Deadly Habits

Prologue

 Pounding music. Flashing lights. Bodies crushed together in a rhythmic undulation. The smell of sweat, alcohol, and marijuana was heavy in the air.

I love it.

Constance lived for club nights with her friends, it was the only time she could let herself go freely without judgment. Her friend, Annabell Grey, brought her another pastel drink and shouted, "Drink up, ho! Celebrate before you can't have any more!" Constance snorted drunkenly and accepted it, taking a sip.

I'm gonna miss Midori Sours...

Nope, don't think about it. Drink and forget it. Find a cutie and dance the night away before being dragged home. Home to etiquette, coldness, formality... blood. Being the daughter of a duke, and a war general sucked. And not even in the fun way, she thought.

Constance looked around at the crowd and saw a tall, willowy woman looking at her as she danced. Her hips swayed to the beat, her shimmery short dress catching the light. Fuck, she was hot... She looked like she had glitter or shimmer on her skin too. Constance was drunk and high, so the effect had her transfixed. Oh shit, she was beckoning with her finger. That was fucking hot.

Constance finished her drink in record time and turned to set it on the bar. She knocked back the shot her friend had pushed into her hand and then turned back. Shit, she was gone. Where–

"Hey..." a sultry voice spoke in her ear. It belonged to the shimmery woman. Constance glanced up at her and smiled.

Okay, also not human, if she got here without running across the floor. Constance grinned and started playing with her hair, "Hey..." Ha, so eloquent.

The woman grinned and leaned in, "I gotta say, you look so cute. I just had to tell you before I lost my nerve. You wanna dance with me?"

Constance smiled and nodded, leaning up to whisper in her ear, "Lead the way, beautiful..."

The shimmery woman was grinning. Constance noticed hazily that her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, but she was swept out onto the dance floor before she could think. Constance looked back once at Annabell, who had made a V with her fingers, wiggling her tongue between them, and laughed before disappearing into the crowd.

That was the last moment Annabell saw her before she vanished into the night.