Twenty-Two
1099 Words
“Who are you?” I asked. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I knew him from somewhere. He stood a full head taller than me and was dressed all in black. His skin was sallow, like mine. His dark hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck.
He was a vampire. He had to be. I searched for his aura. It was dark pink and clung close to his body.
“What are you hiding?” I demanded.
“Y-you shouldn’t be hanging around here. They’ll see you.”
“Who? And I’m not going anywhere. Just talk or I’ll make you.”
I grabbed his elbow and dragged him into an alleyway between nightclubs.
“Talk.” I said. I put my hands on my hips.
The man looked around as if looking for someone.
“You don’t remember me?”
“No. Tell me how I’m supposed to know you. Hurry up.”
“I was there when you were made, and I watched what they put you through.” He paused and looked around again.
“They’ll kill me if they knew it was me. I can’t say too much.”
I balled my hands into fists, prepare to beat the truth out of him, if need be. I’ve been searching for answers for months and this scared, scrawny vampire had some.
“Well, I’m going to kill them before they get that chance. Tell me what you know.” I said between gritted teeth.
“I felt sorry for you after you gave birth to the babies. I’m the one who left the opening so you could escape.”
The babies. Nobody other than Gemba and I knew about them. He had to be telling the truth. “You did?” I asked. “How?”
“I left the door to your room unlocked and swapped the Void out for water. You missed a dose. Look, that was all I could do without getting myself killed.”
“Thank you.” I bowed my head so he couldn’t see my emotion. “Thank you for helping me escape. I’ll forget about any of the actions that make you complicit in my murder if you help me one more time.”
“I-I can’t. I’ve already said way too much.” He put his hands up and took a few steps backward away from me.
“I won’t tell them you told me. Please. Tell me who they are and where to find them.”
“Tempest is a nightclub just a few blocks from here. The nightclub is a front for the real business. The supernatural flesh trade. That’s all I can say. Please. I’m sorry.”
“I have just one more question. Please. Were you there when they killed my husband and took me?”
“No. I wasn’t part of that.”
“Goodbye, Alice.”
He sprinted away from me before I could even get his name. Whoever this vampire was, he both played a part in my torment and also set the stage for my escape. I’d need to decide his fate after I found more information.
The Tempest was in a two-story building with flashy neon lights in the front. The bass of synth eighties music reverberated in the street outside and dancers spilled out the front into the sidewalk. Several of the partygoers looked high. Their makeup was as sloppy as their dancing.
I unzipped my leather jacket despite the nighttime chill. I wore a sweetheart cut corset underneath my jacket that showed an appropriate amount of skin for a nightclub. The thought of people ogling my body made me cringe, but I needed to look like I belonged. Some of the women had just tiny pieces of black or red cloth covering their intimate parts. The rest was skin and glitter. So much glitter.
There was no bouncer at the door, so I pushed my way past the smokers and dancers to get inside. The inside was dark. Only neon lights lit the space. Red velvet and black leather adorned nearly every surface from the walls to the tabletops. Electric candle sconces were unlit on the walls.
If I could have thought of a stereotypical vampire hangout, this was it. There was a small space for dancing underneath the DJ’s elevated platform. The rest of the space was filled with two person tables and larger booths lining the edges.
The people, though many were scantily clad, wore dark colors of red, black, or purple. My fashion choices fit right in here. I didn’t worry so much about sticking out after assessing the other patrons.
I found an empty table off to the side, near a booth, and sat in a chair. I just watched, taking everything and everyone in. Nobody else looked familiar to me. I noticed a wide, sweeping staircase near the DJ. It was roped off with a thick velvet barrier. I looked up and saw a balcony overlooking the crowd. This was probably where I needed to go.
A waitress who looked like she bought her outfit from Hot Topic approached. “Can I get you anything to drink?”
“Yes, red wine, please.”
“Wanna start a tab?”
“Sure.” I reached into my bag and remembered with a cold panic. My ID and card were at the other night club.
“Actually, cancel that. I forgot my wallet.”
She rolled her eyes and walked to the next table.
A man walked down the stairs with his arm around the waist of a porcelain-skinned waif. His eyes were alight with desire. Hers were glazed and unfocused. They walked to a booth and slid in, out of sight.
I stood and approached the roped off area. A man in a tuxedo moved to block the stairs. “Are you a member of our VIP club, miss?” he asked, his voice had a stuffy quality.
“I, uh,” I decided to press my luck. “Yes. I am. Now if you please,” I tried to get around the rope. He stepped in front of me again.
“I’ll need to see your membership card.”
I looked up at him, innocently and pushed some of my energy to him. Hopefully, it was enough to be persuasive. “I lost it, can’t you give me a pass today? Please?”
He leaned down to unclip the rope and I tried to maintain eye contact as much as possible.
As soon as he unclipped the rope, a man came down the stairs behind him, skipping steps as he descended.
I looked away from the bouncer and to the man coming down the stairs.
Vance.
No, I was imagining it again. He was dead. This had to be someone that looked like him. The Vance look-a-like walked toward the exit.
The bouncer cleared his throat. “Miss? Are you coming up?”
I needed to make a choice. Go after the man who looked like my dead husband to put my mind at rest or go upstairs.
“Miss?” the bouncer repeated.
- Writer
