Frost

o n e l u m i n o u s △△△△△ "THIS IS A terrible idea," Eretria shouted above the thundering music as she moved through the crowd elegantly. Her small frame was clad with darkness as she wove effectively between the dancers like a panther. The boy behind the tanned girl rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well this was your idea," he retorted, his tone deep. Eretria sighed, using her heightened hearing to pick out the words above the roar of the crowd. It was like she was walking through a sea of sweat; a mass of bodies all jumping collectively to a rhythm. The air stank pugnaciously of body odour. It lurked like a vicious animal. "It doesn't mean that it's a good idea," she raised her voice, making her strong Mexican accent more pronounced. Her hands flickered to her sides, clenching into fists and drawing blood as her claws sank into her skin. She felt dizzy; discombobulated. Lustrous shrouds of light exploded from corners of the room without any warning, crimson engulfing her vision, azure lining her peripheral vision. She was right: her idea to go clubbing on her eighteenth birthday had been a terrible idea. But she wanted to, and she needed to get away from her father and the forced marriage he was burdening on her. "Where are we going anyway?" The male werewolf spoke as loudly as he could. A girl dancing in the heaving crowd accidentally knocked into him. Tia cringed as the shot glass from her best friend's hand fell onto the floor with the reverberating shatter of glass. Miniature fragments scattered across the floor in one million different directions, refracting the light like stars. Tia roughly grabbed the jacket sleeve of her friend's coat, pulling him away from the dance floor. "You'll see," she spoke more quietly, ensured that the boy's heightened hearing would enable him to hear the words. The werewolf nodded. His blonde hair was ruffled discordantly, framing his angular face almost perfectly. His blue-green eyes still appeared a pigment of opaque turquoise in the limited light. The pair reached a red velvet curtain draped over a hidden entryway. The material was soft to the touch, but as Eretria ran her fingers over the fabric, she couldn't help but recoil at the texture. "Can I help you?" A man beside the curtain stepped in front of the eighteen-year-olds. Tia bowed her head, blinking rapidly. She then gazed at the man, her eyes having shifted to a lustrous and captivating gold. It reminded the guard of encapsulated fire. The guard didn't say anything - he didn't need to. He pushed the curtain aside, revealing a second dance floor. Unlike the human one, the hard oak flooring was filled with less bodies. As Tia glanced through her thick lashes, she spotted a vampire couple slow dancing. A group of werewolves sat in the corner, smoke pouring from their mouths in plumes. Wolf's bane, Tia told herself. "Really?" The boy enquired as he ducked under the Crimson drape. The colour reminded him of blood. Tia shrugged her shoulders daintily. "Colton, human clubs are boring. Nothing exciting ever happens." Colton creased his eyebrows. "Do you know how many people get injured at these places?" He questioned, his tone dull and harsh. It rattled through Eretria's skeleton like a gust of wind. "We're not people," Tia turned around and gave the boy a wink. Colton envied the girl's beautiful dark eyes. "We're werewolves, dipshit." Colton rolled his perfectly pigmented eyes. He itched the back of his neck nervously, the hair on the back of his neck prickling up into soft spikes as he followed Eretria across the dance floor, towards the bar. Despite the fact that neither werewolves were twenty one, and legally able to drink, they had fake IDs, and werewolves couldn't get drunk in the first place, anyway. It made Colton feel set apart from the humans - he had never been drunk before, and he never would be. He had to rely on Wolf's Bane to get high, but the poisonous substance had a tendency to diminish werewolf abilities - and the small, tiny side effect of death. Colton typically overlooked that mishap. The pair reached the bar as Tia laid down a five dollar note, demanding two shots of cheap vodka. The bar tender didn't even both to check their (fake) IDs. Tia could smell the fresh scent of earth and pine trees on his clothes, fresh as morning dew: he was a werewolf too. A shadow moved in the corner of Tia's dark pigmented eyes. A group of local pack werewolves moved across to the bar, circling the she wolf and her accomplice; caging them. Tia swore under her breath, glancing down at the oak flooring through her thick eyelashes. "Look who decided to show their ugly faces," a male chimed, crossing his bulky arms over his chest like a shield. To anyone else, he would've appeared extremely daunting, but to Eretria, he looked as though he was purposely hiding behind his own skin. Tia quickly grabbed her shot glass from the counter, swaying it gently as she narrowed her mascara-laden eyes. "I'm sorry, but last time I looked in the mirror, it didn't c***k like it did when it saw your car crash of a face," she retorted, biting her red painted lips. The lipstick tasted bitter and dry in her mouth. The large man hurled himself towards Tia, but his fellow pack members held him back before he could inflict any harm. Tia didn't flinch. "You b***h," the man growled. Tia pouted her lips. "Well done, I am a female dog." The comment only made the man angrier. His chest began to heave as he took deeper breaths. "You shouldn't be here," he spoke sharply, ripping his arms away from their restraints. "This is our territory, and you know what happens to intruders." Eretria pushed the loose strands of her hair behind her ears. "Give me a second," she ordered, a puzzled gaze distorting the faces of the five werewolves standing before both herself and Colton. Colton made a slow grab for his weapon, as if not to draw any attention to himself. Tia glanced at the translucent liquor in the shot glass in her hands. Shrugging, she threw her head back, downing the liquid in one gulp. It burned her throat, but the tingling sensation didn't last for long. Abruptly, and without any warning what so ever, Tia lashed out with her knife that had previously been hidden in a band around her quadriceps and hamstring. The blade sailed through the air with a mighty arc, before plunging into flesh. The large wolf howled in agony as the metal sank through his skin, before quickly being withdraw. Tia then slashed across the man's throat, creating a red smile. He will survive, Tia told herself. If he heals fast enough. The female wolf ducked as a longer blade flew past her, inches from the left side of her head. She heard a distinct and reverberating thud as the iron embedded itself in the plaster behind her. A growl escaped from Eretria's mouth, betraying her wolf side. Like the majority of female wolves, she could only partially shift. It was extremely rare that you could fully shift into your wolf form as a female, the reasons for which were unknown. Tia spun around at lightning pace, using her faster pace to avoid danger. In front of her was the extremely large back of one of the pack wolves. Without hesitation, she slashed the knife through the soft navy material, drawing the knife downwards. A red line painted itself onto the wolf's back as he staggered to the ground, shocked and in immense agony. Tia flicked her brunette tresses out of her face as she drew the knife from the male's back. The dance floor was empty, the other supernatural creatures having scattered to the edges to watch the battle rage. Two teenage - and obviously newborn - vampires stood cheering her on, whistling. Tia rolled her eyes, tempted to send her knife straight through one of their hearts, but thought against it. She couldn't lose her weapon. Two werewolves fought bravely against Colton, who looked slightly disorientated, but with a precise kick, he managed to take out both in one movement. He had always been a natural fighter, whether he wanted to admit it or not. Eretria has always envied his close combat skills; he had trained for less than a year, compared to her years of sleepless nights, and was twice as good as she would ever be. Tia noticed something flash out the corner of her eye. She immediately kicked the male in the head as he attempted to stand up, instantaneously rendering him unconscious. Tia sighed, straightening her clothes. She glowered at the growing crowd. It was like a living skeleton, existing and haunting, but too afraid to rise and stop the battle. But then again, everyone knew not to mess with the werewolves. As far as the supernatural world went, werewolves were the most feared of the creatures. Someone abruptly grabbed Tia's arm. She tried to yank it out of the person's hold, but he was too strong, and she too weak. Gritting her teeth, Tia landed a punch in the man's abdomen. This resulted in a gasp, but the hold on Eretria's arm didn't falter. It was like a metal clamp, refusing to let go. The male, whose eyes met Tia's with a piercing emerald stare, twisted her arm, forcing her to drop her weapon. She screamed in agony as she heard the crunch of bone. Her fingers twitched, feeling empty without her knife. "Get off me, you d**k!" Tia shouted as she kicked out. The other packs wolves were slowly regaining their feet, noses bleeding, fists clenched. Tia spotted Colton flanked by two other men, his head flopped towards the ground; semiconscious. The male growled as a response, taking hold of her second arm. Tia had trained for the best part of twelve years to become a warrior, but with her naturally weak demeanour, she stood no chance without a weapon. Everyone was stronger than her, particularly the male werewolves. "Take them to the Alpha," the lead werewolf spoke, crusted blood around his throat. Colton raised his head, the glimmer of a black eye beginning to frame his right eye. Tia gave him a pitiful smile. "I told you this was a terrible idea."