Sacrifice Me: The Complete Season One (5 page)

I turned to look at Katy and saw that instead of
sensual and uninhibited, she looked like she was about to yack all
over me. Her face literally had turned gray and her lips were pressed
tight, like she was doing everything in her power to hold it in.

“Oh, god, are you okay?” I grabbed her
arms to steady her.

She shook her head, her mouth closed tight. There
was raw panic in her eyes.

I turned to the bartender. She was helping some
people just down from us, but I caught her eye and mouthed the word,
“Bathrooms?”

She jerked her head toward the entrance and I
looked up to see a set of doors near where we’d first come in.

I grabbed Katy’s hand and led her in the
direction of those doors, praying we’d find a toilet before her
stomach released whatever she’d just put inside.

We barely made it inside the women’s
restroom when she made a guttural noise that sounded more like a
strangled cat than a human. I aimed her toward the closest trash can
and winced as she threw up. I gathered her shoulder-length hair up
into a pony-tail and held it back from her face.

The shot had not agreed with her, to say the
least. Which only made me feel guilty for how I was feeling.

I was alive. Every sense was heightened and every
tiny breath of air that brushed against my skin felt like a caress.

I didn’t tell her how amazing I felt,
though, because I could tell she was miserable. I just held her hair
back from her face and rubbed her shoulder, waiting for it to pass.
When she steadied and leaned back against the tile wall, I reached
for a wad of paper towels and ran them under the water.

“Are you okay?” I asked, handing her
one towel to wipe her mouth and running the other gently across her
sweaty forehead.

“Fabulous,” she said, her voice
strained and rough.

“Is it over?”

She closed her eyes and breathed in through her
nose. Long deep breaths.

I waited, doing my best to comfort her. At the
same time, though, hearing the thumping of the bass outside made me
wish more than ever I could be out on that dance floor.

“I’m okay,” she said. “I
think it’s passing. Man, that was disgusting. How are you not
ill from that taste?”

I frowned. “You thought it tasted bad?”

She looked up at me like I had lost my damned
mind. “There is no way you thought that tasted good, right? I
mean, it was like someone wrapped a knife with rancid meat and shoved
it down my throat.”

I shook my head. Did we have the same drink? I
mean, I’d watched the bartender pour our shots from the same
bottle. How could we have possibly had such different experiences?

“It tasted like cinnamon,” I said.

Her face twisted and she brushed her hair off her
shoulders. “Cinnamon? No. Just... no.”

I shook my head. It didn't make sense. Either we
had extremely different taste buds or something had gone terribly
wrong with her shot.

I didn’t want to push it and tell her how
delicious and buzzed I felt from it, but at the same time, I wanted
the chance to describe it. I wanted her to feel it too.

And as bad of a friend as it made me seem, I
wanted to beg her not to ask me to take her home.

I desperately wanted to stay. There was something
different about this place, and I wanted to figure it out.

“I think that bartender was trying to drug
us or something,” Katy said. “Did you see that smile on
her face? Like she was playing with us. I think we should get the
hell out of here.”

My shoulders fell. “I don’t want to go
home,” I said. “I think this place is kind of cool.”

“Cool? It’s freaking me out,”
she said. “There’s not a single fat or ugly person in
this whole place. And that drink was not normal. There's something
more than weird going on in this club. I think it’s dangerous
here. We need to go, Franki. I know it’s your birthday and all,
but I don’t feel right about this place.”

I sighed. What could I do? I couldn’t
abandon my friend and tell her to find her own way home.

I was trying to find the cab driver's number in
her phone when the door to the bathroom opened and the bartender
who'd served us walked in. She was carrying a small bottle in one
hand. Water, maybe.

She approached us with a sympathetic look on her
face. “I’m sorry,” she said, looking at Katy. “I
didn’t know you weren’t... Well, I didn’t realize.
I wouldn’t have given you that shot if I’d known.”

“Known what?” I asked.

She turned to look at me, confusion wrinkling the
skin around her eyes. “I didn’t know you weren’t
both the kind of girls who belonged here.”

Her words were gloriously vague. I wanted to ask
her what kind of girls did belong here, but she didn’t give me
the chance.

“Here,” she said, pushing the clear
bottle into Katy's hand. “Drink this. I swear it’ll make
you feel right again.”

Katy held the bottle at arm’s length. “I
don’t think I should take anything from you, no offense.”

The bartender’s face softened. “I
know. I completely suck for doing that to you,” she said. “We
don’t get many normals in here and I was getting such a strong
vibe there by the bar. I didn’t read you right and I messed up.
I’m genuinely sorry, and I don’t blame you for not
trusting me.”

“Normals?” I asked, but neither one of
them even acknowledged my question.

“Do you think you could call us a cab or
something? I just want to get home and get to bed,” Katy said,
shoving the bottle back toward the girl.

She wouldn’t take it back. She closed her
hands around Katy's and pushed it back toward her. “I promise
you, all you have to do is drink this and you will feel completely,
one-hundred-percent better. Just take a sip. You’ll see.”

“It’s not water?”

She shook her head. “It’s more like an
antidote for a very nasty shot. Please.”

Katy stared down at the drink in her hand for a
long moment, then unscrewed the cap and took a single sip. She waited
and I held my breath.

She took another sip, then let her head rest
against the tile wall.

I waited, completely, acutely aware of the
weirdness of this entire situation. Who had an antidote for a shot?
Or even a hangover? And why had she come in here after us?

Katy's eyes opened and she let out a long sigh of
relief.

“Better?” the bartender asked.

“Much,” she said. “Wow. My head
was pounding and my stomach was all twisted up and now I feel fine.
What is this stuff?”

The girl’s entire body relaxed. “I’m
so glad,” she said, avoiding the question. “I would have
felt awful if you went home sick. I swear I just didn’t
realize.”

I took a step back and crossed my arms across my
chest. “Okay, so what’s with the cryptic messages and the
weird drinks and everything? What is this place?”

I loved the way the shot had made me feel, but I
didn’t like the way this girl was implying that my friend was
‘
normal
’ and I wasn’t. That had not been
totally lost on me, and I wanted to know what the heck she meant by
it.

The bartender shook her head, her long blonde
curls caressing her shoulders. “You really have no idea where
you are, do you?” she asked.

It was a question with too obvious an answer. We
obviously had no clue where we really were.

“How did you end up here, then? I mean, it’s
not like we’re on the main strip with a big sign out front.
Most people don’t find us on accident.”

Her tongue tripped over the word people and it
sent a shiver up my spine. Plus, her words were eerily similar to the
ones Selena had used out front.

“Franki here got an invitation to come to
this place, but no one seemed to know where it was,” Katy said.
“You know, you really shouldn't put your main entrance down a
dark alleyway. That can't be good for business.”

“So, how did you find us if no one told you
where it was?”

Katy pointed at me. “Psychic wonder over
here had a feeling about it. She just knew it was here. Don’t
ask me how.”

The bartender turned her focus on me, looking me
up and down. For the first time since she'd come in here, I noticed
how icy blue her eyes were. I shifted uncomfortably, not sure if I
should thank her for helping Katy or punch her in the face for
serving us something weird to begin with.

“What?” I asked, annoyed. The booze—or
whatever it was—flowing through my veins was taking away both
inhibitions and good sense. I opened my arms and stepped forward.
“Why does everyone here keep staring at me like that? Just what
do you think you see?”

Her eyes widened and a startled smile broke out on
her face. “I see—”

Someone pounded hard on the bathroom door. “Azure?
Get your ass out here. We’ve got customers.”

The bartender shrugged, her thoughts cut off.
“Sorry, that’s my cue to go,” she said, turning
toward the door. “Stay and hang out a little bit if you want.
Drinks are on the house. No funny stuff, I promise.”

I was supremely annoyed. None of my questions were
being answered and the strange warmth flowing through me only seemed
to heat up, the angrier I got.

“Wait,” I said, taking a step in her
direction. “What was in that shot, anyway?”

She opened the door and stood half-in, half-out,
the noise of the club almost deafening after the silence of the
bathroom. “I really have to go,” she said. Her icy blue
eyes met mine. “You guys should stay, if you want. Just be
careful not to leave with anyone you don’t know. Selena will
call you a cab and make sure you get home safely when you’re
ready to go, okay? Promise me.”

I nodded as she turned on her heel and left the
room. The bathroom door closed, leaving us in muted silence again.

This was definitely turning out to be the
strangest night of my life.

And it had only just begun.

Katy and I walked out of the bathroom and back
into the neon glow of the main club.

“If you want to go home, I completely
understand,” I shouted over the music.

She turned to me, her green eyes bright. “I
feel great,” she said. “And I realize how completely
insane that sounds after you were just holding my hair back so I
could throw up in the trashcan, but whatever she gave me really
helped.”

She looked down, as if realizing she was still
holding the bottle of clear liquid.

“I wonder what’s in it?” I
asked. “And what was in that shot to begin with?”

She shook her head and shrugged. “Hell if I
know,” she said. “But the way I see it, we’re here,
there’s music, there are a ton of hot guys on the dance floor,
and there are still fifteen minutes left of your birthday. Let’s
just have a good time and forget about the rest of it.”

She reached for my hand and I placed it in hers,
smiling.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Just no more funky shots.” Katy
laughed and together we worked our way through the crowd and onto the
dance floor.

The buzz from the shot was still flowing strong in
my system, somehow amplified by my anger earlier in the bathroom. And
now that we were out here on the crowded dance floor with the strange
lights and pounding music, my entire body began to hum with energy.

I looked around, at first feeling a little bit
self-conscious around all these beautiful people. But then I started
to lose myself to the music.

I closed my eyes, letting go of everything else
but the vibrations running up through the floor and into my bones. My
lips parted and the lights and energy seemed to flow straight into my
mouth and through my soul. My blood pulsed with the rhythm of this
place.

I had always considered myself a pretty good
dancer, but tonight, I was electric. It was as if someone had plugged
me directly in to one of the speakers and turned me on.

My body moved in ways I never knew were possible.
Smooth and fluid. Sexy and sensual and confident.

The taste of the cinnamon-flavored shot lingered
on my tongue, warm and slightly sweet.

I pulled my long black hair up, letting the air
blow across the back of my neck. Every one of my senses was
amplified.

That’s when I felt him watching me.

A darkness washed over me, dread pooling in my
stomach. The sticky sweetness of the drink went sour in my mouth,
making me long for water and fresh air.

His gaze passed like a shadow across my skin,
pulling me into the dark places where no one would see me. No one but
him.

I let my hair drop heavily down my back and opened
my eyes. I didn’t stop dancing or try to draw attention to
myself, but I no longer felt free. Sadness and fear pushed through me
and I shivered.

Who is he?

I knew it was a man, even if I couldn’t tell
you how I knew. I just felt the maleness of him. The territorial
claim of his eyes on my body. I didn’t like it.

I didn’t like it at all.

I turned and scanned the crowd behind me,
concentrating on the shadowy places beyond the dance floor. He was up
there somewhere, sitting down. Watching me from the darkness.
Whatever I’d done to get his attention, I wished I could take
it back.

Was this the same person who had sent the
invitation?

I swallowed, my throat thick with syrup. Someone
had invited me here, but who? Katy was right. It had been a mistake
to come.

In my bones, I knew this wasn’t just some
secret admirer or old friend trying to reconnect. This definitely
wasn't my mother. There was something much darker at play here.

And much more dangerous.

Strong hands encircled my waist, fingers slipping
into the belt loops on my jeans and pulling me back. I gasped. My
body tensed and I tried to pull away. To turn around and see his
face.

But his strength was too much for me.

He leaned forward, his warm breath against my ear.
“Don’t struggle,” he said. His voice was rough and
deep. “Just play along. Trust me.”