The Blood Bracelets #1: Blood Bound

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Heady perfume, intoxicating alcohol and tobacco smoke hit Eljae's nose the moment she stepped into the dimly lit bar, making her head spin for just a moment as her sensitive nostrils separated the smells and adjusted to them. They were so strong that she could barely smell the scents that the crowds were emitting in their different states, inebriated or sober.

Eljae did a quick scan around the room as she stepped through velvet red curtains that hid the entrance from the bar patrons. Her eyes swept over the dancing figures in the centre of the reflective silver floor and the Alchemists who were performing on podiums at the front of the room, crowds of men watching them in trances. At the back of the room was the bar, lined with neon lights in different colours with one male and one female bartender, each who were conversing with customers over the loud, thrumming music of a live band while they fetched drinks from the glass shelves behind them.

Blending breezily into the crowd, Eljae made her way to the bar and slid onto a round stool at the counter. She flicked out a painted bright-red nail that matched the colour of her hair and the young male bartender swiftly met her gesture.

‘What can I get you, Miss?’ he asked, smiling charmingly.

‘Something sweet,’ she replied, scouring the labelled bottles behind him, ‘and strong. Surprise me?’

‘Certainly.’

Eljae swivelled around on her stool, putting her elbows back so she leant comfortably against the bar. She looked around the room again, but her eyes were caught by the swirling flames and sparkling icicles that the Alchemists were producing from, what looked like, thin air. Their skin was a paler shade than even Eljae’s alabaster complexion, and their hair was almost as long as hers, but the colour differed depending on what element they could control; red for fire, silver for air and pale blue for water or ice. Their eyes weren’t predominately human-like either; even Eljae could see the pearl quality to them from where she sat, the pupils almost invisible.

They gave her the creeps.

‘Here you go, Miss.’

Eljae reached behind her for her drink and took a cautious sip. Deeming it reasonable, she flicked back a few dollars that would pay for the beverage and went back to searching the room. After a few seconds she spotted a free couch across the dance floor and quickly stood up to claim it, not liking how closely people pressed up against her when rushing to the bar for more alcohol. 

Eljae had to find her buyer. She was supposed to meet him here, but that was easier said than done. Hitting away quite a few wandering hands, Eljae was just a few steps away from the couch when it hit her— a scent that she hadn’t noticed before.

The feral odour set her hairs on end and Eljae stiffened, her back growing rigid as she tilted her head in the direction it came from.

To her left, sitting amongst a cluster of scantily clad women was a young male Immortal, yet it wasn’t just any Immortal— it was her bounty hunter.

He seemed to notice her the same instant she recognised him, and after a moment where everything seemed to become silent, the rest of the bar fading out of focus as her senses concentrated on the bounty hunter, Eljae realised time was slowing down again.

She shouted, dropping her glass that halted mid-fall just as she threw herself backwards, shattering whatever it was the hunter was casting.

Eljae bumped back into someone on the dance floor just as her glass crashed to the floor, making a few people stop and turn as if hoping to see a fight. She didn’t waste another second, propelling herself forward and fleeing from the bar at her fastest speed.