Nick led Chance into the Raven, feeling a bit uneasy about bringing him there. What was I thinking to suggest it in the first place? he asked himself. He glanced over at the photographer, who was taking in the scenery with eagle-eyed curiosity. “The owner is a friend of mine. I don’t think she’ll mind if you interact with the patrons a little bit. But…we should clear it with her first.”
Chance nodded, scanning the crowded club for anyone who looked like they might be the owner. “Which one is she?” he asked Nick..
The other man was also scanning the room for Janette. “I don’t see her just–” He stopped in mid-sentence as she emerged from behind the beaded curtain, wearing a skin-tight, black strapless dress. It was accented in red, lacy ruffles about the shoulders and hem line, with red lacing up the bodice that held in her firm, ample breasts. Nick’s eyes traveled down the ensemble…appreciating it fully. Her black high-heel shoes and the placement of the hem line on the dress made her legs look a mile long. His eyes traced the criss-cross path of the bodice hungrily.
While Nick stood there, unable to take his eyes from her, Janette noticed him and wove her way through the crowd to where he stood enthralled and Chance looked more than a bit confused. “Wow…” Chance muttered in the detective’s ear. He barely nodded in response as she came to stand next to them.
“Nicolas!” Janette exclaimed, greeting him with a quick hug.
Her body touched his ever so lightly, yet it scattered his thoughts completely. “Janette…” he breathed. “I…um…” He looked at Chance, hoping to regain his composure. “I…” His eyes flitted back to the clever neckline on her dress. “Ummm…” He meant to introduce the photographer to her, but the only thing coming to his mind was seeing how easily that dress would come off her body. “Yeah…” he sighed at the thought.
As Nick stammered, Janette rolled her eyes at Chance, laughing in gentle amusement. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend, Nicolas?” she asked.
Nick snapped out of his fantasy and back into reality with a start. “Yeah.” He turned to the photographer. “Chance, this is the owner, Ms. Janette DuCharme.” Looking back to her, his eyes automatically traveled down her delicate neck and flawless shoulders back to the laced bodice. He began to unlace it in his mind.
“Nicolas?” she whispered, still laughing.
“Janette…this is, um…um…”
“Chance. Chance Harper,” the other man reminded him.
“Yeah…Chance Harper. He’s um…here to…um…t-take…” Nick was having great difficulty telling Janette what the photographer was here to take.
Chance jogged him in the ribs with his elbow. “Take pictures, Nick. I’m here to take pictures.”
“Yeah…take pictures.” The detective briefly wondered if he could borrow that camera to take some pictures of his own later.
The other man, meanwhile, realized that Nick was far too out of it to finish this introduction. So, he took it upon himself to explain why he’d come to take pictures.
Janette was still laughing at Nick as she showed Chance around the club.
^^
Chance spent his first few minutes alone in the Raven just wandering around the club, trying to get a feel for the atmosphere. There was something almost sinister about the place, probably because of the dark decor and murky red lighting. Truthfully, it was strikingly similar in feel to the other clubs he’d been in, both in the United States and Canada. Since he didn’t ordinarily frequent nightclubs, he didn’t know whether to attribute this resemblance to his luck or just night life in general.
Contributing to the atmosphere as much as the physical decor was the music pulsing through the room, something he wished he could capture with his camera:
Close your eyes
And walk the endless mile to sleep
No good-byes
And no more promises to keep
Light the light
And follow closely as you lead
It ends tonight
And fills the emptiness and need
You must give in
You must give in
A game that you can’t win, the Hunger
He shook his head, as if to somehow dislodge the troubling lyrics from his mind. Creepy.
There was one part of the music that he could capture, though–its energy. Hefting his camera, Chance aimed it at the busy dance floor, waiting for the perfect shot. It came a moment later, in the form of a man and woman dancing together very closely. For a brief moment, the man’s head drifted towards his partner’s shoulder, his face wearing an expression of almost ravenous desire.
The photographer smiled as the moment was captured with a soft click. He hesitated for a moment, wondering whether or not to try for another photo of the heaving sea of bodies on the dance floor, but decided against it. He doubted he would get another shot as appropriate.
Turning his attention to the bar, he caught a glimpse of the proprietress leaning on the counter. She had a stem glass of what looked to be red wine clasped delicately in one black gloved hand, and a look of intent thoughtfulness on her face. Impulsively he snapped another shot and was glad he did when she stood a moment later. Handing her glass to an employee, she moved out from behind the bar and into the crowd of her patrons.
He didn’t take the time to notice where she went, being already engrossed with his next photo op–this time a young woman holding another glass of red liquid to the lips of the man sitting on the barstool next to her. Some instinct told Chance to wait a moment on this one, and he was rewarded with another shot of the couple, this time with the man kissing the back of the woman’s unoccupied hand. His eyes were fixed on hers and filled with meaning.
The next one he took–for no particular reason he could think of–was of Detective Knight. He looked distinctly uncomfortable until something–or someone–caught his eye. Then, as his demeanor lost some of its melancholy for a moment, Chance captured it on film.
^^
Nick sat at the bar, watching as Chance went around looking for something of interest to capture on film. He couldn’t get his mind off Janette or the scene earlier that night. I can’t believe I let my desire get the better of me like that…and in front of a virtual stranger, too.
Janette caught his attention as she made her rounds among the patrons. She smiled at him and he returned the smile broadly. His smile faded a little, however, when she turned to disappear down the hallway leading to her private office. It returned when he caught the subtle look she gave him and the signal inviting him to join her. Rising from his barstool, he followed her into the back room.
^^
He gave the door a light shove to close it as he entered the room just seconds behind Janette. She stood with her back to him, filling two glasses with a rich-smelling human blood. Neither of them noticed that the door remained ajar.
“Are you here on business, Nicolas?” she asked, still with her back to him. When he responded that it was his day off, she replied, “A pleasure visit? How nice.”
“It’s always a pleasure to visit with you, Janette,” was his response.
“Of course…” She turned, handing him a wine glass. “How do you like my new dress?” Janette smiled at him, knowing that he hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off her because of that dress earlier in the evening.
Much to her delight, Nick’s eyes wandered back over the dress. His breathing became heavy and erratic. “It’s…um…it’s…” He looked up at her, desire in his eyes.
“Oui, Nicolas…c’est quoi?” she purred, obviously enjoying his display of desire and frustration.
“Breathtaking!” he said at last, a triumphant look on his face. He’d finally managed to complete a thought for the first time all evening.
“Why, thank you. You don’t think it’s a little too much off the shoulders, do you?”
His eyes traveled again. “It’s perfect….” he sighed dreamily. “Anything you choose to wear is perfection, Janette.”
“Merci, mon cher. A votre sante,” she said, lifting the glass to her lips and sipping slowly.
“A la nuit,” Nick toasted as he followed suit. Moments later he set his half-empty glass down on the desk. “I’ve been thinking about you, Janette.”
“You have? What have you been thinking?” she purred, lifting her right hand to run her fingers through his hair. She could guess what he’d been thinking. Pulling his head down to hers, she kissed him lightly, pressing her body to his for the briefest moment, then stepping away quickly to watch the torment on his face.
One kiss, however, was hardly enough for Nick. “Guess…” he hissed sharply as he pulled her back into his arms. The kiss he gave her was pure passion, full of the pent-up emotions he’d been carrying with him since Saturday.
Janette returned his kiss with fire. Soon they were exploring each other hungrily. Nick’s hands roamed across her body, roughly feeling her curves. His lips tasted the creamy skin of her shoulders and neck. His mind reeled as she placed lusty kisses on his lips and across his face. When she nipped at his earlobe playfully, he felt his fangs descend.
They were so wrapped up in their endeavors that neither felt the presence in the open doorway.
Nick raised his head from Janette’s neck, where he’d been sucking and and licking her skin hungrily. With a low snarl of animal lust, he sank his fangs into her throat, drinking greedily. Her hand pressed the back of his head gently, pressuring him to drink his fill. When he finally lifted his head, his eyes were shining golden. Then she bit into his throat, and he let out a cry of passion.
Behind them, Chance Harper stood holding his camera slightly below his eyes. There was a shocked, uneasy look on his face.
^^
Meanwhile…
Chance had canvassed the entire main room of the Raven and managed to capture several shots that ideally reflected its dark atmosphere. Still, he was hesitant to leave, even though it seemed that everything that could be photographed already had been. Both as a photographer and as an inadvertent magnet for trouble, Chance had learned to trust his instincts, and something was telling him there was more to be seen.
His suspicions were heightened when a brief perusal of the club made it apparent that neither the detective nor the proprietress were anywhere in sight.
Guess I’m stuck here for a while, he thought to himself, resigned. His eyes drifted towards the doors at the back of the club, not all of which led outside. The thought struck him that a glance behind the scenes might be just the thing to make this particular site stand out. And since Janette had pretty much given him carte blanche with regard to what he was allowed to photograph, he turned his footsteps resolutely towards the back hallway.
He never expected to find the two people he had been looking for earlier locked in a passionate embrace in the middle of an office, with the door wide open. For a moment, Chance just stared in stunned surprise at the spectacle in front of him. Then, the same instincts which had made him hesitate a moment ago kicked in and he raised his camera just in time to observe through the viewfinder as the detective raised his head with a soft, inhuman snarl, then plunged a pair of sharp fangs into the woman’s throat.
Click.
Apparently they were completely engrossed in each other, because neither seemed to hear Chance’s camera.
More shocked than he could ever remember being in his very strange life, the photographer hung in the doorway, his jaw slack and his camera held only millimeters below his eye. A moment later, when Nick raised his head from Janette’s throat and she in turn bit lustily into his, Chance raised the camera again and took another photograph. He lingered in the doorway a moment more, not sure what to do next. Then, before either of them could discover his presence, he turned and fled back out into the sanctuary of the very public bar.
