Twin Flame

Chapter One

The music was blasting so loudly that I could feel the vibrations all the way through my body. I was sure my teeth were vibrating. The lights weren't any less overstimulating, strobing every color imaginable in seizure inducing patterns.

My lacey black dress clung to my body, soaked with sweat from dancing and it was stifling in the cramped club. Ace's was packed to bursting with people grinding up against one another, waitresses serving cocktails to the more than drunk patrons, and the DJ mixing tapes in the middle of the dance floor.

My coworker, Jeanine, turned twenty five today. Out of the majority of my friends, she's on the older side, but in our work, she ranks among the youngest, so we quickly became good friends. I watch her auburn hair swish and her lengthy legs bend as she jives to a rather raunchy song. One of her friends who met us at Ace's to celebrate, Amelia, is snapping photos of everyone and everything with her enormous phone, giggling while doing so. And the last person in our group, Sarah, has locked lips with a particularly large man covered in tattoos. I was fairly sure they were strangers upon entering the club. They seemed pretty well acquainted now, though. And as for me? Well, I was sitting on one of the knobby barstools, gripping my now half empty blueberry lemondrop tightly with both my hands, resting my elbows on the counter. The bartender hustles, serving drinks, mixing liquors, and bantering with the customers, and I can't help but notice that he's pretty cute. Tall and trim, but with some muscle definition underneath his fitted black shirt. His brown hair was cropped close to his skull and he had a silver stud poking through his left earlobe. Something taps me on the shoulder and I startle, turning around to face Jeanine. She's breathless, flushed with excitement, endorphins, and alcohol.

"I'm having such a great time! Thank you so much for coming out with me!" Jeanine throws a tanned arm over my shoulder and pulls me close. Jeanine has never been touchy or affectionate, so I'm assuming this persona is brought on by the three hurricanes she has.

"Of course, Jeanine. Happy birthday." I smile warmly at her, squeezing away from the hug. Just as I'm about to escape, Amelia runs up and snaps a photo of the two of us.

"Aww! Birthday memories!"

Jeanine crowds into Amelia to look at the photo and she cheers.

"Please send that to me! We look adorable!"

A second later, my phone dings. I assume the picture sent. The music shifts and Amelia grabs Jeanine by the arm, tugging het to the dance floor.

"Oh my gosh, I love this song!"

"Waverly, aren't you coming?" I shake my head and wave then away, fighting back a yawn.

"Enjoy yourselves. I'm going to finish my drink and head home. It's getting pretty late and I picked up your shift that you precalled in sick for. But happy birthday! Text me when you get home safely."

Jeanine gives me a drunken, yet still perfectly straight, grin and quite literalky dances away. I shake my head in mock exasperation but can't help the little smile playing on my lips.

I turn back to my drink and sip slowly on the sugared rim, sighing in content. This may not be my regular scene, but it was nice to get out, rather than hide in my home and read smutty romance novels until ungodly hours.

I take another sip and finish my drink. I thank the bartender and hand him a twenty, covering my cocktail and a generous tip. He gives me a warm smile and I have to blink hard because in the flashing lights, his canine teeth almost look sharp. Elongated. But then, as quickly as I saw it, it disappeared. Maybe that second drink wasn't such a good idea.

I pull my purse over my shoulder and make a quick stop to the bathroom, having to squeeze through gaggles of people to do so. When I get in, I scrub my hands with soap and lather the subs through my fingers. I wipe them dry and examine myself in the somewhat dingy mirror. My long blonde hair is slightly messed, a couple of strands bent out of place. My eyes, though normally a stormy gray full of fire and life, look considerably tired. My makeup is still in pretty good condition, but my lipstick could use a touch up. If I were staying longer, I would apply another coat, but I was ready to head home.

I turn away from the mirror and nearly crash to my feet. My head swims and my vision blurs. I grip the sink tightly to steady myself and I take a deep breath.

That bartender must have given me a generous pour.

I shake my head and try to clear the cobwebs from my vision and I take a cautious step forward. Success. I take another and then another and manage to get out of the bathroom without having to hold the wall for balance. The ground seems to shift beneath me and the dazzling strobes aren't making my disorientation any better.

Maybe I just needed some fresh air.

I stagger to the front door and tumble out, leaning against the brick wall facade. I breathe in and out deeply. My vision is blurred around the edges.

I really didn't think I was this drunk.

My fingers shake as I pull out my phone to open the Uber app. As quickly as I can, I snag a ride and send my location.

The street is deserted - I wouldn't expect anything else. After all, it's nearly two in the morning. Even the bouncer of the club has abandoned hood post for whatever reason.

The air is crisp and slightly bitter as a breeze blows past me. It wasn't cold, exactly, but anything under eighty degrees is a little nippy to my Floridian blood.

I try to smack myself on the arm to wake myself up a little, but my vision only gets hazier with each passing minute.

I gaze up at the stars, dulled by intense light pollution, trying to find any constellations to wake my brain up. No such luck.

I stare at my phone, tracking the Uber signal with wobbly eyes. Seven minutes away. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Exhaustion washed over me. I barely felt like I could stand. That's what I get for working a double shift and then going out to party. Had I really already exceeded my limits so early on in life? I was only twenty two for God"''s sake.

I look at my phone again and see a small notification bubble on my screen. A message from Amelia.

I click it open and look at the picture of Jeanine and me. She looks radiant, her red dress hugging every single one of her curves, her face lit up in happiness.

And I look... off. My eyes have a bit of a distant look to them, dazed. My skin even looks a shade paler than normal.

Again, my vision jolts and I blink, trying to shake away the blurriness, but all it does is make it worse.

My knees wobble and then one of them gives out beneath me. My phone falls from my fingers and cracks against the sidewalk. The next knee buckles and I am suddenly sprawled on the ground on all fours, desperately trying to hold myself up. My vision is darkening at the edges and through my haze, I feel panic start to rise within me. I hear footsteps coming close to me, stopping just above me.

"Please. I don't... I don't know what's wrong with me. Please help me. "

There is no answer.

The stranger, instead, stomps a thick boot over my phone and I watch it shatter. Before the light of my phone dies, though. I catch a glimpse of the picture again. And if I was more alert before, maybe I would have noticed the bartender slipping something into my drink while I posed for the camera.

And then everything fades to black.