Falling For a Leprechaun (American Gods)

Chapter 14

"Sweeney, wake up!"

Muttering a few choice words under his breath to the bastard trying to wake him up, Sweeney then burrowed his face deeper into the crook of his arm.  A frustrated groan reached his ears and he couldn't help but grin to himself. He must have made some kind of noise for the bastard slapped him upside the head and growled out threateningly. "I know you can hear me you drunk bastard, now wake the hell up, now!" Lifting his head off the bar, he went to turn around when the room suddenly started to spin and in the span of a second, he found himself flat on his back looking up into the face of none other than Death. Finding his voice he snarled out hoarsely. "Bugger off asshole, I want nothing to do with you or that slut of a mortal!"

The temperature in the bar suddenly dropped to near freezing and Sweeney saw that skeletal mask waiver across his face.  Then in that two-toned voice that always made a shiver of dread go down his spine snarled back at him. "Watch yourself, Mad King." Reaching a hand towards the stool he had just fallen out of, Sweeney started to pull himself up when Death stepped forward wrapped an arm around his waist and helped him the rest of the way up. Swaying slightly he roughly pushed Death away from him and leaned against the chair to help him stay upright. Retribution flared to life in those dark eyes as he took a threatening step towards Sweeney when the bartender suddenly called out to them from the other side of the bar. "No fighting in here fellas, if you're going to fight please take it outside."

With a wave of his hand, Death motions for Sweeney to start for the door. Slapping a couple of twenty dollar bills onto the bar Sweeney slurs a thank you to the bartender and stumbles his way towards the exit with Death right on his heels. The ice-cold wind as he stepped outside was like a slap to the face. Shaking his head he stormed across the parking lot when a heavy hand landed on his shoulder. A feral growl rumbled in his chest as he spun around and punched Death right in the nose. "Shit!" The curse sprung from Death's mouth as he put a hand to his nose and attempted to stop the bleeding. Blood seeping through his fingers he manages to garble out. "What in the actual fuck Sweeney!!"

Not wanting to give him a chance to hit him back, Sweeney suddenly surged towards him and tackled Death to the ground. The sound of his head hitting the pavement sounded like an egg cracking open and for several moments all Death could see was darkness. It sang to him a sweet lullaby that he had heard multiple times before. Soon angry voices could be heard all around him but the one that caught and held his attention was Sweeney's. Holding on tight to it he dragged himself out of the darkness to meet the gaze of a young woman with bleached blonde hair and sky blue eyes leaning over him. She let out a sigh of relief and called out to the people around them. "He's awake!"

Death started to sit up when a pair of small hands landed on his chest and tried to push him back down.  He felt his lips quirk up at her efforts and rasps out. "I'm alright now love, just need to sit up." Those blue eyes narrowed and she started to refuse his wishes but he forced himself the rest of the way up. Sitting there, still a bit dazed, he notices that the people standing around him were all from the bar. Glancing around for Sweeney, he soon sees him pinned down to the ground several feet away by what looked like to be three very muscular men. The leprechaun had a permanent snarl fixed to his face and was currently calling the men holding him down some very nasty names in Gaelic.

Wanting to get back to a certain mortal, Death slowly makes it back onto his feet despite the protests from several people telling him to sit back down. Stumbling slightly, he made his way towards Sweeney and grumbled softly under his breath. "Are you about done Mad King?" Those green eyes landed on him and narrowed in irritation. The men on top of Sweeney warned him to stay away but Death had had enough of these mortals hovering around them and silently sent out his power to erase from their minds the fight between him and Sweeney. It took several seconds for the command to take hold but soon they were muttering amongst themselves clearly confused on why they were outside and curious on what had happened between the two men.