“Let’s go to a bar!” Colette suggested. “One of those trendy, hard to get into places. You can always wish
us in if there’s a problem.”
I liked that idea. “Sure, why not? Maybe we can read a few thoughts while we’re there,” I said.
Fortunately we appeared like a normal couple. Our fangs were hidden and before we had left the castle I
finally remembered to wish my fingernail back to normal. I sensed that Colette wanted to use her fangs, so I
had to keep a sharp wit to make sure nothing drastic occurred.
We found our way to a place called “Studio Blue.” We’d both heard of this place from other people. It was
rumored to be the place you just had to be if you were hip. There was a huge line waiting to get in. The
door to the place didn’t appear to be anywhere in sight. “Oh, Chris, it’s so crowded,” Colette pretended to
whine. “Now what are we going to do?”
I looked at her and rolled my eyes. “Don’t overdo it too much,” I said. “Someone might think you’re weird.”
“I’m not concerned about that,” she said. “Once they see me, I’m pretty sure they’ll be distracted.” It
didn’t take much to know what she meant by that.
We bypassed the huge line in search of the bar’s entrance. We found it and, sure enough, there was a bouncer
at the door with a list in his hand. He allowed a few people in who were apparently on the list. The line of
people behind the rope looked more and more annoyed. He saw us and just asked, “Name?” I guess he wasn’t
impressed by Colette’s outfit.
“Chris Grant and Colette Niven,” I said. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Colette with a questioning look on
her face.
The bouncer scanned over the 3 pages of his list. “Not here, man, so you’ll have to get in line,” he said.
“Oh, man, are you sure?” I asked in a pitiable voice. “I wish we were on the list.”
“Well, you’re not, so come on, stop holding me up,” he replied.
“I wish you’d look again,” I said.
The bouncer looked both annoyed and confused. “Fine,” he said. He went over the list again. He was on the
second page when he did a double take. “Chris Grant and Colette Niven?” he asked.
“That’s us,” I said.
“I know your names weren’t here a minute ago, but now they are,” he said. The look of disbelief on his face
told me that he questioned his eyes.
“I wish you wouldn’t worry about it,” I said.
The expression on his face normalized and he opened the door for us. “Step right in,” he said.
“Thank you,” I said. Colette took my arm with a smile and we walked in. We soon found out why this place was
called “Studio Blue.” The lighting in the place was entirely blue. It made everything look blue. It was a
little odd to my eyes. The place was also thumping and pounding with the overly loud sound of bass coming
from the speakers. “Can you hear me OK?” I asked Colette in a raised voice.
“What?” she asked, her voice also raised. I was about to ask the question again but Colette’s smile told me
that she was joking.
We were shown to a table that was close to one of the corners of the entire bar. That was fine with me since
it allowed us to be away from some of the loud speakers. It also allowed us to somewhat oversee the entire
bar. After a couple of minutes, a waitress approached us. She also had to raise her voice in order to be
heard. “Hi, I’m Rose. What can I get for you?” she asked.
“Oh, gee, I don’t know,” said Colette. “Is there a menu or something?”
The waitress looked a little confused. “You haven’t been here before, have you?”
“No,” I answered. “Tell you what. Can you just bring us two glasses of your best red wine?”
“No problem,” she said. “Can I just see your ID’s?”
It occurred to me that we didn’t have our ID’s with us. Time to simplify things. “Oh, I wish you knew that
we’re over 21.”
“Never mind, I know you’re OK,” she said. “Be right back with those.”
“Quick thinking,” said Colette. “But, Chris, I don’t know if I like red wine. I’ve never had it.”
I smiled at her. “Neither have I,” I said. “Just trust me,” I said with a wink.
“Did you notice anyone looking at me when we came in?” she asked.
“No, sorry, can’t say that I did. Too distracted by…well this whole place,” I said as I gestured with my
hands. “What’s the appeal of a place like this?”
“It’s built by someone who’s popular,” said Colette. “So anything that person does is trendy. You get into a
trendy place like this, you just have to be cool.”
“So…it’s all bullshit?” I asked.
She shook her head. “If you think like that, sure,” she said. “But if you believe that stuff, then this
fulfills a lot of your ambitions.”
“Something tells me that you like this place,” I said.
“A little bit,” she said. “It’s too loud and too big. I like places that are more…intimate.”
At that point Rose returned with our wine. “Here you two go,” she said. “Need anything else?” We shook our
heads. “I’ll be back to check on you. If you need me, just yell and hopefully I’ll hear it.”
Colette just looked at her wine. “So what’s you’re game?” she asked.
“I wish that our wine was actually blood, but that it would still appear to be wine to everyone but us,” I
said. Instantly we could see the wine change in color and texture. Colette eagerly picked up her glass.
“Whoa, whoa,” I said. “You can’t just gulp that down,” I warned her. “You have to sip it, slowly.”
“Really?” she asked. “No wonder people make fun of wine drinkers.” She did as I instructed, however, slowly
pulling up the glass to her lips and sipping it. She took a few sips and then carefully placed down the
glass. “Wow,” she said. “This sounds so fucked up, but that is so good.”
“Now you understand why I had to wish for control over bloodlust,” I said. “It’s a taste that you acquire a
bit too easily.”
“That reminds me,” Colette said as she took another sip. “Why didn’t you give me that power to shape shift?”
“Um…” I said since I didn’t have a better answer.
“I mean, you said we’re equals, so why didn’t you give me that power?” she asked.
“Honestly,” I said. “I don’t know. Fear, I suppose.”
She gave me an odd look. “Afraid of what? Me using that power?” she asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. I said, “I guess. I mean, I wasn’t sure how you might react to it. I don’t want to
have control over you, and I didn’t know if you might do something rash.” She did not appear to be satisfied.
“Look, do you want that power?”