She left Gabriel at the bar to nurse another drink, and went off in search of the restroom. She found it at the end of the hall, past the dark VIP section. The section was roped off with red velvet, and Alice could make out the yellow gleam of Vampire eyes as the occupants surveyed the bar. She ignored their stares and went into the restroom to check herself in the mirror.

            There were a few other girls doing the same thing. One of them, a tall red-head with an over-abundance of dark eye makeup, smiled at herself in the mirror, revealing sharp white teeth.

So this was what a fully grown Harpy looked like. Alice made a mental note to stay away from her. The girl’s companion, an equally tall blonde girl in a remarkably short black mini dress, was applying a layer of makeup to her already pale face.

“I heard Alexie was here last week,” the blonde said to her friend. “I was hoping he would be here tonight.”

            “I don’t think he dabbles in anything but humans,” the other girl complained, casting her gaze down the counter at where Alice stood. “Lucky humans.”

            Alice eyed her briefly, determined not to look nervous. “Do you mean Alexie Ambrose?”

            “One and the same,” the red-head hissed through her teeth.  She took a step toward Alice, who had to tell herself firmly not to back away from those sharp teeth.

            “You haven’t seen him, have you?”

            “I don’t get out much,” Alice said shortly.

The two girls looked at one another and giggled. “What’s your name, girl?” the blonde one asked.

            “Alice.” She wasn’t sure why they were asking her that, but she had a strong urge to leave.

            “You’re funny, Alice. Who did you train under? I’ve never seen you at any of the Covens.” The blonde smiled, revealing a set of normal teeth. Ah, she’s a Witch.

“I don’t train under anyone.” Alice straightened under the girl’s scrutiny. “I just arrived here from Victoria. I own Threads, on Main Street.”

            Both girls stared at her, then the red-head smiled again, showing all her teeth.  “Oh that Alice.”

            The blonde girl looked impressed. “We’ve heard about you. You threw a guy through a coffee shop window.”

            Alice stared at her. “It wasn’t through a…wait, you heard about me? That was only a few days ago. I thought New York was bigger than that.”

            The blonde gave her a saucy grin. “Not the magical circles, honey. I’m Tricia, by the way.”

            The red-head shoved her way into the conversation eagerly. “And my name is Lacy. It’s nice to meet you.”

            “Nice to meet you,” Alice murmured. A few seconds ago Lacy had looked like she was going to chew her face off, and now she was suddenly sweet enough to pour over pancakes.

            “Let’s go dance.” Tricia actually linked one skinny arm through Alice’s and pulled her towards the door of the bathroom. “I bet you’re a good dancer, Alice.”

            “Hardly.” Alice allowed herself to be towed along for the time being. “I have to find my friend, Gabriel.”

            “Is he hot?” Tricia asked.

            Alice looked around, trying to pick out the tall Elf in the crowd. “I’m not allowed to think he’s hot, since I employ him, but you probably will. He’s an Elf.”

            “Oh.” Lacy’s sly grin was slightly horrifying with all her razor-like teeth. “You’re the boss of an Elf? It must be fun lording it over him. Elves are so stuck up.”

            “She just says that because they’re the only species that doesn’t fall prey to her.” Tricia giggled. “Is he the gorgeous tall one with the amazing blonde hair?” She was pointing straight at Gabriel, who was walking across the bar towards them with a beer in one hand. He waved at Alice.

            “That’s him,” Alice confirmed reluctantly.

            “You are so lucky,” The blonde girl gushed. “Wow.”

Gabriel stopped in front of them. “Friends of yours, Alice?”

“This is Tricia and Lacy. I met them in the bathroom just now.”

            Gabriel’s eyebrows shot up when Lacy grinned at him, but he simply smiled charmingly and said hello.

            “We should dance.” Tricia eyed him from under long eye lashes. Alice agreed, taking the opportunity to politely extract herself from the blonde girl.

“I’m going to grab another drink.  I’ll join you guys in a minute.”

            “You sure?” She wasn’t sure if Gabriel looked worried that she was going off on her own, or that she was leaving him alone with the two girls.

            “I’ll be right back,” she assured him, and turned to the bar, thinking that if the two of them were going to trail her and Gabriel around all night, she was going to need more than one drink. She couldn’t fathom why the girls had suddenly latched themselves on to her like that.

“I’ll get another margarita, please.”

            The bartender nodded and turned away. People were talking in groups, yelling into one another’s ears over the pounding music.  She watched one Fairy take a shot of tequila and climb on the bar, launching himself in the air, only to crash to the ground a second later. His friends laughed unkindly.

She thanked the bartender when the woman handed her the drink. When she looked up she noticed the man sitting across from her was staring. He had lean, fierce features and short blonde hair. He reminded her of a bird of prey, a hawk maybe. The black, forked tail snaking up behind him made her avert her eyes quickly, heart thundering. An Incubus.  Instinctively she knew not to make eye contact.

            A noisy group of werewolves roared and howled, laughing uproariously and slapping one another on the back as they drank beer after beer. In one corner sat a sulky looking woman with long blonde hair, her fluid marble features giving her away as an Elf.  The floor of the bar was completely crowded, and Alice watched people bump into one another and tread on each other’s toes, eliciting the occasional bark or snarl from someone.  Here and there someone would pull down a strand of magic from the ceiling. A skinny, awkward looking young wizard pulled down a fistful of glowing red magic and wrapped it around himself. She watched in astonishment as his features changed subtly. His sunken eyes grew larger and more expressive, his jaw firmed, his hair became thicker and curled, his body widened with muscles. The change happened in a heartbeat, and suddenly she was looking at a considerably better looking man. The only way you could tell it was a spell was from the glowing threads around his neck, which he hid carefully under the collar of his robe. 

Isn’t that cheating? Alice looked away quickly when he noticed her staring, hoping desperately that he wouldn’t come over. She saw him move out of the corner of her eye, but before he could make his way around the bar, there was a sudden uproar from the center of the dance floor. Alice craned her neck, trying to see what was going on. It was probably a fight. Two large men in black ran past. Obviously the bouncers were going to put a stop to this quickly.  They froze at the edge of the crowd.  Someone was yelling.

“Make a path! Stand back! No one else needs to be hurt.”

            Alice tugged at a strand of hair anxiously. Someone was hurt? Maybe something had happened to Gabriel. Did that Harpy bite him?

            But no, three men were emerging as the crowd backed away. Two were locked in a struggle. One obviously had the upper hand, his arm around the other man’s throat, a pistol clutched in his hand. He spoke in a strong British accent.

“This man stole from us. Let us through.”

            Alice felt a wave of horror. That man had a gun! The man he was pointing it at had his face obscured by tangled blonde hair. When they had emerged all the way out of the crush of bodies she could see the bright mark on his leg.

You must be kidding me!

            The two men, both very large and clothed entirely in black, began dragging the third man off the dance floor. Nobody moved to stop them. Alice watched in horror as they neared the bar. The blonde man seemed defeated, his head hung, and he allowed himself to be forced forward.  They neared her. In the split second they were about to drag the man past, he looked up, his hair falling back out of his face. Alice stared in horror at the familiar features, the light blue eyes, this time so desperate. His beard was full now, and dark, in spite of his light hair. His skin was tanned and smudged with dirt. His clothes were ragged.

            He spotted her, his mouth falling open in shock. Suddenly there was fight in him again, and he dug his heels into the floor.

“You!” he yelled frantically. “It’s you! You did this to me!”

            Alice recoiled, but they held him fast, pressing the barrel of the gun cruelly into the man’s face.

 “Be silent! You’ll come without a fight.”

            The man struggled harder, his eyes wild as he pleaded with her. “No! Please, you’ve got to help me! They’ll kill me!”

            Incredulous anger overtook her fear. “Are you serious?”

            The man that held him paused, looking at her in surprise. “You know this thief?”

            Alice stared down at the blonde man. “Why would I help you? You threatened to kill me.”

            “I wouldn’t have,” the man gasped. “I was just desperate.  I wouldn’t really have hurt you.”

            “You held a knife to my throat.” Alice glared down at him as he hung limp in the men’s arms.

            “Please,” the thief gasped, “They’ll kill me. Please help me. I know you can.”

            Alice stared at him, unmoving.

            “Please, I’m begging you. I don’t know what you did to me, but they found me, and now my life is forfeit.”

            It was hard to believe that this dishevelled, desperate person with the pleading blue eyes was the same terrifying man that had held her captive. 

            “What will you do with him?” Alice suddenly asked the black clad men. They blinked at her as if she’d asked a stupid question.

            “He stole from Britain’s Ministry of Enchanted Artefacts. He is to be executed.”

            Alice felt nauseated. That seemed a bit harsh.

             The blonde man looked at her with more hope. “Please,” he whispered hoarsely, and then flinched when the man jammed the gun into his face.

            “We’re going,” The men said to Alice. “If you wish to watch his beheading you may.” They turned away, and she stared after them as they started for the door.

Am I just going to let someone be killed? Nobody was going to do anything about this. The magical community had proved that several times now. Was she going to allow herself to act the same way? Adopt the same, ‘if it’s not me, I don’t care’ attitude? The man had been marked by her, he had been found because of her. Did that make it her fault when he was killed?

            “Damnit,” Alice muttered, and reached up to seize hold of the first threads that drifted toward her, knowing full well that this was a bad idea.

            The Englishman gave a cry of alarm as an invisible force snatched the gun out of his hand and dragged it back over his shoulder. He spun around, still holding his struggling captive.

“What are you doing?” he spat.

Alice held onto the gun awkwardly, making sure it was pointed towards the floor. “I’m sorry. I can’t let you kill him.”

            “You marked him!”

            “Only to warn others. My intention was not to make it easy for you to find and execute him.  I won’t have his blood on my hands, even if he is a theif and a liar.”

            “He is a prisoner of the ministry!”” The other man spoke for the first time.

            “What did he steal from you?” Alice asked.

            “A valuable Roman artefact from our dig in Richborough. He stole it right out of the dig! We’ve been chasing him for months.”

            She approached the three men cautiously. The blonde troublemaker looked relieved. “What’s your name?”

            When he spoke his voice was subdued, “Altair Roth.”

            “Well, Altair. You should give them back their artefact.”

            The man peered at her from under his shaggy hair, shrugged and reached into his pocket. He brought out something wrapped in a thick leather cloth.

            “Hand it to him,” Alice instructed. Altair offered it to the astonished men.

            “Now apologize.” Alice ordered and his brow creased. He clearly did not care for that idea, but he did as he was instructed.

“My apologies to you and the ministry,” the man said quietly.

            They unwrapped the cloth, and Alice caught a glimpse of a small clay jar covered in Grecian designs. One of the men nodded and slipped it carefully into a sack he was carrying.

            “This is the artefact. I’m surprised he hasn’t broken it.” He glared at Altair.

Alice took a gamble. “I thank you both for not tarnishing my name or my hands with his blood. Please tell your ministry they have my thanks.”

            The men looked at one another, and then the one that had done most of the talking inclined his head to Alice.

“He will be your problem, not ours.” He turned and glowered at Altair. “We will not shed your blood on her turf, but think long and hard before returning to Britain. There, you will not so easily be forgotten” They turned away and walked to the door and down the stairs. Alice watched them go, feeling sick to her stomach and furious.  

She turned on Altair. “I need to find my friend, and then you and I need to talk.” She turned and stomped off, passing off the handgun to one of the astonished bouncers on the way out. The entire bar was staring at her. It took about two seconds to find Gabriel; he came forward out of the crowd by the DJ booth, the two girls, Lacy and Tricia trailing behind him.

            “Wow,” Tricia gushed. “Alice, that was so awesome.”

            Alice ignored her. “We’re leaving.”

            Gabriel glared at Altair, who stared unblinkingly back at the tall Elf, not in the least cowed.

“Why did you bother saving him?” Gabriel hissed at her. “He’s scum. He tried to kill you.” Altair started to say something in protest, but Alice turned on him savagely. 

“Shut up. You keep your mouth shut and follow me.”

            Tricia looked at Altair with barely concealed desire, winding a curl of blonde hair between two manicured fingers. “You’re a real scoundrel, huh? Rough and tumble.”

            “Not after I’m done with him,” Alice snapped. “We’re leaving. Nice to meet you, girls.”

             Lacy and Tricia looked disappointed. “Wait,” Tricia said, “Here’s my card. Call me next time you go out and we’ll party.”

            Alice barely looked at the card before shoving it in her pocket. She marched back across the bar, her boots making gun-shot clicking sounds that could be heard even over the music.

            “Wow,” Gabriel was saying to Altair as they hurried to follow, “I’ve never seen her so pissed. You’re a piece of work.” If the dirty blonde man said anything back, Alice didn’t hear it. Nobody dared to say a word until they had reached the end of the staircase and emerged into the cold night air of New York. Then Alice couldn’t hold it in any longer. She whirled around and started to yell at Altair right in front of a crowd of astonished people waiting to get into Rapture.

            “You have nerve! Begging me to save you when you threatened me the way you did. I thought you would kill me and now you claim you ‘wouldn’t have done that’.  Are you kidding me? You are so lucky I’m not completely heartless or I would have let them take you away. I should have let them take you and chop your head off. I have had nightmares for nights on end and now you show up in the same bar as me and ask me to rescue you.”

            Altair backed up a step, his palms in the air in a warding gesture as the verbal assault continued. Gabriel watched, smiling.

            “You know what I should do, you scum bag? I should leave that mark on you and let you keep wandering around friendless and dirty - you deserve it. The only reason I intervened is because I don’t want your death on my conscious. But if you’re miserable and dirty and unloved, that won’t make me feel guilty one bit. In fact, that might feel pretty damn good!”

            Altair had backed up as much as he could, his shoulders hitting the brick wall of the building; Alice was standing on her toes, screaming into his face.

“First you hijack my store and make me leave Azura behind, then you start in on me in a coffee shop in front of everyone! I should have thrown you through the window like they’re saying I did. In fact, if I see you around town again, I will throw you through a window!  I’ll grab you and send you up into the air a hundred feet and then drop you!” Alice wasn’t even sure she could make the magic do that, but Altair seemed to believe it, because his face had turned pale through the dirt, and he jammed his back into the wall, trying to get further away from her.

            “Don’t you ever threaten a helpless woman again!”

Altair gave weak laugh. “Helpless…”

            Alice brought her hand back and laid it across his face with all the strength of her anger. It made a satisfying crack, shocking even her, and several people watching from the club line-up winced. One of the big bouncers that had let her in earlier chuckled. Heat flooded into Alice’s face as she was realized what an incredible scene she was making. She took a step back, feeling herself shake with anger, her right hand stinging and Altair’s cheek showing all five of her fingers in a scarlet mark.

            “We’re leaving,” Alice said in a low voice. “You can follow if you want that mark off, or stay here. I don’t care.” She turned and beckoned Gabriel, and they went hastily, putting distance between themselves and the crowd outside Rapture. After a moment she heard Altair trailing reluctantly along behind them.

            “Wow,” said Gabriel, “If people were talking about you before, they’ll talk even more now.”

            Alice glared at him and he shrugged apologetically.  They walked back to the store in silence. Shakra uncurled and stood to meet them. When she saw who was trailing behind the two of them her ears went back and she growled.

“What is he doing here?”

            “He was nearly killed because of the mark I put on him.” Alice looked back at Altair. “I should have let them do it, but I didn’t want to feel responsible for it.”

“Will you take the mark off?” Shakra glowered at him, and Altair flinched back.

            “I have to, if I don’t want him to bother me again.” Alice turned on the man. “I’ll take it off, but if you ever come back here I swear I’ll do worse than mark you.”

            Again he seemed to believe her. “I’ll never trouble you again.”

            Alice reached down and grasped the thread wrapped around his thigh. Altair looked down in astonishment as it suddenly glowed orange. He sputtered, “That was there the entire time? Why didn’t I see it?”

            “Because I made it so you wouldn’t.” Alice expected him to just turn and leave, but Altair stood there hesitating, he looked incredibly awkward. “Look…um…for what it’s worth…I’m sorry.” He ran his fingers through his hair and looked down at the floor. “You didn’t have to help me after what I did…but you did. So…thanks.”

            Her first instinct was to tell him to take a hike, but she held her tongue and simply nodded.  The man hesitated again, and then turned and walked out, making the bell over the door chime softly.

When he was gone Alice and Gabriel let out a relieved sigh in unison, and she said, “I think I need to sit down.”

            “What happened?” Shakra followed them to the fireplace.

            “We were at Rapture.” Alice sat down and Gabriel took the chair across from her. “And a fight broke out. These men had him, and they were holding a gun.” Alice explained the rest of the story, telling Shakra what she had said to the British men.

“Do you think I’ve made enemies?” Alice worried at a strand of her hair.

            “I couldn’t tell you. And I think you handled the situation very well. They were on your ’turf” so to speak, and your honour would have been offended if they had carried out what they had planned. I think the worst that could happen is they might ask you a favour if they come across you again.”

            Alice nodded, relieved. “Thank God - I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my life guilty because I had marked him for them to find and they’d killed him.”

            “It wouldn’t really have been your fault if that did happen,” Gabriel argued. “The man is obviously untrustworthy. He’s a thief. He’s bound to run into trouble at some point.”

            Alice shrugged. “He’s not my problem anymore. He won’t be coming back; all he wanted was that mark off. Now, I would very much like to go to bed.”

            Gabriel agreed, and they ascended the stairs after bidding Shakra goodnight.  She stopped at his door.

“That was fun, Gabriel, even if it did turn into a disaster.”

            Gabriel grinned. “Next time we’ll go somewhere else.”

            “So far I’ve only got one arch-enemy.” Alice laughed. “And I can’t see him going to Rapture again.”

            “Goodnight, Alice.”

            “Goodnight.”

            She walked down the hall to her own apartment, unlocking the door and flipping the light switch to illuminate the dark interior. She retired to the bedroom, kicking her boots off to massage her aching feet, then she climbed into the fuzziest pair of pyjamas she owned and slipped under the covers.Alice fell into dreams quickly. She would not remember in the morning, but many of them featured a man with bright blue eyes and ash coloured hair.

ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A LITERARY AGENT? Frusterated with querying and getting rejected? Trust me. I know how you feel. Check out my blog for tips, tricks and encouragment. I love to see your comments too. http://museslibrary.blogspot.ca/2012/03/agented-at-last.html?spref=fb