6 #MY_BLACK_KNIGHT 6
Happen 7 (F)
As Produced By SheriffSquinty
Theme: Partying The Party
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The trip started off on a sour note.
“I’ve never seen you wear clothes that tight,” were Will’s first words when he saw me, as he leaned on the outside of Maria’s Jeep. I tossed him a dark scowl, not
appreciating his smirk. The top was fine, but the skirt was a little tight, and I really wished he hadn’t pointed it out.
“Leave her alone, Will,” Maria chastised. “We’re supposed to be cheering her up, not pissing her off.”
The other werewolf accompanying us, Jake, was already in the backseat of the car. He was a short but burly werewolf with reddish-blonde hair and a shy smile. We’d always gotten along just fine, and I returned his wave.
“Wait forme!” came a voice from behindus. I turned around and felt a surge of irritation: Anne was striding up to us, wearing a tight black dress and bright red lipstick. I glanced at Maria disbelievingly; had she really invited Anne on a trip meant to cheer me up? But Maria looked equally as surprised as I did.
“Hey, Anne!” Jake called through the Jeep’s rolled-down window, and I realized who the culprit was. He didn’t hang out with us enough to know about the tension between Anne and me, or perhaps he was just oblivious.
“I didn’t know you were coming!” Maria stated, a little awkwardly. Anne raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah, Jake invited me. Is that okay?” Anne looked a bit irritated at the fact that Maria was the one questioning her presence.
Maria hesitated, and I felt bad putting her in this position. I wanted to speak up, to tell Anne she couldn’t come, but knew that would just make me look petty and
immature. Several wolves in the pack were already thinking poorly of me lately, and I didn’t want to worsen the situation. Seeing Maria looking at me out of the corner of her eye, I gave a nearly imperceptible nod. Seconds later, I was in the backseat next to Will and Jake, with Anne and Maria in the front.
Now I really was in apissy mood, and we hadn’t even left yet.
Convincing my parents to let me goto town had been surprisingly difficult and my mother had even tried to make me feel guilty about going. Any other week I would have respected their wishes but I was on edge because of the whole ‘evil tyrant as
my Mate’thing. I had basically snapped something about them being overprotective before storming out of the house.
Not the most mature way of reacting (in fact, I knew I owed them an apology later) but I needed the fresh air and my Wolf was driving me crazy. I’d heard my
mother’s resigned sigh before I slammed the door, so I knew they wouldn’t follow me. They could communicate tome mentally if it was that important.
*
As Produced By SheriffSquinty
*
I snapped out of my thoughts as Anne turned around to talk to Jake, and I realized she looked as graceful and perfectly made-up as always. I scowled to myself, not sure how I was going to be able to tolerate her the entire night. My nerves were on edge and I attempted to relax, ignoring my Wolf’s annoyed growls coming from
deep in my conscience.
I get it, you’re not happy I’m going to town. But I’m GOING, so please just shut up already, I finally snapped.
We shouldn’t be going so far away from our Mate, she whined.
Well I’m definitely not going to waltz into his pack territory and get any closer to
him. Just leave me alone for a couple of hours, I need to get out of the house.
Before she could come up with aretort, I spoke aloud, “So what are we doing
tonight? Going out to eat?” I knew I sounded hopeful; going to a nice restaurant
sounded more fun tome than clubbing right now, although the way I was dressed, I suspected a club was the more likely destination.
“There’s a new club that just opened up. Will wanted to try it,” Maria replied. “Okay!” I responded, trying my hardest to sound enthusiastic. I then relaxed as Will and Jake struck up a conversation that didn’t require my participation.
When we were about ten minutes from our destination, my peace and quiet ended. “So, Skylar, going to dance?” That was Anne’s sickly sweet voice. I saw Maria toss her an angry look from the front seat. Although she didn’t explicitly say it, I knew she meant “dance with any boys.”
“I’m sure you’ll keep most of the boys occupied,” I replied irritably, hoping she
would drop it. I knew exactly what she was implying and I didn’t want to anger my Wolf.
“Oh come on, the guys at this club will probably like you, too. I mean Fate did give you an Alpha as a Mate. That has to say something about your charms.” There was an undercurrent to her words that increased my irritation.
“Back off, Anne,” Will said warningly. “The point of this trip is to forget about all of that.” He was right; I couldn’t think of Gabriel now, the whole point of this was to get his face and dark eyes out of my mind.
“Why do you want to forget about it? It’s a big deal!” Anne responded.
“Why do you want to talk about it so much? It’s none of your business,” I stated, matching her tone of mock innocence.
The blonde shrugged daintily. “I guess I’m just confused. I mean…no offense, but why you, Skylar?”
I remained quiet as my Wolf growled softly.
“Normally the Alpha’s Mate is supposed to be…powerful. Assertive. Brave.”
Part of me agreed with her because I had considered the same thing, but the other part of me (namely my Wolf) was infuriated by the implication that I wasn’t good enough for my own Mate. Burning with anger and insulted pride, I spoke before thinking. “Yeah, I’m not any of those things but at least I’m not a bitch, either. I’m sure your future Mate will have a lot of fun straightening you out.”
A snarl emanated from her throat and I instantly regretted talking without thinking; she was of Alpha blood, after all. Plus, I was annoyed that I let her petty words get tome. Normally my temper was not so quick to emerge. Clearly, I was even more on edge than I realized.
“Guys! Stop!” Maria said loudly, cutting off Anne’s reply. “This is supposed to be fun, going out for a few hours. Anne just forget it, okay? Skylar’s had a hard time. Let’s just focus on having a goodnight.”
Will tossed me a sympathetic look as I swallowed my anger and settled back down again. The tension still simmered in the air and I wondered how long it would take for Anne to bring it up again.
*
Hall Of Supernatural Stories
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Several minutes later we arrived at our destination, a club that was a couple miles from the middle of downtown. We preferred to visit the clubs that were further
away because the center of town always gave werewolves claustrophobia due to the dense presence of so many humans.
I’d never been to this club before, and I took it in curiously as we all exited the Jeep.
Stargaze, a large neon sign read above the front doors. I snorted. What a corny
name. Still, it looked pretty bright and well-maintained and the line in front of the building was fairly long. I saw several expensive carsparked nearby and the
people around us were definitely not low-class. I glanced around, realizing that we were in one of the nicer parts of town. Apparently the rich group of humans liked to stay away from downtown, too.
“Aren’t you glad you wore heels?” Maria asked playfully, and I rolled my eyes. With my werewolf coordination, the heels were very easy to manage, but they were so awkwardly designed that I always wondered how humans managed it. “This club just opened last year,” she continued. “It’s ten dollars at the door but they don’t even bother letting you pay if you don’t look nice. Stargaze isn’t the nicest club in the city but it’s definitely better than a lot of the others we’ve been to.”
I listened idly as she spoke about the club, sniffing the air. The odors of gasoline, perfume, and human sweat made an altogether unpleasant stench and I decided to breathe mostly through my mouth throughout the night.
“You coming?” Anne snapped irritably and I realized the others were already
heading towards the line. Sighing, I made my way over to them while preparing myself for the worst.
—
‘Okay, so this is pretty cool,’ I admitted reluctantly to myself as we entered
Stargaze fifteen minutes later. The club was large and packed with humans. There were a few tables near us at the back where people were sitting and conversing,
almost having to shout over the music, which was loud enough that it hurt my
sensitive werewolf ears and I had to tune it out almost entirely so I didn’t go crazy.
“So are you gonna dance?” Maria asked, giving me a half-smile. She knew I wasn’t overly fond of dancing and the dense mass of humans was intimidating to say the least. I glanced around the rest of the club; there was another area in the back
corner containing several fancy booths and tables. That would likely be where I spent most of the night.
“Skylar, don’t be a wimp!” Will chided teasingly, noting my expression and the area of the club I was eyeing. “Come on just come dance for a bit. If I have to go you have to go.” He waggled his eyebrows.
‘Yeah right,’ I thought, amused. ‘Like you aren’t going to try to pick a girl up on the dance floor.’
“The humans stink of sweat,” I replied instead. “And a lot of them are loud and obnoxious.”
“Only the drunk ones,” Jake cut in, grinning.
Maria grabbed my arm, giving me a look that told me I had no choice in the matter. “Just a couple of songs. Then you can go sit and be a loner, I promise.”
I sighed. The song, some techno mix I hadn’t recognized, switched to a remix of
some Katy Perry pop song I’d heard a couple of years ago. Anne clapped her
hands, delighted. Before I could protest Maria, who was singing along, dragged me out to the dance floor and into the mass of humans.
“Cause baby I’lllllll never be the saaaaaameee….” Maria was singing as she turned and swayed to the beat. Will, who could not dance well, was stepping back and
forth while he eyed the dancing females around us. While he wasn’t a womanizer, he had definitely kissed plenty of pretty human females during our time in high
school. He hadn’t dated any of them, though. That would’ve been very frowned upon by werewolves.
Personally I didn’t understand. Even in my human form, I felt like I had very little in common with them.
I endured a few more songs after the Katy Perry song, idly moving about in an
attempt at dancing while my friends found dance partners, bumping and grinding to the music. I politely turned one guy down after he asked. He was handsome
enough but I just wasn’t interested.
And he is nothing compared to our Mate, my wolf snarled. I instantly shushed her; I couldn’t think about Gabriel now. The longer it had been since we parted, the
more hollow I felt when I thought about him. I didn’t want to deal with the pain of separation right now.
At least I was out of the house, though. Maria was right that it helped when I
wasn’t moping about in my bedroom. Eventhough I couldn’t dance as well as the others, my friends were having fun, and some of the songs were catchy. Overall, the experience wasn’t too bad.
After the music and human bodies pressed around me became too much I decided to take a break. The noise and presence of so many people made me uneasy after a while. I meandered away from the dance floor and found an empty booth, sliding into it with a relieved sigh. Placing my chin on my hands, I took a deep breath.
This is better than being at home, but why do I still feel like crap? I thought, even though I knew the answer.
Because you left our Mate behind, my Wolf chastised, unnecessarily. He left me in the clearing! I snapped back.
Because you were cold and distant to him. And now you’re making no attempt to seek him out.
He has a history of oppressing our pack, remember? I can’t just forget that in a couple of days, it would be disloyal!
And you’re being disloyal to our Mate by seeking out a human settlement to waste your time, she replied. Her words stung eventhough I knew she didn’t truly mean them; she was on edge as much as I was.
“Excuse me,would you mind if I join you?” came a voice from above me. I
quickly snapped to attention and focused on the human standing next tome. He was about average height and handsome with curly dark hair and warm brown eyes.
“Erm…” I began, caught off guard.
This seemed to happen a lot to werewolves when we were in the human town. I’d been approached by men while I was by myself on a couple of occasions. I’m sure Maria and Anne had similar experiences, and probably even more frequently than I had. The humans had no idea what we were, but it was almost like something in
their subconscious recognized that we were different, that there was more to us than met the eye, and it drew them in. Our nature was alluring to them and they didn’t even know it.
Of course, I was sitting by myself in a club, so I supposed a human female would experience much the same thing in this situation.
The human held out his hands in my direction. He was holding a drink in each.
“Look, I brought a peace offering. Strawberry daiquiri or margarita?” I blinked in
surprise. Part of me wanted to turn him away but he looked friendly enough and I
needed a distraction from my inner turmoil. Besides, it wasn’t like I had to go home with the guy or worry about something suspicious in my drink. He could’ve put
five times the dose of a human drug in either drink and my body wouldn’t even
notice it. Werewolves were immune to pretty much anything that could be used to spike a drink,unless we consumed an absurd amount, of course.
“Umm…strawberry daiquiri,” I replied finally. He grinned, setting it in front of me and then sliding into the seat across from me.
“Good, I was worried I would end up with that one and have to revoke my man card while drinking it.”
I smiled slightly despite myself. “So you’re saying the margarita is manlier?”
“Well it isn’t pink and there isn’t a fruit in the name, so I’m saying yes.” He grinned again, revealing dimpled cheeks. I took a brief moment to analyze him. He
appeared lighthearted and pleasant with an open expression; he didn’t seem the type to be able to hide malevolent intentions. Not that I had to worry about him being able to take me if it came to a fight.
“So…you herewith your friends?” Realizing I was staring into space I re-focused on him as he spoke.
“Yeah. They’re dancing the night away.”
“Not much of a dancer, are you?”
I snorted in reply, taking a sip of my strawberry daiquiri. It was very fruity and the strong flavor served to mask most of the liquor, which I was grateful for. I did not savor the taste of alcohol.
“What about you?” I asked, realizing he was staring at me and waiting forme to say something.
“Oh I love to dance but I needed the break. I was getting a drink when I saw you come sit over here and I figured you could use company. What’s your name?”
I deliberated for a second before answering. “Skylar, yours?”
“Drew. Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” I had no clue how to continue a conversation with this guy. I didn’t particularly want to.
“You have really pretty eyes, by the way,” Drew said, a bit shyly.
Now I felt even more uncomfortable, and my thoughts sprung, unbidden, to
Gabriel. I wondered if he found my eyes pretty, and then immediately mentally berated myself for wondering that.
“Erm….thanks.”
‘Impressively articulate response,’ I thought sarcastically.
“Do you live around here? I’m from the east end of town but we just moved here a couple months ago.”
I didn’t really care where he was from but I wasn’t rude enough to say that so I just nodded politely. “Oh I’m not actually from this city, I live in a nearby town but we don’t have clubs there.” I definitely wasn’t telling this stranger anymore details
than that.
For the next few minutes we made idle chitchat but after a bit I became distracted. My Wolf was growing increasingly agitated, whining restlessly. At first I thought it was because I was talking to another guy who was borderline flirting with me but after a moment I realized it was something else. Her agitation had nothing to do
with the conversation; in fact, I had no idea what was bothering her and neither did she. She just had the feeling that something was wrong nearby. I had learned to
trust these instincts so I began surreptitiously glancing around, trying to see what was out of place.
Nothing seemed amiss. I thought I saw Maria and Anne still dancing in the middle of the floor although I couldn’t see Will or Jake. Apparently their Wolves were fine because they seemed perfectly relaxed. So why was my Wolf on edge?
I scanned the crowd again, using my enhanced vision to detect the slightest sign of danger.
There was nothing.
“Skylar…? You with me?”
I turned back to see Drew staring at me with concern and mild irritation.
“Uh…yeah, sorry Drew. I just got distracted.” I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. Her agitation was making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Something is not right and she could feel it.
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#Tobecontinued…