Because the werewolf damaged the saloon, John, and the girls searched for another one in town. Fortunately, they approached one called the Messy Duck. The bar was a silver box with a green neon sign above the door. The sign was a duck, drinking a martini and puking above the door. No wonder it was called the Messy Duck.

John opened the door and allowed the girls to enter first. After Lena stepped in, John walked in next.

The bar was loud with hundreds of different conversations. Rock music played in the background, barely being heard from the visitors. The crowd was a mix of hoodlums, traders, and beautiful women who could scare a child away. Green and red lights flashed above, revealing the cloud of smoke hovering over the crowd. Two gangsters were playing a holographic Pong game over a black table. A punk rock looking man was smoking at the corner with two women, keeping their arms around him.

John had visited shady bars before during his off-duties. They could be dangerous if you weren’t tough enough to stand up for yourself. Like most places, they had rules too so the thugs could relax and drink. Gangsters owned some bars to make extra bucks while performing their illegal dealings. They keep tips on their bars so their economy wouldn’t fall apart.

When John and the girls sat at the bar counter, the bartender approached them. He was a tall fat man with gorilla arms, covered in tattoos. A bald head and he wore a black leather vest.

“Welcome to the Messy Duck,” said the bartender. “What can I get you?”

John held up three fingers. “Three black whiskeys for us.”

The bartender raised an eyebrow. “Just three?”

“Yes.”

“Not all of you are drinking? If you are going to stay, all of you have to buy a drink.”

Kara glared at the bartender. “What if I don’t want a drink?”

“Then I’m kicking your pretty little ass out. Everybody buys a drink to stay in. That is the rule here.”

Kara sighed. “Give me water.”

“We have no water here,” said the bartender. “But I got some in the toilet.”

“Then I’ll have the same drinks.”

The bartender smiled. “Good choice.”

He placed four glass cups on the counter and poured the black liquid in each cup.

After he pushed the glasses toward the team, John was the first to drink his glass. It tasted like a cinnamon roll with lots of spice in it. Pretty good in a rundown bar.

Kara stared at her glass and rubbed the tip of her finger around the top. Vampires couldn’t drink anything else, except blood and water. She would get sick for a week if she drank something that wasn’t blood. Water does nothing to a vampire, but it was safe to drink unless someone enchanted the water.

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“May I?” Lena asked Kara after she gulped down her drink.

Kara slid her drink to the zombie girl, and then Lena drank it quickly.

Lena was a heavy drinker, but she could never get drank. Perhaps the ethanol in the drinks could never poison her undead brain. She only liked the taste of beer in different flavors.

“So Alexis, are you going to tell me how you found me?” John asked.

The space witch sipped her drink. “We were flying by until we detected a disturbance on the surface. Then we landed and found you.”

“Well, I thank you for that.”

“May I ask why you were hanging out at a whorehouse without us?” Kara asked.

John choked on his drink until he coughed. “I was off duty. It is none of your business.”

“You can’t keep secrets from us. We are supposed to be a team.”

John sipped his glass. “We are a team, but skeletons are better left in the closet. Right, Lena?”

The zombie girl stared at him. “I never told you my secrets. I don’t even remember them.”

“Maybe they are supposed to remain secret. Have you ever thought about that?”

Lena shrugged.

Nobody knew who Lena was before she became a zombie. John found her in a lab where a mad scientist tried to build an army of undead soldiers to conquer a colony.

Lena was the only zombie spared because she didn’t behave like the other monsters in the lab. However, she needed to eat brains to keep her humanity from slipping away from her consciousness. If she doesn’t eat a brain, she will turn cannibalistic and attack anyone for their flesh. The SPD supplied her with plenty of clone brains to control her primitive side. Even Kara gets plenty of synthetic blood to keep her vampiric side in check. None of the girls would be alive if they couldn’t control their monster urges.

“I don’t care if you sleep with other girls,” said Kara. “But I am disappointed you didn’t invite us.”

“Sometimes a man needs a break,” said John. “You girls can do whatever you want too.”

“But it wouldn’t be fun without you.”

“I agree,” said Lena. “Even I wouldn’t sleep with other girls if you weren’t around.”

Kara stared at her. “Not even with us?”

Lena giggled. “Not with strangers, silly. You are the only team I loved.”

Kara blushed. “You are so sweet.”

John gulped his drink and placed the empty glass down. “If it makes things better, we can do something after the inspector arrives.”

Kara smiled at him. “Can we go to a brothel? That will make me feel better."

John glared at her. "No, I have enough of that. Why not someplace fun and isolated?"

Kara giggled. "I would love to swim in a pool of blood."

"Blood doesn't do well on my skin," said Alexis. "But I like tropical resorts with beaches."

John thought about that until a man with a pink mohawk approached Lena.

"Hey baby, can I buy you a drink?" he whispered like a snake. "I have plenty of cash on me."

John got up and approached pinkie mohawk. "Excuse me, if you are going to buy her a drink, you need to buy me one too."

The man glared at him. "I wasn't talking to you, asshole. Buzz off, before I-"

John grabbed the man's throat and held him up. "Or what? Say it in my face!"

The man struggled until John dropped him. He crawled away while coughing.

"Yeah, you better crawl away!" John shouted. "Or my metal foot will go straight up your ass!"

He sat back down between Lena and Kara. The girls hugged him.

"My protector!" Lena cheered.

John smiled and held up his finger to the bartender. "One more round, please!"

A good man always protects his team of women, even if he gets his ass kicked.