A solid beat echoes over a cheering crowd in the high-ceiling underground nightclub in Babel City; after some drinks, I was starting to like it. Teens my age dressed in crop tops belly danced to cheers while slinging around candy-wrapped necklaces with pacifiers on their ends moved their bodies. It was hard to resist snatching one up and finding a nice, quiet place to talk. Lights flickered, and someone followed a group of girls into the backrooms. Two familiar faces were dancing with a set of blond twins sucking on pacifiers, and I started to dance.
Only the revolution of the steel door behind the DJ clued me in that this was anything but a party. Sheep were so docile under the sound of music.
I only found out about this place when I visited a public bathroom. The two talked about a party in the club. Summoning Sickness, it was harder to find than I thought, and the bouncer almost rejected me until he saw my student ID. I wasn’t due to move into my dorm for a few days, so I had time to kill. While I had my ID on, the man at the bar continued giving me free drinks.
With my high vitality, the alcohol lasted only a few seconds. I barely caught the buzz, and he was starting to give me strange looks. The ones he added candy to taste a little bitter, but they gave me a slightly longer buzz. Three seconds instead of two when everything seemed hilarious was great.
The crowd moved away as a group of women stepped out of the back dressed better than the casual partygoers. The one in the lead wore a green emerald on a black pearl string that wouldn’t look out of place in a dragon’s hoard. She was clearly Asian with high cheekbones and an imperious gate that screamed none of us were worthy. The girls beside her were locals holding back smirks as they looked around, giggling to each other. Around their necks were similar if less glamorous necklaces of ruby and sapphire. I felt more like a thief checking out a mark than a soon-to-be student of Marduk University. Saphire turned her attention to me with a gaze I’ve seen in people checking out meat at the butcher.
Under the sound of music, there was a low humming, more like an engine from the cars traveling down the highway. Once I stopped focusing on her necklace, I noticed a piercing on her belly button with a tiny black stone on its end. Several earrings with tiny runes covered her ears. Three piercings each sounded a little extreme before I knew they were enchanted.
“Hey, this one is a beefcake; how much has he been partying?” The woman asked.
“Angelica, don’t tease them; you should show respect at all times.”
Them, as in not us.
A black woman with tiny skulls with gems instead of eyes braided into her dreadlocks looked me over with a critical eye. “He looks aware, but he smells like a brewery. Are you with us?”
I grunted.
“Yo, he’s a competent drunk.”
“Word?” Angelica asked.
“Stop that; if I have to speak properly, then you do too.”
“I forgiveness Suzie yo not word.” The Asian woman said.
“Damn girl, that was cold. I thought I was supposed to be the winter queen.” Angelica said.
Suzie coughed. “As I was saying.” Her accent vanished. “I believe this man to be severely inebriated but functional.”
“He’s black-out drunk. We aren’t at a coven meeting; you don’t need to put up a front when it’s just us.” The Asian woman said.
“He’s a Marduk student that’s perfect. If he’s here, it's probably his first year.” Angelica said.
I grunted once again in reply. Would it be considered rude if I ripped off her dress and took her in front of her friends? My muscles stretched against the suit I wore, threatening to burst it. Eidolon Constitution had made my flesh hard as steel. Only my curiosity about their strange considerations kept them safe. A mystery was underfoot.
My mother’s words rang clearly in my ears. To a young woman, rape was the worst thing ever; it stole what they valued most, depreciated its value, and robbed them of an agency they were used to. No one liked a sudden paradigm shift. Use it exclusively on enemies at the right time for maximum damage, preferably before their wedding night. She was an evil shrew of a woman, my mother, but at least she knew her stuff.
The music was still going, and people flowed into the rave. All of it stopped as if there was a bubble around the three girls separating them from everyone else. Freedom was a heady drug; it gave me the strength to follow something besides my libido. There was a mystery afoot, and I was curious.
“Come cutey we show you good time.” The Asian said.
“Damn it, Kimie, we went to preschool together; no one is buying that,” Angelica said.
“I did,” Suzie said.
They led me behind the DJ’s booth to the steel door bolted to the concrete wall of the basement. It swung heavily on its hinges, revealing bloody claw marks from scratching fingernails on the floor. The fun party disappeared behind me as the steel door closed, blocking out all sound.
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