seven."

"Seven," she repeated as she climbed into the driver's seat.

"Think you can make it home okay?"

"Yeah." She smiled at him. "Thanks, Jeff."

"No problem, beautiful."


6:30pm

"He is SO not worth this," Tessa muttered to herself as she applied a good coat of mascara to her lashes. She yanked open her drawer of barely used cosmetics and scowled at her tray of lipsticks. "Okay. Burnt Ruby or Dusty Rose?... Crap, I have to decide what to wear first!"

6:40pm

"Soooo not worth this," she told herself as she debated over the blue dress or the red skirt and white blouse with the tie ensemble, picked from the enormous pile of clothing she'd thrown on her bed.

6:50pm

"I cannot believe I am doing this," she said to her reflection as she attempted to use a curling iron without burning herself. Setting the beauty implement down, she stared into the mirror. "Why am I doing this?" Unable to come up with an answer, she continued to primp.

It was then a loud clang came from outside. She sighed and went to the door. A large raccoon was going through her garbage. Great, this is just what I need when I'm trying to get ready...

As the light from the doorway spilled across the trashcans, the raccoon looked up and hissed at her. She took a step backward, not wanting a vicious raccoon on her hands... but then her mind fuzzed a bit, and that same deep rumble rolled up from her throat, her lips curling into a feral snarl.

The animal froze, then ran off as though the devil was on its tail. Tessa clapped a hand over her mouth, shocked. I... I just growled... She ducked back inside and slammed the door.

Leaning against the wall, her mind raced. When did I learn how to growl? Why is it that I never do it consciously? Shit, I really DID growl at Chloe and Teri at the restaurant... How do you apologize for growling when you didn't even know you could? This was followed by an irrational curiosity to see what she looked like when she growled. She went to the bathroom and unsuccessfully tried to recreate her expression, before the doorbell rang.

Thoughts of growling swept from her mind, she rushed to the door, then slowed. She patted her hair, smoothed her skirt, and swiped a finger across her teeth to check for lipstick. Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, she opened the door.

"Hello, beautiful."

She could tell Jeff was trying to look sexy in his black button-up shirt, jacket, and dark blue jeans, but without that raw sexual energy she'd seen him display on several occasions now, he just managed to look cute. However, it looked like she wasn't the only one who had put forth an effort. He held out a small pot of violets and, somewhat awkwardly, she took them. Who gives potted flowers?

"I thought you could use some color and life in this vast wasteland of an apartment," he said, by way of an explanation.

Well, it was a strange gift, but apparently a thoughtful one. "Um... thanks. I guess you're right. This really is little more than a place to sleep and keep my stuff. I'll just put these on the sink."

As she placed them below the window he had come to just yesterday, she jumped slightly as his arms wrapped around her waist from behind. She hadn't even heard him move. How did he get across the room so quietly? He tilted his head into her neck and inhaled deeply. The rush of cold air made her shiver.

"I thought so," he murmured.

"What?"

"You changed the scent you wear. You smell delicious."

"I, uh... just used a different soap," she said, very surprised that he had noticed.

He seemed pleased. "For me?"

"No."

His head came up. "What?"

"I get to enjoy it, too."

"Oh..." He sounded relieved. He smiled, took her hand, and spun her around to face him. "Shall we go?"

She thought briefly about the raccoon, but decided against telling Jeff. It didn't seem like the right moment to bring it up, when he was about to take her out to help her forget about weird things like that. "Sure." She grabbed her red coat that had been draped over the back of a chair. "Do you want me to drive?"

"No, no. Let me."

He even held the door open for her.


True to his word, Jeff didn't take her back to Le Chere Canard for dinner. Instead, they were seated inside a nice Chinese restaurant with dim lighting, a water view, and food served on a Lazy Susan.

After they had ordered their dinner, he took one of her hands in his. It was starting to seem like he always needed to be touching her in some way.

"So?" he asked.

She smiled. "Nice."

"Glad you approve," he said, returning it. "So, tell me more about yourself."

"You've seen my apartment, you've met my friends. There isn't much more to tell."

"Come on," he said. "Tell me about your childhood; brothers, sisters, parents..."

She sighed lightly. "I'm the middle child of five. My youngest sister, Princess--"

"Wait a second," he said, almost choking on his iced tea. "Princess?"

"That's nothing," she told him. "Want a real laugh? There's Baron, Count, myself, Contessa, Duke, then Princess. Our mom has this weird thing for royalty."

He threw his head back and laughed. "So, that's your full name? That's absolutely horrible!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? Why don't you tell me about it, Weylan?"

"Touché."

"What's your last name, anyway?"

He winced, as though perhaps he shouldn't have said anything. "Uh... Bluthe."

"Weylan Jeffery Bluthe?" When he nodded, she howled with laughter. "Damn, when they were handing out names, you got yours from the bargain barrel, didn't you?"

"Try being the kid in kindergarten with that name. I was nearly put into therapy."

"I feel your pain. Does 'Weylan' have a special place in your parents' hearts or something? Are you named after an unfortunate relative?"

"My mother's Gaelic. It's an Irish name. It means 'borne of the wolf.'"

She raised an eyebrow. "It fits."

"I've been told. So, as you were saying..."

She nodded. "Right... My younger sister Princess works at the same office building I do."

"What do you do?"

"I'm an... administrative assistant." She rolled her eyes. "Not that I really need to work too much. My grandmother left me a substantial amount of money when she passed away three years ago, as well as her house in New York."

"Why work at all, then?"

She hesitated. "The truth? Who wants to live in a big empty house all by themselves? I'd turn into the psycho with twenty cats in three months. Not to mention that house has too many memories for me... It'd be sad to live there, now that Nana's gone."

"Tell me more," he said with a smile, stroking her palm with his fingers.

With her free hand, she toyed with the straw in her drink. "She was the only one in my family who really cared about me. My parents and I aren't on extremely friendly terms. I can't do anything right for them, and it doesn't help that Princess has a position above me at work." The sensation Jeff's fingers created turned her mind back to the subject and off the oncoming tirade. She was finding, though, that the words were coming easier to her. "Sorry," she said. "I'm not really used to talking about my personal life."

"It's okay," he said. "Tell me whatever you want."

"Well, my 'real job' really consists of toting my sister and her pals around, from bar to bar, club to club, and acting as a sort of filter."

"Let me guess," he said. "One of those girls you were with that night was your sister. The brunette?"

"The blond." She shook her head like an early 90s hair commercial. "Or should I say, the chemically blond."

"The mentally blond, from what I heard of her conversation."

Tessa laughed. "Nice. I'm going to use that."

"How did she get a position at work above you?"

"Ginger. The statuesque Ann-Margret wannabe. She's slept with just about every CEO in the company."

"Even the female ones?"

"I wouldn't put it past her. She gets whatever she wants. Chloe-- oh, one of the girls I was with today..."

"I know Chloe and Teri. They're always at the Canard."

She grinned. "Right. Well, Chloe works directly underneath the three of them as Ginger's assistant, that's how I met her. Teri works for the same company, but on a different account; her and Ginger are at about the same level. I heard through the company grapevine recently that they're up for the same promotion. Fireworks are guaranteed to fly." She released a breath. "Okay, I told you mine, now you tell me yours."

He smiled, somewhat self-depreciatively. "I had probably the singularly most unremarkable childhood possible. Take Leave It To Beaver, The Brady Bunch, and all those horrible family shows of that era, take out the brothers and sisters, mix well, and there's my childhood."

"You're an only child? You suck."

He nodded. "Yeah. There are only two ways a kid will turn out when there aren't any siblings to soften the blow... Either extremely spoiled, or rebellious. I went the rebellious route."

Tessa snickered. "You? A bad boy? Sure... I can see it."

"Your sarcasm is blinding."

"Come on, Jeff! You're way too cute to pull off that kind of image."

He grinned. "Thanks."

She rolled her eyes. "You're welcome."

"Anyway, unable to stand all the prying and snooping any longer than I had to, I graduated from high school early and went directly to college, out of state. I had the time of my life, doing things I was never allowed to, or wouldn't have dared to under my parents' watchful eyes. I was the first person in that county to wink at the camera as my mug shot was being taken. I guess it was inevitable that the first woman I had any kind of serious relationship with couldn't be normal either."

She tilted her head. "Not normal?"

"She was one of my professors," he hastened to explain.

"Really? Are you going to tell me she came on to you?"

"It was kind of mutual... But she did come on really strong. On our first night together she said I was hers."

Sounds familiar, she thought.

"I was eighteen; I got scared and ran off for about a month. When I came back, I found out that she had been killed in an accident about a week before."

Tessa blinked. "Whoa... How did you take that?"

"Not very well." That seemed an unsatisfactory answer, but he went on before she could ask more about it. "I started hanging out with her friends, well, they became my friends, but they always saw me as a kind of outsider because of how young I am; a lone wolf, as it were... And here I am."

She paused a moment to let all of the information sink in. "That seems really..."

"Lonely?" he offered. "Yeah. It is."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that, but was once again saved by the arrival of their food.


"Why is it we just ate a few hours ago and I'm hungry again?" Tessa asked as they were heading back to Jeff's car after the movie.

Jeff hesitated a moment. "Isn't that the way it goes with Chinese?"

"Hmm... I guess."

"We could get some burgers on the way back."

Nothing had ever sounded more delicious. "Mmm..."

For some reason, Tessa fell quiet then. Something was... off. Not right. But what was it? The back of her neck prickled, raising her hackles... Wait, she didn't have hackles. But still, she could sense that something was wrong. She looked to her left, in the direction of an alley by the side of the theater.

"What is it?" he asked, but it didn't sound like a real question. It was then she realized that Jeff had been rather quiet in that moment as well.

"Something's... down there," she said as she started moving in that direction.

"You probably saw a cat. Come on, let's go back. That alley's dark and creepy."

"You're dark and creepy, and I like you."

"As flattering as that is, I really think we should go back to your place."

"Just a second, I want to find out what's over there..."

"But there's garbage..."

At the mouth of the alley, she turned to give him a look. "Jeff, wasn't it you who screwed me in an alley five feet from a dumpster?" She turned back around.

"Tessa, don't go down there." This time, it wasn't a direct command, but more of a plead; please, don't go down there.

The smell hit her first and she wrinkled her nose, wondering what could possibly be making such a stench. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the alley, that's when she saw it. It was only identifiable as a man because of the blood-soaked, tattered clothes that were still hanging off of it. The man's throat had been completely torn out. His mouth, what she presumed was his mouth, was hanging open in a silent scream. He was missing one leg and both his arms, though a couple of his fingers lay a few feet away. As she watched, a scruffy cat darted out from behind a trashcan, picked one up, and made off with it. The soft tissue of the man's abdomen had been torn into, leaving his ribcage partially exposed. Some of the bones were missing, as were most of the organs that should have been there. A pool of drying blood surrounded the body. More blood had sprayed in an arc on the alley wall and splashed onto the trashcans.

Her heart thudded loudly in her ears as she took everything in. Her body heat seemed to be rising to an unbelievable fever pitch. She couldn't think. She opened her mouth to scream, and everything she had eaten in the past week, it seemed like, violently poured forth. Just as she thought she might cease throwing up, suddenly, everything went white.

To be continued...