Exton

It's late, maybe close to midnight. I have three empty bottles in front of me and I'm considering calling it a night before I end up spending the night here. Not that spending the night in Patti's room is a fate worse than death, but I'm tired enough that I'm not sure I'd be up to it - in either sense of the phrase.

I'm about to signal Patti for my check - she's fetchingly almost attired in a variation of the popular Daisy Duke look - when the door opens and half a dozen shifters troop in with a girl in tow. She's blonde, wearing a thin jacket and a short skirt and she looks like she fits in somewhere between terrified and really, REALLY pissed off.

Patti comes to their booth without being signaled and she and Daniel have a whispered conversation; then she speaks to the girl and goes back to the bar. She's back a moment later with a round of beers for the patrol and a shot of Scotch for the girl. My eyebrows rise as she tosses it back like cough syrup, coughs and says "another". The refill is provided and the girl tosses that one back, too.

I keep my distance, but keep an ear open and before long it's obvious what's happened. It's that old ghoul vs. girl thing again… Ob takes charge - I guess that comes from being married to the proprietress - and the girl, bolstered by the Scotch, tells them everything. "Thing is, if I had my supplies, I could draw the bastards for you - but you'd never believe me. They were like something out of a horror movie."