My Soul to Reap (Archived)

Howling

It only took a few seconds before no one cared about us again. Or, so it seemed. Sylla was effectively dominating the dance floor, and while we walked up the staircase I was able to see the uniform sway of the crowd. It was a little unnerving, actually, watching everyone move so in sync. It had happened so quickly that it seemed impossible, but quickly enough we were up the stairs and back on the top floor. There were more people milling around now, and the bouncer actually bothered to glare Aryan down before he slipped past with me in tow. I tried to avoid the huge man's gaze, because my heels didn't give me even close to enough height on him. I just ducked my head as we passed and walked into the room, which was obviously the same as it had been just filled with people. There were probably about a dozen or more all dressed to the nines, and the music from downstairs had managed to filter in. No one seemed threatening, but being faced with a sea of new people still made me press closer to Aryan than I probably should have. He almost bee-lined for the bar, and I raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, now you're trying to get me drunk," I concluded, and he just laughed, sliding a tall glass over to me. There was actually someone there now, although I didn't have enough time to see who it was.

"Not quite. You obviously don't have to drink it, but it's a lot easier to move around when people are not trying to shove drinks at you." We made towards one of the couches this time, and it was kind of nice to be able to just disappear into the crowd. It felt like the past few days all the focus had been on me, on the human thrust into this mess. The anonymity was comforting, in a way, and I considered asking Aryan if I could just go downstairs and dance until I forgot everything. But I shook my head, because that wasn't a possibility and I knew it. I looked around the room, but to my surprise no one had the neon eyes I'd begun to associate with the supernatural. And none of them seemed hostile, either, which was strange. If this was supposed to be some meeting place for everything non-human, shouldn't there be fights? Territory disputes, at least? I'd only ridden on a bus with Brie and that had resulted in two people dying.

"Aryan!" He turned and waved to the man who'd called his name as he came over. He was tall without being lumbering, smiling warmly. He wasn't quite dressed up as fancy as the rest of the people here were, with just a patterned dress shirt. He tried his best to avoid bumping into people as he walked over, making exaggerating faces when a couple blew past him and almost spilled his drink. I liked him instantly.

"Carter," Aryan replied, and I leaned back on my heels a little awkwardly. As soon as Carter reached us he pulled a very startled Aryan into a hug.

"You don't get to be too fancy for a hug," he said, patting Aryan's back a few times as I tried not to laugh. They pulled away and Aryan managed to regain his composure. "You've haven't been around for a while!" Carter complained, dropping down onto one of the couches. He finally seemed to see me, because after looking me up and down he held up his hands.

"Okay, wait, never mind dude. You have valid reasons." He raised an eyebrow pointedly and Aryan sighed, pushing him over and taking the vacant space while I sat on a couch opposite. I couldn't help it, I was grinning like an idiot. And, even after being toppled over, Carter was still giving Aryan a look that read you-should-have-told-me. I was strangely flattered.

"This is Cammie," Aryan said, completely ignoring his friend. "And Cammie, this is Carter." He gave a mock salute at his name and I saluted back. He scooted over to give Aryan more room fairly quickly. There were a few more looks exchanged that probably equated to a conversation before Carter downed an impressive amount of his drink.

"Resident Beta, at your service," he winked, and I rolled my eyes. So, werewolf, which I guess made sense considering. I sipped my own drink, only realizing after I had no idea what it was. I tried to hide the hacking cough that came from being unprepared, and thankfully they chose that moment to start talking again.