WoFCT - Chapter 1

  Out of all the dives in all the towns, he had to walk into mine. At first glance the perfectly tailored three piece pinstripe suit made me think business man, not distraught husband. My bar was on the wrong side of town, the wrong side of humanity, but the right side for someone needing help but had no place left to go. Not all my customers were inhuman, but most of them were.

The cliché was when someone obviously not regular clientele walked in the bar suddenly quieted. Most were here to drink away something, their humanity, their divorce, their addictions, not much was heard over the blaring antique bubble jukebox. It had been broken and overly loud for months, no one seemed to care much. If backroom deals or rather corner booth deals were being made, one would have to shout over it. The jukebox, loaded with 80s power ballads, a surprising request from the customers, seemed to keep everything calm. What customers I had were hunched over drinks of various concoctions for their not normal lifestyles.

The man approached the bar, and I leaned over to hear his order.

“You Asher Blackwood?” The man asked, or shouted rather.

“Might be, who’s asking?” I responded equally shouting over the sound of Bat of Hell by Meatloaf. He reached into his suit jacket and at that moment I felt the tension in the bar increase. The Notary, sounding completely innocuous, had a steady and loyal clientele. I didn’t actually see hands reach into coats or fingernails turn to talons, but there was something in the air. The business man slowly and carefully removed a small gold case, opened it, plucked an extremely high end business card from it, placed it on the bar top and pushed it towards me with two fingers.

I picked it up and read: Kairos Thaloran - CEO - Triton Marine Dynamics.

I looked from the card to the man. I knew the name, knew the company, they ran the hydroelectric dam that supplied most of our energy. I had never had a face before to put to the name. He was handsome, polished, looked to be old money, dark wavy hair, eyes blue like deep ocean and then it hit me. I was staring at one of the merfolk. I did not get many of them in my bar, they were usually always near water and the only water near me was from tap or toilet.

Out of courtesy, I pulled a small bottle, looking to be green, but it in fact the drink of choice by the merfolk. I usually kept at least one bottle on hand, and poured a small glass of the thick green liquid. It was essentially seaweed, salt water and rum. I placed the small glass on a napkin and pushed it towards him. He swallowed it in one gulp, nearly made a face, but kept his composure and clinked the glass on the bartop.

“What can I do for you Mr. Thaloran?” I didn’t have to shout over the song as it came to an end and the jukebox was selecting its next song at random. He reached into his suit jacket again, but having learned before did it slowly. He removed a small photo of a smiling woman dressed in a white dress wearing a pink sweater. She didn’t resemble him in the face, but had the same blue eyes and dark wavy hair of the merfolk. Once again he pushed the photo towards me. I leaned in to hear him better.

“Someone kidnapped my wife,” he shouted into my ear.