One The anniversary and the Russian

witches, hound and magic man

The bar was dimly lit save for the tiny bulb lights at the bar tender's bench. At the far corner are two billiard tables. It looked as if a game had just ended on one of the tables as the balls are being rearranged by a rough looking stout man whose disgruntled demeanor could have made someone guess that he had just lost the game and he also had to cough some sum of money with it. On the other table, which attracted a little crowd who had gathered to watch the spectacle that was before them. A frail-looking spinster was playing a middle-aged man who had a protruded belly that gave the impression that with the right costume, he might be able to make a living as Santa Claus come the festive period. His only drawback to this feature was; he's clean shaven and bald but with the right wig, he would have made a fine Santa Claus should he decide to be one. What endeared a few number of people to their table was how their game had turned out to be. Their task at each time each player shoots the ball is to be able to put two balls in opposite pockets with one shot until all balls on the table are in pockets, whoever could do this in a shorter time would be declared the winner. With the dexterity displayed by both players at achieving this task, it was clear that they are both masters at this game but what raised an eyebrow was the manner in which these balls got to enter opposite pockets, it defied common sense and physics most times. Gretchen was seated at the far end of the bar, gently using her index finger to caress the tip of the glass of martini she had ordered since she entered the bar. She had hardly touched it. She was looking ravishing as she had heads turned when she walked into the bar in her royal blue knee length gown with a silver flower shaped brooch carefully placed above her left breast which made it look like the brooch fastened each end of her gown strap and the gown itself. She had a diamond necklace around her neck with a pointed pendant hanging down that pointed straight to her cleavage which revealed a little bit of her voluptuous breast. She had matching diamond earrings to go with the necklace. She had on a pair of dark red wedge shoes that pushed her heels high enough to give her bosom a slight lift. The gown had a split behind which made her movement freer and each step she took revealed a teasing bit of her thighs and made her bosom sway left to right as she walked into the bar. Her auburn hair was neatly packed to the back while she parted some to make a flock on her forehead. Few whistles here and there could be heard as she walked her way to the far end of the bar. Someone said: "Hey Beautiful, can I get your number?" while another said: "take my life! Take me for what I am". Though she acted oblivious to the comments she could not help but smile at the last comment just as she was about to take her seat, the voice said: "Allow me to kiss your hands and make Zeus jealous!" the poetry was lame but funny, so she smiled and shook her head. She sat there, teasing the tip of her cup with a forlorn look while she looked on at the billiard game that had gathered a little crowd at the other end. It was until a voice startled her from behind that it became apparent that she was lost into the abyss of her thoughts. Gwen kissed her on the cheek snuggled into what looked more like a cuddle than a hug then said: "Always early and always beautiful, how do you do this?". She just smiled at her friend, and they said simultaneously: "It is the spinach!" then they burst into laughter. "Laura's baby -sitter made us late; she arrived late because she missed her bus," Gwen said. "Where's Laura by the way?" Gretchen asked. "Looking for the best place to park without getting booked by a patrol officer" Gwen replied. Gretchen smiled and shook her head "That girl, and she would still be booked in the end." Gwen had just ordered two cups of martini when Laura slid into the middle stool between them. They were there to mark the first anniversary of Gretchen's divorce from Sylvester, her douche of an elven mage husband who preferred politics and power than seeing to the needs of his family. She was not sad that the divorce happened. But she was and had been perturbed by the attitude of her ex since the divorce; he had been trying to create a wedge between her and Sebastian; the six-year-old son they had together who was currently with him as it was his turn to take care of the boy. In as much as she had this freedom to herself every fortnight, she was always cautious of how she conducted herself at a social gathering. For Sly, as her ex-husband was fondly called by many might have spies watching her every move so any wrongdoing from her might be used as a tool to ensure she would not have access to her son. Her friends thought this idea of hers was ridiculous until one time Sly confronted her of being minutes late to pick Sebastian up from soccer practice. That incident was unavoidably so because the main route that led to the soccer pitch had a high volume of traffic because an accident involving a heavy duty truck that had a brake failure and skidded off the road to crash into a traffic light stand. The traffic light grid in that axis was off which meant that a traffic warden was saddled with the task of passing cars while the fire service was called to come help with towing the vehicle off the road. Luckily no one was injured save for the driver that had a gash on his forehead. The paramedics stitched him clean and recommended he gets some very strong aspirin for a headache that might come after. Even when she explained to him why she was eight minutes and twenty-seven seconds late to pick up their son, Sly waved her to be quiet as he couldn't trust her to be responsible enough to look after their son. This made her livid, but she kept her cool because she didn't want Sebastian to witness a fight between the both of them. She just walked out on him biting her lips and muttered some slur words under her breath as she walked away. They had partied well into the night; Laura had stopped Gwen from having further drinks as she was clearly a bit drunk. They had fun especially with the lawyers that came in to celebrate their friend's first court win in his new firm. They decided that it was time leave so Laura paid for their drinks and they were set to leave but Gretchen said she needed to ease herself. She was making her way to the back where the toilet was when a hand grabbed her; she looked back to see a well-built bloke smiling at her; she wrestled from his grip which he clearly allowed. He gestured to the seat beside him meaning he would like her to seat with him. She glared at him as she rubbed her wrist with her other hand and told him: "Thanks, but no. You're not my type". She turned to continue to make her way to the toilet when the bloke somehow found his way to block her path. At first, she was taken aback with such speed and agility, but she simply smiled and said: "please get out of my way." "Allow me to introduce myself." the bloke said huskily. "I am Alex...". "Yeah, yeah and you're from Russia" interrupted Gretchen as she shoved him aside with her hand. While this was going on Laura and Gwen had begun to approach the scene and were already by the Russian's table. As Gretchen moved past the bloke, he tapped her bosom before Gretchen could turn to face the bloke, she already heard him grunt in pain trying to put out the fire burning the hand he tapped her with. Gretchen took a quick glance around and saw Laura already brewing another fire. Instinctively, Gretchen bellowed: "Momentuso!" and everyone except her in the bar was still. She moved swiftly putting out the fire on the bloke and the fire Laura, her dragon witch friend, was brewing. When she was done, she cast a careful glance around the whole bar and noticed everyone was looking at the incident calmly except the three lawyers. Ah! They are the only humans in the bar tonight. The bar had been a haven for all supernatural beings from time immemorial. The lights in the bar are not the electric bulb, but elves who are having their fun as well. Gretchen made her way to the front of the lawyers before she cast a spell for life to return to the bar. The Russian, having seen that the fire has been put out growled at Laura who already knew it was pointless bringing out any fire for she knew Gretchen would have seen to it that she wouldn't be able to do another one relaxed from her fight stance and collected her coat from Gwen. Gretchen snapped her fingers in front of the lawyers, and they fell into another trance right in front her as she compelled them to see this as nothing but a magical show. She snapped her fingers again, and the lawyers continued their jolly banter like nothing happened. She went to the toilet and made her way back to meet her waiting friends. As she walked past the Russian, he stopped her and began in his thick Russian accent: "I am sorry for my behavior but tell your friend she is lucky to have you as a friend, and she is also lucky it is not the full moon tonight else I would make a nice snack out of her". Gretchen stopped and walked slowly toward him and said: "Are you sure about that? You know I would be mad if you did that and would you want me to be mad?" The Russian shook his head and smiled, she smiled back and patted his cheek saying: "Who is a good boy?". They both laughed as the Russian said:"Oh! So you have got jokes, I see. Alexandria is my name, may our paths cross again, my lady". She waved him goodbye as she joined her friends. Gwen was full of admiration once again as she had always been in awe of Gretchen. "How you make friends out of enemies still beats my understanding," said Gwen. "Just have a charming smile Gwen, a charming smile!" said Gretchen as they walked out of the bar. Gretchen belonged to the family of the strongest coven of witches and she was soon to be the head of the coven. She knew this, but she had never let it bother her. Instead, she focused more on her investigative work at the Bureau of Investigations where she was in charge of cases called the "X-cases" which referred to extra-terrestrial cases. She was recently promoted to the head of that department, but she somehow rejected the offer for she preferred life on the field. They got to their car, and Laura cursed out loud. For all her effort, she was booked for a parking ticket. Gretchen and Gwen couldn't help but laugh as they took their place in the car. Gretchen decided not to take a cab home, so she asked Laura to drop her off at her place which was four street before Laura's.