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.
"Have you seen Jun tonight?" Aryan asked, drinking from his own glass and handling it significantly better than I had.
"Nah, asshole's probably off planning world domination or whatever it is he does." Carter shrugged. Aryan glared at him.
"He's with Tallie isn't he?"
"Well duh," Carter sighed, finished off the drink. "They are mates, that's kind of what they do." I settled back into the couch a little bit as the music got louder for a second. I glanced up to find the door opening and someone walking in. Hoping that I'd get a better view I tried to sit up, but when I was met by hard brown eyes I dropped back down like a stone, heart pounding. Aryan looked over, concerned, but I shook my head. I got the feeling that the conflict I had been looking for earlier had just walked in.
"And thus arrives the boss," Carter sighed, stretching out before slumping back into the couch. It was easy to track the man's progress through the room, because whenever someone saw him they were momentarily silent.
"Jun is the alpha," Aryan explained, totally for my benefit. "Which is why everyone but Carter in this room is scared of him." It occurred to me that the people in this room must have been the pack. Carter nodded in agreement.
"He's not as scary as he'd like to think, though," Carter assured me, giving Aryan a playful jab. "Kind of like this one." I smiled, trying to relax a little while Aryan give him a warning look.
"I still think you're scary," I assured, and Carter dissolved into laughter. He was either drunk or far on his way to being there, but at least he wasn't as rowdy as he probably could have been.
Jun came over fairly quickly after.
He wasn't as tall as Carter, in fact he was actually fairly short, but that had absolutely no effect on his presence. He should not have managed to look terrifying but he did, dyed blonde hair swept into a forward spike and the only other colour in his cloths found in the gold chains hanging around his neck. I tried to subtly shift away when he ended up sitting beside me, Carter giving him an enthusiastic greeting that Aryan just cringed at. He sat with his elbows on his knees, leaning over the short table in front of us I hadn't even noticed.
"People are getting suspicious," was what he opened with, and apparently it was down to business from there. Carter even sat up a little.
"There was a thing between some reapers outside town or something," he said, and I considered saying something. When Aryan's gaze shifted to me, I guessed I would have to.
"There were only two, and technically one wasn't in full control of her actions," I said hesitantly, and Jun turned slowly to face me. I looked down now that I had his full attention, my heart pounding. I wanted nothing more than to just backpedal and forget I said anything, but when I finally worked up the courage to meet his eyes he didn't look nearly as angry as I expected him to. Instead, he just looked genuinely interested. Not quite welcoming, but definitely asking me to keep going.
"I couldn't tell you everything, since I barely know what happened myself, but..." he nodded, and it was as close to encouragement as I was going to get.
So I told him. It was hardly the whole story, since it only started at about the reaper trap and left Aryan out of it completely, but I figured if I got called out on it I could just say I forgot. Somehow I thought it was best to leave Kayin out of it, but the rest was the truth. When I was finished it felt like I deflated, sinking back into the couch. I wasn't sure if I was happy Jun didn't react or not. Instead he just stood up and started circling the room, and after he'd made about a full round there was a space cleared in the centre. Everyone was listening.
"Things are escalating," he said, and I downed my drink despite the taste. My poor nerves needed it at this point. "Everything is reaching a breaking point, which means we need to start calling in allies." There was a low murmur that passed through the crowd, and Aryan stood up to speak.
"We need to gather everyone tonight, get them on our side before anyone else realizes how dire the situation is. Every person downstairs is for the most part undecided, and we need to get them to vote in our favour." More murmurs and nodding. I sat up straighter, brain clouded enough that I was no longer having a small heart attack. Someone in the crowd called out a question.
"Does that mean we have to fight soon?" it was timid, a little scared. I saw Jun smile for the fist time, confident and cocky and not at all what I imagined it would be.
"That means we're gonna win soon," there was a general surge of assent, and the mood lifted. Scary as he was, this guy seemed to genuinely care about these people and making them comfortable. "You all heard Aryan. This isn't the time to be partying, even though some of you look like you already started that." It was met with a bit of chuckling and calls of "Carter!", and the man in question just raised his hands in surrender. People starting filtering out, chattering excitedly, and Jun said something final to Aryan before leaving himself. I set the empty glass down on the table and turned to face Aryan when he walked over.
"And from here I suppose the night is yours," he said, and I stood up with him.
"So I can just go get drunk and dance all night?" I asked, the general mood of the place starting to affect me. I was getting to the point where I did just genuinely want to go downstairs. Thankfully, he nodded.
"Whatever you want," he agreed, leading me out of the room. I hesitated for a second before bursting out.
"Only if you come with me." I looked down as soon as I said it, clasping my hands behind my back. That was absolutely not the smoothest thing I'd ever done.
"You want me to?" he asked, and I still couldn't look at him.
"Um. Kinda." I stumbled out, because apparently the drink had been a lot stronger that it first seemed. When I did manage to look at him, he was smiling.
"Of course." I nodded once, breaking into a smile and surveying the dance floor from where we were. The second floor was filled with people, but I did manage to look out over the railing and watch the sea of people below. We were practically facing the door, so I could see the few people still staggering in. And then I nearly tripped over my own feet, leaving Aryan to hover a little closer in concern.
Red jacket instead of black, white patterned pants and hair straightened. But it was her, the strut alone could tell me that.
It was Brie.