The false dawn made by the nearby lights of L.A. just over the horizon was driving him crazy. He couldn’t tell what time it was. After living in the City under the Mountain for the last three months and before that living in his forest he would have thought that time would have mattered less to him. He reminded himself that even though he didn’t have clocks, the sun and ceiling crystals still gave him a pretty good idea of what time it was relatively. But here in the heart of Southern California where he could barely see the stars and the misguiding light of the city on the horizon was driving him insane.
Luckily, they just so happened to pass by a Wells Fargo which had the time displayed on their digital sign, 1:25am. Was it really that early? He really hadn’t gotten any sleep. And his energy levels crashed on the spot. It was as if knowing how tired his body was forced his mind to acknowledge it. His legs were suddenly heavy and his jaw cracked open in a huge yawn. He shook his head and kept moving. The sticky, groggy feeling dropped down on him like an anvil and all he wanted to do was go back to sleep. He knew that he couldn’t, and he forced himself to keep up with the rest of the group. They all were showing signs of being tired. He guessed that the adrenaline of going into and through the Whyte Plain had wiped that feeling from them. But now that that chemical was leaving their system, the fatigue was there to take its place. Walking did help a little though and much sooner than he anticipated they were approaching a large building with pink neon proclaiming; The House of Eden.
William glanced over at Katherine and Charles. Katherine could only shake her head while Charles lifted his eye brows and shrugged. William looked from the bottom to the top of the building. This is what we came all the way down here for? The pink neon was done in a tasteful way, if that was even possible, and the place looked fairly decent, relatively speaking.
Ansuya didn’t stop or hesitate at all. She walked up to the front door at the same speed she used to get here. William looked at his friends sharing his own doubts nonverbally with them before he turned and followed the elder.
Ansuya was standing at the door. She had the bouncer in the palm of her hand as she explained sweetly that she and her second cousin Katherine were legally blind and they needed their service dogs to ‘see’ for them. The bouncer looked tough, bigger than Nicolas, and he had some mental discipline as well. “Why are you girls coming to a gentleman’s club so late then? Why aren’t you at home?”
Ansuya languidly unfolded her arm onto the podium that he was standing behind. “We’re here because it’s out friend’s birthday and we promised to take him to a strip club. The house party was a little bigger than we thought and it took us this long to get everyone out.” Ansuya’s eyes bored into the bouncer, “You want to let the seven of us in…you need to let us in.” She stood there as her words sunk in. “Show me how much you want me by letting us in.”
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The bouncer had that same glazed over look that the people in the tourist over look had. Without any hesitation he gave her five tickets. Ansuya gently stroked his cheek with her hand. “Thank you.” She then glided into the building as the rest of them followed.
The place was dimly lit. The red carpet and red felt chairs all around the place were bathed in black lights. There were strobe lights near the raised stage. It was a strip club. William was greeted with the smells of sweat and perfume. There was a hum of conversation overlayed by the thumping music and the DJ.
Ansuya walked in front of a scantily clad waitress who almost spilled her entire tray of drinks trying not to bump into her. The startled yelp she made as Ansuya cut her off seemed to draw the attention of the whole place. And the place dropped to stillness, instantly. The music was still thumping, but even the DJ stopped talking. The girls on stage had stopped dancing, and every set of eyes in the place was now following the beautiful woman and those that followed her.
William locked his eyes ahead of him as he tried to ignore the gaping stares of the topless dancers and their patrons. The wolves held their heads high as they followed Ansuya to a table in the back of the club. The elder slid into place at the back of the table to allow her to look out over the whole room. The rest of them filed in around the table to the sides of her and the wolves situated themselves as unobtrusively as they could under the table.
Ansuya seemed to not notice everyone in the building staring at her. She leaned over to Nicolas as he was relaxing up against the leather of the bench. She asked, “Nicolas, which one is she?”
The scout seemed to be taken by surprise by the statement. He blinked at her and looked around the room. The place seemed to become unfrozen just as the song was ending. The loud DJ came over the sound system, “Let’s give a big hand for Vanity. Now coming up on the center stage is…” William didn’t pay any more attention to the obnoxious voice that boomed throughout the room. Nicolas however had that look of being in serious trouble.
The dull roar of the room cascaded to life once more as the DJ finished his introduction and the music came on again. William couldn’t help but take a look around. Even though most of the patrons had gone back to whatever it was they were doing before they came in, most of the dancers were still shooting glances their way. There were some attractive ones, but he didn’t have the slightest interest in them.
Then, a brave dancer came up to their table. She had bright blond hair which couldn’t possibly be a natural color, and boobs as fake as anything he had ever seen. The girl might have been attractive, if it wasn’t for all that make up and the smell of sweat and heavy perfume that clung to her. She smiled at the men at the table, “Are you boys ordering anything or have you already found something you like?” With this last part she bent over the table showing her deep, cleavage.