The sounds of bourbon street wake me up in the morning and my head is spinning, was last night all a dream and was I just drunk? I head to the bathroom to clean up and I see a bandage above my eyebrow and I start to realize that everything last night wasn't a dream, I run down stairs and the guys are in the kitchen eating breakfast. Tyler is the first to see me
"Ayyye there he is! How's your head feeling?"
"Good…. Uhhh how did I get home last night?"
DJ then speaks up
"Oh the guy from the bar you went to when we were out brought you back, you were passed out drunk"
"Oh ok"
That can't be right, the person that saved me didn't have the same structure as Lou
"Did he say anything?"
Brandon turns around
"Naw, he just dropped you off"
"Ok, what nice guy"
None of this makes sense, I have to go back to that bar tonight. The day goes by and I sneak off when everyone is occupied with these girls they picked up off the street. I head over to the bar and head inside, i sit at the bar and wait for Lou to come over. When I he comes over he looks at me with a slight smile
"You're back"
"Yeah…. What happened Last night, my friends said you brought me back home"
"I did"
"So you saved me too?"
"Oh no that wasn't me"
"Then who was it?"
"Alora"
"Who's alora?"
"I don't know her personally but she's been in here a few times. Orders a few drinks and leaves, never starts a conversation with anyone, real quiet girl"
"That's weird… why would she save me though?"
"I don't know, why don't you ask her when she comes in. It's Friday night and she usually comes in here"
"Alright just point her out when she walks in"
"Will do"
An hour goes by and I've had a couple drinks already, I'm getting ready to just get up and walk out when Lou comes up to me.
"There she is"
I turn around and see a woman walking towards a small table at the back of the bar. She's got black curly hair, tan skin, dark brown eyes, she's around 5'5 with an athletic build. She's wearing a black leather jacket, black pants and black combat boots, she also has a faint scar that runs from her eyebrow down to the top of her cheekbone. Lou goes over and takes her order, when I he comes back he looks at me and raises his eyebrows
"So you gonna head over there?"
"Yeah kinda scared now, she looks serious"
"Just bring her this drink and maybe she'll open up"
He hands me a bottle of beer and I head over to the table where she's sitting at and try to introduce myself
"Uhhhhh hey I'm…"
Before I can continue she interrupts
"Don't, just hand me my beer and walk away"
"But I just wanted to introduce myself and thank you for saving me"
"You don't have to thank me, now go"
"Why you being so rude?"
"Why you being so fucking annoying?!?"
"Fine take your shitty ass beer."
I place the bottle on the table and start to walk away until Alora speaks up
"Wait…."
"What?"
Alora takes a deep breath and just looks up at me
"Have a seat"
I don't hesitate to have a seat, she's already scary enough so I don't want to piss her off
"So uhhhh. I'm Jay"
"I know who you are"
"Wait really?"
"Yes"
"How?"
"Don't worry about it, Alora"
"Yeah I know Lou told me your name"
"I see"
"Yeah…. So about last night?"
"What about it?"
"You saved from.. whatever the hell that was"
"A werewolf or the "rougarou" is what they call it here"
"I knew they were real! But why did you save me?"
"You ask too many questions"
"Sorry everything's just mind fucking me right now"
"All you need to know is I saved you, just leave it alone"
"I guess, so you were just passing by and decided to save me"
"Yeah let's go with that"
"Ok well… thanks again"
"Mmhmmm"
"Well… you enjoying Mardi Gras"
"No not really"
"Why?"
"I live here, seen it plenty of times, I don't care for it anymore."
"Ok… so what do you do?"
"You don't shut up do you?"
"I'm just making conversation"
"Ughhh… lets just say I'm a hunter"
"What do you hunt?"
"Things"
"Like?"
"Things you don't need to know about"
"What you out here hunting werewolves, vampires and all the other weird shit that goes on here in New Orleans"
Alora looks around nervously
"Holy shit you do…"
"Shhhh keep it down"
"Not gonna lie that's pretty fucking cool"
"Yeah soooooo cool"
"Are you being sarcastic?"
"Maybe"
"You're a strange individual"
"And what about you Mr paranormal podcast"
"Wait you know about that?"
"I know a few things about you. like you're from California, your last name is Sanchez, you're a college dropout but gained some type of social media fame"
"Ok that's just basic stuff I've either said or have on social media"
"I also know that you've never met your real mom and about your family's history of paranormal encounters"
"Oooook I'm kinda freaked out…."
"Want to know another secret?"
"What is it?"
"There's a bounty on your head"
"What the fuck why?"
"Who knows but it's not a normal bounty, only a select handful know about it…. And let's say that girl from last night is part of a group that knows about it."
"Fuuuuuck, I need to get out of New Orleans"
"Don't worry that's why I'm here to protect you"
"Why??"
"I was hired to do so"
"By who?"
"I don't fucking know but I need to keep your ass alive until the end of Mardi Gras"
"What if I just leave?"
"You can try but I doubt your friends would listen"
"Only one way to find out"
I hope out of the chair and head out the bar and run for the air bnb to tell the guys it's time to go. As I run through the door I call out
"Tyler! DJ! Brandon! We have to fucking go now!!"
There's no response, I look into the rooms and I can't find them anywhere
"What the fuck, where are they?"
I walk into the kitchen and see a note on the table
"Sorry Jay but we had to leave early, we couldn't find you and you wouldn't answer your phone but hopefully everything is ok and hope to see you soon"
"What the actual fuck?!?"
I couldn't believe they left me here by myself. I'm stuck here, thousands of miles away from home and with a bounty on my head…. This is not good.