Page 23Throwing up

The pub was still filled with people, mostly in very questionable clothes (colors that matched oddly or strange shapes), but I didn't see Esmeralda immediately. Nor did I find her after looking a lot more carefully. Odd, for some reason I really expected her to be here. There were so many people here that felt like they would know her or be with her if they had the chance. Why I thought that I didn't really know. I turned out to be right though.

The barman was happy to tell me she just left with a guy five minutes ago. I really must have just missed her. Something in the back of my head told me to go look for her so I just smiled and told him I didn't want anything to drink. Which was largely true, even if he had no idea what kind of drink I really needed.

But where was she?

Outside I tried to block out the sounds coming from that and many other insides around me. It took a few moments. Moments in which I marveled how precise my hearing really had become. If I focused on it I might even hear what side a coin dropped from two blocks away. Okay, that was kind of ridiculous, but I still felt I could hear as well as I wanted to. Though it was difficult to guide it. It wasn't like a ghost of me listened around everywhere. I had to filter out the buzz before I could hear the one sound I was looking for.

A muffled scream.

The whole night vanished for a moment and all my attention was drawn to tracing that scream. I moved fast in the direction of it, forgetting for a moment that if someone did see me, it would raise nasty questions. Fortunately, I was unseen. I hoped.

There was another muffled sound, but no scream, it was more like a snicker or an audible grin. It was a little further than I expected. I ran through the streets in swift, light steps and found what I was looking for three streets further in an alley that was nicely secluded and dark. No streetlight there, no people around. Except those already there.

Esmeralda.

With three guys.

But was this wrong? She looked slightly surprised but not exactly in trouble. She was drunk, I think, swaying a little bit and giggling at the guys. She swatted at the middle one, the one closes to her, and spoke with a gentle slur.

"Aw, shtop it."

"But you wanted an adventure."

"Yeash, but not with the three of you."

"I'm sure you'd enjoy it."

He moved forward and started pulling at her clothing. "Come on, you know you want to."

She tried to turn away but stumbled, her top fortunately strong enough not to be ripped by his grip but just holding her as he caught her. "No, I don't like you anymore. I want to go go back inshide."

For a moment it looked like this was it, nothing would be happening. The two guys stepped slightly aside to let the middle guy pass through with her if he wanted to. I could even see the look in his eyes, their leader probably, contemplating this moment. Was it worth it, did he want to do this? He didn't look like a rapist just someone who was out for some wild fun and made a mistake in his choice.

My heart beat like a tense drum.

"Esmeralda?"

I tried to sound normal and searching for her as I said it. I saw her and she looked up and noticed me. The other guys had quite a fright as well. They obviously didn't want to be seen. My muscles weren't entirely happy there would be no fighting involved, but my thoughts were.

"Amy! Wow... you look... Shexy!"

She stumbled towards me and kissed me, slightly clumsy, on my lips. I kept the kiss short, she didn't taste very nice with so much alcohol in her. The guys behind her, however, liked the kiss a bit too much. They walked towards me and more or less surrounded me while the main guy looked at us in a sort of admiration. Or just lust. Probably the latter.

"Now that's more like it. You want to join us, little girl?"

I smiled. "No, we're going."

Without any fear (what could they do to me?) I just turned around, supporting Esmeralda. We both just walked away and left the alley and the street. Every moment I expected them to try and attack us to get what they wanted. But they were wise enough not to do so. My body felt all tense again though. All feral and wanting the fight, wanting to feel me avoiding all their attempts to hit me. To feel the power of being stronger, faster, more agile than them. But not now.

It was kind of funny how it came in use barely a few minutes later.

The guys had left the alley as well and headed the other direction. I headed back to the ocean, where I hoped the air would do her good and help her sober up a little. Apart from the alcohol, she actually smelled rather nice. Was she wearing perfume tonight? I wasn't sure, it kind of looked like she did. I was just about to ask her when I saw her looking at me.

"I'm shorry, they kept buying drinksh for me."

"That's alright."

"No, I'm shorry."

And that's when my reflexes came in handy. She gulped a little and was about to throw up all over me. With surprising speed that, I hoped, would remain unnoticed in her current predicament, I moved behind her and held her sides while she threw up on the streets. The good thing about this was that it meant only the streets got dirty, while both of us stayed clear and clean of her vomiting. It smelled awful though. The strong acid smell of her stomach fluids was much worse than I ever remembered. But nothing that could be overcome.

I waited until she was done and helped her up again. Her breath was particularly gruesome, reeking of all that had just come out, but she solved this easily. It was a lot more resourceful than I would have given her credit for at that moment, she retrieved a paper towel and a small plastic bottle of water from somewhere on her person. She used the water to rinse her mouth and the paper towel to wipe it. The bottle was so small it couldn't have been more than two large gulps. She drank the second one and looked at me with a much soberer look in her eyes.

"Gah, I hate it when that happens. I really shouldn't fall for such a simple trick, but he did buy me good drinks."

I was slightly baffled. "Eh, yeah."

"I didn't get any on you, did I?"

"No, no. I'm clean."

"Good, because you look good in those new clothes! Really good!"

I blushed.

These moments make me smile the most. Time to call it a night once more.