See You in the Next Life!
‘Sigh..’
Bean Rua, the most popular bar in Emain Macha situated in what would be, from an outsider’s eyes as no place out of the ordinary. The bar itself however, was rather shady; there’s two bouncers keeping admission at the front that looks like an alleyway plus it was only open when everyone else was at home having dinner. Sort of gives that contraband vibe if you know what I mean.
Sitting on a barstool, a man lifted his head from his crossed arms, took a quick glance to the right before resting face on his propped arm. There wasn’t anything different; just him and the patrons, the ridiculously beautiful waitresses, the usual pianist and the ever-looming barkeeper. He took a large gulp of Vales Fire; don’t try that at home.
Making a tired scan at the red headed waitresses and without shifting his glance, he said, “Hey, barkeep, where’d you find these beauties?â€
The barkeeper gave a slightly peeved look, ‘Lucas Inspector, it’s Lucas.’
His patron gave him a quick stare without moving his head and then resumed his ogling. He’s been a regular for years now; came here for the drinks, came back for the girls.
The barkeeper let out a silent nasal sigh and asked, ‘What’s wrong this time, Inspector?’
‘Aside from the watered down booze and cheap floozies? Work as usual. There’s been this guy I’ve been tracking for quite a while now every time he gives me the slip.’
Ouch, as the owner of the bar, I’d be pretty ticked off as well. Fortunately, he swallowed his pride for his taste in fine alcohol and resumed his composure: some of it at least. I still have no idea why the owner of a bar, or any establishment for that matter, would work in a front line position like this; I guess he’s pretty masochistic when it comes to customer service. That and he’s the only male who works inside the bar.
‘â€Quite a while?†how long exactly?’
Here it comes.
The Inspector took some time to think, ‘Since I started chasing him? Three years probably.’
Barkeep took some time as well, but for an entirely different reason, ‘Uh.. Three years? This is the first time I’ve heard you talking about it. How does he keep it up?’
The Inspector kept silent.
‘Inspec-?‘
He froze, lifting up a hand to signal the barkeeper’s silence in return. Looks like he’s sobered himself up; pretty perceptive of him, he’s not the Inspector for nothing.
I should know; this guy’s always three steps ahead of his opponent. In this case however, he’s always been both; three steps ahead and behind.
He stood up.
Here it comes, that was faster than expected.
‘Hey you.’ The Inspector grabs hold of one of the waitresses wrists and firmly wrings it upwards.
Naturally, the barkeep freaked out a little over this, he tried to keep himself sounding professional but his tone gave himself away, ‘I-inspector, we’ve got a no-touch policy here o-‘
‘Shut up Lucas.’
He shut up.
The waitress was pretty upset too, she spoke in a soft nervous tone, ‘Ah- uh Sir? You’re hurting me-‘
‘I found you. You’re coming with me this time.’
Quite the stubborn fellow, doesn’t ever know when to give up. Damned depraved fellow wouldn’t even leave a poor girl alo-
‘I checked the bar’s records; this is your first day on the job. Lucas never hires without mentioning the newbies,’ He pulled out a pair of handcuffs and barked out the same thing for Lymilark-knows how many times, ‘Milletian.’
Me.
‘Getting faster Inspector.’ I replied in my natural tone, ‘I’m glad we can keep playing this game.’
‘You’re not getting away this time. I’ll make sure of it’
He’s a pretty bad liar, then again to be fair, I’ve never been a waitress before. Maybe he’ll get me this time.
‘Gyah!’ The Inspector loosened his grip on my arm and pulled his hand in pain.
Or not. My fighting abilities and reflexes never falters, rather, they seem to be getting better every time we meet.
‘What a disappointment, I thought I finally found a good knife this time. Bummer,’ I guess I wanted to tease him a bit. Well, I kinda meant it; this IS a pretty good dagger.
Getting away wasn’t very difficult, it never really is; I just threw a couple glasses at him and ran off. Of course I kicked off my heels first, you don’t ever get used to running in them. Even a risk-taker like me would enter that kind of a profession where I’d have to occasionally run with heels.
The night sky of Erinn is really something; even though I’ve been here for hundreds of years, I still don’t tire of it. Too bad this really isn’t the time to appreciate it; forgive me dear Eweca and your dear partner Ladeca, even with my skills it’s rather difficult to keep my head pointed up while dodging the crap littered around the streets.
‘Get back here!’ A shot whizzed right past me; like I care.
A second shot rang out and somehow struck the blade of my dagger, wrenching it free from my grasp.
Okay, now I care; like I said before, that was a damn good knife.
We both knew the streets of Emain pretty well, but I knew the alleyways better than he did. I’ll just make a left here without him noticing and wait, what? This wall wasn’t here before! Dammit, how much time passed during the transition from my last body to this one?
‘Good, looks like I was right in building these walls.’ The Inspector said in a strained voice. All those drinks must be catching up to him; it’s a wonder he can do the same to me.
I decided to raise his hopes a little, ‘So you used my knowledge of the streets against me. Very good inspector.’
The Inspector carefully approached me, methodically thinking of ways on how to apprehend me. You should have seen his first couple months in trying to catch me, let’s just say fighting me head on isn’t exactly the smartest thing to do.
A grated fence dropped down below him just as he entered the alleyway.
Oh he’s getting good at this.
‘Give yourself up, there’s nowhere for you to run now.’ A bit of confidence returned in his voice.
Hm, what to do what to do..
An old thought suddenly made it’s way though. It was something I’ve heard a long ways back when I first came to Erinn.
“You have been knocked out.â€
I smiled.
“However, this is the land of Erinn where death does not exist.â€
I gave a short chuckle.
The inspector looked surprised, however he regained his composure and ordered, ‘What’s so funny Milletian?!’
“However, you are about to make a choice.â€
Within a blink of an eye, I ran towards my predator and knocked him down while breaking one of his legs, but that didn’t make him my prey.
‘I apologize Inspector, but I’m afraid our game of cat and mouse continues. By the way, you still owe me for that knife.’
During the scuffle, I wrestled his compact cylinder from his hands.
‘Wait! What are you trying to d- NO, WAIT! STOP!’
I pointed it towards the side of my head.
‘DAMMIT! I’LL GET YOU NEXT TIME! I SWEAR IT!’
I gave him a wide grin.
‘Until you catch me, see you in the next life!â€
Bang.