#1: The Bar

The first Sarah story written by Stephen L. Moon

      As a little girl Sarah had, like most, dreamed of discovering that magic was real. That mythical creatures lived among us unseen, and that fairy tales were more than just stories. As a grown woman working as a mid level executive for a run of the mill electronics company who upon multiple occasions realized that everything about her could be summed up in the word average, she had dreamed of adventure suddenly disrupting her boring daily routine. None of these dreams however prepared her for being kidnaped by worshipers of an ancient demon that wanted to somehow impregnate her from another dimension so that it’s child, after having torn it’s way out of her body, could conquer the planet and enslave all humans who survived and had not swore themselves to his father. This is however what happened. Well the kidnaping part at least. Fortunately a sorcerer had arrived before the demon had managed to get past what she could only guess was trans dimensional 3rd base and save her. Well he said he was a sorcerer anyway but as far as she had seen to this point he was a blond haired, green eyed, young man named Stan with a large ego and the ability to piss off people in record time. She wasn’t so sure on the save her part either. Yes they had gotten out of the warehouse that had been converted into a temple and put a couple miles of Boston’s narrow streets between them and it, but they were now running down alley ways seemingly at random with her former kidnapers, although out of sight, seemingly right behind them.

            Stan suddenly stopped running and turned to face the alley wall. Sarah nearly knocked him over. "Whoa, whoa. It’s alright," he said steadying her, "We’re here."

            "Here?" She asked gasping for breath and brushing her long black hair out of her face. "Here where?"

            "Someplace safe," he turned back to the wall and seemed to look for something. "We need to hurry. The confusions I’ve been leaving behind won’t slow them down for long."

            "Confusions?"

            "Never mind, just remember no business, no fighting." His tone was calm and distracted as he kept searching the wall.

            "What!?!?" Sarah felt like she’d wandered onto the set of some low budget movie and no one had bothered to give her a script.

            "Those are the rules. No business, no fighting." He answered while running his index finger down the wall in front of him.

            "What rules?" She demanded, determined to get an actual answer this time. Then she gasped as a fancy red door appeared in the wall.

            Stan grabbed her hand, "The rules for The Bar." He opened the door and pulled her through.

            Sarah found herself standing in an impossibly large night club. She heard herself ask, "Where are we?"

            "I told you, The Bar," Stan answered pulling her through the minor crowd. He had to pull harder when her feet seemed to stop working. This was due to her realizing most of the people in the club weren’t people. Some looked normal, and others were close just with odd skin colors, horns, tails, or too many of some body part. Then there were the ones that were straight out of books she remembered from her childhood, and some that were like nothing she’d ever imagined.

            The two of them soon reached a circular bar. In it’s center was a pillar covered in countless shelves all the way to the far out of reach ceiling. The shelves were filled with gleaming bottles. Stan let go of Sarah and slapped his hand on the bar. The bartender walked over while cleaning a glass. Sarah stared. He looked human and completely out of place. Not just due to the strange clientele. He was short, fat, balding, and would have looked right at home running some dark little bar on the corner. She was pretty sure most nightclubs wouldn’t even let him through the door, not to mention hire him. He was even wearing an old fashion apron that had faded stains on it.

            “So you’re bringing dates into my place now?” He asked setting the glass and dish rag on the bar.

            “Come on, Dan, the lady’s had her first exposure to the real world and it was Kasvir and his minions. She needs a drink, and so do I. Don’t worry she knows the rules.” Sarah may have not known Stan long but she’d heard that tone of voice. She’d heard it from lots of guys. The, “I know I’m pushing my luck but I promise it’s not as bad as you think, ok maybe it is but you know everything will work out” tone. When Sarah didn’t say anything he nudged her with his elbow.

            “What?” She started to ask coming out of the daze her mind had entered trying to accept all she was seeing. Then she realized why both men were staring at her, “No business, no fighting.”

            “Alright then,” Dan grudgingly agreed. He reached under the bar with both hands and pulled out a martini glass filled with something bright pink and a glass of scotch and soda. “Might I recommend one of the booths over there,” he motioned with his head, “she’ll have a good view of the place.”

            “Thanks Dan.” He handed Sarah the martini, took her empty hand and started walking towards the booths. As they worked their way through the crowd Sarah took a sip of her drink without thinking about it. As soon as she swallowed she silently chewed herself out for doing so. After everything she’d been through in the last few hours drinking something given to her by a total stranger without even asking the not so total stranger who was apparently protecting her if she should was new level of stupid. All those thoughts went away and were replaced with a sense of calm and relaxation. But instead of things going fuzzy as she would normally expect with this everything became sharp and clear. It was as if her brain had shifted to a slightly higher gear and had raised her senses to match. By no means super human but still better. They had now left the crowd and worked their way through the few scattered tables reaching the booths against the wall.

            “What is this?” she asked pointing to the drink.

            “No idea.” Stan answered before taking a large gulp of scotch.

            “What do you mean you don’t know? I thought you knew all about this stuff.”

            “How to explain?” Stan asked himself out loud. “Since we didn’t ask for anything specific Dan gave us what we needed.”

            “So he’s a sorcerer too. Stan and Dan the great and powerful. That’s not even a believable Vegas act. I fell asleep with the sci-fi channel on didn’t I?” she took another sip of her drink, real or not it definitely made everything easier to deal with

            Stan shook his head and sighed. “First off Dan’s real name is over a dozen letters long and no one I’ve ever met could pronounce it so everyone calls him Dan. Secondly he’s not a sorcerer. He’s much, much more powerful.”

            “The guy who looks like he should be on my uncle Jerry’s bowling team and has the nickname Dan is way more powerful than you?” As Stan rubbed his forehead trying to think where to start Sarah took another sip of her drink and a new completely unrelated question came to her. “Why isn’t there any music?”

            “What?”

            “Don’t you guys, people, things dance? This is the only club I’ve been in without a dance floor.” She had realized that despite the customer’s, and Dan’s,  appearances every thing else about the bar was what she’d seen in most clubs. The layout, the lighting, the way the people we’re acting. The only thing missing was the music.

            “It’s over there.” Stan pointed and as the crowd moved around Sarah got glimpses of some of them dancing. The dance floor was made out of squares that glowed different colors at random. There was even a DJ booth in the wall beyond it.

            “So why can’t I hear the music?”

            “Think that you want to hear it.” he answered while his mind continued to work on the problem of how to explain things to her.

            “Wha..” Sarah started to ask then suddenly she heard a popular dance mix. “Wow,” then she realized it would be hard to talk with the music going and it was gone. “How does it do that?”

            “Magic.” Stan answered “and I’ve got less than five minutes to explain what’s going on to you so hopefully you won’t mind if for now I skip things like the bar’s sound system.”

            “Why five minutes?”

            “Less than and getting less by the second.” he clapped and rubbed his hands together, “Ok here is your crash course on the real world.”

            “But I...” she started to say setting down her drink after another sip.

            “No you have been living in the human world. The happy little psychic construct humanity has created around itself over the centuries so that it could develop the way it wanted to. Now this construct overlaps the real world but 99% of the time normal people can’t see, hear, or in anyway notice any part of the real world that isn’t accepted by standard human belief. Fairies, gnomes, dragons, and most of the other creatures you read about as a child, along with several others humanity has forgotten over the years, are real. They developed on earth right along with people. Now certain people are born with an ability to see the real world and others train themselves to. These are sorcerers, witches, psychics, and that sort of thing. All these things I’ve mentioned both human and not have good ones and bad ones just like with normal people. No species is inherently good or evil. Also none of these are what we need to worry about right now.”

            “They’re not?” Sarah asked indicating the crowd with a sweep of her hand.

            “No they’re, or technically we’re,” he pointed to himself, “Not. I’m sure that like most people these days you are familiar with the idea of different dimensions?”

            “Yeah, I guess, sort of.” She took another sip.

            “Good, because it’s true, and in several of these other dimensions there are beings evolved so far beyond us that they have powers and abilities greater than anyone from here could ever hope to have. Now some of these beings have the ability to look into other dimensions. When they see one in the early stages of development, like ours, some of them get a sort of maternal feeling and try and help us along. Where as others see us as a source of resources or new territory to conquer. As far as anyone has been able to figure out it’s actually impossible to move matter from one dimension to another.”

            “But the guys that grabbed me said...”

            Stan held up a finger to tell her to stop, “Listen I’m trying to condense years of information into a few minutes. When I’m through I’ll answer your questions, if we have time. Now as I was saying, matter can’t jump dimensions but thought and will can. If one of these demons, for good or bad, wants to influence events here they focus their will and create a small creature out of the bio energy all life here possesses to speak through. This takes immense skill and only the really powerful ones can do it. These things have no real substance to them and can only exist for a short periods of time without being attached to a host. When they find the one they were made for they climb on his back or shoulder. Having no mass they have no weight. Then they start whispering in the person’s ear or to their mind. Influencing their decisions, inspiring them, guiding them. With those that show real potential the creatures become the voice of their master. They teach and train the person. Some of these people we’ve called prophets and saints others psychos and serial killers, depending on who they were listening to. The more a person lets it, the more control these creature have over them. Some becoming nothing more than empty puppets.” He paused to take a drink.

            Despite what he’d said earlier Sarah couldn’t help herself and took advantage of the pause to say, “That’s what the guys who grabbed me were. They were being controlled by those things.”

            “At least the leader. The others were most likely just being guided by theirs. Kasvir wouldn’t have risked not have some control over everyone involved. ”

            “They said their master was going to rape me so that I would bare his child.” She couldn’t believe how calm her voice was saying those words. “How is that possible if matter can’t crossover?”

            “Wow that really was some drink Dan made you. You’re calm, thinking clearly and actually processing everything I’ve told you. Considering what you’ve been through tonight that’s incredible.”

            She looked down and saw her glass was empty. “Huh, I guess I expected it just to refill itself or something, but I guess that wouldn’t be very profitable.”

            “The drinks are free,” Stan said then gulped down the last of his. As he did he raised his other hand and waved. A woman about two feet tall with bat wings and green skin carrying a small tray flew over to them. Stan put their glasses on the tray and said, “Another scotch and whatever it was he made for her. Find out what it’s called for me.” She winked at him and flew off. He turned back to Sarah, “The drinks run out so that you realize how much you’ve had and Dan can cut you off if he has to. Anyway where was I? Oh yeah demon summoning. As I said matter can’t cross dimensions but thought and will can. When someone summons a demon there is always a sacrifice. For years it was believed that the demons needed the death, or the blood, or the soul in order to come into our world. Now we understand they need the genetic material. They use their will to alter the DNA of the person or animal being sacrificed and then cause massive cell regeneration to have a body formed from the altered cells.”

            “That doesn’t sound like what they said was going to happen.”

            “It’s not. That was something totally different, I’ll get to that. Anyway in the ritual I was talking about, after it’s made a suitable body then they transfer their mind into the new body. Now even though this sounds a lot more complicated than making the bio-energy communicators it’s not and far more demons can do it. See the trick is,” he stopped as the waitress returned with their drinks.

            When Stan took them from the tray she said, “Dan says it’s called a ‘my life has become a nightmare and to top it off I just met Stanley Mason.’”

            “Of course it is.” Stan grumbled. The waitress flew off and he handed the martini glass to Sarah. “When Dan names something it either makes absolutely no sense or is literally what that thing is.”

            “You mean like The Bar?” She asked taking a sip.

            “Exactly, but you’re getting ahead of me.” He took a swing from his glass and grimaced, “You know it’s an insult when you’re given cheap magic scotch. Anyway, it’s easier to make a body here because someone from this side has to open the gateway for them. Demons hate this because so long as the person knows what they are doing they can put all sorts of rules and restrictions on the demon’s mind, and therefore the demon, as long as it’s here. For the more powerful ones this is basically like if you were suddenly made slave to a hamster. Add to the insult the fact there is a limit to how much even the most powerful demon can alter the DNA thusly restricting what their new body looks like. The common use of goats in the dark ages is why most people think the devil has curved horns, cloven hooves, and a goatee.”

            “Wait the Devil is real?” From the look on her face Stan saw that the calming effect of the drink had it’s limit.

            “Not how you’re thinking. Like I said there are beings that want to help humanity and those that want to control or conquer. Add to that the fact that humanity wasn’t always blind to the real world. It’s something they’ve developed slowly through the centuries. So to explain certain events of the past you grouped all the bad things into one group and all the good into another and called them God and the Devil. Now I’m almost done so will you please let me finish?”

            “Sorry. So all of this is going to make sense when you’re done?”

            “I never said that. Any way the ceremony you were part of is the most difficult one known. In many ways it’s like the one I just described mixed with cloning.”

            “Cloning?!”

            “Drink some more. I’m talking about the modern science not what you see in the movies. In cloning you put the desired DNA into the nucleus of a woman’s egg cell and then stimulate it so it thinks it’s been fertilized. What Kasvir was going to do was manipulate the DNA inside your egg into that of a suitable child for, well to make things easier we’ll just say him although I have no idea actually. Strong, fast, immune to dieses, that sort of thing. The true art of this is designing the DNA so that it forms a mind that, like with the constructs, the demon can communicate directly with. So while the child formed inside you Kasvir would have been speaking with it, teaching it, and shaping it’s mind and will. The child would have been born with abilities it takes people lifetimes to learn. It use to be believed the woman had to be a virgin, but that was just because there weren’t accurate ways of detecting pregnancy in it’s early stages and none of this would work if the woman was already with child. Then when the child was old enough and capable of preforming the ritual he would have done the first type of summoning ritual for Kasvir.”

            “Minus all the rules and restrictions.”

            “Of course. Fortunately there are very few demons powerful enough to do such a ritual as what you were nearly part of. And the few children that have succeed are normally tracked down and destroyed by the opposition before they are capable of performing the second ritual. In fact everyone I’ve ever known has only ever met one.” He stopped to take another drink.

            “Wait virgin birth, you mean... but he was... wait if God is..”

            “No. I mean yes most believe that was what he was but none of my friends are that old thank you. I’m talking about Dan.”

            “Dan is the son of God? I mean a god, or whatever. Our savior is a bartender?”

            “No, well kind of, but no he’s not a savior. Well at least not what you’re thinking of. Like I said there are ones that want to help and ones that want to conquer, but there are also others. Ones that although they have the power to, don’t bother looking at us here at all. One of these races is what we call the ancient ones. The only race known of that can actually travel dimensions on their own.”

            “But you said..”

            “I know, I know, They are the exception to most of the rules. We think this is because they only go to dimensions that are so early in developing that they are nothing but chaos to us. They are the oldest most powerful species known. In the early days of humanity some people of magic would hear about the ancient ones from a demon they were communing with. The thought of accessing such power would cause them to lose their practical sense to greed and they’d try contacting them. Very few have ever managed to do so and the results were always the same. They went insane. You see the ancient ones’ very existence is so chaotic compared to ours that no mind on earth can understand it. Add to that the fact they are so powerful they bend reality around them to match their nature, not by choice just by being there. That’s why they constantly change dimensions. Once they see where they are has a chance of giving birth to life of any kind they move on for they know no life could form in their presence.”

            “So they only experience the start of life because if they were there for anything else they’d destroy it without meaning to.” She shook her head and pushed the half full martini glass to the far side of the table, “Whoa. Ok, no more of that for me. Wow.” she shook her head, “ I really could have used that during my collage finals. So how does the son of one of the most powerful beings in known existence wind up a bartender in Boston? Wait a minute if his father knew coming here would destroy the world and he doesn’t want to disrupt life in any form how did Dan come to be at all?”

            “Well as I said the ritual to create a demon child is one of the most difficult and complex. Not just for the demon but for the people doing it. Once, Dan seems to be the only one who knows how long ago and he refuses to tell, some people tried doing it for their demon master and got something wrong. Think of it as dialing an international phone number. If you get a couple digits wrong near the end there’s a good chance you’ll connect to someone at lest in the same area as who you were trying for. But if you get one of the first few numbers wrong you probably won’t reach anyone and if somehow you do it won’t even be in the right country. Somehow these would be disciples messed up the ceremony and stumbled across one that had been sought for centuries. The ancient one they reached was curious. He and his kind had studied life for longer than anyone can comprehend and in more forms than you can imagine but it was always from afar. Here was a chance to actually gain knowledge that had always been thought to be unattainable to them. He reached his will through the portal, driving the woman and all those near her at the time insane, and created the genetic code that became Dan. Not knowing what in all his child would need to live in our world he gave him an extreme survival instinct. People from a nearby town found the woman quickly. Even the dullest of human mind couldn’t ignore the presence of such a will as Dan’s father. She was well cared for at first since they thought she had been meant to be sacrificed and that although she lost her mind her life had been spared by a heavenly power. Months later when it became apparent she was pregnant their opinions changed.”

            “Why didn’t they kill her? I mean I’m guessing they thought she had a demon child inside her why didn’t they destroy it before he could be born?”

            Stan chuckled, “By then little Dan’s mind had developed enough for his dad to work with. Still in the womb he was telepathic and empathic. He knew when someone planned to harm his mother. This would make him sad and scared. Due to the abilities his father’s very nature had given him physical changes in the world around him would occur due to his mood. When he was sad, bad things happened. I don’t know the actual details but rumor has it a couple people melted into pools of goo.”

            “And when he was happy good things happened.” Sarah concluded. “So soon everyone in the town took great care of the woman hoping the good fortune would come to them.”

            “She became a living idol. That is until Dan was born. See Dan’s dad doesn’t see things the way we do and so the whole proper physical shape thing didn’t work out. Little Dan was literally the ugliest baby ever.”

            “And people being people ugly meant evil and they tried killing him again. Which meant the bad things started happening again.”

            “You got it. But Dan was a fast learner even then. He soon figured out it was his appearance that upset people and so he changed it.”

            “If he had the power to change reality around him why not turn it inward and change himself. He figured that out shortly after he was born?”

            “Yeah see due to the chaos his dad was use to living in, little Dan had the worse case of ADD ever. He couldn’t focus on any one thing for more than a few seconds. Add to that the perfect memory and off the charts intelligence you get the fastest learner ever. Once he became old enough he started traveling to show his father all the life he could. He soon discovered that the best appearance was one no one really noticed. After having traveled the world he discovered how quickly he became bored. He decided what he needed and what the world needed was a really good bar. So he used his powers to create what’s called a pocket dimension, still part of our dimension but separate from it’s laws. He made doorways to it in every major city in the world. Of course their very nature makes them invisible to normal people. And The Bar was born. Everything in here, except the customers, are actually being created by Dan’s mind, even the waitresses. It’s not an illusion or anything, it’s all completely real. Of course it’s changed a lot over the centuries to keep up with modern trends. But it works, we get a place to relax and be ourselves, Dan overhears everything said in the place and sends it to his dad so he has a constant stream of new information, and running the place is chaotic enough to keep Dan comfortable and happy.”

            “Wow. Wait there are doors in every major city? So that’s your big escape plan? We come in through the Boston door and leave through the one in Paris or London and I never get to go home again.”

            “Doesn’t work like that. What ever door you come in through, you leave through. Dan always says, ‘I’m running a bar not a train station.’”

            “So all they have to do is wait outside the door and when we leave they grab us? Did you actually plan any part of this rescue?”

            “Yes, yes I did. Not that I had a lot of time. You know you could say thank you. I mean I did risk my life saving you.” He paused but when he realized she wasn’t planing on thanking him quite yet said, “Yes they could wait for us at the door, but despite what it may sound like listening to Dan I do have friends here and some of them have to have come through the Boston door. So if it comes to that I’ll ask around and find some muscle to send through the door ahead of us to clear the way. But since there is a limited amount of time for them to do the ritual without not only having to start all over again but actually rewrite it to match the constantly changing universal conditions. The fact Kasvir wants to use you because the last time he tried this was with your great great grandmother so it’s easier for his will to enter you because your genetics remember him. Add to that how mad I made his lackeys and I’m counting on them doing something very stupid.”

             “You were deliberately making them mad?” It was more an embarrassed realization than a question.

            “Yeah, what did you think?”

            She pulled her drink back over and took a sip. While it was still covering her mouth she said “That you were just really annoying.”

            “You sound like my ex-wives.” He said with a slight huff and turned from facing her to look at the room.

            “Wives?!” The embarrassment was gone. “How many have you had?”

            “That’s not important right now. What is, is that you just sit here and don’t scream.” He pointed. Sarah turned and saw that Kasvir’s followers hadn’t been willing to wait. She quickly finished her drink.

            There were ten men still wearing the robes they’d had on for the ceremony. Now Sarah could see the small ghost like things sitting on each of their shoulders. They were a little over a foot tall with arms twice as long as they should have been. Their heads were triangular with huge eyes and ears. The one on the leader’s shoulder had his hand around the back of the man’s head. Sarah realized that wasn’t quite right, he had his finger inside the back of the man’s head. They spoke in perfect unison. “You thought you could hide from us here? There is no where you can hide from the all knowing Kasvir. Come with us Sarah or we will take you by force. Broken limbs will make you a no less suitable a host.”

            Stan started to speak but Sarah calmly put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He looked at her then smiled as she waved her empty glass over her head and said, “Waitress I need a refill.”

            Maybe it had all been too much and her sanity had snapped. Maybe it was the drink. Sarah didn’t know. What she did know was how not to leave a club with a jerk you didn’t want to.

            “There is no time for another drink. You will come with us now!” The leader and ghostly gremlin snarled.

            All the people and things around them had turned to watch the show. The leader took a step towards the table only to have the small waitress dive in front of him to reach Sarah first. She already had another one of the pink drinks on her tray. As Sarah casually traded it for her empty glass the waitress asked, “Are these,” long deliberate pause every waitress knows how to do, “gentlemen bothering you.”

            “Nothing big,” Sarah replied calmly, “I came with Stan but they think I could do better and that I should leave with them. I’m just explaining to them I’m not that kind of girl.” There were chuckles and laughs from the on lookers. Stan leaned back in the booth with a cocky smile on his face. This of course just fueled the audience.

            “You dare make mock of the great Kasvir?” The voice of the little thing on his shoulder had gotten rather high and the veins in the man’s forehead were throbbing. “You will come with us at once!”

            The waitress spun in the air and flew so she was inches from his face. “You know the rules. I suggest you leave before I call the manager.”

            The man tried to backhand her but she flew straight up. Then there was a perfectly calm voice from behind the men. “Is there a problem here.”

            Everyone turned to look. There was Dan, still the short, balding, pudgy man he had been behind the bar. He even still had on the slightly stained apron. The leader stormed through his own men snarling, “You stay out of this coward.”

            The club had suddenly become very quite. Sarah was sure the music she couldn’t hear had even stopped. “Coward?” Dan’s calm voice asked.

            “Yes! You have the power to bring the entire human dimension to it’s knees! To mold it and shape it to your will! And yet all you do is hide in your little world and serve your lessors like a slave!” He was less than a foot from Dan now and was leaning down to scream into his face. “When Kasvir comes he will take great pleasure in tearing you and this pathetic world of yours to shreds!”

            Sarah noticed that now Kasvir’s followers, Stan, and she were the only ones watching. Everyone else had become very interested in their drinks, or the people with them, or anything else. This may have been her first trip to The Bar but she recognized this. Soon, when they we’re far enough away they felt safe to do so, every last one of them would be bragging to everyone that would listen about being here when this happened, but right now they truly hoped no one noticed that they were.

            Dan turned to face the thing on the man’s shoulder. “Are those Kasvir’s words?” his voice had become very cold.

            This time the man was silent and only the creature screamed, “Yes!!! The great Kasvir says die!” the man quickly stood straight and he and all the other followers reached back as if they were about to throw invisible baseballs at Dan. Suddenly they froze in place. Sarah could see them strain to move, fear suddenly in all their eyes.

            Dan walked up next to the leader. He stood on tip toe and whispered to the creature on the man’s shoulders. Sarah couldn’t hear anything but soon the creature began to shake, then the man he was sitting on. Dan calmly walked over to Sarah and Stan’s table and sat down. All the followers began shaking, then screaming, then they collapsed to the floor and lay as still as only the dead can. The floor seem to become the consistency of quicksand and the bodies quickly sank out of sight.

            “Uh?” Sarah wasn’t sure what she wanted to ask.

            “You’ve heard of bringing someone around to your way of thinking?” Dan asked. When she nodded he said, “Well there are very few minds in existence that can handle dad’s way of thinking. It will be a few centuries before Kasvir’s mind heals enough to even remember about earth.” He turned to Stan, “Technically you didn’t break the rules. But you know how I dislike getting involved in these sort of things.”

            “Come on Dan,” Stan voice oozed charm and brotherhood, “You know it’s been long enough since someone dared break the rules that it was going to happen soon and you’d have to show everyone a little reminder why they don’t do that. This was a perfect chance to do it without any big problems.”

            “True, but don’t go acting like you did me a favor or certain females might suddenly learn your real phone number.”

            “Oh come on, Dan, that’s low.” Sarah couldn’t help but smile at the sudden fear in Stan’s voice.

            “So now what are we going to do with you?” Dan asked turning back to Sarah.

            “What do you mean?” She was suddenly back to being very scared.

            “The human mind can remain blind to the real world through all sorts of things, but once it’s seen it, it can’t go back on it’s own. So you have a choice. I can do a little work on your mind, you’ll fall asleep, Stan will take you back to your place and tomorrow when you wake up you won’t remember any of this.”

            “Or?” She heard herself ask quietly.

            “Or I get back to work and you see things as they really are from now on.”

            She looked to Stan for a moment but received no help. She turned back to Dan, “I’d like to remember.”

            He looked at her for a moment and she felt something open in her mind. “You can now find your way here, but you can’t bring others with you. Welcome to the world Sarah.” and he stood up and walked away.

            Over the following months Sarah came to love her new view of the world. It was hard seeing that the homeless preacher on the corner actually had angel wings, how many people in power had things whispering to them on their shoulder, and that the sounds that wake you up in the night are rarely just the wind. But she also discovered that after spending a Saturday night introducing a succubus to Jell-O shots, having a werewolf say you have a nice tail, and dancing the twist with something that doesn’t have a spine, walking into your boss’s office Monday morning and asking for a raise isn’t that hard.

            “So yes what you are looking at down the bar is a genuine non physic, non magical, human female. But no I would never call Sarah normal, and believe me she is out of your league. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got drinks to make.”