"You not eating before you go?"
"I had some... earlier I mean." I answered way too quickly but was hoping she hadn"t noticed. She hadn"t and I thanked my cooking skills once more for gaining her attention long enough not to notice my bad lying. I had tried to eat something but I found myself too nervous to appease a hungry stomach.
Libby nodded her head toward the clock on the wall and I followed it dreading what it might show.
But it only confirmed my fears. It was nearly time to leave.
Chapter 6 - Big Night out.
Nothing was as I had been expecting, everything from the drive there to the doormen outside. We had driven further out of town than I would have thought necessary and when Libby had reminded me that it was on the outskirts of town she hadn"t been exaggerating. It was more like in the middle of nowhere! We drove along the main road for what seemed like forever and then turned down a small one lane road which was covered either side by thick forest. It almost looked like a dark angry green tunnel, which didn"t help my nerves.
It felt like the last drive I was ever to take. Ok, ok, get a hold of yourself, if I was going to work here I would have to do this drive a lot. I needed to stop my over active imagination from running away with me before I chickened out. The angry tunnel, more like the mouth of h.e.l.l, opened up into a big clearing that looked like a car park. Libby drove round to the front but I couldn"t get out.
I was STUNNED.
The place was enormous and breath-taking. I hadn"t expected it to look anything like the picture of beauty that was before me. Libby noticed my surprise and just nodded saying, "I know, nice isn"t it?" Nice! Nice wasn"t a word I would have used. Out of this world, stunningly beautiful, truly amazing, anything but just plain old nice! Surely her being an interior designer would have evoked a better response from those red glossy lips.
"It"s more than nice Libs, it"s amazing!" I was still gob smacked!
It looked so out of place and yet it didn"t somehow, as though it had always been there. It looked hundreds of years old but surely it couldn"t be. It wasn"t like any club I had in mind or any that I had seen for that matter. In England a lot of nightclubs just looked like pubs or normal buildings. One I used to go to was an old cinema, but this was like a mansion. I couldn"t see the entire house (house, what an understatement) It looked as if it went back further but it was surrounded by thick forest so only the front was exposed. It was made from thick stone blocks that were once, I suspected, a lighter shade than they were now. This was due to weathering I guessed and it reminded me of Bath, a city in England, which is famous for its old Roman baths and sandstone buildings.
One side was covered in a thick blanket of rich green ivy that curled its way around the windows looking as though it was trying to overtake the building but only got as far as one side. This gave it a creepy vibe. The entrance was just as grand if not more so. It was an impressive stone archway with big thick black gates on either side that looked as if they could keep out an army. They had been secured back to allow access into the club, where people were now entering. However there were no lines outside with rope barriers as I had expected. In fact, the only thing that made it resemble a club was the two huge monster security guards who stood on either side of the gates. I looked at Libby.
"Frank"s?" was all I needed to say.
"Yeah that"s Cameron and Jo, they"re nice guys, I met them at last years Christmas party." She laughed as if remembering something, and as it turned out I didn"t have long to wait for her to fill me in.
"Jo got so drunk, doing too many vodka shots with Frank. In the end his mum had to come and get him, ha," she gave a smug laugh and continued, "They always try and outdo each other, you know men and their pride!" she said coolly.
I couldn"t help but laugh myself although it came out as more of a nervous giggle. It was the thought of that ma.s.sive macho guy needing his mum to come and take care of him.
"Well have a good night, just give me a ring and I will get Frank to come and pick you up... its fine," she said before I had chance to feel guilty.
"He"s working late anyway." She grinned as she unbuckled my seat belt, doing everything except pushing me out of the car which I think would have been next. My gloved hands started to feel sweaty.
"Ok!" I said trying to sound brave. She wasn"t buying it.
"You"ll be fine, go get them kiddo," she said trying to sound like a cowboy.
I got out of the car reluctantly and turned to face Libby, but she had already started to rev the engine into life ready for a speedy get away, no doubt in case I changed my mind, which I was actually starting to do.
"Have fun and relax, you look as though you are going to pa.s.s out!" She said through a small gap in the pa.s.sage side window. I was being ridiculous, the place wasn"t that creepy. I watched as Libby"s Ford disappeared into the fog before I turned and made my way towards the imposing entrance.
I walked slowly barely hearing the gravel crunching under my old purple Doc Martins, due to the loud pounding of my heart. I caught sight of the two men standing there by the entrance waiting for me to come closer. They eyed each other as if amused with the look of dread on my face. They could tell that I was a newbie, as the permanent shock on my face was a dead giveaway.
"Evening," was all the shorter one of the two said. He had a kind face which didn"t match his rough, hard voice. Both were wearing thick black jackets that made them look even bigger. The smaller one didn"t look as fit as the taller one, and he stood looking at me now as though he was about to speak. He was hiding what seemed to be a beer belly under that jacket but this didn"t detract from the size of his shoulders, he still looked as though he could crush a man to death with one hug.
I looked at the taller one now as he was looking at me impatiently for something, had he asked me a question?
"I said ID!" Yes he had, Oops come on Keira don"t p.i.s.s off the big men.
"Yeah sure," I replied swallowing hard as I reached in my pocket and grabbed the licence I always carried for ID, only the picture held a very different me on it. They eyed it carefully and then all of a sudden their features changed to ones soft and very friendly.
"You"re Frank"s sister-in-law aren"t ya?" The taller one asked me enthusiastically (the one with the intolerance for vodka shots).
"Umm, yeah," I said warily not knowing if Frank would want them to know that.
"Ah h.e.l.l, him and Libby have been waiting for you to come for months, well its nice to meet you, I"m Jo and this is Cameron." He held out a big bear like hand for me to shake and I was touched that Frank had mentioned me. His hand swallowed mine up as I placed it in his and he shook it gently, as though eyeing my little breakable body. I nodded to the other guy while Jo still had hold of my hand. He was turning it around and I looked at him curiously to see what he was doing. He stamped it and I examined the red word "legal" across my skin.
"We allow a lot of age groups in here but they need ID to drink and you fit the bill." He said with a big infectious grin on his face.
"Go on in honey," Cameron said with warmth, just as a couple of young dark dressed youths were coming up behind me. They turned to them and said "ID" in a less friendly manner that I had received. I smiled to myself, it was a nice perk being related to Frank and I didn"t feel as nervous as I had before. I would have to remember to thank him later along with giving me a lift home. What a swell guy!
The wooden doors ahead of me looked as if they could have once belonged to a castle, they were open and inviting but at the same time... intimidating. I couldn"t help but touch them as I walked over the threshold. They were warm which I found odd. I studied them for a few seconds before I entered. There appeared to be a symbol carved deep into the middle of each door. I was trying to make it out when I realised the people behind me were trying to get past, so I walked through with the strangest feeling, making the hairs on the back of my neck and arms stand on end as though I was cold or scared. But I wasn"t any of those things. If anything I felt the opposite.
I felt like I was coming home.
"Hey Kaz, you made it!" It wasn"t a question more like shock, had she really thought that I would have stood her up. Maybe she could sense my reservations on the phone.
"Yeah of course, wouldn"t have missed it?" I said trying to sound enthusiastic, which wasn"t hard as now that I was here I was really looking forward to the night. It was as though something had made its way inside my body giving me the most amazing rush of confidence. As if something wanted me here and to get me through those doors I needed some help. Well whatever it was, it had worked.
"Follow me, you need a drink!" She said with a huge smile on her face which didn"t match the Gothic vamp look she was going for. She was in a tiny black mini skirt with chains hanging from it everywhere. I wondered how it didn"t fall down with all the extra weight. Definitely not the type of thing you"d wear at an airport by any means, I think she would set all the metal detectors off even before stepping a foot in the building.
She matched this with a black top with rips slashed across the chest revealing bright pink netting underneath. It matched her hair, which was as pink as ever but was pinned into twists at the front and when she turned she had a chaos of spikes at the back. To complete the outfit she had on a long black jacket that went to the floor. It looked like a military jacket with lots of big round metal b.u.t.tons going down in a v shape either side.
We made our way through the crowd towards what I a.s.sumed was the bar and she kept turning round every now and again to check I was still following. I could understand why she did this as it looked as if the whole town was here and the place was that big it could have easily have been done with room to spare. I had to keep my eye on RJ"s bright pink points so as not to get lost in the ma.s.s of bodies.
I couldn"t help but stare everywhere. I had never seen anything like it. Inside didn"t really match the outside, a bit like old battling new. On the outside it looked like a mansion would have been in the sixteen hundreds and the inside looked as though it would today, modern but with a rustic feel. Well, like a renovated ruin but with a modern twist. The sh.e.l.l remained, with its really high ceilings and ma.s.sive stone arches everywhere. The whole ceiling was a series of them that all mingled together, interlocking and then going off in different directions like the kind you find in churches or monasteries.
The room was one big open s.p.a.ce with different levels with seating around the outside in booths. The interior was lush and rich looking, with crimson reds and deep purples. There were great wrought iron chandeliers that hung down from the bigger arches in the ceiling, lit with candle bulbs which flickered for effect. The same style lamps were along the wall in a random fashion with the walls being made of the same stone as the outside but they weren"t weathered so still had their natural softer colour making the lights reflect back, giving the room a warming glow.
I was amazed by my surroundings, as if I had been transported back in time to a medieval age. Only I don"t think there would have been quite so many scary looking people here back then. Words like witch hunt, devil worshipper and burned at the stake came to mind. There were so many people dressed in black it almost looked like a cult gathering. Some of them stared at me as I made my way past, trying my best to keep up with RJ. We were nearly at the bar now as the crowd begun to get thicker. She stopped in front of me and turned to face me with a huge grin across her black lips.
"You ok?" She said with a little bit of concern in her eyes.
"Yeah I"m fine. I just didn"t expect it to be so busy." She laughed as though I had missed something... something very important.
"Well it"s not normally this busy until the Dravens come here and the Acid Criminals aren"t that popular, but they"re here early," she said and clapped her hands together like a child.
"What, the Acid Criminals?" I was confused, still not understanding the reasons behind the ma.s.s of people that looked more like a Gothic comic convention than a nightclub.
"No, no, not the band....The Dravens!"
Chapter 7 Early Arrivals.
We finally got served after about twenty minutes of trying to push our way to the front, well RJ pushed and I followed. Now, once again, I was following RJ back to where her friends were waiting for us. This was the theme of the night, me tracking RJ"s every move. I felt like the sheep following its owner, my only hope was that it wasn"t to the slaughter.
I was starting to get sweaty palms again at the thought of meeting new people, like it was my first day of school all over again. Something caught her eye as we walked towards the back of the club and then I saw it too. A guy was waving at us trying to get our attention. He smiled when he saw me and carried on waving us over turning slightly as if to say something to his friends.
"Oh cool, they got a seat. Nice one! And the spot couldn"t be more perfect." RJ said with a quick satisfied smile at me. They were situated near to the mezzanine level and the staircase that led up to it. There was another one that mirrored it on the other side opposite. It was next to the stage area that was a raised platform high enough for everyone lower than it to have a clear view. The layout of the place was perfect for the purpose it served. It was the cla.s.siest night club I had ever seen, one that you would have expected to find in a big cosmopolitan city not a remote little town in the middle of the wilderness.
"What"s up there?" I asked as we pa.s.sed the staircase that had two enormous men guarding it as if it held the crown jewels up there. I thought the two guys at the front entrance were big, but these guys put them to shame. The story of David and Goliath popped into my head.
"Ah, now that"s the VIP area," she whispered as she eyed the giants, as though not wanting them to hear.
"That"s where the Dravens spend all their time, it goes all the way over, further back," she continued motioning her hand backwards.
"Not that I have ever been up there," she continued with a bitter tone.
"But my dad has his own building company and one of his guys went there last year to do a job, which is strange "cause they usually get their own people in to do stuff like that. I guess they got desperate or something, but anyway, I got my dad to explain it in every little detail to me and then of course pa.s.sed the information on like any good town gossip," she said smiling proudly. I laughed back, not being in the least bit surprised and also making a mental note never to tell her anything that I didn"t want ending up on the town"s bulletin board.
By this time we had managed to make it through the alternative looking crowd to the booth that housed all of RJ"s "Goth gang" as Libby had called them. There were three of them in total. Two guys and one more girl all sat round a ma.s.sive half oval seat covered in red velvet. There was a table in the middle with already empty gla.s.ses and bottles waiting to be collected. As soon as they saw us they budged round to make room for two more bodies.
"That was a nightmare, I think next time I would rather die of thirst!" RJ complained as she sat down putting her bottle of Bud on the table ready for the introductions.
"Everyone this is Keira!" She announced to the gang, and I suddenly felt like I was being introduced to one of those "self-help" groups.
"Umm... Kaz is fine." I said in a pathetically weak voice. It didn"t help when I had all eight eyes studying me. I sat down and rested my bottle on the table as my hand had started to go numb with holding it so long.
"Hi, I"m Lanie." I smiled in reply to a pretty girl with short bobbed hair. She had a kind face and small oval gla.s.ses that sat upon a small delicate nose. She got up to shake my hand and I leaned forward to reciprocate.
"Nice gloves, not used to the weather yet uh?" She said as I sat back down replying with a nervous laugh.
One by one they all introduced themselves and I started to relax once I wasn"t the main topic of conversation any more. I was relieved to be chatting about starting college. They all lived local apart from one, Charles, or Chaz as he liked to be called, had just moved here to live with his aunt while he was studying at the local college. His single mum of three couldn"t afford to pay for college accommodation so her sister offered to help out. He moved here in the summer to "get a feel for the place" and he had met RJ through her brother as they both worked at the same sports store called Airtime. RJ"s brother was running a little late due to work but he"d text to say he was on his way.
Chaz was cute looking with a baby face that looked like it still hadn"t fully matured. He paid a lot of attention to RJ but she didn"t seem to notice. Every now and again he would stare at her and smile to himself, a hidden smile. The other guy was Andrew or Drew as he also preferred. He confessed himself to be a bit of a Geek. He was studying computer engineering and loved to play World of Warcraft. He started to go into detail about the game or "community" but he could have been speaking j.a.panese for all I knew.
"Leave it out Drew cap!" RJ said throwing a piece of the paper label she had been playing with. She was a good shot as it landed on his head and rolled down only to rest on his gla.s.ses. Everyone laughed including Drew. I learned that he and RJ had grown up together as neighbours and had been best friends forever. The nickname Drew Cap continued throughout the night. The banter between them reminded me of Libby and myself. I couldn"t help but smile at the thought.
Drew was tall and very thin with a face to match but he had the most amazing deep eyes, they were brown with hints of toffee in them. They were big and very expressive and they seemed to like what they saw in Lanie as they kept diverting towards her general direction. They all made me feel very welcome and I felt at ease telling them about myself (well to a point) but they all had a laugh with the different things that I said and started with all the "say this...say that" malarkey.
Libby was right; my English accent had gone down well with them all. I didn"t think it would be long before they had me doing impressions of the Royal family! But I took it all in good fun and was having so much of a good time that I didn"t realise when RJ"s brother turned up. It was very embarra.s.sing to find that he was behind me the whole time I had been slightly snorting like pig with laughter. I didn"t realise until RJ looked up.
"Hey, there you are, I thought you were going to miss the band starting but they"re not on for another ten." My face went bright red with embarra.s.sment as I could feel his eyes on the back of my head. I turned round sheepishly to see a very handsome face smiling down at me.
"Well h.e.l.lo there giggles, I"m Jack. You must be our English rose, Keira." He said in a very confident smooth textured voice. I blushed again like a nun in a nudist colony. I hated receiving compliments, I never knew how to react, not wanting to be rude but most of all not wanting to be the centre of anyone"s attention.
"Jack, don"t be a freak, you"re embarra.s.sing her!" RJ said coming to my rescue, well sort of.
"I apologise for my brother, he was dropped on his head a lot as a child." I lowered my head to hide my grin.
"Don"t you mean hit in the head, by you!" Drew said now joining in the debate.
Jack leaned down to my face and with a cheeky grin, that would make any heart melt he said, "Sorry about these two, there"s no stopping them when they get going, let"s start over, I"m Jack and I don"t have any problems with my head." He smiled at the end of this, replacing the cheekiness with a charming wink.
There was something so likeable about him it was hard to keep from smiling to myself. He looked a bit like a rough catwalk model. One you would see in an advert for a Gillette shaving product, as he had the stubble and messy hair for it. His hair was brown but with streaks of gold cast lightly through it. It flopped around in every direction as he moved, his streaks getting caught in the warm glow of the club"s lighting. His eyes were a warm hazel that matched his hair and they were framed with long lashes. But none of these were his best features. No it was his very heart-warming smile. The kind of smile that when it appeared would light up his face, transforming it entirely.
He sat down next to me as we all budged up once more. Drew and Chaz seemed happy about the close proximity that Jack had created. But now we all looked more like couples, there being three girls and three boys, but as for the girls, myself included, we didn"t think the same as the guys did.
"So how do you like our cold little town?" Jack asked with a crooked grin, as his arm rested slightly on the back of the velvet seat behind me.
"Umm, to be honest I haven"t really seen much of it, but what I have seen I like. My sister and I went hiking the other day, which I loved." This made his eyes react as though I had said something to spark his interest.
"Oh you like to hike? I do too, well growing up here, there"s not that much more to do. Until this place opened that is." I wondered how long this place had been open for. RJ had said the Dravens came here every year.
"I know all the best spots, if you would ever like an expert guide," he continued nudging me at this last part.
"Best spots of what?" RJ said with an abrupt manner.
But before she could get her answer the crowd started to shift and people that were sitting were starting to rise to try and get a better view of something. I found myself thinking that considering the band wasn"t that well known, they sure were getting a lot of excited faces looking their way. I thought out loud and said "So I"m guessing the band"s here" directed more at RJ as she was now stood like the rest of them. Jack and I were the only ones still sitting.
"You guessed wrong," she said through a wide black lipped grin, now nearly standing on the seat to get a better view. I noticed Lanie was doing the same only with her height she didn"t have the same problem as RJ.
"It"s a lot more exciting than that!" And with that her hands went to her face in what looked like pure joy!
"Is she like this at Christmas?" I asked Jack who wasn"t looking as thrilled as everyone else.
"Sadly no, nothing gets her this excited. I really don"t understand what it is about them!" He said in a bored tone.
"Them?" Was I missing something? I thought we were here to see a band, or had some celebrity just walked in. It wouldn"t have surprised me in this place.
"The Dravens," she squeaked. She went so high pitched I could just imagine all dogs within a ten miles radius howling in pain.
"Ah," was all I could say as I was trying to sink further down in my seat and angle myself away from where everyone was straining their necks to see. Jack seemed to notice my movement.
"Well it"s nice to see not everyone here is Draven Crazy!" He said smiling down at me but receiving a middle finger from his sister for the comment.
"Nice and very lady like sis," he said, his voice laced with sarcasm. Then the whispers started, which indicated they were here. I don"t think that anyone had even noticed that the band was already on the stage and ready to start their first song. Heads turned towards the front entrance where I had not long since walked through. Then it was strange, like something from a G.o.dfather movie when the Don walked in. Everyone that had been staring was now trying not to look directly at them. From what I could make out they were now pa.s.sing through the crowd, a lot easier than when we did it, as the people were parting as if Moses was leading the way.
The music had started right on cue, as though trying to divert some of the attention. If anything it just enhanced their entrance making it more dramatic. I tried not to look but found myself glancing up every now and again, wishing the commotion would soon be over. I don"t know why but I was embarra.s.sed for them, I would have hated to have all those eyes watching me. I didn"t want to conform, like somehow it would make it easier for them if one less person wasn"t acting that way.
But there was also another set of feelings that were coursing through my body and mind. Ones I couldn"t understand. I felt nervous again and my arms began to itch, as though the "well concealed" scars beneath my gloves were burning. I sat on my hands trying not to fidget too much. My heart raced uncontrollably and I was thankful the music had started, as I was sure you could hear my every heartbeat. I tried to concentrate on my breathing, slowing my inhaling down, the way the doctor had shown me to control my panic attacks, which I hadn"t had for a while until tonight. Why was I acting so crazy, so it was just some rich family that had a bit of mystery to them, they probably just wanted to be left alone. And that was about all the mystery to it.
I started to relax my thoughts. Yes this was good. Keep this up Keira I commanded myself. But then something RJ had said to me earlier struck me.
The stairs!