Let me know if you recognize anyone in this part. ;) Playlist --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I put the car in park and turned off the headlights, sitting back and looking to my companions. Jacob looked about as wary and curious as I felt and Gabriel sat in the back seat with his arms folded, his face in a deep scowl.
"Is it bad?" I asked him carefully.
He nodded.
I looked at the entrance in front of us that lead into a club on the far side of Modesto. The Styx.
The doorman stood by casually, his arms folded not a care in the world. I didn't think there would be a problem.
We can do this. I thought to myself.
Jake unhooked his seat belt on got out of the car.
"Let's go." He said before closing it.
I looked at my hands still gripping the steering wheel. If Jake was ready, then he was ready to protect me. It would be fine.
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself out of the car, slamming the door shut before I could change my mind.
"Come on Gabe."
Gabriel sat another moment, his frown deepening, then he hurried out of the car and next to my side.
"S-" he closed his eyes, shook his head, and put his arm around my waist. "Just stay close to me."
"Got it." I nodded, folding my arms around myself. Gabe's fear was unsettling.
Jacob eyed Gabe's arm around me a moment then went to my other side and rubbed my arm a moment before heading forward in front of us.
The doorman grinned at us suspiciously as we came closer. The tattoos on his face starting to show the first signs of real age just as they did over the rest of his body.
"Have fun kids." He chuckled as we passed, making no move to stop us.
I knew I looked at him with a completely shocked expression, which just made him laugh louder. Gabriel guided me forward.
The haze we were immediately met with disoriented me, as did the nearly putrid smell of drugs and everything else.
I understood why we got such a strong feeling from this place. It was clearly a Temperos buffet.
Was this place too dangerous to go for all at once?
Hopefully we'd know soon. We made our way through the middle of the crowd, Gabriel and Jacob worked together keeping me from getting pushed around.
A live band was playing at the very back of the club and most were dancing to it in some way. They were playing mostly covers and I was surprised at how many were familiar to me.
I checked on Gabe. He was still frowning, but wasn't as tense as before.
"What are they doing?" I whispered into his ear.
"They're pretty preoccupied with their own…tasks." He whispered back.
I thought a moment. "How many advanced ones?"
"Too many."
That wasn't comforting.
I grabbed Jake's hand in front of me and pulled him close so he could hear me. "We can't do it all at once."
He frowned. "Why not?"
"Gabe says there's way too many, I don't want to risk it, not yet." I didn't want anything to happen to him if it was too much. We didn't know if he was strong enough yet for something like that.
"I'm going to go around and get a feel for things, then I'll get back to you." Jake said pulling away quickly, but not before dropping a kiss on my head.
"Okay, be careful!" I had to call to him before he disappeared.
I looked to Gabriel to see if he'd caught what we said. He nodded.
We came upon a far side of the club in front of the wide bar. Gabe sat on a stool with a sigh keeping one hand on my waist, rubbing his face with the other.
I came closer to him, putting my forehead on his. "Hey, it'll be fine." I smiled softly.
He threw a fake smile back at me, but said nothing else.
I turned around and tried to watch the crowd, but everything was much too hazy, it was starting to give me a headache, so I closed my eyes and felt everything instead.
The atmosphere was thick, but it was fluid at the same time. Moving around and molding with all of the physical substances. A song reached my ears that I recognized and the music started to fill me. I couldn't help but begin to move with it. It entranced and captivated me and I just let my body fill with its motion. My muscles began to unclench and relax and it felt amazing. Things grazed my side, waist, or back every now and then, but I didn't care, it was more than likely just Gabriel staying close to me like he said he would.
To my regret, the song ended and a slower one started. I still didn't open my eyes and continued to move to that one as well.
An arm wrapped around my waist and I smiled glad that Gabriel loosened up and came to dance with me. I opened my eyes to smile at him and stopped. It wasn't Gabriel.
The man holding me had a prominent jaw with a shadow and sculpted nose, a satisfied smile on his face. He was built just as thickly as Gabriel, but was more awkwardly held together. His hair hung slightly over his face a color and tone much similar to mine, though lacking the bit of darkness that I inherited from my mother.
His smile didn't waver as I pulled away from him. I looked around finding that I was completely surrounded by people and neither Jacob nor Gabriel was anywhere to be seen.
"Lose someone, angel?"
"Yeah, I…" I tried to look over the mass of heads. Where had they gone?
"Don't worry. I'll take care of you." I looked back at the stranger, his vibrant blue eyes smoldering me.
Before I could comment, the band started another song that froze me. My mother's voice entered my mind singing me to sleep.
The words started to fall off of my lips. I knew it by heart.
"You know this song?" he asked.
I didn't look at him.
"Yeah, my uh…mother used to sing it to me. She loved it." I mumbled.
"Your mother?" he pressed. "This song is only played in my club…ever. How would she know it?"
I looked at him as he started to sound upset. I frowned. "I don't know."
"Who is she?"
Was. I thought, unable to stop myself. "Grace," I said, "Amy Grace."
His eyes widened and a thick fog started to form around him it became blacker with each second.
"Your…mother." He said through clenched teeth.
"Yes." I nodded warily. What was wrong with this guy?
He grabbed my wrist. "Are you sure?"
"What?" his eyes held me in place, raging.
"Are you sure she is your mother?!" his voice rose alarmingly and his grip tightened.
Before I could respond the air around him seemed to explode and Temperos surrounded him in such a thickness that I could hardly tell a single one apart.
Along with my eyes being pervaded, so did my ears with too many voices all hissing. Amy Amy. She said Amy. The Amy? It's not possible. How could- Amy Amy.
Then one stood out from all of the rest and it spoke to me alone.
Anna. Run.
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