Mik sat at the end of the bar stirring the ice in his empty vodka gimlet, an old fashioned drink but after all he was an old fashioned kind of guy. He rose a finger to the bartender to signal that he wanted another. The bartender himself was handsome like Mik. They were both young and far too good looking to be sitting at a local bar alone on a Thursday night. Mik watched the patrons come and go for over four hours and still had not found any hopeful target or targets.
He was sipping on his drink when a group of young girls walked in. There was no way they were 21 he thought to himself. The leader of the group looked to be about 18 or 19 tops, she was wearing knee high boots with stockings, a mini skirt and a see through shirt that revealed a camisole and no bra under it. She was of Indian heritage, maybe. it was hard to tell in such low light. She gathered her party into a 'U' shaped booth and after everyone was situated she flagged the bar girl over to take their order. "Her." Mik thought to himself, the little Indian princess.
Mik was formulating a plan in his head when he felt a cool draft from the door slowly winding its way up his spine. He casually looked over his shoulder and there she stood, a girl. She had dark brown hair that fell just below her shoulders, he could smell her lavender shampoo from his bar stool. She had on a red dress and red lips to match. She wore no stockings on her legs, leaving only bare skin beneath that dress. She had a messenger bag slung over her shoulder and wrist full of bangles hanging off each arm. Just then she raised her hand to wave. The Indian princess jumped to greet the girl at the door.
"Oh, my, freaking, god. You look so hot in that" the Indian princess said to the girl. Mik silently agreed with her.
"Yeah, well I feel a bit bare in it." Said the girl rubbing her shoulder to her cheek.
The Indian princess brushed the girls hair off of her shoulder and ran her hand down the girls arm, her elbow, her bangles and then took her hand and led her to their table. It was too loud to hear the rest of their conversation so Mik turned his back to them and stared at the top shelf booze sitting behind the bar.
Mik hated to change plans when he had his mind made up about a target but there was something about the girl. He would not be going home with the Indian princess tonight. Mik had been too long on this planet to believe in love at first sight, let alone love at all, but he was intrigued by the girl in the red dress and could not let her get away.
Reworking the plan in his head he heard a faint whisper in his ear.
"Guess who?"
That was dumb Mik thought, he knew right away who it was. When you hear someones voice over a thousand years you have a tendency to never forget it.
"Buy me a drink?" she said as she pull out the stool next to him.
"Dear, sister. When did you get here?" He asked not really caring about the answer.
He took his eyes off the girl and stared into the beautiful face of Salas his sister, for a lack of a better term.
Mik rose his finger again to get Salas a drink however he need not work so hard, Salas was so beautiful the bartender was already there.
Salas smiled "working tonight dear brother?"
"What do you want Salas?" Mik said annoyed.
"What?" She didn't look at him "What if I was just in the neighborhood and wanted to pop in for a drink and maybe a quickie."
Mik didn't move.
"So who's your target?" she asked as she looked around the bar.
"Salas" He said to her.
"Yes" she said drawn out as she turned towards him.
"You" he started softly "are the temptress of greed and if you don't mind me saying, and i know you don't, could walk out of here with any man, woman or both if you wanted. What do you need me for?"
She ran her fingers over his biceps. "I'm lonely. I've missed you." She said sadly.
At the same time Mik felt another hand on his opposite arm. He turned away from his sister to see the girl. There she was wedging her way to the bar with a $20 in her hand hoping to buy some drinks.
She looked directly at Mik who could only look back.
"Excuse me" she said politely "we seem to have lost our waitress so I've been assigned to go on a reconnaissance mission. Um, do you mind if I sneak in here?"
Mik shifted closer to Salas who said, "Mik you're not evening listing."
It was true he wasn't listening to her, he was using all of his senses to take in the girl who got an armful of beers, dropped off the $20 and walked carefully back to the table.
"Oh, for the love of God Mik" Salas tugged on his arm. "You are Lust...'The Shit' of all of us sins. All I want to do is have a bit of fun with you tonight. Like old times. I have been working so hard..." she droned on.
"Keep your voice down." He commanded her.
"Anyone!" she smiled. "You pick" she begged. "That young one in the red? You keep looking at her."
"No!" Mik said surprised at himself.
Mik could see the shock in her face, the great Lust refusing a sin.
"No sister, you pick. You're my guest." Mik said turning his body to face her.
"Hum" she pondered as she tapped her lips "What am I in the mood for? Young, old, male, female, blond, brunette, white, mixed..." she went on for a few minutes as she scoured the bar. "Her" She said "in the blue top with the glasses. I have a thing for smart looking people" she said to no one in particular. Mik turned this head to see who his sister was talking about.
"You see her?" she asked.
"Yeah, I got it." Mik said as he slammed the rest of his drink and stood to lure the woman in blue.
He had to walk past the girls table to get to the women and as he did he caught a glimpse of her looking at him, looking at her. He felt something form in the pit of his existence...guilt?
****
"Hi" Mik said to the woman in blue.
There was no denying it Mik was good at what he was created to do. He didn't even have to try that hard.
The body he was using these days belonged to a 23 year old grad student at NYU. He had light brown tussled hair, his eyes were a shade of light green framed by a pair of black glasses that were just for show. He was thin but muscular and dressed in chinos and a vintage Ramones tee. His right arm was inked with symbols that he was unfamiliar with, but he thought they looked cool anyways. He always wore a tattered leather wrist strap that had embossed a pair of angle wings, a gift given to him by a very young Queen Victoria. Whenever he touched it he thought; what a stupid girl she thought I was an angel.
"Hi" said the woman in blue.