The Protector

FORTY-SEVEN

Twenty minutes later I graduated from the bar top and into a dancing cage. The transition was actually quite easy as I straddled a sexy male bouncer's shoulders and he asked me if I "wanted to be a dancer," to which my alcohol-soaked brain readily obliged. I didn't fully understand the extent of my commitment, and the hot redhead and I were assigned to our own cage.

"I'm so glad you came out tonight!" the redhead said, hugging me for the tenth time. "Even if there's no real shot I can take you home, it's still great to hang out with another strong female," She winked and I grinned, flattered by her kind words.

"Yeah, I don't think my boyfriend would want to share me," I admitted with a laugh as I danced against her slender legs for the crowd.

"I don't blame you, girl. He's gorgeous," I nodded, but in my inebriated state, I wondered how she knew what Julian looked like. "And he looks like the jealous type. He hasn't taken his eyes off you for a single second," she said pointedly. I followed her gaze to where Kyler's dark eyes were trained on me, despite Alana and Avery having a spirited conversation next to him. I glanced back to my redheaded dance partner.

"Oh no, that's not my boyfriend. That's my..." I said, but the redhead was disinterested, instead focusing on the two dark shot glasses that were handed to her between the bars of the cage. The cage itself was a little confining, but the open door on the side made it feel slightly less claustrophobic. The opening was large enough for me to escape, if needed. Why I was thinking about an escape was a little unnerving, but the idea floated out of my mind as quickly as it entered. 

The redhead handed me the dark cloudy shot glass, and we clinked our glasses together in a salute before downing the liquid. Something about it was very familiar. It tasted of black licorice and bitterness. The girl fastened something tight to my wrist and I tried to see what it was, but the club was too dark. The green strobe light flashed again, illuminating the bar, but I couldn't quite get my vision to focus, despite blinking several times.

"Perry," the girl said and I focused my cloudy attention from my wrist to her face. Her green eyes were a distant memory and were now a dark shade of black. Wait, I never told her my name... "Beth says hi," the girl said with a smile as she collapsed backwards in the cage. Dead. I quickly bent down to her, thinking I might be able to heal her, but my vision was so out of focus. The dark spots became more constant, and I staggered sideways, grabbing the side of the cage for balance. The shot glass slid out of my hand, falling many feet below to the dance floor, and shattered to pieces. Some of the liquid bled onto the dance floor and it immediately burned a hole through the concrete floor. Poison.

I staggered harshly, but no one below was aware the redhead was dead and I was not far behind. My foggy eyes searched silently for help again, but no one was paying any attention to us. Even Kyler had been sucked back into Avery and Alana's conversation. My eyes were so heavy and I couldn't stop them from closing, no matter how hard I tried, and before I knew it I was falling down a deep hole, amid a blast of music. My body was weightless, but my eyes felt as though they weighed a million pounds as the blackness enveloped me.