by Celeste Raye
Connie laughed like she was joking. She couldn’t imagine why she would want to do that.
“I like black.”
“I know, it’s all you wear, but don’t you think that you would do better in some color? You have the prettiest porcelain skin and it would pop if you put something else on.”
It was a conversation they’d had before.
“Well, I don’t have anything else. Take it or leave it.”
Denise waved her off. “You’re not getting out of it that easy. I would drag you with me even if you were wearing a paper bag.”
Connie smiled. “Well then, that settles it. Let’s get out of here and have some fun.”
Connie was sending out a false bravado. Maybe she hoped that it would make her words truer. She knew the noise would be too loud, the rooms too smoky, and the company too desperate. Nothing of the image stuck in her head was going to help her get through the night.
Denise didn’t notice, though. She was in her own mind, worrying about how everything was going to play out. Connie could see that she had one thing on her mind—the one thing Connie couldn’t be bothered with. Denise wanted a man.
When they got to the club, the line was long, but they were pushed to the front and let in. Some of the other people in the line weren’t as lucky, but they ignored the yells. It wasn’t like they had asked to be put to the front. It just happened, and Connie was pretty sure that it was because of her friend’s get-up. Denise was on the prowl, and everyone could see that from the way that she was dressed.
The interior wasn’t as smoky as Connie had imagined, but it did have the loud music blaring that made her insides vibrate. It was hard to hear anything, and finally, her friend grabbed her by the arm and took her to the bar. She was checking out the men on the way, but Connie couldn’t be bothered. She was thinking about her house, chair, and book at the moment. The wine wouldn’t be as good, but it would have been peaceful.
She had half a drink down and she was ready to go. Her friend was off somewhere, dancing with some guy. Connie had noticed a man looking at her since she got in there. He had dirty-blond hair and brown eyes with flecks of gold. His jaw was square, and it looked like there was something going on with him. He was paying way too much attention to Connie, and she finally took another guy’s offer for a dance just so that her stranger from across the room would stop staring at her. She wanted to believe that it would end it, but then she got a look at the man that was holding her to his body and dancing with her.
“What’s your name, pretty thing?”
“Connie.”
She didn’t like the familiarity that he assumed with her body. She could feel every bump and lump that he had to offer, and that made her far more nervous than she would have liked to admit. When the dance was done, so was Connie.
“Thank you for the dance, but I think I need a minute.”
He didn’t want to let her go but then walked with her to the bar. Connie wasn’t able to shake him, and for a moment, she looked to the dirty-blond guy that had been watching her, hoping that he would pull the guy from her, but he didn’t. He was gone, and for one reason or another, this made Connie nervous. She looked around for her friend, sure that she needed someone on her side, against the man that introduced himself as Cliff.
“Who are you looking for, sweetie? Cliff is all that you need.”
Connie sighed inwardly, knowing she had to get away. Her body was screaming at her.
“I will be back. I need to find my friend first.”
Connie left the barstool and his protests behind her. Connie could see Cliff getting up and following her. She hoped that she could lose him.
Cliff wasn’t at all what she needed.
Chapter Two
Connie could feel the man behind her even though she was moving very fast through the crowd. Denise had taken off to the back of the club where Connie figured there were some rooms or something that would keep her friend away for so long. Connie had gotten creeped out by Cliff, and now the only thing she could think to do was put some distance between the two of them.
When she got to the back, she could hear Denise talking to someone else and giggling. They were having a good time, and Connie almost hated to ruin it. She knew that Denise needed this.
Connie moved forward to find her exact location, but then she saw Cliff coming up behind her, and she took off. She hoped there was more than way out.
Denise was a little startled to find Connie standing there.
“What's going on?”
“We really need to go, Denise. I don't want to stay here any longer. There's this weird guy...”
About that time, Cliff showed his face, and he had a big grin on it. He could see what was going on in front of them and then he looked at Connie like she was going to do the same thing. That was not her intention at all. Connie was not very familiar with the ways of men, and she certainly wasn't going to start now in a dark, dank club.
Denise looked for a moment, like she was going to say no, but then she must have seen Cliff and noticed the way her friend was acting. Then she was apologizing to them and telling her guy that she would be back later.
Connie felt terrible about pulling her away from her next lover, but she had the worst feeling and just wanted to get away.
Denise’s new friend offered to walk them out. Denise didn’t seem like she wanted his help, but Connie was more than happy to get it. She wanted someone else there, to keep Cliff away from her. Dan seemed to be the far better choice at the moment. Cliff was still hanging close, and he didn’t seem to get the hints that she was giving.
Denise and Connie walked out with Dan and Connie started to feel a little bit better. Then she noticed that Cliff was coming their way.
Connie started to walk a little faster but didn’t say anything more. She just wanted to think that it was all in her head and she was being ridiculous. She was old enough not to have to deal with those types of feelings. Or at least she thought she was.
Denise looked over at her and told her to calm down.
Dan agreed with Denise, telling her that there was nothing to freak out about.
Connie looked over at the other man, and she thought she saw him looking back at Cliff a couple of times. He obviously wasn't worried about it, but there was something in his expression when Dan looked back. He acted like he knew Cliff. Connie stopped.
They were still a block from their car, and when she started to look around, she realized that the streets were empty. The only sound was from the club a block away. Now it seemed a whole lot safer than the silence of the street.
She took her friend's hand and squeezed it a little bit. Connie was trying to get a message to Denise, but her friend’s attention was on Dan. Whatever they had been doing back there, she apparently trusted him, but Connie wasn't so sure about it. It just felt wrong. It felt like a set-up.
Once they got to the car, Connie breathed a little sigh of relief, but it didn't last very long. Dan grabbed her friend from behind and started to pull her away from the car.
“We are not quite ready to leave yet, Denise. You need to get your friend in your line of thinking. You were hot to trot minutes ago.”
She asked Dan what he was doing, but he didn't say anything to her. Instead, he was waiting for his friend to catch up with then. Connie knew that something was about to go terribly wrong. There was no one else around, and the streets were deserted. Of course, in a big city like Chicago, there shouldn't have been a quiet moment. But there wasn’t a sound that could be heard, except Connie’s rapid heartbeat.
“Let her go!”
The guy that was holding Denise chuckled and then looked back at Cliff.
“You certainly picked a live one. Are you sure that you don't want to find another one like mine, more compliant? Hell, this one was practically jumping me back there.
Connie knew that they were talking about her, and she wasn't sure what they meant. What were they taking them for?
Connie was talking to Cliff, telling him that he didn't have to do it. She did not know what it was he wanted, but his gaze was predatory.
She could see that Denise was being put into the back seat of her own car and Connie knew that she did not want to be next to her. She had to get away and get help for them. Connie looked around but there wasn't an option that seemed any better than the others. All of the streets were deserted, and Cliff was in the way of getting her back to the club.
Connie tried to run, but the man was faster and stopped in front of her, making her stop as well. She was a few feet away from him, and he had this wild look in his eyes that she would never forget. It was the expression of a mad-man.
“Where do you think you're going?”
“Please, I don't understand what's going on, but you don't have to do this. I don't even know you.”
“That's the problem, sweetie. I want to make sure that we know each other really well when this is all over.”
Connie had a sickening feeling in her stomach that intensified the closer the man got. He grabbed her arm and pulled her close. His breath was stale and in her face. She tried to look away, but he pulled her in for a kiss.
Every part of her tried to fight, but there was no way that she could get away. He was too strong. Connie could feel some of his hard body pressed against her own. Specific parts of him that he wanted to make sure that she could feel perfectly.
Connie was dragged back to the car; the back door was already opened for her, and she knew that it was the end. There was no telling what was going to happen to them, but Connie knew that if they didn't get away right now, they never would. That should have brought her to action, but instead, it made her shut down.
Then she heard a growling sound from behind her. When she looked over, there was something even scarier than two guys that wouldn't take no for an answer. Far worse than anything she ever imagined before.
Connie was now staring at a real monster. A beast.
Chapter Three
Frank did not know why he found himself at the club that night. It wasn't usually his scene, but something had drawn him to it. He had been taking a walk, something that he did almost every night to clear his head before he went to sleep. There was a lot on his mind lately, lots of tumultuous changes in his world, and all he was trying to do was clear his head of it.
Then he passed a club, heard the music, and something had drawn him in. He didn't drink, but he sat at the bar and watched the people coming and going. It was just a mass of people as far as he was concerned. There were so many emotions that he was picking up from the place and he couldn't ignore them. It was a bit much, and being in such a large room, with so many people, made it almost suffocating.
He was about to leave when a dark-haired woman walked into the room and his attention was immediately taken with her. She shouldn't be there, just like he shouldn't be there. She wasn't the same as all the other humans that were grinding against each other on the dance floor. There was something different about her, and it took Frank only a few minutes to figure it out.
This woman was a witch.
Her hair was black, with a touch of some other color shining from underneath. It was unnatural, and he could not determine if it was red or pink, thanks to the mix of colored lights overhead. Her smile was sparkling and lit up the area around her. Her face was pristine, with only a few freckles that fell across the bridge of her nose.
Frank could see that the woman was nervous. She bit her lower lip, and her long lashes lowered to hide her eyes. The woman was calling to him physically, as well as in some nontangible way.
Quickly, she realized that he was staring at her, but he couldn't help it. What was it that had drawn him to this place and to her?
The more he watched her, the more his initial feeling that she didn't belong rang true. She was obviously there for different reasons than all the rest of the people. Her mind was clear of the others’ feelings he was picking up.
Everyone else seemed to have an agenda, and it was pretty much the same thing throughout. People were there to get played, find pleasure for the night, or prey on the weak.
As much as he had to be around them throughout his life, Frank was no closer to understanding humans than when he started. They seemed to have no purpose and move in circles. It made no sense to him.
After a time, his attention turned. It was now on the man that the woman was dancing with. He had a bad feeling come over him, jealousy most likely, even if the emotion was out of place. It wasn’t that hard to see there was something off with him. Frank could have been fabricating it, but his thoughts were clear in his mind
Frank knew that he shouldn't get involved. It wasn't his business, and the fact that she was a witch should have told him everything he needed to know. Their circles did not mix and just because she was in trouble didn't mean that he needed to help. The best thing he could do was to stay away from the situation. He should have just walked out and not thought twice about the raven-haired beauty that was in front of him.
For a reason that Frank didn't understand, he couldn't walk away. There was something about her and the feeling that he got.
Frank did not want to believe in destiny or anything like that, but in that instance, he knew that he should listen to his gut. His brain told him to get out of there. His gut told him to stay and help because she was going to need it very soon.
He watched the dark-haired woman dance with the man, and even though he did not know her, he still felt a feeling of loss. It was an emotion that he had not felt in a very long time and it honestly threw him off. How was he supposed to take any of it seriously? He walked into a club and now was considering risking everything to help someone he’d never met before. He would have to expose himself, and in his world, you never show who you really are.
Frank had almost talked himself into going until he saw the two women leaving with another guy that was no better than the first. Then, he saw the other guy following. He knew by the way they were walking and the way they looked at each other that they were actually working together. To what end, he wasn’t entirely certain. But it was nothing good.
Instead of getting out like he knew that he should, Frank followed Dan, keeping a little bit of distance between him and the other guys. He didn't want them to know of his existence until it was too late. The rest of it, he would have to figure out as he went.
Everything started to happen quickly, and the man had his hands on the woman's neck before anything else could be said or done. He moved to charge them quickly and had to shift into his true form before he could do much else.
The first guy was the one that had been dancing with the witch. Frank attacked, and the guy never saw it coming. It was a hard stance that didn’t possibly have to be taken, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was he would not be around to hurt the witch, or anyone else, ever again. To Frank, that was enough of a win.
While Frank knew what it must look like for the woman, he still hated to see the fear that filled her eyes, especially since she was looking at him. He was trying to save her, not hurt or scare her. Frank wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but he couldn’t talk in his current form, not in a way she would understand.
The woman screamed and started to move backward. He tried to settle her, but the other guy was trying to take off with the girl in the car. Frank didn't have time to argue and went towards the car.
He clawed the door off the hinges and pulled the guy out. He slung him across the street as sounds of pain came out of his mouth. He was lucky he was still alive as far as Frank was concerned. He had done a whole lot more for a whole lot less.
Now that the danger was gone, he went to make sure that the women were okay before he walked away. Then he wouldn't have to think about it again, or the beautiful witch that had drawn him in.
Frank didn’t dare ask why she did not do anything to stop the attackers. He could feel power coursing through her veins. Why didn't she protect
herself? It was obvious that she had the power to. It was just another piece of the puzzle that he wanted to figure out.
As he started to get closer, he realized that he was still in his true form. He was still just as terrifying, probably more so at the moment, now that the real threat had been taken down.
Frank wanted to shift, show her that he was a man. Tell her that she was safe, anything to get the look of horror off of her face. He didn’t want her ever to see him that way.
Chapter Four
Connie’s heart was beating out of her chest, and she was still on the ground where she had been thrown after the monster attacked the bad guy. Connie didn't feel too bad about how it had turned out for him, but she was certainly worried about her savior. It looked like a bear but was so much bigger than a bear should be. She had seen many in her time in the woods, and never had she seen such a thing. When it started to come towards her, she would have done anything to put some distance between her and it.
The bear stopped for a moment, and she was able to breathe, but then it stood up like it was going to come back towards her, and she knew that it was the end.
She had never been so afraid in all of her life. While the men had probably wanted to rape them or take advantage of them in some way, the animal was going to eat them.
Once the bear stood back up and started to come towards them, something came over Connie. Scared anger started to rise inside of her, and before she knew what was happening, flames and sparks were shooting out of her fingertips as she tried to tell the bear to stay away from her.
That had never happened before, and she was almost as terrified as the beast was. She burned some of its hair, and it started to growl. For a second, she felt sorry for it, but then decided to get out of there. Whatever was going on, the best place that they could be was back at home.
Connie was telling herself again that she should have never left home. She had known that it was going to be a bad idea, but she would never have guessed that it would have ended in such a way.
