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the
surroundings as she keeps her eyes on two males who follow; a human and a
gryphon. They don ’ t head directly for her.
Instead they work their way to the bar. The small wad of cash in her pocket
should get her a drink and hopefully some food. She ’ s thirsty and tired from the two-day
flight.
    The glossy wooden bar doesn't stick as
she runs her fingers over the smooth surface. She expected it would with all
the drinks flying around. The bottles sparkle in light shining up through the
glass shelves. Cloud has time to read the labels of dozens of them before the
male on the other side of the counter reaches her.
    “ Thirsty, Cherry? ” The gryphon places a glass of water on a
coloured cardboard square. His long sleeved white shirt says Cooper ’ s on one side in the same script as the
sign above the door.
    “ Did Lawrence tell you I was coming? ”
    “ Are you a friend of Lawrence? ” he answers with another question.
    Cloud nods as she sips then puts all her
money on the bar.
    “ Thank
you. ”
    “ Water is free, ” he pushes it back with a laugh. “ And anything else you want here. Gryphon
girls don ’ t pay. ”
    “ Okay. ”
    “ I ’ ll have what she ’ s having, ” the
human gets to her first and takes a seat to her right. “ And
I ’ ll buy her another. ”
    “ Prick, ” the bartender says so quietly only Cloud ’ s gryphon ears can hear. Great, the human ’ s a prick. She knows that term and
appreciates the bartender ’ s warning. Sky ’ s eyrie had several of them as well;
Falcon included.
    The bartender puts down two more glasses
of water and takes the man ’ s twenty, giving him a handful
of coins in return. By the time the prick figures out he just paid for two
glasses of water the bartender is nowhere to be seen.
    “ Thank
you, ” Cloud tells him. She pushes
her empty away and picks up the second.
    “ Can ’ t afford to buy the lady a drink? ” The gryphon laughs. He takes the seat to
her left and Cloud pulls her shoulders together since both insist upon leaning
on her. They smell of sweat and liquor. The gryphon simply smells male while
the human's unwelcome odor wrinkles her nose.
    “ I can afford my own drinks, ” she
mutters.
    “ You
don ’ t have to, ” the human says and takes Cloud by the elbow
but the gryphon gets an arm around her waist. Before she knows it she ’ s been pulled over her stool and stands
between them.
    “ Back off, little man, ” the gryphon says over Cloud ’ s head. “ This
one isn ’ t for you. ”
    “ The hell —” he
argues as Cloud snaps her arm free of the human. Getting away from the gryphon
proves tricky. She turns to face him so he can ’ t hook his fingers around her middle
otherwise she ’ s trapped between his arm and
her stool. The standoff only continues for a few more seconds.
    “ Come to my table, ” the gryphon orders and Cloud reaches
around, digging her fingernails into his forearm.
    “ No, ” she insists but the big gryphon doesn ’ t listen. His pupils dilate, swallowing
his irises and moving on to the whites. Then a clutch of short brown feathers
ripples up the sides of his neck and disappears behind his ears. As his bitter
scent of aggression fills Cloud ’ s nose, a patch of feathers
appears in the V of his shirt.
    The oblivious human gets a hand on her
shoulder.
    “ Lawrence . Bar. Now, ” the
bartender has a radio in one hand and holds the other at the males. “ Easy gents. We ’ ll all make sure the lady has a nice
evening. ”
    “ You
don ’ t want to do this, ” Cloud tries, using her magic to influence
the gryphon male but he has no intention of backing down and ignores her. She ’ s stuck between two stupid, drunk males,
both intent on taking her from the other.
    “ Lawrence, ” the bartender tries again and Cloud
glances at the tunnel. Lawrence steps out, his white shirt shines in the black
light, but with the swell of people leaving the dance floor for the tables he
has no chance of