Pomegranate Parfait

Chapter 1

"Get lost," the bouncer barked, blocking the doorway. He scowled at the boy, crossing his arms. "Come back when you hit puberty."

The crowd huddled in their fur-downed coats against the snow that began to flutter from the sky. Wool hats covered reddening ears while tightly bound scarves blocked out the worst of the chill. Still, it was not so cold that the New Yorkers could not uncover their ears and crane their necks at the commotion. It was Saturday night, the busiest time for the Wraith Club. There were always a few idiots who tried to sneak inside, teenagers on a dare or drunk on their egos, who drew the attention of the club's self-absorbed patrons. Twenty-two year old Korey Rodi was no exception to this rule. Shivering in six-inch stiletto heels, she craned her neck towards the excitement.

"You've got to be kidding me," the boy wined, a thread of pink crossing his cheeks as his voice cracked. "I'm literally twenty-four, just check my ID." He pulled a thin card from his pocket, flashing the ID in front of the bouncer's face before returning it to his coat.

The bouncer narrowed his eyes. "Get lost before I call the cops, kid. This is your last warning."

The boy swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing with the motion. Even from a few places back, Korey could see the sweat begin to shimmer at his temple. She grinned against the icy wind. Watching this weasel of a kid take on the bouncer would make her night.

A man caught Korey's eye as he emerged from the alley beside the club. He seemed normal enough, with his charcoal trench coat and downward tipped hat, brimmed with snow. He could have been anyone: a businessman returning from the office, or a husband making his way to any of the fancy restaurants lining the street. Still, there was something about him that made her uneasy...

"God, if they don't let us in in the next five minutes, we're leaving." Sabrina grimaced behind a fluffy pink scarf pulled so tightly to her face, Korey thought she might inhale it. "I've lost all feeling in my feet, and I'm not freezing to death in some stupid line when I could be warm in bed." Sabrina was the personification of the word 'creampuff'. From her fuzzy scarf, hat, and gloves to her oversized faux-fur coat, she looked like a short pink polar bear. Ringlets of blonde hair like soft-serve ice cream tumbled down to her shoulders, oblivious to the pure evil resting in her pale brown eyes.

"Your feet aren't numb from the cold, Bri. I warned you not to wear those shoes," Korey sighed, eyeing the pink platforms that screamed trip-and-fall. Her eyes found themselves scanning the street for the strange man she saw before, uneasiness amassing in her stomach. She found him in the last place she expected to: heading straight to the club, and the mountain of a man standing before it. Korey faltered as the man slipped past the bouncer and through the obscure glass door. The bouncer hardly batted an eye. In fact, no one in line seemed to notice him. There were no profanities thrown, no rising of complaints, not even a shoe flung drunkenly at him. Korey must have been more drunk than she thought. She was already hallucinating.

* * *

The club pulsed with life. It was a house of worship to back-alley sinners and underground gods. Patrons professed their piety through bodily ruin, praying in liquor and fresh-rolled cigarettes. Unholiness shadowed every pair of lips, whispering sinful things below the waves of the music. Lust, envy, and greed soaked the air in a heavy fog, breathed in by the patrons until they became drunk on their own desires.

Korey melted into the music. This was where she was most as home: head throbbing with the beat of the music, sweat plastering her dress to her body, drunk on life. Her throat burned as she knocked back another shot. Soon she was hiccuping and giggling along with everyone else, and nothing - nothing - felt better.

The dance floor basked in enchanting lights that, along with the shimmering mist from the fog machines, seemed to wrap up the dancers in their very own fairytales. Korey tore off her heels and relished in the feeling that returned to her feet. Finally warm, the coat was next to go. The dress shimmered like a disco-ball. It was the main reason why she bought it. It wrapped around her like an overenthusiastic hug, but it was worth the trouble breathing when it gave such justice to her curves. Silver eyeshadow and dark, satin red lips completed the look. She was beautiful - and the smug tug at her lips revealed she knew it, too.

Korey found Sabrina in the center of the party, swaying in rhythm with two broad shouldered men. It was no surprise that they flocked to her; men loved Sabrina. All it took was one look at that porcelain face, the sweet, innocent grin, and the mountain of bouncing hair for a guy to drop everything and grovel before the bubbly blonde. They couldn't tell, from that one look, that Sabrina was not as sweet as she seemed, that her interests lasted mere seconds, and that while she would remain in their minds for months, they would be forgotten by morning. As Korey approached, Sabrina left the two men behind. When their eyes met, a glitter of understanding passed between them, and soon they were spinning and jumping, seizing the dance floor by storm. Vitality leaked from every pore until the room swelled with passion. It was a pleasure to be wicked.

* * *

Time was irrelevant in the heat of the club. Hours became minutes, seconds lasted eternities. One moment, Korey was swimming through a sea of booze and highs, hand in hand with her oldest friend; the next, she was collapsed against the bar, the cold metal digging into her cheek.

Korey groaned, rubbing her eyes before remembering the makeup that took an hour to put on. She pulled out her phone: 4:17 AM. The numbers flashed too brightly for her aching head, so she shoved it back into the garter-pouch she wore exclusively when she had no intention of minding a purse.

The music still blasted, but the crowd had thinned. She scrolled through her messages. Sabrina: 1 hour ago: met cute guy going to his place see you tomorrow don't get too drunk love youuu <333. Of course she was going home with some guy. Korey turned on Do Not Disturb before putting her phone away. She groaned as she stood on wobbling legs. Korey's head might have been her greatest adversary yet. She gritted her teeth against the thundering that took residence in her brain. All she had to do was find her shoes, then she could walk - or, more accurately, stumble - the four blocks home. There, she could sleep off the awful hangover beginning to dig its claws into her skull.

As her eyes scanned the club, a familiar outline drew her attention. Perhaps she was still drunk, because she could have sworn that was the man from earlier. Or she was dreaming: because in her mind-altered state, she might have thought his eyes held no iris at all, and that they were blank, white, and staring directly at her.

He was running. Trench coat billowing behind him like his own personal shadow, the man tore through the crowd without remorse, shoving people aside without a second glance. Korey's bare feet slapped the ground as she raced after him, not questioning the logic behind chasing a stranger through the dark, snowy streets of central Manhattan.

The man sprinted down the alley adjacent to the Wraith Club, shoes skidding on the snow-drenched tiles. It was a dead-end. Still, the stranger kept running.

Korey closed in on him despite the cold nipping at her toes and the shards of glass burrowing into the exposed skin of her feet. Why she felt such a pull to this stranger, Korey did not know.

The stranger did not falter in his speed as he approached the end of the alley and the two-story brick wall that enclosed it. It almost seemed like he sped up.

Korey Rodi barreled after the man, oblivious to caution. She was going too fast; she could not stop. The man disappeared through a crease in the wall. Too late, Korey realized her mistake. But by then, she, too, had disappeared.