The Underground City of Cinders

Chapter 7

After my second drink, I started to feel a little light headed and my head started to pound from the dancing and the loud music. I fought my way through the writhing mass of bodies off the dance floor so I could find Izzy. After walking through the club for a few minutes, I found her making out with a guy. "Izzy," I called.

She turned to look at me and smiled, "Isn't this great Liz?"

I nodded weakly, "Yea this is fun but I'm starting to get a headache."

Izzy nodded, stood up and walked over to where she set her purse down. After riffling through it for a couple seconds, she pulled out a bottle and dumped two pills out onto her hand, "Here take these Liz. They will help take the edge off."

I looked at the pills she handed me, "What are these?"

After taking two herself, she replied, "They help relieve pain, anxiety, stress, all kinds of stuff."

Hesitantly I nodded and swallowed the pills with a drink of water, "Thanks."

She nodded and walked back over to the man, straddled his lap and went back to making out with him. Wow Izzy, way to be bold. I laughed and shook my head as I headed to the bathroom. I set my purse down on the counter and turned on the faucet so I could splash some water on my face. The water felt nice and helped me cool down but as I looked up at the mirror my whole world spun. I had to grip the sink hard to prevent myself from falling over. I felt like I just had four more drinks at once.

Cautiously I took a step back from the sink and wobbled. What the hell is wrong with me? Gently I stepped out of my shoes and stepped down onto the cold tile floor. Grabbing my purse and my shoes, I stepped out of the bathroom and back into the club. Immediately I noticed a change in the atmosphere of the club. I couldn't place what was different but I knew something was. I took a deep breath to try and clear my head and I noticed a strange delicious scent in the air. I tried to shake my head to get rid of the weirdly amazing smell. Slowly I made my way back through the club and on my way to the front door I noticed a couple groping each other. Eww. I would have ignored it but I noticed as I walked past them the strange smell was getting stronger. I paused for a second and looked closer. I felt weird for staring because I felt like I was invading their privacy but I couldn't stop myself. It seemed like hours passed staring at the two intimate people in front of me before I finally realized what I was looking at.

It came rushing at me all the once. The smell... The couple... They were feeding off each other right in the middle of the club. I took a step back and immediately I felt like I needed to sit down. No I don't need to sit down. I need to get out of here. I made it through the doors to the club at almost a run. The cold night air hit me like a block of ice and I had to gasp to catch my breath.

After a minute of taking deep breaths, I started to calm down. As I started to walk back toward my apartment I thought about Izzy and I regretted leaving her by herself but I knew I had to get home. Stumbling down the street, I had to occasionally catch myself on a light post but I eventually made it home safe. The first thought which crossed my mind when I stumbled through the door to my apartment was I wanted to see Dimitri.

He would know what's going on with me. I staggered into the living room to look for the paper with his address on it. I found it on the coffee table and stared at it for a couple seconds trying to make the letters stop moving. Closing my eyes for a second, I tried to steady myself and eventually I managed to calm myself enough to read the note. Okay, his apartment is down three floors. No freaking way am I taking the stairs. I don't know how I managed it but somehow I managed to get myself into the elevator and I pressed the button for his floor.