Ghastly. (Jurdan)

Chapter Three

Vivi and Heather came tumbling out of the bar, shouting atop of each other. Through their mumbling and bumbling I managed to pick out only snippets of what they were actually saying.

"You just punched a guy!" Heather said, panic in her voice.

"That wasn't who I think it was... was it?" Vivi's feline eyes bored into me, chilling me to my core. I nodded, curtly and turned away from her.

"Who was it?" Heather asked, her words slurring slightly.

I looked back to Vivi who looked back at me, with a panicked gaze at her inability to lie. "Ex boyfriend." I responded, unable to looked her straight on. Vivi's look of relief spurred me on. "You know, the one who dumped me before I started crashing with you guys?"

Heather nodded slowly before kneeling down and unbuckling her shoes. "He probably deserved it then."  She laughed and took both of her shoes off. "Shall we go somewhere else? I'm still in the party mood."

I thought about it for a moment, sobering up in the cool night air. "Fuck it. Why not?" Heather celebrated and stood back up.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Jude? I mean, aren't you kind of angry?" Vivi asked. She was absolutely right, I was furious with Cardan for showing up in my world but I refused to allow him to ruin my night any more than he already had.

"I want to go and get drunk and dance and forget about all of this. You were right earlier, Vivi. I need this night out."

"Well can you at least try not to deck anyone else, please?"

"I'll do my best."

We set off from the bar and headed further into the town centre. Clusters of girls in tight dresses and boys not dressed nearly well enough for the occasion sauntered through the cobbled streets, the air was filled with drunken laughter and flirting. The latter made me sick to my stomach. As I walked I felt  my latex dress dampening from the heat of the evening, sticking to my back and legs. I began to realise that Vivi and Heather we far more intoxicated than I was, which I assumed would be a problem later in the night.  Heather tripped on some invisible force, sending her careening into a conveniently placed Vivi. I turned to her, sending her a disapproving look. Since I had moved in with Heather and Vivi, I had noticed that my sister would sometimes glamour Heather into tripping or dropping things which Vivi would conveniently  catch. Although I could no longer be glamoured, I did remember the feeling. I didn't approve of my sisters manipulations, and it seemed that being a mortal wooed by the Fae had only downsides in my experience.  Vivi glanced back at me and shrugged, in her opinion she was doing nothing wrong; she was merely using her power to further her relationship with Heather. Regardless of what she thought, it was manipulation. She had power and Heather did not.

                                                                                         ***

The line outside the next club was disastrously long. I believed the sun would have risen before we made it inside. Heather looked at her girlfriend, with pining eyes. "But baby, you can get us in anywhere! You said we were always on the list!" Of course, Heather thought this, Vivi had obviously been glamouring half of the mortal world just to stay in Heather's good books. As much as I hated it, I wanted Vivi to get us into the club, the evening had turned cool and I wasn't used to wearing so little this late in the day. The hypocrisy was not lost on me.

Vivi sighed in faux relent. "I guess I'll see what I can do, just for you." Heather gleamed as we followed her up to the front of the queue. As Vivienne spoke to the bouncer, her voice was thick with glamour, "I think you'll find us on the list." She purred.
The bouncer, poor man, became distant. His eyes glazed and he smiled. "Of course you are. Welcome." He pulled a smooth, velvet rope aside and ushered us into the building. As soon as we entered my ears we destroyed. The thudding base reverberated in my chest and a fog machine choked my lungs. It was rammed with bodies, moving and grinding against each other; I tried to force my way into a less densely packed area but was thrown to the dance floor. My thoughts harkened back to the High Court, a mortal would be entranced by the Faerie music and dance until their heart gave up. My tongue was dry and I couldn't see Heather or Vivi anywhere. Panic set in, this wasn't what I had intended when agreeing to the night out.
Again I tried to push my way out but was knocked to the floor, I curled up my fingers trying to avoid them being trampled and pulled my knees to my chest. No one seemed to notice that I had fallen. No one cared. A foot came down on mine, hard, and I yelped out in pain. My cry was swallowed up by the cheering and the bass. Through by balled up fist I rubbed to top of my bitten off finger, seeking comfort in the most rudimental way.
I was yanked up to my feet and dragged through the crowd. In my shock I fought back, pulled against the bejewelled hand. Bejewelled? No... no surely not-
I looked up to the person dragging me. And pulled harder. His dark eyes scolded me as he turned to face me.  He pulled me towards him, making me collide with his chest. He placed his hand on my chin and forced me to look up at him.
"You're weak."