Epilogue
Aleksei cracked open his beer bottle and tapped it to mine.
“Cheers to the new father!” Aleksei said with a hearty laugh.
“And to the new grandfather,” I agreed.
We both drank deeply. I’m not sure at what point it became a competition to see who could drink more, but when we set out bottles down they were both empty.
Aleksei belched loudly, and a bit of smoke came out. He chuckled at the startled look on the bartender's face and made up a quick lie about a bit of cigarette smoke getting trapped in the back of his throat. It was more believable than explaining that he was a dragon in human form.
We grabbed another round of beers and stared around the bar.
The city was just about back to normal.
A massive memory ritual had altered everyone’s memory of events to make it seem like Eastport just got hit with a nasty epidemic, and we had to quarantine for a few weeks. Some expedited repair work around the city and a whole lot of money later, and things were almost back on track.
We still lost a lot of people. Therapy was one of the top-searched items in Eastport. People were grieving. But life goes on, as it’s supposed to.
It was amazing what could be accomplished in a few short months.
“So, what did you bring me out here to discuss?” I asked at length.
Aleksei smiled. “I wanted to ask you how you’d feel about a promotion.”
“Another one? You already slapped me with two just during the zombie crisis. How many were you planning on giving me?”
“Just one more, kid.”
“Oh yeah? What’s the gig?”
Aleksei took another drink. “How does the title ‘Ryan Stryker, Director for the Bureau of Keepers’ sound?”
I blinked in surprise, unsure of what to say.
Before I could formulate a worthy reply however, there were two flashes on the street outside. One a blinding golden. The other a menacing red. Car horns and screeching tires drew our attention from our drinks. Aleksei and I left our drinks behind and moved to the door.
Standing in the street outside was an unlikely duo.
A golden angel and a red demon.
And they were staring right at us.
“Ryan Striker!” Called the demon.
“You have committed crimes against the gods! We call you to stand trial!”
I sighed. Fuck. “Here we go again.”
The End