It's Five O'Clock Somewhere [Open]

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My long brown hair was in a tangled mess. I had hitchhiked across country from Pennsylvania to Oregon and most of the time that meant riding in the back of a pickup truck. Apparently I don't look very trust-worthy, which I'm not so I don't blame them. The only downfall was my now completely tangled hair.

I sat my bag down in a motel room, paying for the room with cash I rightfully earned. I dumped my bag's contents all over the queen size bed. Of course, my brush was down at the bottom, but I was able to find it. I snatched it and ran it through my hair, but not without a few sounds of distress as I worked through the knots.

After I fixed my hair, I decided it was best to grab something to eat and definitely something to drink. Grabbing my keys and a wad of cash, I headed out of the motel and began to explore the town. My sharp senses of being a shifter caught an aroma of food and booze emitting from the Full Moon Pub. With a quick step, I headed into the pub and took a seat at the bar.

[Evangeline Cortez]

I aimlessly ran a dingy rag over the mahogany bar top again, my eyes dazed deep in thought. I breathed in through my nose, scent now my most used sense, as a woman sat down in front of me. She was dark haired, fair skinned and her scent told me she was a shifter. She smelled of the woods, tree bark and fresh meat. "What can I get you?" I asked her as I threw the bar rag behind me to the sink.

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I looked up at the bartender. Long dark hair adorned her head, much like my own head of hair. ”Whiskey with a burger and fries,” I said. Sighing deeply, I inhaled and caught the bartender’s scent. A shifter, the scent lingered upon her skin, much like mine did.

I smiled and tried to look somewhat happy. I was tired and worn out though. Sleep hadn’t exactly been coming easy to me. I would toss and turn because most of the time it was on a park bench or just some place out of the way so some cop wouldn’t kick me out of the place. I had recently finished a job so I had some money to spend. The first thing was a nice room where I could sleep in an actual bed. I was really hoping to find a good paying job here. I didn’t know how long the stash of cash would last.

I had a taste for the finer things in life. A nice pair of leather boots, skinny jeans, cute tops, jewelry, wine, and a list that went on of my weaknesses and things that emptied my pocket faster than a gaping hole in the bottom of it. Just because I tended to lean towards the more assassination type jobs didn’t mean I couldn’t look good while I did it.

[Evangeline Cortez]

<i>CRASH!</i> My face cringed as I looked over my shoulder in time to see the new girl drop a tray full of beers and mixed drinks. My brain immediately added up the cost of what she'd just dropped and that got an aggrivated sigh out of me. "Here you go, hun." I said to the woman, as I handed her her whiskey. "Your food will be right up, excuse me for a minute." I said to her as I went to help Sharlene clean up her mess.

"I'm so sorry, Evie." Sharlene said to me, her voice shaking as she cleaned up the broken glass and wasted booze. "Sharlene, I took you on as a favor, but this is the second time this week.." I left the words unsaid, but we both knew, this wasn't going to work out. I helped her clean up and refilled her tray just in time to hear the kitchen bell ding. I grabbed the hot plate and brought it back to the woman sitting at the bar. "Here you go," I handed her a bottle of ketchup too. "I've never seen you in here before, you new to town?" Okay, I was a little forward, but this was my bar and I wanted to know who was in it. "I'm Evie by the way." I said as I held my hand out to her.

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I jumped hearing the mugs, plates, and tray smash to the ground. I tilted my head to look and saw the mess upon the floor. My attention was grabbed when the bartender gave me my drank. I nodded when she gave it to me as a thanks since she was a little rushed.

I watched as she tended to the mess before returning with my food. I stuck a french fry in my mouth and swallowed quickly because the bartender noticed I wasn't from town. ”Yeah, real new actually. Just got here from Pittsburgh," I said. There were a few stops on the way to pick up a job to make money. I nodded, ”I'm Millie." I never introduced myself as 'Millicent,' because I hated that so much. The only who called me that was my step mother and needless to say I never got along with her.

[Evangeline Cortez]

”Yeah, real new actually. Just got here from Pittsburgh," She said and I nodded to her, ”I'm Millie." I gave her a smile and grabbed the same rag I'd just used on the counter. "Nice to meet you Millie, welcome to Grants Pass. Its nothing fancy, but its home." I said with a half smile. I ran the rag over the bar top again and tossed it below the counter. The bar was pretty dead but that was normal for the middle of the day. It wasn't until the sun went down that the place started to really fill up.

I leaned back against the wall behind me and crossed my arms over my chest. "We're a little dead right now, but things pick up after dark.. Things also get pretty dangerous. The full moon is a shifter only place and its safe in a jam.. Just so you know." I said to her, my tone flat. It was an offer of protection that I extended to all shifters that came through my bar. Most of us could take care of ourselves, but you never knew what was going to happen in this town after dark.

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I snickered a little as I snacked on a french fry. Grants Pass wasn't much of anything? Most places nowadays weren't much of anything. Pittsburgh was a mere shadow of its glory Steel City days. Though Grants Pass did seem to have more activity than most cities, especially supernatural.

I looked to Evie when she said that the bar was a haven. I nodded, "Thanks," I said. "But I probably won't need much of a haven. I can take care of myself pretty well." I was extremely confident in my abilities to protect myself. Hence, the reason why I took on assassination jobs often. My shot was damn near perfect each time and I had quite the hand-to-hand combat skills. Needless to say, anyone that tried anything on me was stupid.

[Evangeline Cortez]

She smiled as she took a bite off a fry. "Thanks," She said. "But I probably won't need much of a haven. I can take care of myself pretty well." I laughed at her comment, yeah she was definitely a shifter. Shifter men were tougher than human men, but being tough came naturally to me. Women turned shifter seemed to.. harden, for lack of a better word. The animal seems to rage within us, tapping in to all those angry emotions that pretty, proper woman keep hidden from the world.

I poured myself a shot of jack and refilled her glass. I held mine up to her in an offer for cheers and said to her, "Yeah well, bad shit seems to always happen to good people around here. And it seems to happen to pretty little girls, take it from one who knows." Just saying the sentence made me flash back to being chained to a cold metal table, but i pushed back those memories and kept talking. "All I'm saying is that if you find yourself needing a friend, you've got one here."