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    Robyn's Tale



    The sound of the door opening caught Robyn's attention. The bar where she worked didn't usually get customers this early in the afternoon. Lucky's Bar 'n' Grille opened at noon, but the regular crowd didn't usually arrive until about four when they got off work.

    Robyn looked up from her sweeping and gasped as a boy of about fifteen staggered in the door. His T-shirt was torn in several places, revealing matching bloody tears in his skin. He was gasping for breath, and the only thing keeping him from falling to the floor was the death grip he had on the swinging door that lead to the entrance.

    "Oh shit," Robyn's voice barely made a sound in the cavernous bar.

    The broom clattered to the floor, as she ran across the empty room and caught him as his white-knuckled hand lost its grip on the door. He groaned through clenched teeth as her arms put pressure on the livid red marks that ran across his back.

    Robyn helped the young man regain his balance, and with an arm across his shoulders helped him up the back stairs to the apartment she had built in the upper level of the building.

    Sitting him down on the couch, she headed straight towards the medicine chest in her washroom, she pulled out gauze and antiseptic. She filled a basin with warm water and dropped a washcloth in it. As she made her way back into the living room, she grabbed the portable phone and set all of them down on the limestone coffee table.

    "What's your name?" She asked as she removed the tattered remains of the boy's shirt, trying to take his mind off the pain.

    "Eric." His voice was harsh and almost painful to listen to.

    "Alright, Eric, I am going to call the police, and you can tell them what happened. I am also going to call an ambulance because I don't think I can deal with these nasty cuts you've got. Do you want me to call your folks?"

    "No. Please."

    "No, what? No cops? No ambulance? No parents? What?"

    "Please don't call anyone. He'll find me again."

    "Who?" Robyn winced as she applied the damp cloth to one of the gashes on Eric's chest, anticipating his pain.

    The boy groaned through clenched teeth as Robyn began to soak the dried blood off his wounds.

    "Rico. Please don't let him find me," and with that he passed out.

    "Figures," Robyn murmured to herself as she rubbed antiseptic ointment into Eric's now clean wounds. "This is just like some cheesy horror novel. Rico...Rico... I wonder if he's talking about Rico Rivera, the guy who opened the new strip club at the other end of town?"

    Robyn looked down at the unconscious boy and finally got a good look at him. He was almost six feet tall, and his brown hair was cut in a crew cut. Robyn looked down at him and tried to come to a decision.

    Picking up the portable phone, she hit one of the speed dial buttons at the top. Wedging the phone between her shoulder and her ear, she tried to gently flip Eric onto his stomach, and began to peel the blood soaked fabric off his back.

    "Now I know why I bought a black leather couch. It doesn't show stains. What? Oh, hi, Nikki."

    "No, I was talking to myself."

    "Yes, 'again'."

    "Some kid wandered into the bar all bloody. I was wondering if you could come over and help out? I can't run the bar and look after him at the same time."

    "Yeah, I think he'll be ok. He looked worse than he was. He's pretty beat up though."

    "Nope, I have no idea what happened."

    "No, he's unconscious."

    "Ok, thanks Nikki. See you in a few."

    Robyn hit the off button on the phone and sighed. Now she had to figure out a way to help this kid out. With the blood cleaned off his back, she could see several bruises and she knew she couldn't just ignore the fact that someone had beaten the crap out of him. It looked as though he was cut with a pretty sharp knife in some places too. After she had bandaged him up, she took her bloody basin and washcloth to the bathroom, she rinsed all the blood down the sink, hoping that he hadn't lost too much.

    Hitting the light switch on her way down, Robyn went to wait in the bar for Nikki. She knew that Eric would probably be out long enough for that. Picking up her discarded broom, Robyn resumed sweeping the hardwood floor.

    Returning the broom to its corner behind the bar, Robyn put a CD in the stereo, and began to sing along to the music as she wiped the bar clean. She was so engrossed in the music that she didn't hear the door open the second time.

    "Hey there, Robyn,"

    "Oh, hey, Nikki. Thanks for coming over so fast. I really don't know what to do with this kid. He says that some guy named Rico did this to him, and he won't let me call his folks or even the cops."

    "Rico? Isn't that the name of that cheesy strip club guy down the main drag?"

    "Well that's the only Rico I know of. I guess it must be him. But why would he beat up some poor kid?"

    "I've heard some pretty bad stuff about that Rico guy, Robyn. Sounds like he's into some pretty heavy stuff. Organized crime, drugs, prostitution. That kind of trash."

    "Oh, man." Robyn's eyes closed and she rested her face in her hand. "What have I gotten myself into this time? I mean, I don't want any trouble..."

    Nikki snickered.

    "I don't. I have to keep this place open somehow, and having Yakuza drug lords hanging around isn't going to help. Well, I should go back up and keep an eye on the poor kid. You're sure you don't mind looking after things here?"

    "You know I don't, Robyn."

    "Yeah, I know. "

    "If you need anything, just call me, okay?"

    "Yeah sure. Now go on."

    Robyn headed up the back stairs to her loft. It still amazed her how she'd managed to find this place. It had been an amazing stroke of luck. It was perfect, with the bar on the first floor, and a loft apartment upstairs. It was a great loft too. It had a huge kitchen/living-room/dining-room, that she hadn't been able to fill with all the furniture she had. Walking to the 'living room,' she curled up on the futon that sat across the coffee table from Eric.

    She picked a book up off of the reddish stone of the coffee table and began to read, pausing occasionally to glance at her patient. Four o'clock came and went, and Robyn heard the sounds of the bar's patrons filtering up through the floor. She came to the end of her novel and sighed in frustration. Wandering over to a cabinet on the far side of the couch, she pulled her laptop computer out, and set it down on the coffee table.

    "Let's see if I still remember all of the stuff I learned," Robyn mumbled to herself as she hooked the computer up to the phone line. The soft click-click of the keys was the only sound as she concentrated all of her attention on the screen. A few minutes later, she sighed.

    "So, Mr. Rivera doesn't exist... Why doesn't that surprise me?"

    A groan brought Robyn out of her reverie, and she got up to check her guest.

    "Welcome back, Eric." She knelt next to the couch.

    "Who are you?"

    "I'm Robyn. This is my place."

    "Where am I?" He looked around wildly.

    "It's okay, Eric, you're safe here. Are you ok? I didn't have a chance to give you any painkillers before you passed out."

    "I-I'm okay."

    She laughed, "Like hell. You're a lousy liar Eric. Take a couple of Tylenol, and you'll feel better." Robyn walked to the medicine chest in the bathroom and pulled out a bottle. Stopping long enough to refill the basin with cold water, and grab a new washcloth, she made her way back to the couch.

    Eric was sitting up, and looked as if he had plans to go somewhere. The pain, however, had other plans.

    "Okay, obviously paranoia has set in, and we don't trust anyone do we?" Holding out the Tylenol, she smiled and waited for Eric to make a decision.

    "How do I know I can trust you?" Eric was wary, and looked at her face, trying to gauge her reply.

    "To be perfectly honest, you don't. But you're the one that came to me. I didn't pick you up off the street. I didn't call Rico while you were unconscious for almost five hours. And I'm standing here trying to convince you to trust me... Just take the damn Tylenol would you?"

    "Ummmmm,"

    "Yes?" Robyn was getting a little sick of trying to convince Eric that she was honest.

    "Could I have a glass of water?"

    "Yeah, sure." She set the pills down on the table, and walked around the island that marked the transition between living room and kitchen. She picked up a glass that was sitting in a rack next to the sink, and filled it with water from a jug in the fridge.

    She walked back to the futon, and handed Eric the glass. As she sat down, she fidgeted with her laptop, turning it off before she broached the subject that held her curiosity.

    She spoke softly, hoping that she wouldn't spook him. "So, what did this Rico guy do to you?"

    "He, he... wait a minute. How do you know his name? How do you know my name?"

    "Well, you told me when I asked. Just before you passed out."

    "Oh," Eric looked down, embarrassed. "Sorry."

    "You're obviously paranoid. So, what did he do to you? I can't help you if you don't tell me anything."

    "O-okay. I went there, to the Purple Pussy, because my friend Buzz dared me to. I sneaked in to see the girls in the change room, but Rico found me."

    "So you snuck into a strip club to see a bunch of naked women, and the boss caught you. Why did he beat you up?"

    "Because I didn't get to the dressing room. I guess I took a wrong turn somewhere, and, and, and..." his voice trailed off, uncertain.

    "And what?" Robyn was trying very hard not to show her impatience, overcoming an urge to throttle the information out of the reluctant Eric.

    "You won't believe me."

    "And why won't I?"

    "Because, because I saw Rico talking to something that wasn't human."

    "Is that all? Some of my best friends aren't human." She grinned.

    "No, I don't mean like a dog or a pet or something. I mean like... I don't know what I mean. That Rico guy was talking to something that looked like a-a... You know those big critters in Ghostbusters? The ones that the people turned into just before the end of the movie?"

    "The big stone dog looking things?"

    "Yeah, well, it looked like one of those. Only it could talk. I heard it say something like 'Master, someone approaches' and that's when he found me. I think that thing told him I was there."

    "Probably. He probably ordered it to report intruders. How did you get away?"

    "I'm not really sure. He, Rico, was asking me how I'd gotten in, and what I'd heard and seen. Every time I said I hadn't seen anything, he'd hit me again. Then he started asking who sent me. It was spooky, just like all those movies where the good guy really doesn't know anything, but they torture him until he confesses. That's when he started to cut me up, but not with a knife. He just waved his hand and I'd start to bleed." Eric shuddered at the memory. "Someone came around to the backdoor, and knocked. I was tied up in a little room behind the stairs, but I could hear the guy at the door. He said he was going door to door for the Church of Eternal Life. While he was asking for donations, Rico was yelling a bit. Didn't want to give, I guess. I got myself untied and crawled out through a window. I don't remember anything after that."

    Just then the phone rang, startling Eric who jumped. Robyn answered it quickly, before it could ring again.

    "Hello?"

    "Hey, Nikki,"

    "Yeah, he's awake." After a pause, she turned to Eric, "You hungry?"

    "Starved."

    Robyn turned back to the phone and said, "We'll be right down. C'mon Eric," she hung up the phone, "let's get something to eat."

    "What? Leave? He'll... Rico'll find me again."

    She sighed, "Look, kid. He's just as likely to find you here as he is one floor down, and there're more people there."

    "One floor down?"

    "You really don't remember?" Eric shook his head. "Alright, I live above a bar 'n' grille. We can get something to eat, and you can tell me everything you know about this Rico guy. It'll be just fine. All the people down there will help if he comes to get you."

    "Oh, okay,"

    The pair walked slowly down the stairs, Eric wincing every time he moved. Robyn led Eric to an already occupied booth near the bar.

    "Eric, this is Fritters," Robyn said pointing to the redhead that sat there. "Frits, this is Eric." She was wearing blue jeans and a green tank top that matched the vivid green of her eyes. It wasn't quite the same green as Robyn's were, but it was still pretty startling.

    "Hey Eric! Have a seat." She patted the bench next to her in the rounded booth.

    As they sat down, Eric caught a glimpse of the woman behind the bar, and gasped. She was about five and a half feet tall, with long auburn hair and green eyes. He swiveled his head around and looked at the woman who had helped him down the stairs, and felt dizzy.

    "There's, there's two of you?" He looked back and forth between the two women as the other one rounded the bar with a plate in each hand. Sitting next to him, Fritters laughed.

    "Oh, ummm, no. This is my cousin, Nikki. We just look pretty similar." As she mentioned it, he noticed a few differences, but only small ones. Nikki was taller than Robyn by a few inches, and her hair was longer. They both had pretty much the same hair and eye colour, and they smiled the same.

    "Here, chow down, kid." Nikki put a plate in front of him, and Eric was surprised at how hungry he really was.

    "Slow down." Robyn laughed as he dug into his food as though it was going to walk away. "You'll make yourself sick."

    With surprising speed, the food disappeared. A plateful of fries followed a baron of beef sandwich as well as a side salad. A large Coke washed it down, and Eric had to gasp for breath. Robyn had barely touched her BLT by the time he was done.

    Fritters had spent this time sizing up the boy who sat next to her in the booth.

    "He's cute Robyn," she said, moving closer to him. "How long're ya gonna keep him?" Eric blushed as she brushed against him.

    "Don't mind her Eric. She always gets this way when she's a little toasted," Robyn said, pointing to the empty glass that sat in front of her.

    "Don't listen to her hon," Fritters said. "I'm not a little toasted, I do things right the FIRST time! I'm WELL toasted!" She laughed.

    Nikki came by with a bowl of Jell-o to finish off Eric's meal, and replaced Fritters' drink. Turning to Robyn, she said, "Jay's here. He needs to talk to you."

    "All right, send him over. I hope this doesn't take long."

    A young man walked over to their booth, and sat down next to Robyn.

    "Eric, this is Jay. Jay, this is Eric. So, Jay, what did you need to talk to me about?"

    "Oh, your shipment of Oreos came in, and I need you to sign for them." Jay handed her a sheet of paper.

    "Sure." Grabbing a pen off of the bar, she paused with it just above the paper.

    The cheerful noise of the bar stopped, and everyone turned towards the door.

    "Eric," Robyn said, her eyes locked on the door at the far end of the room.

    "Yeah?"

    "Get behind the bar. Now." She shoved him out of the booth, towards the opening in the bar. He scrambled past Fritters, and under the divider, frightened by the tone of her voice.

    "Nikki," Robyn said, getting out of the booth, and holding her hand out towards the bar. From behind the bar, Nikki tossed Robyn a shotgun, and then vaulted the bar, leaving Eric alone behind it.

    Most of the people in the bar stood up while Robyn made her way towards the door. She stopped a few meters from the door, and waited. After a moment, the door swung open silently, and in stepped a man, followed by a vaguely dog-like creature.

    "I want the boy," he said. He was tall, and had short dark hair and a moustache. He would have been quite handsome, except that he wore a Hawaiian shirt that looked totally ridiculous on him, and his lip was curled into a sneer. His eyes were brown, but they seemed to swirl and change as he spoke.

    Fritters stood up and walked over to the man and gave him the once over. Apparently she liked what she saw, because she stepped forward and wrapped one arm around him.

    "This one's cuter. I'll go with him," she said.

    "What are you talking about woman?" He sounded startled.

    "You're cute, I've decided to keep you," she replied.

    Robyn and the others laughed at the discomfort on his face as he tried to understand Fritters.

    Everyone jumped at the sound of the back door of the bar squeaking open. The sound filled the silence of the room as two men walked in. One was wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt and a black and blue ball cap. With him was a fairly tall man with impossibly green skin and only one eye. Fritters took one look at the second man and gasped. Turning to her companion, she said, "Looser," and walked towards the green skinned man.

    The man who was obviously Rico took a moment to realize he'd been dumped for some sort of a freak, before returning to the issue at hand.

    "Don't pretend you don't have the boy. Ranog followed his scent."

    "He's here," Robyn spoke softly, the shotgun resting on her shoulder, "but there's no way you're going to get him back."

    "You can't stop me. Ranog," he turned to the creature at his side, "find the boy. It's not an ordinary dog," he said to Robyn, "you can't stop it with that."

    Robyn dropped the shotgun off of her shoulder and held it two handed.

    "It's not an ordinary shotgun," she emphasized her revelation by cocking the item in question. "If your little hellhound comes any closer, what's left of it will fit in an ashtray."

    "Hah! Nothing you can do will hurt it." The beast stepped forward slowly. Robyn brought the barrel of the shotgun level with its head and pulled the trigger.

    Rico watched in shock as the shot ripped through the beast and it disappeared with a soft 'pop.' Once it was gone, the shot dropped quietly to the ground. Rico reached down and picked up one of the small pellets.

    "You killed Ranog. How?" He glared up at Robyn, who once again calmly cocked the shotgun. A red casing dropped to the floor and rolled to Rico's feet. He picked it up and sniffed at the open end.

    "Sulfur?" He said.

    "Eh, sulfur, rock salt, and a couple of other things. Then I get someone to bless it and BAM, no more demons. Now that we've had our little talk... Get Out."

    "Not until I have the boy. Your demon killing shot won't work on me, so just give me the boy and I'll let you all live," he looked around the room at the dozen or so patrons, "maybe."

    "You hear that guys? He might let us live. You were right Frits, he is a looser." Robyn looked at him as the sounds of the others in the room moving around. When Rico again took his eyes off of Robyn, everyone in the room was armed in one way or another, except for Robyn. Her hands were empty, and the shotgun now rested on the bar.

    "You think that's going to stop me? I want the boy." He raised his hands and began to chant in a strange language that Eric had never heard before. A strange sickly green light began to writhe out of his palms, and crept towards Robyn. It curled around itself, until it began to look something like a sulfur yellow snake, that moved almost hypnotically towards her.

    As it moved towards her, Robyn reached out to it and grabbed it behind its head. She pulled on it until the line of smoke connecting it to Rico's hands was taut. As she did this Rico gasped, shocked, and tried to pull away, but his link to the snake thing kept him there, and his hands were immobile. Keeping her free hand well away from the ghost snake's fangs, Robyn gestured to Jay.

    "Grab him wouldja Fang?"

    "You got it interpid leader." Jay walked around behind Rico and grabbed his arms at the elbows. "Got him."

    Robyn took the strange snake in both hands and broke it's neck with an audible 'SNAP.' Once it's neck was broken, it dissipated, and Rico's hands were again free. He however, wasn't.

    "How? You can't grab an Otherworld snake! It's on a different plane." Rico was practically hyperventilating.

    "That's funny, I thought I just did. Maybe you can't, but you assumed that all of us here were humans, didn't you? Geeze, how narrow minded." She grinned at him.

    That was too much for him to handle. He squirmed, and managed to get one hand free from Jay's grip, and pointed it at Robyn's head. He shouted one harsh syllable and a ball of fire shot from his fingertips catching her full in the chest.

    The fireball picked her up, and slammed her into the wall at the back of the room. Plaster dust rained down around her, as two of the bar's patrons rushed over to help her up.

    "No!" Eric yelled, giving away his hiding place behind the bar.

    "There you are you little worm! I'll get you!" he somehow managed to free his other arm from Jay, and tried to step around Nikki to get to him.

    With her friends' help, Robyn had regained her feet.

    "Thanks Racer, thanks Riley," she said softy as they backed away. The tone of her voice had given away her anger.

    "Don't even think about it you creep." Rico turned to look and saw that Robyn was no longer having problems. In fact, it looked as though she was even madder than she had been before. Her hair began to float around her, as did the plaster dust from the broken wall. She stepped forward, grabbed hold of his arm and sucker-punched him, knocking loose one of his front teeth.

    Rico tried to sweep her legs out from under her, but succeeded only in getting kicked in the shins. With a new tactic, Rico brought his heel down, hard, on her foot. Robyn jumped back, and he again turned to Eric with a nasty look on his face. Two of the guys from a nearby table started to move towards Rico, but Robyn stopped them.

    "Thanks guys, but this guy is really pissing me off. He. Wrecked. My. Bar." She moved towards Rico's back as he stalked Eric.

    "Rico, you bastard. You won't get him without killing everyone in this joint, and there's no way in hell you're gonna manage that," she reached the bar and grabbed her shotgun again. Pointing it at Rico's back, she pulled the trigger.

    "Yooouuuuch!" Rico grabbed his backside and yelped, "You shot me in the ass!"

    "Yeah, just because it won't banish you to the nine nether-hells, doesn't mean it won't hurt like a sunuvabitch. Now, get the hell outta my bar, and maybe I'll let you live."

    Determined, Rico kept moving towards Eric, his eyes full of hate and rage. Finally he got to the partition in the bar, and lifted it up. Eric started to back away again, but stopped, looking at something that was going on behind Rico.

    Rico's world went suddenly, violently black as Robyn slammed the wooden bar partition into Rico's head, knocking him unconscious.

    "What a maroon. What the hell am I going to do with this idiot now?" She pointed at Rico's prone form lying on the floor.

    "You could give him to me." A voice that Eric recognized came from the back of the room.

    "Hey, that's the guy that came to the back door. I think..."

    "What?" Robyn looked at him and slowly it dawned on her, "that's right, you did say that it was someone collecting for the Church of Eternal Life."

    "Me? What about me?" James asked.

    "Did you go to the Purple Pussy earlier today?"

    "Yeah?"

    "So anyway, whaddya want him for?"

    "Donations, what else?"

    "Yeah, I guess you can have him then, as long as you keep him. We don't want him getting loose and coming after Eric again. I think Eric is tired of seeing things that don't exist." James threw Rico over one shoulder and walked out the front door.

    "You guys aren't exactly normal are you?" Eric was looking strangely at Robyn and her friends.

    "You didn't figure that out when tall, green and deadly walked in?" she said pointing at Fritters and her companion as they headed for the door. "Like I said Eric, some of my best friends aren't human. Heck, I'm not human. But, you can keep a secret right?" Robyn winked at him.

    "Uh, yeah."

    "So, shall we call your folks now?"

    "Uh, sure."

    "Quit with the monosyllables kid, and help me come up with something to tell them."

    "Huh? What do you mean?"

    "Well we can't exactly tell them that you were attacked by evil demon hounds and rescued by a chick with a magic shotgun now can we?"

    "No, I guess not."

    "Okay... ARGH!"

    "What is it?" Eric was startled by her outburst.

    "Aw, nothing. I just can't think of a good excuse. I'm usually great with those. Hey," she brightened. "How are you doing in school? Math? Science? English?"

    "Uhh," Eric didn't quite know where this was leading. "I'm not doing too great in my science class."

    "Ok then, that explains why you were here. We're tutoring you in science. The school knows us so that's set then. But what about all the scars..."

    Racer's voice called from the back of the room, "Bar fight?"

    "Nah," Robyn said. "That wouldn't work. What kind of a tutor lets their student get in the middle of a bar fight?"

    "You," he replied.

    "Oh bite me," she paused. "No, I didn't mean it."

    "Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwww," a different voice replied.

    "You have some weird friends Robyn," Eric said, looking sideways at her.

    "Thanks kid. I guess we'll just have to tell your mom that some punk kids tried to mug you, but we found them before they could do more than mess you up a little. That's the best idea I can come up with for now."

    "Mom and Dad'll believe that. They're always saying how far the youth of today have sunk and stuff." Eric replied.

    "Well, there you go. I'll call and tell your folks that we have you safe and sound," she beamed at the boy as he sat down on one of the chairs that were still whole.

    "I can't stand it any longer," Eric cried, looking around him at the bar's patrons. "Who the heck are you guys?"

    "Who are we?" Robyn sighed as she pulled up a chair and sat next to him. "I guess we're the good guys."

    "Well duh."

    "Ha ha. Ok, we're people who don't like to see someone hurting. We can just see things other people can't."

    "But you told Rico that you weren't human. You said none of you here were." Eric looked around. Everyone in the room looked pretty normal to him.

    "Oh geeze kid. It'd take weeks to explain. We're all different. Some of us are sorta human, some are nowhere near. Some of us aren't even from this planet."

    "Ok, which one of you is an alien? I gotta know. It was Fritters new friend wasn't it?" Eric began to scan the room again, looking for signs of aliens.

    She avoided the question, "we've gotta get in touch with your folks now Eric. C'mon." She led him back upstairs to her apartment, where he used the phone to call home.

    Just before his mother came to pick him up, Eric again asked Robyn which of her friends was the alien.

    "You'll just have to come back and find out, wontcha?"

    "You bet I will!"

    Eric heard his mother's car, and disappeared back out the door he had crashed through earlier that day.

    Robyn couldn't help but feel that there was something about Eric. He'd be back just like he'd said he would. Lucky's was like that, people who needed it, always found it. Maybe it was the name. Maybe it was the owner. Maybe, it was just someplace where things happened. Robyn sighed, thinking about destiny always made her melancholy. Just then, she heard her favorite song Pipe Dreamz.

    "Ah well, there's always time for fate later," she said. With that, she walked back into her bar, her home, wondering what the next castaway that Luck blew through her door would be like.










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