Clara Moore and the Creatures of the Night

"Howler's Den"

CHAPTER 3

Light the resemblance of blood flooded Clara's sight as she regained composure. She glanced up to notice a scarlet glowing neon sign which hung at eye level. The bulbs flickered, lighting up the words: 'Howler's Den' and below it more subtly, 'Est. 1968'. As she turned around to take in the large room she had clambered into, a gasp escaped from her mouth.

It appeared as though she had landed in a sort of hidden club. The dark, yet vibrant room hummed with the feeling of electricity and a compelling sense of the unknown. A vast dance floor at the centre of the room was crowded with many swaying silhouettes, moving to an enchanting tune Clara had not yet heard of. The figures danced in shadows, concealing their faces from her view. As she focused her eyes, she noticed scattered tables surrounded the floor, some filled with seated strangers sipping drinks and muttering over the buzz of the crowd.

No one seemed to have noticed Clara standing there, everyone seemed so consumed by the music and the energy that flowed like liquid through the room. As the beat changed, the dance floor began to shift, splitting the crowd of people to reveal a bar across the other side of the room.

Drawn to the party atmosphere, Clara let her feet move towards the floor.

As she stepped onto the wooden floor, she felt it quiver from the weight of many moving feet. The sound of gentle instruments grew louder as she moved across dance floor. The music rang through Clara's ears like silk, and she had to resist the sudden urge to move and fall in sync with the figures around her. Tearing her mind back to reality, she focused her eyes on the people around her. At first glance they looked ordinary, however, the more Clara blinked the more it dawned on her that the dancers surrounding Clara were not people at all.

They all looked extremely different from one another, yet had certain characteristics that told her they could not be human. A group of girls who were huddled together had the same extremely pointed ears, which protruded from their equally long, white hair. Clara's eyes widened and she gasped, retreating from the three. Backing up, she felt her feet trip and her body fall clumsily onto another figure just behind her. As she spun around to apologise, her eyes fell on a man dressed in all black, hissing at her just like the cat near her house had done earlier. Where the cat had small yellowed teeth, the man bore a pair of white pointed fangs. Before Clara could recoil from him, the sound of a howl came from behind her, and she whipped around to see what looked like a large dog – no, a wolf - prowling towards her, across the dance floor. Clara flung herself out of the way, hardly believing what she was seeing. All at once the dance floor was starting to feel very small, the dancers closing her in like a box. Partly due to her need to escape the feelings of containment which entrapped her, and also fearful of what else she would encounter, Clara fled the floor in direction of the bar.

A bartender with multiple face piercings stood behind the counter which was mostly empty, aside from a couple who appeared to have fluttering wings protruding from their backs. At the other end of the wooden bench, sat a more ordinary looking boy, dressed in a casual plaid shirt and denim jeans.

Clara's eyes were drawn from the boy to the wall behind the bartender, which held shelves filled with mismatched bottles containing interesting concoctions. Next to the shelves, a blackboard hung on the wall, advertising a series of specials including 'Icy Dragon', 'Pixie on the Rock' and 'Red Lacquer' with a subtext that read 'for Vampires only'.

Pulling up a stool a seat over from the boy, Clara pondered on whether she had either entered a strangely themed club or if Agnes' craziness had finally begun to rub off on her. She peered over at the boy next to her in curiosity, and Clara thought he looked as though he had just broken up with his girlfriend, sulking as he leant on the counter. He had a cocktail glass in front of him, which was filled with dark blue liquid that seemed to spiral, like a whirlpool, as he moved his finger in a circular motion above the glass.