“Hello?” a girl’s voice answered.
“Scarlet?” I asked excitedly.
“Yes?”
“It’s Raven.”
“Raven. What’s going on?”
“I’m right outside the Dungeon door. I forgot my key.”
“I’ll be there in a sec.”
A few moments later, the door creaked open and Onyx and Scarlet were standing behind the medieval-looking Dragon.
Each girl took me by the hand and led me through the slit in the curtain, past the crowded bar, and out onto the dance floor.
Strangely, the already dangerous and otherworldly underground club now seethed with tension. The clubsters who once appeared seductive and inviting now eyed one another skeptically, whispering in private meetings.
Onyx and Scarlet, however, seemed unchanged. Scarlet placed a skeleton key in my hand and closed my fingers shut.
“This way you’ll never be locked out,” she said.
“But—”
“No need to argue—we’re here all the time.”
“And when we aren’t here, we’re together,” Onyx added.
I placed my new prized possession in my purse before they changed their mind.
“We were hoping you would come,” Onyx said, leading me to the bar. “Want some refreshment? Tonight is buy one, get one free.”
“No thanks,” I said.
My fantasy was to be a vampire—to live the immortal life, be seduced by the night, to love Alexander for eternity. What I hadn’t envisioned was guzzling down a goblet filled with blood as if it were chocolate milk. “I can’t stay long tonight, but I wanted to pop in and say hello.”
“We’re so glad you did,” Scarlet said. “So much is happening.” Arm in arm, we zigzagged through the catacombs. I tried to remember which path we were taking by making mental notes of the landmarks in the tunnels. We passed a girl bridled with passion, leaning against a tomb, her date kissing her on the neck. A few dozen skulls lined the walls. A group of clubsters were lying in some of the hollowed graves. Then I was distracted as Onyx began to ask me questions.
“How was your date last night?” she probed.
“Uh…great.”
We passed an enigmatic figure lurking in the shadows. A few votives lining the floor in an adjacent alcove next to the mysterious person cast a speck of light on a pair of motorcycle boots.
I glanced back as we continued to walk ahead. The figure remained hidden in the shadows.
We ducked underneath a sunken archway and entered a lounge called Torture Chamber. An electric chair, a rack, and a stockade were prominently displayed there. A huge circular wooden platform with half a dozen tables on it revolved ever so slowly. A freestanding bar, the size found at a wedding reception, was off to the side. We sat down at the only unoccupied table.
“Why don’t you bring your boyfriend here?” Scarlet asked.
“I’m not sure if he would like this club.”
“Is he a mortal?” Onyx inquired.
The two girls waited on edge for my response. But it was I who was most anxiously awaiting the words to flow from my lips. “No, my boyfriend is not a mortal. He is a vampire,” I said. It was the first time I’d ever admitted that my boyfriend was immortal (except once to Becky and she thought I was trying to make her laugh). I felt as if a burden had been lifted from my shoulders, and it was exhilarating. “My boyfriend is a vampire,” I repeated proudly.
“Then you have to bring him here,” Onyx suggested. “The whole point of this club is for us to have a place we can call our own.”
“And that might change,” Scarlet said secretively.
“Why?” I asked.
“We’ve heard rumblings that someone is planning to take over the club.”
One person—who I’d seen having secret meetings—sprang to mind. I remembered Phoenix talking to his henchmen. He was magnetically alluring and mysteriously dangerous. I could see his followers heeding his every command. “Phoenix—,” I said in a whisper.
“What?” Scarlet asked. “I can’t hear you above the music.”
I felt the hairs on the ends of my neck stand up. I glanced back and Phoenix was sitting in the electric chair, staring right at me.
My heart sank to my stomach. Though I was surrounded by two friendly vampires, I was deathly afraid of the one behind me.
“Never mind,” I said. Even though he was out of earshot and the club music was pulsing faster than my beating heart, I sensed he could hear every word.
“The club has been a great hangout,” Scarlet began.
“The whole reason the club exists is so that we can be ourselves peacefully,” Onyx said.
“There are many of us who don’t want a new direction. The club is being torn apart,” Scarlet admitted, shaking her head.
I had to know more. I leaned into the girls as closely as I could. “What’s his story?” I whispered to Onyx.
“Whose story?” She scooted closer.
“What?” Scarlet asked, tossing her luscious locks over her shoulder. “I can’t hear you.”
“She’s interested in some guy,” Onyx said.
“I thought you had a boyfriend,” Scarlet added.
Onyx nudged her best friend, then eagerly asked me, “Which one?”
I placed my index finger over my lips. In my softest whisper I began, “I’m not interested…I mean I am…but not that way. Don’t look now…but the guy behind me, sitting in the electric chair…”
Onyx did her best to check him out without being too noticeable, but Scarlet glared toward the stockade. “Who, him? That’s the bartender.”