Stuck (subject to change)

Chapter 1

I stood, shivering in my black ensemble (a black dress that lay mid-thigh with a plunging neckline and black stiletto heals) and my feet aching something wicked. My long and wildly curly hair laid around my shoulders, but it did nothing to shelter me from the cold air of the night. This evening hadn’t even really started and already it felt like an eternity had spread by. I turned my head only slightly to look at Kara.


            I could tell by her sharp jagged breaths that she was cold too. She had her thin arms wrapped tightly around her slight frame, and goose bumps covered her exposed skin. Kara was wearing even less than I did, that was to say her skirt was shorter and her top showed almost everything she had (or the lack there of in her case). I wrapped my arm around her to conserve our heat between the two of us.

            Kara smiled and held onto my arms, “Thanks, Danu. God its cold out! How much longer until we’re in do you think?”

            “Not too long now, probably like 10 minutes I bet,” I sighed, “Are you sure you want to come here tonight? I mean look how packed it is. I mean it’s a grand opening of a club its bound to be packed.”

            "All the more gorgeous men to look at," She turned her face to look at me, "Plus you promise to match me drink for drink tonight, no chickening out and being all mature and responsible!"

            I frowned slightly at her, and then stuck out my tounge,"I know, I know. Look the lines moving!"

            We moved forwardin the line until we were only two people away. I figited, and pulled at my dress, waiting impatiently to finally get this might started. Kara was figiting too, she was staring whistfully at the doors, she loved going to new clubs, meeting guys, partying, you name it she was down. And I was left to be the responsible one. Tonight would be different, Kara had made me promise I'd drink and relax, dance or whatever it was you did at clubs.

            I stared at the front doors of Hex. What a name, I thought. It was located in the warehouse district, which was mostly abandoned buildings, with few actual functioning buildings around it. But that ment plenty of parking, and side walk for the long lines to stand on. I could only imagine what the inside of this one looked like.

            "Welcome to Hex," a tall blond greeted us at the door. He barely smiled, but I could tell his teeth were perfectly white, almost as white as his pale complexion. He held out his hand as if to show us the way inside.

            I flashed a grin at him, and he stiffened, before turning away and looking at the other people waiting outside the door. I stopped at the tiny register and handed the girl standing there the $10 cover charge and walked on through the door, Kara following behind me.

            The door led us down a narrow black, barely lit hallway, and at the end was an emerald green curtain. I pulled on the middle separating two halves and stared at the scene before me.

              The music was booming, something hypnotic in the form of a techno song, and green strobe lights were everywhere. I seen nothing but tables and booths that ran the length of the warehouse. Kara gave me a little shove and I walked through the curtains into the chaos. She latched my arm through hers.

              "Bar first," she said in my ear before dragging me across the room.

              Kara leaned over the bar and smiled eagerly at the bartender, who was young and couldn't help but stare at Kara's clevage as she leaned over, I suppose.

            "What can I get for you two ladies?" he smiled, he only had eyes for Kara, that I was used to.

            Kara was everyone's type. She was petite and cute, with a perfectly curved body. Her hair was straw blond, naturally of course, and she had sterling blue eyes. Her skin was tanned and smooth, and she even had personality. Bitch has everything, I laughed to myself.

            "An appletini and a ... " Kara stopped.

            " Liquid cocaine," I finished for her.

              "Thats good," Kara laughed, "Start big and then keep a good buzz  going."

              The drinks were ready withing seconds, and I threw mine back like a professional drinker. Which I wasn't, but I had done my fair share of drinking, just not recently.

                "Where's the dance floor?" I asked.

                "Its down stairs," the bartender grinned. 

                It was now that I noticed the tables and the bar were the first floor, but it was just a balcony just leading down into a lower level. Kara and I walked over the the nearest edge and looked down. The dance floor was packed, but not in the obnoxious i'm-rubbing-up-on-a-stranger-way, everyone was evenly paced.

              Karas face lit up, "Lets go! Look at all those hotties!"

              I laughed shaking my head, following her to the nearest set of stairs that led down to the dance floor. I nearly had to run to keep up. The stairs weren't steep, but I managed to nearly fall down them twice. Kara just kept glaring at me impatiently, until we finally reached the bottom.

                "Here's the deal Danu, you have to grab the first cute guy you see and dance with him..."

                "But Kar..."

                "No butts! I'm in charge, remember you promised to have fun, and I'm not going to dance with you all night, nor are you going to sit on the side lines like a wallflower! Live a little," she laughed.

                A tall guy with chocolately brown hair walked in front of Kara, only to be snatched around the arm and drug onto the dance floor. She wasn't a big thing, but she was stronger than you'd think. She winked at me as he put his arm around her waste.

                I wasn't Kara, I couldn't just grab some guy and go. I looked around for a minute, trying to not look at Kara, and her devious glare. A few guys walked in front of me, but non that I could imagine dancing with. I was nearly 5 foot 9 without heals on, and naturally I was conciencious about my height, so a shorter guy wasn't going to cut it.

                I was looking around from the spot where I stood when a tall, handsome guy, with hair nearly the color white (clearly bleached that way) stepped in front of me. I grabbed his arm, and reached up to whisper in his ear, "Dance with me."

                He didn't object, just raised an eyebrow and foloowed me when I pulled his arm in the direction on the floor. I closed my eyes and let the beat take over, and just let my body dance with out my mind interfering. I could feel him behind me dancing closely and I let him. Soon his hands rested gently on my hip, and I could feel my face flush. I could see Kara giving me thumbs up.

                When his hand moved and I cold feel it on my butt, I got a little uncomnfortable. It wasn't like I was so unattractive I hadn't been groped before, but every time it happened I felt violated, this time included. I turned abruptly towards him, and danced with my arms up, hoping he'd take the hint.

                  However, he didn't. He held his hand on my lower back and pulled me in towards him, so that my hips were touching his. His other hand he ran down my bare arm. I shivered, and not in pleasure but in pure embarrasment. I tried to push him away, but he only held closer. His head moved in towards mine and I prayed he wouldn't try to kiss me.

                  "I know what you are," he whispered, "Don't try to run, shifter."

                  I stopped moving, my heart beat faster then I would have thought possible. Then I did the only thing I could think of. But before my knee connect with his groin as I'd intended, he had been snatched away, and restrained by a god with auburn hair, strikingly similar to my own.

                  "Get a hint, bud, she don't want you feeling her up," I sould hear him whispering in Whitey's ear, "Now get lost."

                  How cliche, I smiled to myself. The reddness was fading from my cheeks, and I felt relief flood over me.

                  "Are you okay?" the red-headed hunk (yes I said hunk) asked, concern dripping from every word. Whitey had taken the hint and left.

                  "I think I'm okay, thanks" I had started walking off of the dance floor and to the stairs. He followed me.

                  "Do you want a drink, perhaps?" His voice had slightest of Irish accents behind it.

                  "Sure."

                  I made my way to the bar upstairs, followed closely by the red-head. I sat lightly onto a sleek black bar stool, he stood next to me and leaned sideways onto the bar. He was amazing looking. He had a square jaw, gorgeous emerald green eyes, and lucious lips, his shoulders were broad and he was probably near 6 foot 5. But best of all, he was a supe, like me (supe being a supernatural, of course). I was pretty sure he knew I was too, but I wasn't sure.

                  I was a different kind of supe. Being born to a Goddess and a true shifter made me pretty much one of a kind. You can pretty much guess which Goddess is my mother, I was named after her, and even though I've never met her I'm pretty sure I take after her in most everyway. I have more magic than any natural witch, and can shift into any animal I choose, unlike a were who has a specific animal affinity, most times its a wolf but there are panthers, bears, jaguires, foxes, and even the occasional hawks, that I've met, but I'm sure there's more. I could usally tell a supe from a normal human, unless they were sporting some pretty wicked magic.

                  "What would you like to drink?" He asked, grinning at me.

                  "Make it a liquid cocaine," I replied.

                  He placed our order with the bartender, while I stared out over the club and thought quietly to myself. Kara, was probably exstatic that I'd left the floor with a guy, even after the scene I'd caused. She would probably go through 10 guys tonight alone before settling on one to go home with. Kara was a wood nymph and had an insatiable lust for men, I'd heard that was uncommon for nymph's (I guess we know where the word nymphomaniac came from). And I would end up alone, or headed over to Adam's to work off my extra tension, exspecially since the full moon was coming up soon.

                  I heard the clinking of glasses on the bar and I spun around on the barstool and threw my shot back.

                  "Thanks for the drink," I smiled as I got up from the bar stool. I winked at the guy and headed back down the stairs to find Kara.

                  "Wait thats it?" he asked after me.

                  I grinned and kept walking until I made it to the dance floor. I spotted Kara easily, she was surrounded by a handful of guys, dancing her heart out. I shook my head incredulously and walked over to her.

                "Danu! Come dance with us!" She giggled. Did I mention she could hold liquor to save her life. One or two drinks and she was tanked. I on the other hand could drink a gallon of vodka and barely get a buzz. I laughed and headed over to dance with her, forgetting about the jerk with white hair and everything else that had happened. I knew Kara would ask about it later, but for now I just wanted to dance. And dance we did.



******



                  Hours later, half-drunken and shoes in hand I stumbled out of Hex, alone. Kara had found a friend for the evening and I was left to hail a cab, or call someone to come pick me up. I was all alone. It was a chill spring early morning outside and the wind nipped at my skin and sent chills down my spin. I had tried to call Adam, using Kara's phone, but he must have been sleeping, so I left a message I'm sure I'd regret later. Kara had called a cab, and now I was left to wait until it showed up.

                  I stood up against the building, and closed my eyes. Waiting was my least favorite thing to do, and yet here I was. I smiled to myself and relaxed for a minute. I heard footsteps, but I disregarded them and enjoyed my buzz; I should have known better.

                  Two hands pinned my shoulders against the wall, and a warm body pushed up against me. I opened my eyes cautiously, only to be staring straight in the face of Whitey (the creepy guy from earlier). I could smell the alcohol when he breathed silently in my face. His face was contorted in a half-smile half-angered face. He used his entire body to pin me to the wall now.

                  "I like you shifter, but your friend earlier pissed me off. Now its time for you and I to play," he whispered in my ear.

                  He moved one hand down to my thigh where he proceeded to carees my thigh. I wanted to puke. But even more than that, I wanted to hurt him for what he was doing to me. Before I realized what I was doing, a low growl rumbled from my throat.

                  Whitey chuckled, "Go on little shifter growl at me. I'm much stronger than you'll ever be. Don't you know what I am?"

                  "Demon," I spit out, disgusted I didn't see it earlier, before I'd asked him to dance. I knew if I even used one ounce of magic on him, he suck me dry. Thats what Demon's did, the fed off of other's magical lifeforce.

                  "Thats right," he grinned wickedly, "You've got more magic lifeforce then most. You'll be fun tonight."

                  Bluck! I wanted more than anything to puke on him, or to use magic to get him off of me. Unfortunately I was going to have to do this the old fashioned way. Physical Violence. I smiled to myself. This time my knee connected, and even a demon hurts when you kick him in the balls.

                  He fell to his knees, holding himself, and cursing loudly. I turned and started to run away when his hand reached out and caught me around the ankle. Fuck, I cursed to myself. I flung a shoe at him with more force then necessary I noticed when I seen the stiletto heel ended up embedded in hand when he tried to catch it. Before he could react I heard the loud purr of a foreign engine pull up on the curb.

                "Get in the car and stay in," my savior twice over growled. He was in front of me in the blink of an eye.

                I climbed in the car, an ashton martin I noted, that had the darkest tinted windows I had ever seen. I almost couldn't see out of them, no normal human would be able to.  And at the moment I wished I was a normal human, because who ever this guy was he was kicking Whitey's ass, and I'm not one who enjoys watching violence, shelling it out when its deserved, yes, but watching, no. It wasn't long when The driver's side door opened.

                "I've saved you twice now, can I at least get your name this time?" he grinned meschieviously at me.

                "Danu o'Mordha."

                "An irish girl?"

                "In more ways then imaginable," I laughed, "And you are? Well other than my knight in shinning armor?"

                "Aiden Boru."

                "What are you? I mean obviously not human, but not a were either right?" I didn't often beat around the bush when I wanted to knwo something, I was brash my father said.

                He threw his head back and laughed. We were driving now, and he was obviously no longer paying 100 attention to the road, but we never so much as got and inch closer to the center of the road then we were before, "A Darkling, my love."

              "A vamp?" I raised my eyebrow at him. I was in some shit, "Your kidding right?"

              "Not a bit, my foxy were," he laughed.

              "Out of the frying pan into the fire," I muttered, I took a deep breath and then turned to him, "I'm not a were, for your info, I'm a shifter."

              "A shifter? How original darling, they always say that. But don't worry I'm not going to hurt you, I'll even take you home. I'm not that kind of vamp," he assured me.

              "You mean the life-draining kind? Or just the kind that lives around here?"

              "Your in luck sweet-heart, I'm not from around here, so no to both accounts. Are you going to tell me where you live or am I going to have to take you home with me?"

              I gulped in air, "First and Locust."

              The ride after that was pretty much silent, except for my obnoxiously loud breathing, and the soft whip of air when Aiden rolled down his window. He stopped and the corner, and I reached over to unbuckle myself. He was staring at me, and I could help but stare back.

              "You're different, you know, I can feel it. Somethings there," he whispered.

              I reached out and opened the car door, "I know."

              I stepped out of the car as his hand reached out to touch my cheeck, I missed it by milliseconds. I slammed the door, it drove off the minute it shut. It was chilly out and I was alone, in the pitch black on the corner of Adam's street