Sofia Ortíz’s stomach fluttered with nerves. This was not really how she wanted to spend her 21st birthday.

“C’mon,” Jackie groaned, tugging her along. Sofia nearly tripped in her heels. She had tried to draw the line back at their apartment, then in the cab, then when they stopped to pick up Jackie’s friends. As they approached the club Sofia didn't have much hope that more protesting would get her anywhere.

Toronto was massive, a sprawling expanse of people and places, especially compared to the small town Sofia was from. Getting a scholarship to U of T was a dream come true but she had never expected… all this. In fact she had avoided getting a dorm in favour of finding an apartment to share for that very reason, to avoid this.

Jackie had seemed eccentric, with her colourful outfits, tattoos and haunting blue eyes Sofia hadn't known what to make of her. Months later as the first semester came to a close she had finally concluded that Jackie was a monster. More than willing to dress her up in a far too short dress and drag her into the freezing March night to torture her for her birthday. She was only slightly exaggerating.

As they stepped into line, accompanied by a few girls that Sofia couldn't even remember the name of, Jackie gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. Or maybe she was just holding on so Sofia couldn't make a run for it, either seemed equally plausible.

“Just try to chill out, have a drink, dance a little,” Jackie coaxed. She was far taller than Sofia, with fair skin and very long blond hair. The opposite of Sophia’s short black hair and darker complexion.

‘But-”

“Ahh, you owe me for the all-you-can-eat sushi I took you out for,” Jackie cut her off.

“You said it was your treat,” Sofia grumbled, rubbing at her arms to try and warm herself up.

“Sofi, I’m trying to get you to have fun,” Jackie replied dramatically as she gently shook her by the shoulders.

“Fineeee,” Sofia sighed. A single night out wouldn't kill her, she could manage.

“I love this song,” one of the other three girls with them cheered excitedly. What was her name? Daisy, Donna? Diana? Sofia hadn't been paying much attention. All she knew was Jackie had a few classes with them.

Sofia couldn't keep up with all the science mumbo jumbo, philosophy suited her far better than chemistry. The amount of studying Jackie did made her feel far better about her decision. While she was a good student… she wasn't great, the scholarship had been somewhat of a surprise.

“Relax, get out of that head of yours,” Jackie ordered as she tugged her towards the entrance.

Sofia smiled at her but held her tongue. She liked Jackie, it was hard not to. Jackie was carefree and cool, a little older, charming and funny. She didn't like Jackie’s propensity for dragging her out of her comfort zone quite as much.

The best way to describe the club was loud. Trailing behind the others she was already starting to feel somewhat suffocated by this place. The flashing lights, the heat, the noise, it was all uncomfortable.

She ordered a ginger ale, having no intention of adding alcohol to this mix of awfulness. The bartender gave her a polite smile as he slid it over to her.

Sofia pressed the glass to her forehead, enjoying the cool sensation of the ice before taking a sip. Bodies moved in time with the music, she could make out Maybe-Diana and the other two chatting with some guys, Jackie made eye contact with her and waved her over. Sofia raised her glass in acknowledgement but shook her head.

Just because Jackie dragged her here didn’t mean she had to have fun. She was far too stubborn.

“Not your scene?”

Sofia jumped at the voice, the woman beside her having somehow appeared without her notice. She wore a suit, her shirt dipping low into a V to reveal much of her chest. Her nails were manicured red and her hair perfectly styled. Most strange however was the sunglasses, though considering the situation Sofia could definitely use her own pair.

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Normally this would be a situation to excuse herself from. Despite the woman’s attractiveness, meeting women at clubs wasn’t really her thing. Still… there was something odd about the woman, Sofia couldn’t help her curiosity.

“No, not yours either I presume,” Sofia replied.

“No, but I go where the wind takes me,” she shrugged.

“Were you swept away or did you adjust the sails?” Sofia asked, feeling somewhat proud of her clever retort.

The woman smiled faintly. “Bit of both I suppose, I am where I am.”

Sofia took another sip of her drink and turned to face the woman. The woman simply observed her from behind the sunglasses. Or Sofia at least assumed she did, she couldn’t see her eyes.

She wasn’t remotely a flirt but generally that’s how these things went, wasn’t it? A mysterious attractive woman decides to start a conversation, scampering off would be rude.

“I believe your friends are trying to get your attention,” the woman offered.

Sofia glanced back at Jackie who was watching her curiously.

“I’m not much of a dancer,” she replied with a shrug.

“What is your scene then?” The woman asked.

“Anywhere not so horribly loud,” Sofia chuckled.

“Amen to that, I hate clubs,” the woman sighed.

“Why are you here then?” Sofia asked curiously. She still couldn’t get a read on the woman. It was as unnerving as it was thrilling.

“A good drink, they can be scarce these days,” the woman replied. Sofia couldn’t place her hint of an accent. She also wasn’t drinking anything.

Sofia sipped in her ginger ale. This woman was strange. Not creepy but odd. She couldn’t put her finger on it but there was something she was missing.

“I’m Eloise,” the woman offered, holding out her hand.

“Sofia,” Sofia replied, still with the straw in her mouth as she shook her hand. Or Eloise did the shaking, Sofia was so confused by what she was feeling that she simply froze for a moment.

Her skin was cold, dry and leathery in a way she had never felt before. A shiver of alarm went down her spine. A sense of wrongness she couldn’t even consciously place. Some lizard part of her brain was sounding an alarm she didn’t understand how to hear.

A hand pressed against Sofia’s shoulder making her jolt. Jackie had returned, eyeing the woman suspiciously. “Hi, I’m Jackie, Sophie’s roommate. And you are?” She asked, her tone not entirely friendly.

Eloise stared for a moment, Sofia figured she had been caught off guard. “Eloise,” Eloise replied after a moment.

“Address?” Jackie demanded.

Eloise’s mouth quirked into a smile and she answered before Sofia could interject. She wasn’t entirely sure what this interrogation was about.

When Jackie was satisfied all her questions had been answered she drunkenly pressed a kiss to Sofia’s forehead. “Have fun,” she whispered before returning to the others.

“She seems nice,” Eloise offered.

Sofia smiled. “Yeah, she’s… nice.” Her overwhelmed mind was trying to remember where they had been. Jackie always seemed to draw all of her attention when she came and went.

Eloise gave her a smile, though a close-lipped one. Sofia suddenly had the realization that the woman even spoke without showing her teeth, maybe it was a strange thing to notice but she had noticed it nonetheless.

“Are you a student?” Eloise asked.

Sofia nodded, “doing my undergrad in philosophy.”

“Who’s your favourite?” Eloise inquired, leaning back to cross her legs.

“Philosopher?” Sofia asked, Eloise nodded. “Hmm… I don’t know. There’s something somewhat romantic about the nihilists, but the stoics probably give better advice. You?”

“I’m not much for the ramblings of men with too much wine and time on their hands,” Eloise shrugged.

“There must be something that’s stuck out to you,” Sofia pressed.

Eloise pursed her lips and glanced away for a moment. “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.”

“Oscar Wilde?” Sofia guessed. It definitely sounded familiar.

“You know your literature.”

“More likely I saw it posted somewhere,” she chuckled.

“Some things cannot be helped I suppose,” Eloise offered with a wistful sigh. “Are you aware of your arrhythmia?

“What?” Sofia frowned.

“Your pulse, it is irregular,” Eloise clarified as if that somehow made it any clearer.

Confused, Sophia raised her hand to her throat. Her pulse didn’t feel any different than normal. Maybe a little fast. How would Eloise even know such a thing?

“I know lots of things,” Eloise smiled.

The fact Eloise has answered a question posed only in her mind was somehow overshadowed by her smile. Sharp-toothed and fanged, they hardly fit a human face. Her teeth were that of a predator, a wolf or a tiger, anything but human.

Sofia glanced around the club as if an explanation would somehow come to her. She did not like this at all. Where was Jackie? This was ever so wrong. She needed to leave.

“I’d be careful raising your pulse like that, you're only damaging your heart further,” Eloise offered, running her tongue over her teeth. She made no move to do anything otherwise.

Sofia wasn’t quite sure what to believe. The music blared, lights flashed, her heart thudded. She felt dizzy. She couldn’t make out Jackie in the crowd and she hardly dared glance away from Eloise.

“What do you want?” She croaked, unsure of what else to do but speak to… this thing in front of her.

“That’s not usually the first question people ask me,” Eloise chuckled.

Sofia clenched her jaw. She didn’t like how calm the other woman was. Her sense of unease was building to all-out fear. This was bad, this wasn’t how anything should be.

“My daughter died,” Eloise finally offered. “I want another and I have no desire to make one of my usual meals. Your life is already going to be cut tragically short, it’s almost ethical this way.”

Confusion somehow drowned out much of Sofia’s fear. The nonchalance with this woman spoke of things utterly alien made her head spin. Despite all that something was unnervingly clear, whoever she was sitting across from, whatever she was sitting across from, she wasn’t human.

How exactly that was possible she didn’t have time to unpack. Making a run for it seemed like a pretty good idea right about now. Though if Eloise could read her thoughts she probably should stop thinking. Clear her mind and just act.

“Sorry darling,” Eloise offered almost apologetically. “You never really had much of a chance. In a few decades, come and track me down if you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

Sofia didn’t have the chance to reply before the woman reached for her sunglasses. Sofia didn’t remember anything after that.

Sofia was something again, if just barely. Her neck pulsed with sharp wet pain. Metallic sticky warmth coated her throat. The taste of sweet iron and salt. Her body was being lowered, pressed against a cold surface.

She didn’t have the strength to open her eyes even as she sensed movement. Her hair was gently brushed from her face.

“Try to die quickly, it’s more unpleasant if you drag it out,” a voice offered comfortingly. Sofia tried to reply but only managed a wheeze as she began to float back into her own body.

“Remember to live, darling, don’t settle for simply existing.”

With that Sofia was left alone. Unconsciousness pulled her back even as she tried to force herself awake. It was a losing battle, a sleep she couldn’t resist for long.

At some point, someone screamed. At another something slapped at her face, voices yelling. She couldn’t feel anything. Her body was both hot and cold, lead and feather-light. It was so easy to drift towards the light, except there was nothing but darkness.