Dance Tonight (ON HOLD)

Chapter Two- Bloodlust

Alex

I like developing new friendships. I like talking to new people. New people are interesting, and they can surprise you with just about anything.

My friends Jeremy, Jay, and Ian dragged me to this strip club last night. I caught my ex girlfriend cheating on me with her boss, and they wanted my mind to be occupied. I'm glad they took me to the strip club.

The dancer with the sea green eyes held my attention the whole entire time. And, I held hers. She took my mind off of everything that didn't include her.

It was surreal to see her at the coffee shop that Jeremy and I go to all of the time. It was even more surreal that she turned out to be Guyanese, like me. Her name is Zaria. A pretty name for a pretty lady.

But, her sea green eyes told no lies. She's from Guyana, and I think I know exactly what her backstory is. I'm not saying this to be creepy. It's the truth that all of us from and on the island face.

I want to know who she is. She probably wants to know who I am. Jeremy and I gave her our numbers and she texted us to make sure she had them. I expect to talk to her a lot.

Zaria is working at Gavin's tonight. So, I'm gonna go and see her. I will not be throwing money at her, even though it'll make me feel bad. It's her job. She should get paid.

I can't do that. I want a real friendship with her. I hope I'll be able to see her after her shift ends.

I'm leaving my job right now. I own three newspapers in the state of Maryland. I was at the one that's closer to Gavin's. My newspaper, The Record Aurora, is high-end, and Gavin's strip club is as well. It's ironic for them to be so close together. You always hear a wacky story from a strip club.

But, Gavin and the women who work there never give my newspaper the time of day. Gavin only hires classy women. They may strip and show their breasts to anybody who comes in, but they are well behaved and respected outside of the strip club. Gavin's strippers make all stripper stereotypes seem false.

On top of that, Zaria is his only stripper that gets paid to keep her clothes on the whole time she's on stage. I wonder why. She left everything to my imagination. The trench coat she had on didn't even slip down her shoulder.

I wonder how she can make $1,000 or more doing that. I guess because the regular customers are rich and old. They have money to spend.

Anyway, Zaria is really interesting to me because of one thing: she's a witch. And, us crossing paths is not a coincidence.

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I live in an apartment that's not too far from my newspaper. My apartment building is eight stories tall, and I live on the fourth floor. It's convenient because I can walk if there is a fire and not have to use the elevator to get outside safely.

My apartment used to look like a bachelor pad when I first moved in five years ago. Now, it looks like a grown, sophisticated person lives here. I have a brown, leather L-shaped couch in my living room that is facing an 80-inch flat screen tv. The floor is carpeted and is connected to the ceramic floor tiles of the kitchen.

I have a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment. My bathroom is connected to my bedroom. I have a walk-in closet. My bedroom walls are white. I wanted to change them to gray, but I would lose my security deposit if I did that. So, I posted up some frames of various musicians that I like to cover the white walls. The Gorillaz and The Zombies are the main ones that cover the walls.

I have a queen-sized bed. My comforter is gray and black with pillow cases to match. I just changed the bed set a week ago. It was time for a change, especially because I used to sleep with my ex in those sheets.

My bathroom is really bright, and it sometimes irritates my eyes. Everything is so white. I have to deal with it, though. It's apart of my DNA to be sensitive to bright lights.

I'm happy to be in my apartment right now. Jeremy and Sam told me to be careful because of suspicious activity going around my neighborhood right now. They're not talking about any type of activity, either.

The sun goes down in fifteen minutes. I'm staying in my apartment. I'm not going anywhere for the rest of the night. That sucks, because I really wanted to see Zaria tonight.

It sucks that I have to be confined in here. But, if I could change it without damaging anything, I would. Sadly, I can't. Everything is like this for a reason.

I decided to watch tv after I changed into a wife beater and basketball shorts. I sat down in the middle of the couch and grabbed the remote from the African Blackwood coffee table that was in front of me. I turned on the tv, and the first thing that I saw were people on the news, dying in the street. A street that's a few minutes away from my apartment.

I turned the volume up, trying to listen intently.

"We have no clue what's going on. All of these people died last night around 11:30. All of them have punctured holes in their necks, and they all had shocked expressions on their faces when they died. The cause of death will be verified a few days from now."

Damn it. Why didn't Jeremy and Jay tell me how bad it was out there? This hasn't happened in this town in so many years. Why are they back?

The last time they were here was six years ago. They killed a witch and a warlock, and left. What could they possibly want now?

I picked up my iPhone and dialed Jeremy's number. He picked up on the second ring.

"Jeremy, why aren't you and Jay doing something about this?" He let out a drawn-out sigh. "They're... looking for something. Sam and I went out and hunted them down and killed them. But, I know there's more. We believe that there is an army of them."

This is not good. This is so not good. My life is in danger now. Some of those people who died were my people.

"What do you think they're looking for?" Jeremy took some time to respond to me. A little bit too long for my liking.

"They're going after Zaria. She has the powers to wipe all of them out."

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