Dark Realms (70 page)

“Wow. Hey, I heard the main singer, Slade,
is a total hunk. I’ve heard him on the radio. If he’s as sexy as
that voice of his, I wouldn’t doubt if every girl in town was
trying to get in to see him last night.”

“That’s not good,” I
replied. “I’m sure a popular band like Venom would attract some
real weirdoes.” I sighed. “Great, now
I’m
worried about Melody.”

“She’s really missing?”

“Well, she never came home last night. I
guess I don’t really know.”

“Maybe she’s been partying or something. You
told me before that Melody likes to drink.”

“Yeah. That’s what I’m hope is happening. My
aunt is freaking out, though. She says that Melody hasn’t returned
her texts or phone calls.”

“Is that normal?”

“She usually returns her texts, I
guess.”

“Crap, that’s not a good sign.”

“I know.”

“Hey, do you want to go to the club and find
out if anyone knows anything? I’d like to check the place out
anyway. I still haven’t been there.”

I raised my eyebrows. “How would we even get
in to that place? Tuesdays are Teen Nights, right? It’s
Friday.”

“You forget- I have a fake I.D.”

“
You know, I think everyone
has one of those but me.”

“Eh… it’s not like I use it very much. Curt
Hammer made it for me last summer, after he forgot his credit card
at home and couldn’t pay for his meal.”

“So,
you
have a fake I.D. How am I
supposed to get in?”

She sucked in her breath. “I know… I know…
you can use Katie’s! I still have hers because she’s been too damn
chicken to use it.” I could hear her shuffling through one of her
drawers. “I talked Curt into making one for her, too. Yep, here it
is. Wow, seriously, now that I look at the picture, I just know you
could pass for her. No problem.”

Katie was a girl that Susan had graduated
with last year, one I’d never met. I bit my lower lip. “I don’t
know if this is such a good idea.”

She groaned. “Come on, it’ll be fun. We
don’t even have to drink anything; we’ll just ask questions. See if
anyone remembers her. You’re the one who’s going to school to
become a Private Investigator, right?”

“A Forensic Investigator.”

“Whatever. You know what I mean. Come on,
Chelsey, let’s do it! The movie can wait.”

I had to admit, it was an intriguing idea.
“Well, maybe we can just stop in for a little while.”

“Yes!” she said. “Like I said, I’ve been
meaning to check the place out, but couldn’t find anyone to go with
me.”

“Great, now I know the real reason you
suggested it.”

“Chelsey! It’s not just that. I want to make
sure Melody is okay,” she protested. “You know me.”

“I know,” I replied, although I also knew
that she and Melody had never really gotten along. But Susan was my
friend and had a good heart.

“Oh, I have to find something to wear. I
don’t want to look like a total slob. I’m sure there will be some
hotties in that place.”

“I’m not dressing up,” I said, looking down
at my jeans and sweater. “Just so you know.”

“That’s fine. You know what… I’m not
dressing up either. Screw it.”

“What time should I pick you up?”

“Seven. I’m sure there will be a line to get
in.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll see you then.”

“Cool. I can’t wait to check that place out.
Who knows, maybe Melody will be back there.”

“Maybe,” I said, although there was a knot
in my stomach telling me otherwise.

Chapter Four

Chelsey

When I pulled up to Susan’s house and she
got into the passenger side of my car, I smiled wryly. “Not
dressing up, huh?”

Tossing her light brown hair, she grinned.
“If we’re going to be ‘undercover’, I figured I’d better play the
part.”

“We’re not actually ‘undercover’,” I said.
“We’re just… investigating.”

She pouted. “Yeah, but it’s more fun
pretending that we’re ‘undercover’.”

“
Well, I
guess in a way we
are ‘
under-cover’,” I replied in amusement. “I mean we’ll be using
fake I.D.’s.”

“Which reminds me...” She unzipped her black
purse. “Here,” she said handing me a Montana state driver’s
license. “This is you.”

I looked at the picture and my eyes widened.
“This says I’m five foot eight.”

She bit her lower lip. “You didn’t happen to
wear heels, did you?”

“Even with heels I’m not even close. Dang
it.” I tapped my forehead against the steering wheel a couple of
times. “Susan,” I said, turning to her. “I hope to God that we
don’t get arrested for this. My parents would kill me!”

“Relax; they’re not even going to look at
your height or weight. All they care about is the year on the
license.”

“Let’s hope so.” I looked at the girl in the
photo again. I had to admit, she did look similar to me. Sighing, I
slipped the I.D. into the front pocket of my jeans. “I just hope
they don’t quiz me, or anything.”

“You worry too much. Trust me, they
won’t.”

I pulled out of her driveway. “Famous last
words.”

Giggling, she flipped down the visor and
applied lip gloss. She rubbed her lips together and then flipped
the visor back up. “You’re so paranoid.”

“You should be, too. We’re breaking the law
and obviously, if we get caught, we’re screwed.”

“Nah,” she said, slipping the tube of lip
gloss back into her purse. “We won’t. Nothing interesting ever
happens to me. The highlight of my day is counting my tips after
I’m done working.”

“I wouldn’t call going to jail
interesting.”

“You know what I mean. There is nothing
exciting about my life. At least, not at the moment. My job is
boring, my clothes are boring, and my love life is also freaken’
boring.”

It was like déjà vu. I’d pretty much told my
mother the same thing earlier.

“Your clothes aren’t boring,” I replied,
glancing at her sparkly silver sweater and black skirt.

She smirked. “Yeah, it’s because I borrowed
the outfit from my forty year old mother. How lame is that?”

I laughed. “Well, your mom has great taste
in clothes.”

“She’s single. Single women usually do.”

“You’re single, what’s your excuse?” I
teased.

She slugged me playfully. “Bitch.”

“I’m just giving you crap. I’m wearing jeans
and a plain old sweater. It’s not exactly exciting either.”

“You’re pretty, though,” she replied. “You
could wear anything and the guys wouldn’t notice because of those
eyes.”

“My eyes?”

“Yeah. You’ve got cat-eyes.”

“Really?” I asked, glancing at them in the
rearview mirror.

“I’ve told you a million times, your eyes
are wicked.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “Although I have to
admit, ever since Billy Santino said that my eyes freaked him out
in the fourth grade, I’ve been kind of self-conscious about
them.”

She snorted. “Please…Billy
Santino had a crush on you since the
firs
t grade. Your eyes didn’t freak
him out, girlfriend. He just had it bad for you. Always
did.”

I had to stop my jaw from dropping. Billy
had actually turned out to be pretty hot. Well, annoying as all
hell, but definitely drool-worthy. “What? How do you know
that?”

“Because he told me. Told me he’d always
wanted to ‘tap Chelsey’s ass’.”

“Tap
my
ass?” I burst out laughing.
“You’re kidding me?”

“I know… what a pig, huh?”

“I’d say, but seriously, I had no idea he
was interested in me.”

“That’s because he thought you hated him,”
she replied. “I talked to him at the diner about a year ago and he
told me that you used to glare at him all the time in the halls at
your school.”

I snorted. “I’m sure I did, because of the
comment he’d made about my eyes!”

She laughed.

“Anyway, I would
have
never
went
out with him. Heck, he cheated on Sandy Mayer during the last two
years of high school, when they were dating.”

“Did he really? Well, if I remember she was
a royal bitch. She probably deserved it.”

“Nobody deserves it,” I said, although Sandy
had been a real snob and we’d never actually gotten along.

Maybe it was because she
knew her boyfriend wanted to tap my ass, I t
hought, stifling a giggle.

“They were made for each other,” she said.
“They’ll probably get married, have babies, and he’ll cheat on her
with bathroom whores at Teddy’s, when he’s supposed to be working
late.”

Teddy’s was a seedy strip joint, just
outside of Beaver Creek, and known for having broken up a lot of
marriages. Rumor had it that many of the strippers would do
anything for a twenty, and the place was always packed.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you’re right there,” I
replied. Pushing Billy out of my mind. I turned on the radio and
scrolled through the stations until I found a new song by Maroon
Five that I really liked.

Susan reached over, turned it up louder, and
began singing with Adam Levine. “He’s so hot,” she said, as the
song ended. “I need to buy one of his CD’s.”

“Yeah, I love his voice. Uh, here we are,” I
said, pulling into the parking lot of the night club. I’d driven by
it a couple of times on my way to Susan’s, but hadn’t given the
place much thought until the last few hours. Now that the mirrored
building was lit up with strobe and fluorescent lighting, it was
pretty impressive, especially for such a small town in the middle
of Montana. “Looks pretty… swanky.”

Susan fluffed her hair as we parked. “I
heard this place gets nuts after midnight.”

I turned off the engine. “Since it’s one of
the only clubs around, that doesn’t surprise me.”

She unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her
purse. “You ready?”

“I guess so.” I looked at the building again
and a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. “You sure we won’t get
caught?”

She opened the car door and got out. “Just
act confident and you’ll be fine. Come on.”

I slid out of the car and locked the doors.
“Okay,” I replied, trying not to chicken-out. She’d obviously done
something like this before at other bars, so she knew what she was
doing.

Clutching my purse tightly, we walked to the
front door and found that there wasn’t a line yet.

“Slow night?” asked Susan, handing the
bouncer her I.D.

“It’s early,” he replied, looking the
fraudulent card.

“True. I know it gets pretty crazy here at
night.”

He didn’t reply.

I stared at him nervously as he looked over
her fake I.D. His nametag said, “Honi”, he was bald with a spider
web tattoo that wrapped around his neck, and had muscles the size
of coconuts on each arm. When he looked up, his dark eyes went
directly to mine.

I smiled weakly.

“You’re next Cupcake,” he said, handing
Susan back her I.D.

Cupcake?

I cleared my throat and handed him the I.D,
our fingers brushing. His skin was unnaturally cool, even for
October and the brief contact gave me the chills.

He smiled, a big toothy grin. “You nervous?”
he asked, his eyes glittering in the darkness.

“No,” I answered, trying to look confident,
although I was almost peeing my pants.

He glanced down at the I.D. and then back at
me. “Your I.D. doesn’t do you justice, Cupcake.” He smiled and
handed me back the I.D. “You’re much better looking in person.”

“Uh, thanks,” I replied, my face turning two
shades of pink.

“You two, behave,” he said. “Or we’ll have
to get the whips out and you don’t want that.”

My eyes widened. “Whips?”

He chuckled and looked at Susan. “She always
this gullible?”

Susan smirked. “Only after dark.”

His face became serious.
“That’s when you have to be the most careful,” he said. “Especially
in this place.
Pomaika`i,
ladies
.”

My eyes widened. “What does that mean?”

“Good luck.”

His words made the hair stand up on the back
of my neck. “Oh.”

“Uh, thanks,” replied Susan, grabbing my arm
and pulling me away.

I glanced over my shoulder and noticed that
he was still watching us.

Chapter Five

Chelsey

“That was weird,” said Susan, handing the
coat-check girl her jacket.

“I know. But at least he didn’t say anything
about the I.D.’s,” I whispered.

She slung her purse over her shoulder.
“Exactly. Told you everything would be cool.”

I looked down the hallway leading to the
dance area. It was dark and the music was so loud, that it made my
teeth vibrate. “You ready?” I asked, feeling anxious now that we
were inside of the club.

“Yeah. Should we get a drink?”

“I’m just drinking soda,” I said, wanting to
keep a clear head. I’d had a half-can of beer once, and even that
had made me dizzy.

“Suit yourself,” she said. “But I’m having a
Cosmopolitan. I’ve always wanted to try one.”

“What is that?”

“It’s a martini.”

“Oh.”

She looped her arm through mine and walked
me towards the bar. “We’re undercover, remember? We need to play
the part.”

“I can still do that without booze,” I said.
“Not everyone drinks alcohol here, I’m sure.”

“Fine, I’ll just tell everyone you’re my
sober-cab.”

“Great
idea.”

When we entered the main
part of the club, I froze in my tracks, amazed at how big the place
actually was. Not only did it have two floors, but on the first
level, there was an expansive oval bar already crowded with
customers, and a dance floor nearby that rivaled my old high school
gymnasium. Next to the dance floor was a stage with music equipment
from
Venom
still
set up.