To be quite honest, I didn't have a good feeling about tonight.
Granted, I didn't really have a good feeling about any night. I hated going to bars. I hated the nightlife of New York City. I hated wearing the too-tight dresses and the very tall heels. This wasn't me, but it has completely overtaken my life in the past year since we started our search for Doctor Bradley Moroso.
My goal for tonight was simple, same as every other time we went out: Look for any Supernaturals in the places we went, scope out the people just to be sure he wasn't blocking my powers for any reason, then move on to the next location. It was easy, quick even, but that didn't make this any better.
I took a deep breath, feeling my power propagate inside me as I felt my eyes adjust to the auras that the party-goers in the room had, searching out for the bright ray of color that I knew would signify that of a Supernatural.
"Damn..." I heard my friend Alex mutter besides me. "I know I've seen this done a million times, but it really makes you look weird, Taylor."
I knew what he was talking about. Whenever I did this power of mine, my pupils lengthened to resemble that of a cat. "Then don't look," I answered simply, earning a snicker from his girlfriend, Claire.
Finally, when I was satisfied that I hadn't missed anyone, I dropped my power and looked at my friends. "Not here," I told them. Let's go to the next place."
Alex groaned and I just now realized he was holding a drink, making me narrow his eyes at him. "Why can't we just have a night for fun?" He asked me, giving me a pointed stare with his bright blue eyes that signified his Water abilities. "We do the same thing every day! We deserve a night out--"
"And what if that night out is the day we could've found Moroso?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. "What if it's the night Katherine decides to come take us back to the island? Or Catchers--"
"But what if it's not?"
I glared at him, not wanting to play his games. "We're not meant to be having fun," I told him.
"Come on, Taylor. You of all people deserve to relax for once! Take off your heels, have a drink. Just relax--"
"Alex!" Claire butt in now, taking an anxious look at me. "Leave her alone. She's just trying to do her job."
Despite the island, Katherine, and losing Cole all having happened over a year ago, some people were still sure to be extra sensitive around me. Claire was one of them, especially since she had the ability to dig into my mind and know my every waking thought. I tried to keep my feelings buried, tried to keep my head focused on my training and our search, but even she knew about the nightmares I had every night about what had happened on the Catchers' island.
To be honest, I don't know why Alex chose tonight to do most of his complaining. They got to switch out, Alex and Claire with Leona and Will. Sometimes Sophia would attend too, but I was the only person who went out each and every night to look for Doctor Moroso. It didn't bother me. In actuality, it would bother me more if I didn't get to go out each time. It wasn't that I didn't have confidence in my teammates to do thorough work, I just learned to trust myself and my powers more than anyone else. People can make promises all they want with the right intentions, but sometimes they're forced to break them.
"Promise me you won't leave? I wouldn't be able to take it if you were gone too."
Cole's face softened before he squeezed me a little bit tighter. "Oh, I definitely promise. I could never leave my little Blondie hanging."
I shook the unwanted memory off.
"Let's just go to the next place then call it quits for tonight..." I mumbled, avoiding Claire's concerned gaze.
We usually used the regular bar-hopping technique, picking a street to go down and going from place to place. Being that most of us were underage, I used some compulsion to get us inside.
The only person in the Big Six that was exempt in these expeditions was Mackenzie. Despite the fact that she was now a teenager, thirteen was still a bit young to be experiencing bar life. She argued it too, saying that I can just manipulate her appearance to make her look older so she can help, but we all said no. Her youth was already corrupted enough with the responsibilities that were placed on her and everyone else, there was no need to ruin that any further. Instead, she spent her days training and finishing up basic schoolwork. Even though she the only Electric Supernatural user out there, she still needed to do basic math and English work to at least function in society after all this was over.
That is, if we even had a future to look forward to.
The next bar we went to was a large, club style. There was a line out front of waiting people to get in but I didn't have enough patience to wait around and walked straight up to the front.
"Hey, no cutting!"
I ignored the annoyed humans and made direct eye contact with the bouncer. "We're on the list. Let us in."
"You're on the list," he repeated back to me in the robotic tone that people under my compulsion get. "Go right on in."
"What? That's no fair!"
It didn't bother me using compulsion as much as it did when I first discovered that power. It was needed to get what I wanted, the information I needed, and a step closer to Cole. I was willing to do anything and everything in order to bring him back.
I caught Claire's eye, a sad look crossed over her features and I knew she was reading my mind. They all felt bad for me and I've heard them all talking to each other about how I've changed over the past year. I didn't see much difference, to be honest, except for the fact that I took my duty and training more seriously. As Galen said, I couldn't let anything distract me and once my biggest interruption was gone, I was truly invested in being the Mind of the Big Six. I felt strong now, powerful even. I didn't know how I would stand up to Katherine in a fight, but I felt a lot surer of myself than I did when we first set foot on that island.
The inside of the club was crowded, loud, and smelled slightly of human sweat and cigarette smoke. I looked at Alex who nodded, immediately taking my queue to stand to my right and Claire to my left. The one perk of being in nightclubs was that it was dark, so when I used my powers to search for the energies of any Supernatural, they most likely couldn't see the feline nature of my eyes unless they stood very close. To counter that, my friends flanked either side of me just in case.
I looked through the crowds of people, the familiar feeling of hope washing through me as I took a deep breath, and focused my powers into aura manipulation. When I opened my eyes I only saw the faint and washed out colors that symbolized human power, immediately making me disappointed.
"Nothing..." I muttered, dropping my power. "Time to fan out."
The three of us began searching the crowd to see if Moroso was here but using a blocking power to stop me from knowing he was a Supernatural. I didn't expect that to be happening, especially since this whole mission had been very low-key and he shouldn't even think anything suspicious was happening, but it was good to double check.
A half hour later, the three of us convened on the upper balcony area of the bar to report our findings.
"Not here," Claire stated. "No thoughts either."
Claire was the only person, besides Sophia, that came with us that wasn't in the Big Six. The reason was simple: Her telepathy provided more information than any others. Despite everything I've learned in the past year, I've gone out of my way to not learn that. I wasn't interested in knowing someone's every waking thought, despite its benefits. There were other, less intrusive ways to get the same or very similar information.
"I didn't get anything either," Alex said, leaning against the bar. "Now... It's not really late just yet, can we at least stay for a drink or two? Please Taylor?"
He looked at me the same way a child would look asking their parents to buy them a candy bar at the store. It was comical, but also kind of pathetic to see him pleading.
"Look, I really don't have a good feeling about tonight--"
"Just one drink!"
I pursed my lips looking between the two. Claire wouldn't beg like her boyfriend, but I could tell that she also wanted a little time to have fun and relax. Would an extra hour or two here really be so bad? And I could scout out the place for a little longer in case the doctor showed up.
"Fine," I gave in, earning a victorious bellow from Alex. "But only for a little bit!"
I used my compulsion to order them a drink and sat back while the two of them had their fun. I didn't have anything, I wasn't the biggest fan of drinking since the time the four of us snuck out and ran into a pack of Catchers. If we were out in public, I needed to stay aloof and ready for any and all threats that might come our way.
Eventually, the one drink turned into another... and another and the two were having a blast in their tipsy states. I almost smiled at them, happy to see them having fun together. Their whole relationship was so different than how it would be in the normal, human life. It was nice to just let them be carefree for a little bit.
"Excuse me?" I felt a hand touch my shoulder. I turned around and saw a guy, only a few years or so older than me, giving me a smile. "Can I get you a drink?"
"No thanks," I stated bluntly and went back to looking over my friends.
Claire stared at me incredulously, her mouth opening and closing. "Taylor!" She hissed. "Don't be a brat!" She turned a happy smile over to the guy. "Taylor doesn't drink but I'm sure she'd love to dance with you!"
I glared at her while I heard a deep, throaty chuckle behind me. "Really? How about it, Taylor? Want to have a quick dance?"
"Not really--ow!" Claire kicked me from under the table.
Just have fun for once! One dance isn't the end of the world!
In addition to me learning a variety of new powers, Claire also gained the ability to send telepathic messages. Usually they were helpful. Tonight it was a pain in my ass.
"Fine," I replied through gritted teeth, only giving in because I knew Claire or Alex would make a scene if I didn't. "One dance."
I let him lead me out to the dancefloor where the smell of sweat grew. I resisted the urge to crinkle up my nose in disgust, especially since I was sure I was about to end up like the other girls that were pressed up to the guy they were dancing with.
Thankfully, this guy was decent and led us to an area with less people. He stayed a respectful distance away while we slowly swayed to the rhythm.
"I should probably introduce myself... He started. "I'm Jared Ross."
"Nice to meet you," I sarcastically retorted. "So tell me, Jared. Do you always pick up girls who are forced into interacting with you by their drunk friend?"
An amused smile crossed his features that actually weren't so bad. Caramel skin and dark hair, very tall, but beautiful blue eyes. "Only the pretty ones," he complimented. "Now, what's a fairly abrasive but endearing girl like yourself doing at a place like this?"
I narrowed my eyes at him, not knowing what he was getting at with this. "I'm out with friends. Isn't that obvious?"
"It is," he nodded. "But you very clearly aren't enjoying yourself here, so there has to be another reason."
Oh, no reason at all. Just stalking the New York City night scene to look for a doctor to bring my boyfriend-not-boyfriend back to his normal, non-demonized state so that we can save the world for a scary 200-year old woman that happens to be my grandmother.
Yeah, I couldn't say that.
"I'm babysitting," I answered. "I'm the designated driver tonight so I'm not too stoked about it."
A mischievous glint in his eyes came up. He started leaning in and right as I was about to clock him in the face, knowing I was much more powerful than him but looked like a dumb, defenseless girl, he stopped and gave me a wicked grin.
His voice was low and hushed, "How about we agree not to lie to each other, Miss Taylor Buckley, the Mind of the Big Six? I have a few questions to ask you."
And that is why I should've listened to my instincts when I had that bad feeling about tonight.
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Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter and please let me know your feelings about it! :)
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