Blues Hues Club
Ten Years Later
"Two Coors Light," Dessa said flatly as she placed two bottles of ice-cold beer in front of a greasy-looking man waiting in the booth she was serving.
"Thanks, honey." The man flashed her a gold-plated grin, and she internally cringed while keeping her face neutral.
She turned her back without replying, but before she could walk away, she felt a hand touch her bum and she stopped in her tracks. She glared at the man, who threw his hands in the air with a self-satisfied grin.
"Sorry," the man said. "I was reaching for the beer, I didn't mean it, this table is tiny, don't you agree?"
Dessa clenched her fists but said nothing, even though it killed her not to wipe the smug smile off his face. She walked away fuming, slamming her round tray on the granite countertop, startling a few customers sitting by the bar.
"First incel of the night?" John, the bartender, asked while placing a glass of club soda and a shot of vodka on the tray.
"Who knows how many girls he's felt up already," Dessa said with a growl.
"Yes, but you know the rules, the first time…"
"To hell with that rule," she snapped. "Where's this again?"
"Booth 13," John said as a customer walked up to the bar.
Dessa begrudgingly left to deliver the drinks. She rolled her eyes when she noticed the couple occupying the space, eating each other's faces with gusto. Dessa placed the drinks on their table loud enough to get their attention and it seemed to snap the couple out of their little bubble. The girl had the sense to look embarrassed while the guy looked annoyed by her disturbance.
"Get the fuck out of here," he said in his thick Russian accent before downing his shot in one gulp, slamming the tiny glass upside down on the table.
The young server needn't be told twice. She hurriedly took the shot glass and returned to the bar with renewed anger in her blood.
"Remind me again why I took this job, Joe," Dessa asked the bartender after placing the tray on the counter again.
"You needed money for college," John answered before placing a glass of orange beverage on the tray. "And it's John, Iris. You've been here for a week, you ought to remember my name by now."
Dessa scoffed to herself. She needed the money to get by until it was time to pack up and leave. It would be trivial to remember names.
"Where's this?" she asked, changing the subject.
"It's for you," the bartender replied.
"What?"
"It's from the lady in table three."
Dessa turned to where the table was and sure enough, a girl wearing a snug-fitting dress was sitting there looking at her. The girl must be in her early twenties, and she was alone. She raised her glass to Dessa, smiling. The young server took the orange beverage from the tray and walked up to the girl without breaking eye contact.
"Hi," she greeted good-naturedly. The girl's smile widened with her forwardness. "Iris. Thanks for the drink."
"I'm Helen," the girl said, blushing pink.
"You come here often?" Dessa asked, checking her out before staring Helen in the eyes.
"Yeah, not really. I don't come here often, I lived in the town over. You?"
"I just got hired a week ago."
"Really, where are you from?"
"El Tapas."
"My ancestors were from Tapas," Helen said thoughtfully.
"Maybe we're related."
"I hope not!" Helen laughed, her eyes twinkling. "Where in ET though?"
Dessa was about to reply when they heard glasses breaking, and she looked up to the bar. John motioned to his left, pointing at a faraway table. There was a commotion in booth 13, a group of men was fighting.
"Oh my god," Helen exclaimed. "Why aren't the bouncers doing anything?"
"It's their day-off," Dessa said, downing her drink in one gulp before charging towards the fight. It was a joke, of course. She's the bouncer.
"Dimas, please, that's enough!" the girl from booth 13 cried to whomever of the three locked in the brawl.
The men ignored her while other club patrons egged them on. Dessa only had three seconds to deescalate the situation as per club rules, so after a quick assessment, she grabbed the bottle of beer on a table and swung it towards the head of the man nearest to her. The bottle smashed, and the man fell on the floor unconscious; the crowd cheered. Seeing his comrade fallen, one guy turned to Dessa and growled at her, saliva flying in the air. The crowd fell back in horror. Dessa noticed that the growling man's eyes were yellow before they darkened to pitch black. It was so fast she wasn't sure of what she saw. Her fight or flight kicked in. She grabbed the collar of the man's suit and threw him Judo-style before knocking him out with a punch in the nose.
The patrons cheered again, but the arrival of a group of men, all wearing black suits, just like the guys sleeping on the floor of the club, silenced them. They looked bewildered.
"Are you alright?" the girl from booth 13 asked her Russian boyfriend who was rubbing his sore neck from the grip of his attacker.
"Don't touch me, you bitch—" the boyfriend flinched from the girl.
"Miss Lia, let's go," a man in a black suit said.
The girl looked at her boyfriend, who ignored her before running towards the exit, slamming into everybody who was on the way.
Four of the men, whom Dessa assumed were the girl's bodyguards, followed the girl while the remaining two picked up their fellowmen from the floor. The young server watched them leave, never bothering to blink until the door swung closed after them.
The music and the dancing resumed as Dessa turned her gaze towards the man in booth 13. Another server gave him an ice pack and as thanks, the man growled at the server who ran for her life. The man noticed that she was observing, and he glared at her, his eyes burning yellow gold before darkening to black.
"Can I help you?" the Russian asked sarcastically before throwing the ice pack towards her and getting up to leave. Dessa picked up the ice pack and returned to table three.
"That was exciting!" Helen told her. "How did you know how to throw a punch like that?!"
"My dad was a cop so…" Dessa stared at the ice pack for a bit before looking at Helen in the eyes again. "Hey, you wanna get out of here?"
"Sure!" Helen readily agreed. "Where to?"
***
"Oh god, oh god, oh god!"
Helen let out a strangled scream before slacking in bed, panting.
Dessa climbed up to the bed and laid her sweaty self beside a doozy Helen coming down from her bliss.
"That… was incredible," Helen said dreamily, stroking Dessa's hair absent-mindedly. "We should do this again sometime… you can come to my place next. My parents aren't home."
Dessa involuntarily froze.
"When you said your place isn't much, I never thought it was a motel. You weren't kidding when you said you're new here."
Dessa's watch beeped, and she jumped to her feet as if the bed were on fire. She went to the old personal refrigerator in the corner and took out a small red cooler.
"You can stay in my house if you like," Helen continued. "If you're looking for a roommate, here I am. Hey, what's that?"
"Nothing," Dessa said distractedly as she wrapped a tourniquet around her left arm. She jabbed a needle in her vein and gasped as its contents flowed through.
"Is that cocaine? Can I have some?" Helen continued to pry, and Dessa couldn't help but roll her eyes. She took a glass of water and gave it to the other girl. "I don't want boring water… I want what you had."
"It's insulin," Dessa explained tiredly. "I'm type-one diabetic."
"Oh…"
The young server grabbed a pair of yoga pants from her bags and got dressed.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going out for a jog," Dessa said, kissing Helen on the temple. "You can sleep here tonight. I'll be back soon."
Helen did as she's told and closed her eyes, sighing contentedly. Dessa grabbed her earphones and running shoes before heading out.
***
Ivan just got out of Club Amelia, singing 'Kalinka' happily, drunk out of his mind. The bruises on his neck from Lia's bodyguards already healed. He dragged his feet towards a dark alley to take a leak, still singing and swaying when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a person dressed in all black, their face obscured with a black hoodie and a wolf mask. The person was almost as tall as him, but skinnier. They were holding a long black rod in their hand and before Ivan could react; it was coming down towards his head fast.
Ivan almost lost consciousness when the rod collided with his head. It was a good thing that he has a trick up his sleeve, if you can call it that. He stumbled back and growled, eyes glowing yellow. He charged at his attacker, arms swinging to scratch the person with his nails. The person in the hoodie evaded his attacks easily and for once, Ivan regretted being drunk.
The iron hit him in the head again, and the Russian fell to the ground, whimpering. His attacker did not waste their time lounging around. They ran towards him with the rod raised above their head. Ivan did not know if it was adrenalin or the wolf inside him that did it, but he scratched his attacker deep enough in the stomach. They stumbled to the ground, clutching their bleeding gash. A millimeter more and he was sure that he could disembowel the person. The werewolf sniffed and licked his blood-covered hand. A mask was futile if one can taste and smell their attacker's scent. Ivan will know who this person was.
"What the hell...?" Ivan exclaimed, looking at his hand in bewilderment. Even with his heightened senses, he could not smell the unique scent of this person, only the blood's metallic scent. "Who are you?"
The attacker slowly rose from where they slumped. When they looked at the Russian again, Ivan noted their mask was gone and the person had glowing deep amethyst eyes. It was terrifyingly beautiful. And then suddenly, the young man felt a chill ran down his spine and the alley seemed to darken than it already was.
"Who are you?!" Ivan shouted aggressively. "What do you want? Who sent you? Don't you know who I am? I am Ivan Ivanovich, I am a 'volkodlak', how dare you--"
Before the Russian could finish his sentence, his attacker vanished in the darkness and appeared behind him, holding him in a tight headlock.
"I don't care," they whispered before breaking Ivan's neck and ripping it, completely beheading the werewolf with their bare hands.
***
-LLE