2-- Confidence
By the time the girls left La Belle Morte, the sun had finally set and Luna Street was full of people. The doors of clubs and bars were open, enticing the well-dressed and slightly drunk crowd with loud music and the promise of controlled danger. That was the major draw of Death Row-- its patrons could walk on the wild side, so to speak, and return safely home at the end of the night. The area crawled with police; there hadn't been so much as a mugging since the district opened its doors to the public. Ironically enough, the place known for its plethora of bloodthirsty businesses was the safest area in the city to be.
Claire shifted her purse on her shoulder as they walked. She regretted wearing her strappy new stilettos-- they were sexy shoes, but she was beginning to think they were intended for masochists, and that just wasn't her scene. "So, where are we headed?" she asked Sari, who was leading the way tonight. She knew the area a lot better than the rest of them.
"I'm thinking we should check out The Eclipse. I've got a friend working the door tonight; he should be able to get us in for free."
"Ooh, I love The Eclipse!" exclaimed Cass, who was giddy from both drinking and the prospect of dancing. She had gone to college to study biology, but instead switched to dance. It infuriated her parents, but Cass was used to that. Now, instead of wearing lab coats at work every day, she wore leotards. “They always have the hottest guys there.”
Claire laughed. “Does Daniel know you go there for the guys?” Daniel was Cass’s long-time boyfriend; he was the teacher of her first dance class in college. While he wasn’t the sole reason for Cass’s major change, it went without saying that he was definitely a deciding factor.
“So what if he doesn’t? What happens on Girls’ Night Out is none of his business!” Cass knew she was just blowing smoke; she could never do anything wrong to Daniel. Of course, that wouldn’t stop her from flirting.
The Eclipse was one of the newest and most chic clubs on Luna Street. It had only been around for about half a year, and was owned and operated by the wolves-- they were the most numerous of the lycanthrope species, comprising roughly 65% of the occasionally furry population. The girls, though, were not concerned with such things; they were more worried about finding space on the already-packed dance floor.
Cass was already dancing by the time she made it past the I.D. check. Claire grabbed her hand, and the three weaved their way through the club, trying to find an open spot near the DJ booth at the far end of the circular room-- Cass always liked to be near the booth; she loved the attention.
They had been dancing for about half an hour before Claire stopped, pointing in the direction of the bar closest to them (there were two, like any good dance club looking to turn a decent profit) and making the universal sign for "drink."
"Already?" Sari yelled above the music. She'd expect as much from her younger sister, but Claire wasn't usually that much of a drinker.
Claire rolled her eyes. "I'm just getting water," she shouted back, saying the last word very slowly, so she was sure she'd understand.
"Ohh," Sari laughed. "Get us some, too."
Claire nodded, and began to make the slow trek to the bar. She stayed close to the walls; it would have been impossible to make a straight line to the bar, between the densely packed bodies and the many flashing lights. Claire sidled up to the semicircular bar, leaning over the gleaming black countertop. The bartender, a beefy man who appeared to be in his thirties, nodded at her.
"Can I get three waters?" she asked, holding up three fingers. There was something about the forced deafness in clubs that made her want to give visual aids.
The bartender nodded, and disappeared beneath the bar for a moment, reappearing with three dewy bottles of designer water in his hands. Claire nodded thank you and dropped some cash in the tip jar; walking away with the water. It was one of her favorite things about The Eclipse; you didn't have to pay for water. Of course, she was sure that they made enough between ticket sales and cocktails that they could afford not to charge for it.
By the time she made it back to her friends, Cass had already found a guy to dance with; the two of them were pressed together in a manner that would have gotten them pulled apart in middle school. Claire tapped Cass on the back with a water bottle. Cass nodded and took it, obviously enjoying her new dance partner. Claire exchanged amused glances with Sari as she opened her water bottle. Cass had always been a flirt, though she never really needed to be-- she was tiny, barely over five feet, but had the hourglass curves of a much larger woman. She was naturally tan, being half-black, and had that curly-haired exotic thing about her. Her sister wasn't bad either, though they were opposites. Sari stood almost six feet tall, and was model-thin. She was as pale as her sister was tan, but looked just as exotic-- she had the large, dark eyes, slender nose, and full lips of her Indian father. Side by side, the two women looked like a PSA for the wonders of genetic diversity.
Claire always felt really plain next to the two of them-- she wasn’t particularly unattractive or homely, but it was hard to compete with those two. Claire was just a normal, run-of-the-mill, brown-eyed, brown-haired white girl, or so she felt. In reality, she could be quite stunning when she put forth the effort, but she usually didn't. A research assistant in a biology lab, Claire spent most of her days dissecting the vital organs of rats; it didn’t lend itself to feelings of glamour.
That night, though, her friends had made her put forth the effort. “Girls’ Night Out is for the grown and sexy,” Cass had said when she made Claire change into a skimpier top. It was Sari who’d made her put on makeup: “It’d be a shame to let such a wonderful palette go to waste” (Sari was always the more gracious of the two). Claire had felt a little put upon, at first, but got over it as soon as she hit Luna Street-she’d noticed the increased attention, the not-so-causal glances from male passersby, and it gave her a sense of confidence she didn’t usually have.
The confidence would come in handy, she knew, when she saw him enter the bar. He would be her prey, she knew immediately.