Poison doubled back and got right in the bouncer"s face. ?She comes here all the time,?
she said. ?I can"t believe you don"t remember her.?
The bouncer lifted his gaze back to me, his expression one of disdain, then shifted it to the waiting line, sporting streaks in various colors of the gothic rainbow.
?I had blue hair last time,? I said.
?Oh, that was you?? he asked seriously.
He stamped my hand with the Coffin Club bat and wrapped a band around my wrist. I had gained pa.s.sage to the Coffin Club. We slipped behind the bouncer, headed past the bloodred carpet and rope and two skeleton greeters, and before I knew it I was walking through the black wooden coffin-shaped doors.
?Thanks,? I said to Poison. ?Everyone says I look younger than I am. I bet you get that a lot, since you have such flawless skin.?
Poison"s ghost white face lit up. She put her arm around me. ?I"ll buy the first round,?
she said.
The Coffin Club was still morbidly magical. Neon headstones flashed against black spray-painted cement walls. Pale mannequins, dressed in antique clothing or Victorian suits or bound in leather, hung from the rafters. Music pulsed hard throughout the club as if the DJ were trying to wake the dead. A balcony, the place where I"d first encountered Alexander"s nemesis, Jagger, loomed over the vampire-wannabe crowded dance floor, blood-filled amulets swinging from necks like Olympic medals.
But Primus was right. The Coffin Club had changed in the last few months. The club was packed, black wall to black wall, with clubsters. The thick dry ice permeated the air like a Jack the Ripper London fog, making it difficult to see. And where, as last time, I got stares as I ventured through the club, this time the clubsters were intensely partying and seemingly uninterested in a newbie.
I followed Primus and Poison to the bar, but other eager patrons pushed their way in front of me, leaving me to fall behind. I could see their heads above the crowd as I squeezed between the clubsters. When I thought I"d finally reached them, I realized I"d been following another couple the entire time. I popped out at the miniflea market, where for a small price a clubster could buy anything from an amulet to a sit-down with a numerologist. The packed dance floor was next to the row of sellers, but the bar was nowhere in sight.
I squeezed my way back between the dancing and drinking clubsters, past the giant tombstone-shaped restroom doors marked MONSTERS and GHOULS. I finally saw a wall filled with bottles, spiderwebs clinging to them. I knew I had found the holy grail. But the bar was so jammed with thirsty customers it was impossible to see who was bartending or where Primus and Poison were located. I squished my way through. Just as a girl was sliding off a tombstone- shaped barstool, I jumped on it.
A guy sitting next to me spun around. He was wearing more eyeliner than Alice Cooper, and it didn"t look as good on him as it did on the elder rocker.
?I"ll buy you whatever you want,? he said, slurring his way into my face and s.p.a.ce.
I spotted the bartender, Romeo, but neither my barmate nor I attracted his attention.
Romeo responded to every wave of a ten-dollar bill but continued to ignore us. When he pa.s.sed by for the hundredth time, I leaned over the bar and grabbed his tattooed arm.
Since Alexander and Jameson had been mum about all things Maxwell, I thought this was my chance to get some inside scoop. ?Did Jagger go back to Romania?? I asked.
Romeo, holding a beer in each hand, glared at me. The mention of Jagger"s name gave him pause. Like Primus and Poison, he didn"t recognize me.
?Who wants to know?? he asked suspiciously.
?Raven. Is he in town? Or did he go back to Romania??
?Raven...Your name sounds familiar.?
I realized I shouldn"t have let Romeo know I was looking for Jagger. I wasn"t a regular clubster; I was the girlfriend of Jagger"s nemesis. Alexander had already reunited Valentine with him. Now it appeared as if I was stirring up trouble. How could I have been so stupid?
?I"ll have a Medieval Ma.s.sacre, and the lady will have-,? my barmate began.
?I"ll be right back,? I said, knowing I wouldn"t return.
It was time to call it a night. I"d lost Primus and Poison. I"d been asking about locations of nefarious vampires. And I was an underage girl alone at a bar. I"d better arrive at Old Town before this black-fingernailed Cinderella turned into a pumpkin.
Fatigue set in as I headed for the entrance doors. It was starting to hit me that when I"d woken up this morning, I was in Dullsville. I began to feel dizzy as I pushed and squeezed my way through the fog-filled club, my safety pins getting tangled on other clubsters" chains. When I glanced up, I"d reached a wall that was unfamiliar but had a coffin-shaped door. I tried to open it, but it was stuck. I turned the k.n.o.b and pushed my body against it.
The door flung open and I stumbled into a barely lit area. It took me several steps before I realized that instead of exiting into the street, I had entered a dimly lit corridor.
I would have turned back, but I heard music (different from the song being played in the Coffin Club) pulsing from the other end. Perhaps it was coming from Jagger"s apartment-the very one he had shown me when I visited the club on my last trip. It would take only a moment for me to find out. A single overhead naked bulb lit the cryptic corridor, and graffiti lined the cement walls like an urban overpa.s.s. When I reached the end of the corridor, I discovered another smaller tunnellike path, with arched stone walls and a very narrow, steep staircase that plummeted into darkness. I let the rusty handrail go untouched and crept down the stairs. They led to a single wooden dungeon door. Written in bloodred spray-painted letters was: DEAD END.
Was this someone"s office? Or perhaps another entrance to the apartment Jagger had been living in?
I pressed my ear to the coffin-lid door. I could hear a mixture of music and voices.
I slowly turned the k.n.o.b and pushed the door, but it wouldn"t budge. I heard some voices behind me and the sound of footsteps descending the stairs. It was a dead end-I had nowhere to go. I knew at any moment I might be kicked out of the club and perhaps Hipsterville altogether-if I lived to tell.
Two guys with the complexion of corpses, one blond, one redhead, confronted me.
?Can"t get in?? the blond one asked.
?I forgot my key,? I said flippantly.
?It"s okay, I have mine.?
He unclipped a skeleton key swinging from a chain attached to his studded belt.
?Getting in is easy,? the blond said.
?That is, if you make it past Dragon,? his friend retorted.
?But getting out is harder,? the blond warned.
I didn"t know what lay on the other side or why a key was required to unlock the door.
I"d also never heard of a guard shielding the inside of a door.
The coffin lid creaked open. We stepped into a dark and dingy foyer where we were greeted by a monstrous-looking bouncer the size of a small dinosaur. Black fabric hung behind him like at a car wash, blocking any view of what he was guarding.
The bouncer"s head was shaved, and inked on it was the head of a dragon, its reptilian wings breaking out of his white tank top and wrapping his Terminator biceps. I didn"t dare ask to see the bottom half of the fiery dragon.
The two corpselike guys showed him their keys, walked through a slit in the fabric, then disappeared.
?Where is yours?? he grumbled.
?He has it,? I said, pointing to the guy I"d followed in. ?Please, they"re waiting for me.?
He paused, inspecting me to see if I was worthy of pa.s.sing. I"d flashed him my best ?Don"t make me ask to see the manager? face when the door opened again and a group of clubsters, draped in black and sporting white fangs, entered.
?Next time, keep it on you,? he said. ?Otherwise you"ll be banned.?
I pushed through the fabric before Dragon changed his mind. What lay on the other side blew my mind-it was a ma.s.sive underground tomb. An ancient-looking subterranean cemetery, with serpentine catacombs and graves dug out in the stone walls and dirt floors, like something unearthed on the History Channel. It was creepy, dark and dangerous. In the center, a sunken dance floor with a hard-rocking band played on a fluorescent-lit stage. Spray-painted in red on the wall behind the bandmates were the words THE DUNGEON with a pair of real shackles and chains hanging down. Suspended above was a candelabra chandelier where a dis...o...b..ll might be.
Surrounding the dance floor were hallowed tombs carved into the walls, like a skeletal morgue, and fifteen-foot-high stone archways leading to cavelike rooms. Where mummies would have been buried instead were live bodies, drinking, smoking, and making out. Each cave was lined with black or red velvet and had puffy leather couches with canoodling couples. More than a few entranceways sp.a.w.ned darkened tunnels, their destinations unknown from my vantage point.
Some bore signs-THE EXECUTIONER"S LOUNGE, THE TORTURE CHAMBER, DRACULA"S DEN-while others remained bare like an unmarked grave.
As morbid as the buried club was, the clubsters themselves were stylishly ghoulish. The dancers were uniformly pale, blue lips covered with red gloss. The clubsters ranged in dress from goth to punk to gothic Lolitas. Each appeared to be more seductive than the next. The club"s stone walls dripped with danger, while its inhabitants oozed with sensuality. Though its existence and location were secretive and secluded, I"d stumbled upon a cryptically wicked party scene. This club was far more intimate and sinister than its sister club above.
And unlike the patrons upstairs, these ghost white clubsters appeared inviting. Guys and girls alike checked me out as I made my way through. Some stared at me as if they guessed I didn"t have a key to enter, while other oglers didn"t seem to care.
Guys were kissing girls" necks, wrists, and every place with a prominent vein as the girls smiled back with delight.
This crowd was definitely a whole lot friendlier. ?Hi. Want to dance?? A guy approached me as I was avoiding stepping into a grave, while another girl, her nose as long as a witch"s, just followed me. ?I haven"t seen you around before. Are you single? I know the perfect guy for you.?
But instead of obliging them, I snuck up to the bar and hopped on a barstool.
A bartender, his hair flowing down to the dirt floor, set a black Dungeon bar napkin in front of me. ?We have imports or domestic.?
?Uh...how about local??
The bartender laughed. ?It"s ladies" night. Girls drink free.?
I was as thirsty as a bloodless vampire.
?In that case...something nonalcoholic.?
?Sure...why dilute it.?
He grabbed a vintage green bottle, poured its contents into a pewter gla.s.s, then pushed the drink to me.
The drink smelled peculiar. I was hoping it would taste like supersweet Kool-Aid, but it appeared to have the consistency of tomato juice.
I touched it with my finger and examined it closely.
Then I realized it was neither Kool-Aid nor tomato juice-it was blood.
Was this a mistake, or perhaps a practical joke?
?Can I get some water, too?? I asked, flagging him down.
?Don"t you like it??
?It"s delicious,? I said, not wanting to draw attention to myself. ?I"d like to finish it off with a gla.s.s of water.?
He placed another goblet next to my blood-filled one while I rubbed my hand with a bacterial wipe underneath the bar.
I smelled the new gla.s.s. Who knows-it could have been filled with whiskey. There wasn"t any noticeable scent, so I took a small sip. I was in luck. It was ordinary Hipsterville tap water. I guzzled it down, then placed a tip on the bar. I was getting ready to hop off the stool when someone put their hand on my shoulder.
A slender guy with a five o"clock shadow sat at the bar next to me. ?Where are you from??
I rolled my eyes and recoiled my shoulder from his hand.
?I don"t mean that as a pickup line; I really meant it-where are you from??
?Are you taking a survey??
?As a matter of fact...?
I didn"t feel like telling a stranger my personal address. It was enough that Jagger had followed me home from the Coffin Club last time I"d visited Hipsterville. I didn"t want Five O"clock Shadow showing up at my house, shaved or not.
?You"ll have to find someone else for your survey.?
?I"ve never seen you here before. How did you find out about this place??
?A little bat told me.?
He cracked a smile.
?And you?? I asked, only to be polite.
?The crop circles. Then I knew there was a population of our kind here.?
?Aliens?? I asked.
The stranger laughed again. I was intrigued by his response, but I knew if I pressed him for more info, he"d interpret our continuing conversation as a come-on.
?Let me buy you a drink,? he said, moving close.
?Thanks anyway; I"m not staying.?
?You"re cautious. I understand...We all are. That"s why the Coffin Club is the hottest underground club. We can all be ourselves. By the way, my name is Leopold.?
?Uh...I"m...?
I felt something vibrating in my purse. I reached in-it was my cell. Saved by the bell- or in this case vibration. ?I have to take this,? I said, leaving the bar. I flipped my cell open and snuck under a stone archway.
?Raven?? It was Aunt Libby. I could barely hear her. ?How are you??
?Hi, Aunt Libby,? I shouted back. ?I"m fine.?
?What are you doing? I can hardly hear you.?