It was one thing to have won the fight, but the real battle began at the party afterwards. A thousand vices were waiting for us, looking as pretty as a Friday night whore; unmarked coloured pills sat in bowls like an emptied packet of Skittles. People dipped their mitts in and swallowed their catch, titillated by the unknown effects their chosen poison would have on them.
There was an Everest of cocaine, Ecstasy, acid, meth, and more. Arnie knew what people wanted. They wanted sport, to go hunting. They wanted blood and Arnie gave it to them every second Friday night, for a small price. After their lust for blood was sated, he gave them a jungle filled with preying eyes and minds that were cooking on whatever substance that was made available to them. Arnie always had a fresh crop of young girls readily available, not a single one of whom could speak a word of English, yet they could giggle and fidget as they tried.
I never fell victim to a single one of the vices Arnie tried to clamp shut around me that first night. I came close a couple of times, but managed to find my way into the open night air after we had docked. I thought I had gone unnoticed too, but I was wrong. Arnie had noticed and told me so later. I thought about that, about him watching me. I realized if I wanted this new thing to work, like any other job, I needed to be a team player no matter what that meant.
I picked up a bottle of whiskey. I thought that’s what a person does when they ought to celebrate. I had money in my pocket, so why not. I walked out into the night with my paper-bagged prize in hand and took a deep swig. It felt good going down. It’s odd how alcohol going into your belly makes your wounds feel better but burns mercilessly when it runs freely over the wound itself.
I walked aimlessly and rather enjoyed doing so. I never paid much attention to the hands of the clock. Time would have to look for someone else to torture.
The night was quiet. I liked it quiet. I liked being able to hear the trees creak and the leaves play their tricks. I let the night air fill my lungs. I took another drink from the bottle in my hand and wiped my chin. I walked down the sidewalk for at least another hour, heading nowhere in particular. I didn’t see a soul, other than a grey dog tearing at a bag of trash down an alley. I stopped and watched him wrestle with it for a few minutes. He finally noticed me and looked at me like I was invading his privacy. Then the dog became human, the dog simply being his Form, and continued to look at me speculatively. No one likes to be watched while they’re eating. I moved on and let the man have his meal.
My bottle was three quarters empty when I heard them. I rounded the corner and approached the backside of a four-story tenement. The building was dilapidated, a housing project meant to breed and house predators.
It was dark as there were no streetlights on the backside of the building. I stood in the shadows and edged my nose around the corner. There were four of them standing and one poor soul lying on the dirt in front of them. Local wolves had found a piece of tender meat. I don’t much care for people who hunt in packs. I find it cowardly. I set my bottle on the ground and I moved forward slowly. Their backs were to me. As I approached, one of them started beating on their victim. I didn’t hear a sound. When I get like this, I don’t hear anything; I stop listening with my ears and my other senses become heightened.
I put the toe of my boot into the backside of the knee of the chap I figured could handle himself the best. He bent backwards in an awkward way so his face was looking up at mine as he continued to fall. I enjoyed his look of shock. I put my elbow in his Adam’s apple to quicken his trip to the ground and he was done. One of the other men looked at me with frozen eyes. Hesitation will get you killed in these situations. I put my right fist into his nose with a force that crushed it. He folded like laundry and landed just as neat in a pile in front of me.
I didn’t get around quickly enough thanks to the drink in me, and I took a pipe or something like it across my back. I managed to roll with it, the whisky working to numb the pain. I put myself back on my feet in time to see the second swing come for my head. I ducked beneath the pipe as it passed over me and I came up with a left uppercut that lifted him off his feet. He landed on his back and kicked up a cloud of dust.
The fourth just looked at me and I looked at him. His eyes said he was going to run and he did, but not before he changed into his Form. A black raccoon scuttled off into the night. Normally I would have chased him to finish my work but I was drunk. Hell, it was my fifth fight of the night after all.
I straightened myself out, ran my hands through my hair, and started to walk back towards my bottle.
“Thank you.”
It was a woman’s voice. I turned around and squinted into the darkness. A thin figure moved towards me.
“My car broke down two streets over and my cell phone battery was dead. I left the car to look for a payphone to call a tow truck and…” She trailed off and went silent.
I couldn’t quite make out her face, only rough shapes in the darkness. Now I was the one who hesitated.
“What’s your name?” She had a good voice, soft and lacelike.
I fenced the question with one of my own.
“What’s the make of your car?”
“Audi.”
“Year?”
“Brand new, this year.”
“Why don’t you show me where it is?”
“Okay.” Her voice was meek.
“Don’t worry lady, I’m not going to rob you.” I started to walk without her and then heard her pick up her feet behind me.
As we stepped into the light beneath the street lamp on the sidewalk, I got my first glimpse of her. She had a bruise starting to form on her face and there was a small bit of drying blood in the right corner of her full lips. Long dark, lashes protected her blue eyes, that glowed evenly in the soft light. I looked at her too long and I knew it but didn’t care.
I let her lead. Her car wasn’t far, just like she said. I told her to sit in the driver’s seat and I got her to release the hood latch. I could tell the problem right away. One of the battery cables wasn’t connected properly.
“Do you have any tools, or a spare tire kit in the trunk?”
She got out of the car.
“Will this help?” She handed me a folding multipurpose tool.
I unfolded it and used the pliers to tighten the loose connection.
“Okay, give it try.”
She did and the engine fired. I closed the hood and saw her sitting inside the vehicle. The moment passed. I had done my job and turned and walked away.
I heard her car door open.
“What’s your name?”
I turned to face her.
“Doesn’t matter, does it?”
“It does to me.”
I scoffed, then turned and started to walk away, but something made me stop again. This was the first good thing I’d done in a real long while. It felt weird. I turned to face her again.
“William, my name’s William.”
I regretted it the moment the words came out of my mouth. Real smart Willie boy, why didn’t I just give her a fingerprint too? I started walking again before she could say anything else. She couldn’t know me; beautiful things should stay out of my reach so they can remain that way. Walking away was another good thing I’d done that night. I thought about all the birds out there I could have had any time I wanted. I wasn’t bad to look at, in fact probably better than most lowlifes around. I had a full head of sandy brown hair that was cropped short but not too short. I was lean and in good shape, I had to be. I had a man’s jaw that was square with a pair of blue eyes you could be proud of, if that was your thing.
I told myself to stop thinking about her and convinced myself I had the will to do so. This was the only time in my life where I knowingly lied to myself, because I didn’t stop thinking about her. Not that night or any night after it.
I made my way back to the spot where I had left my bottle on the ground but when I got there, the only thing left was the brown paper bag.