Free Haldred Chronicles: Alyssa by JG Cully

the first
time he snugs yeh!” ) it was better them than the orcs.  Orcs tended to have
rather 'busy' hands, coupled with high pain thresholds.  Slapping them just
didn't work.
    Fortunately all
the miners seemed to be too exhausted to pass any comments designed to make
Alyssa blush so she was able to take their orders without incident.  She was
back at the bar-top just as Gretna arrived.
    “Order for table
four” Gretna said to Rodney, the lumbering orc barman with the tiny black eyes,
enormous jaw and unexplained cooking skills.  Unexplained for an orc anyway. 
He screwed up his huge face, studying the slip of paper Gretna had reached
across to him.  The common Argon tongue was something he had difficulty
translating.
    “And the two
orcs at table three want a couple of Gorrag's Draft.” Gretna said next,
addressing Alyssa.
    Alyssa shuffled
nervously, adjusting her glasses.  “Do I...”
    “Have to? Yes.”
Gretna said, interrupting her taller but younger colleague.  “Besides, you're
the quickest at dodging and they tend to complain when they get a hammer to the
face.”
    She patted her
sheathed hammer with a smirk.
    Alyssa nodded,
without confidence, and moved round the bar, grabbing a couple of mugs and
pouring the drinks from the Gorrag's barrel.  She headed over to the orcs,
leaving Rodney still translating Gretna's slip of paper and Gretna rolling her
eyes, no doubt regretting forcing Rodney to read the order instead of just
telling him.
    Alyssa arrived
at table three and immediately dodged a grab for her bottom from one of the
orcs, rather expertly she thought as she managed to not even wobble the two
mugs of the brown fluffy liquid she was carrying (a major achievement
considering her clumsy reputation).
    “Damn” grunted
the offending orc.
    “Told ya she was
quick!” grinned his companion, paying for the two drinks.
     
    “Glad to see you
ordering a decent meal,” the male mercenary at the other table was saying.
    He wasn't
talking loudly but Alyssa could hear him perfectly.  It wasn't just her sight
that had improved when she became a vampire but her hearing too.  She found
that one of the other nearby tables needed a wipe down and immediately set to
work, almost automatically shifting her bottom to avoid another grab from the
same orc.
    “Damn it all!”
he grunted again, making Alyssa smile.
    “Well maybe this
case has given me more of an appetite than I thought,” the woman replied.  Out
of the corner of her eye Alyssa saw the woman lean forward.  At first she
thought she was going to kiss the man (how cute!) but instead she just spoke in
a hushed voice.
    “Hunting
vampires is hungry work.”
    Alyssa, froze,
solid as ice.  Her eyes widened.
    Oh sweet
Sister Superior.
    She slowly, very
slowly, continued to wipe the table down, trying not to appear to be listening
in.  She was thankful that whilst she could blush and cry, her ability to sweat
was mercifully no more, else right now she would be literally soaked.  Still,
she was having a hard time stopping her body from trembling.  She fixed her
glasses again, finding her hand shaking.
    Out of the
corner of her eye Alyssa could see the man shaking his head.
    “There's no
vampire.” he was saying, his answer a whisper again.  “That fat sod died of
falling onto a spike.  The wounds and loss of blood?  There is bound to be a
proper explanation.  I told you.  This is no job for the Council of Peace.”
    The two of them
leaned back, just in time for Gretna to rejoin them.
    “Food will be
along soon enough.  Now, drinks?”
     
    With Gretna and
the two strangers distracted, Alyssa moved away.  She had to fight to prevent
her legs from running.  She went through the kitchen door, almost bumping into
one of the other girls (there was the trademark clumsiness!).
    “Sorry!” she
hurriedly apologised, quickly ducking out the back door before anyone could
turn to see what was going on.
    Outside, in the
dark, she turned a corner