a thousand instincts (#1)

Without Mercy (7)

Aeress

     Her cheeks were flushed with heat. Her head clouded with a delightful high. The music was gentle and overwhelming to her ears. Aeress could not contain her smile as yet another person twirled her around. 

     Her dressed flared. Her laughs and gasps only added to the blaring melody of the crowd as it cheered the dancing on. 

     So many men and women took her hand, showing her a new spectacular move. She hardly had any time to process their names. All faces blurred into one joyful, friendly expression. 

     Her heels had somehow disappeared, and now she was dancing barefoot, holding hands with a man and woman. 

     The flashes of blues and reds and purple silks transformed her vision into a multi-colored pattern. Jewels bounced around necks and ears. Pearls rattled like toys. 

     She was offered a sip here, a bite there. So many flavors and textures. Aeress simply could not keep up, yet she was having the time of her life. The only detail which lacked was her best friend Shaya, who would have drunk any one of them into a grave. 

      Speaking of drunk, she had to pee...

     Aeress somehow managed to slip away and find a bathroom. The place was so confusing that she feared she would never find her way back. 

     She was washing her hands when she looked in the mirror. Oh wow, she looked positively terrible. 

     She dried her hands with napkins and disposed of them. 

     Aeress took a moment to breathe and smiled to herself. This was definitely not what she had been planning to do: dancing with werewolves. 

     She stepped out of the bathroom and into an identical looking hall. 

     Her attention was brought to a skirmish down the hall. Two men. It couldn't have been who she thought it was?

     There was a snap and one of the men stopped struggling. 

     Aeress felt ice cold terror invade her veins, putting her heartbeat to rest. It couldn't be him? 

    His brunette head turned toward her, and Aeress didn't hesitate. Turning the other way, she darted with all the speed she had. 

     Her suspicions were confirmed as she heard him hurling curses in her direction. It was the man she assumed dead. She spent the better of a day covered in his blood, covered in the lifelessness she believed she had caused. 

    She charged back into the ballroom, only to find the people in chaos. It was part two to her never-ending nightmare of violence. 

     Aeress flinched as liquid splattered across her face. She look down at her hands and found a crimson pattern dripping on her skin. Blood. 

     Fearing her tormentor was close behind, Aeress pounced into action. She ran toward the table she was seated at before with her rude passenger. If Nina was correct, their Premier was her best option which would hopefully lead to survival. With that in mind, she tried to best to maneuver between the fighting bodies. 

     "Help me, please!" a woman screamed. Aeress looked over to see a man attempting to hurt one of the many people who had most likely shared a dance with her. 

     "Don't be a hero, Aeress!" she yelled at herself, taking a tray off the nearest table. She brought out her foot and kicked it straight into the male's jaw. "Get off of her!" She slammed the object down upon his temple. She surprised herself when his eyes remained closed. The woman had already scrambled off to safety.