Prologue/Chapter 1

Prologue

The midwife cringed at the mother’s pain-filled scream.  She gave the woman words of encouragement even when she knew better.  This was not a normal birth.  The midwife had been called personally rather than through the agency as she usually was.  She was even being paid under the table, so-to-speak.

There was a lot more blood than there should have been and there was nothing that the midwife could do to staunch the flow.  She had no one to help her either.  Why hadn’t she just followed her instincts and said no?

The money, that’s why.  She had been offered enough money to retire on and then some and being as young as she was that was saying something.  No one would have said no to that amount of money paid in cash ahead of time.

She should have been suspicious when she pulled up to the small one roomed hut.  The drive had been longer than she had expected and she had literally been directed into the middle of nowhere.

She had not been told that she would be ushering one life into the world only to lose another.  The mother was not going to make it through this.  Admitting that there was nothing that she could do was the one thing that the midwife hated about her chosen profession.

A loud cry rang out as the child finally broke free of his mother.  The overwhelming joy that came with life washed over her, but it was short lived as she saw the teeth that already lined the child’s mouth.  As though that wasn’t strange enough the canines were elongated.  The child was an abomination.  Every instinct in the woman told her to get rid of the child before he could grow into the monster that his father must have been.  Now she knew why she had been called personally.  The mother could not risk a human midwife seeing such an anomaly.

“Jerrit,” the mother’s voice was little more than a whisper.  “Let me see my Jerrit.”  The woman’s face was pale from blood-loss and fatigue.  The midwife could not deny the woman her dying request.

“Let me clean him up first.”

The midwife took only a few moments to clean and clothe the boy.  She moved to show the woman her son, but when she tried to hand him to his mother to hold but the woman would not take him.

“He is your son,” the midwife insisted, “Don’t you want to hold him before…”  She stopped herself.  She could not bring herself to say it out loud.

“…before I die?” the mother finished.  She smiled weakly.  “I knew my fate a long time ago.  My only regret is that I wont be around to make sure that he doesn’t turn out like his father.”

The midwife was more than a little surprised.  The woman knew what the child was but had made the conscious decision to allow him to live.  “I am not going to ask how you know what I am but is that why you chose me?”

“I chose you because I knew that you would not let him become the enemy of your kind.  I know that he is not supposed to exist, yet here he is…” the woman winced in pain.  “Please, you have to help me.”

The midwife shook her head.  “There’s nothing that I can do.  You’ve already lost too much blood and I don’t have anything for a transfusion.  You wouldn’t even make to the hospital if I tried to rush you there.”  The smile returned to the mother’s face.  “But that’s what you want, isn’t it?  You want to die.”

“I never had a choice.  I was going to die no matter what, but the least that I could do was try to keep my son safe and I did that by keeping his secret.  The hospital would not understand how my body was mysteriously drained of blood after my son was born.  I don’t need that kind of suspicion on him when he is not to blame.”

“He wasn’t feeding from you?”

The mother closed her eyes.  Her breathing was ragged.  The woman was not going to last much longer.  She opened her eyes slowly.

“No.  This is residual damage.  I don’t know how or why but being pregnant with Jerrit kept me alive.  I was surprised when I woke up without a scratch, when I knew for a fact that I had been beaten almost to death the night before.  It took me months to realize that it was my son who was sustaining me, not the other way around.  But I have been living on borrowed time and now the payment has come due.”

The mother tried to lift her hand but failed.  “I need you to promise me that you will find him a good home.  Find him a family of your kind to raise him properly.  I don’t want him to live as a vampire and the only way to stop it from happening is to make sure that he is brought up by Werewolves.”

The midwife hesitated.  How could she promise what the mother was asking?  The child should not exist at all.  She should kill the thing the moment the mother died.  The midwife looked at the quiet creature that she held in her arms.  He looked at her with attentive eyes, like he knew what she was thinking and was waiting for her to make a decision.

It was the boys innocent blue eyes that made up her mind her.  The child was an innocent in all of this.  She could not hold the son accountable for the sins of the father.  Jerrit would have a chance at life if it was the last thing that she did.

The midwife nodded at the woman on the bed.  “I give you my word as a Werewolf that he will be given the life that he deserves.  His father will never have the chance to influence him if I can help it…and with my connections, I can.”

“Thank you,” the mother breathed, “May he one day grow strong enough to destroy the scum who spawned him.  One day he will be feared by Zabrze and all who follow that son-of-a-bitch.”

The midwife’s stomach dropped.  Zabrze was one of the most feared vampires.  His ruthlessness was legend and now she was in control of his son.  She had the chance of a lifetime in front of her.  Why kill the boy, when she could do so much more damage by turning him on his father?  She was going to raise the vampire who would strike fear into the hearts of the fearless.

The midwife started to tell the mother as much but it was too late.  “May the gods protect you.  Don’t worry about your son.  I will raise him as my own.”

The midwife left the small shack with the baby in her arms.  So much for thinking she would never have children.

She placed the boy in the car seat that she always kept in her car.  In her line of work it was a necessity.  After strapping him in comfortably she pulled a box of matches out of her glove box.  She lit a single match and threw it into the wooden building, no doubt the mother had planned for such a funeral.  She said a soft prayer to the gods in honor of the woman then went back to the car.

She drove away without looking back at the funeral pyre.  She knew that it was not going to be a normal birth.  In the matter of a few hours she had become a mother.  She should have stayed in bed, but then she would not have been able to save the beautiful blue-eyed boy.

She looked at the baby through her rear view mirror.  He was sleeping soundly.  He looked so sweet and innocent.  She was going to keep him that way for as long as she could.  She could not help but smile at the irony of his newfound name.  Jerrit Serenity, her serene baby boy.

Chapter 1

“So the plan is to go to Old Chicago’s and then head to the club from there.  That way we can at least attempt to eat while we are consuming massive amounts of alcohol.”

Dawn Saunders rolled her eyes at her friend Crystal.  To Dawn, her birthday was the same as any other before it, but Crystal had insisted on putting together a party, against Dawn’s better judgment.  She was usually very enthusiastic about her birthdays.  Who couldn’t love a day devoted entirely to themselves?  Still something in her gut was telling her that she should not be making a big deal over this one, even if it was her twenty-first but she hadn’t been able to come up with any reason not to celebrate the occasion other than an irrational feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her to lay low tonight, so the party was on.

“So basically, you put as little thought into the night as you possibly could.”

“Hey, what else is there to do in Greeley, Colorado?  Besides, you already agreed to go along with anything that I came up with, so this is your own fault,” Crystal replied in her usual sarcastic tone.

“I agreed to do anything within reason, Crystal Hoffman.  There were a few caveats to your party planning freedom.  Just so long as there is a designated driver, and someplace for everyone to stay at the end of the night, then I can put my mind at ease.  The control freak in me has to know that everyone is going to be alright before I can relax enough to allow you to get me smashed.  Oh, and let’s not forget the ‘no-naked’ rule.”

Crystal pouted.  “You do know that you take all the fun out of life.  Do you know how long it took for me to put together a good party without someone naked being around?  That rule eliminated half of the guest list.”

Dawn smiled.  Crystal always had a comeback to lighten any mood, and then a long and drawn out rant to follow it.  Dawn quit listening, which she usually did, as they made their way through the clothing store that Dawn hadn’t bothered to even look at the name of.

Crystal had decided that Dawn needed a new outfit for the big birthday shindig.  Had Crystal not offered to pay Dawn would have said no.  There was nothing wrong with the clothes that she already had and Dawn hated shopping, especially for clothes.  God forbid someone design something that actually looked good on a girl with a freaking figure.

Dawn was not a big girl.  She had spent the last few months working out in an attempt to get herself into shape and to slim down the excess weight that had accumulated because of dorm-life.  Stupid freshman fifteen.  She had successfully lost an entire pant size which had caused her to gain a certain amount of confidence.  Even with all of the work, Dawn was not blessed with a small build.  She was unable to get her weight to fall below one-hundred and fifty pounds.  She did everything that she could to hide the child-bearing hips that everyone said were a blessing.  Curse was more like it.

Crystal on the other hand was a thinner girl which Dawn knew was partly because her friend was allergic to gluten and had been forced to adjust her diet.  Her auburn hair hung down to her shoulders.  Her blue eyes were pale with a green tinge to them which Dawn envied.  She had a young face, much like Dawn, yet had an aura of superiority.  Crystal was only an inch taller than Dawn, but at Five and a half feet that wasn’t saying much.

Dawn ignored her friend as the girl continued to complain about working within the confines of the rules that Dawn had set out.  In truth, Dawn was grateful that Crystal was even trying to throw the party at all.  Dawn was not into the whole getting trashed and going crazy thing that most college students took part in.  She would much rather sit at home with a good book, or even a bad movie.  Dawn liked to stay in her own little world that rarely changed.  It was comfortable...but there was something to be said for predictability.

“…Are you even listening to me?” Crystal asked suddenly.

“Nope,” Dawn answered honestly, “The last thing that I heard was guest list.”

“Which time?”

“The first one.”

“You make me sad, do you realize that?  But that’s fine because I ignored your no naked rule and invited Jack anyway.  I told him to wear the cute boxers this time, though.  No need to scare anyone this time.”

“You know, very well, that the no-naked rule meant no strippers.  Jacky is not a stripper…”  Dawn smiled as she remembered the many times that she had spent with Jack Edwards.  “He just has trouble keeping his clothes on after massive alcohol consumption.  That doesn’t count.  But if it is possible, let’s cut him off before he gets that far.  That stage comes just after his gayness starts to get intense, so we should be able to spot it pretty easily.”

“I don’t make promises that I can’t keep.  You probably should have been more specific about the naked rule though, because strippers do not get all the way naked.  Technically I could invite strippers and you couldn’t say anything about it.”

“Fine, I change it to a ‘no-stripper’ rule.  Let the nakedness reign!”

Crystal laughed wickedly.  She pulled a shirt off of a rack and put it over her arm with the several other items that she had already collected for Dawn to try on.  “Hey, are you going to take Alice up on her offer to get you laid for your birthday?”

Dawn grimaced at the reminder of her friends offer.  “Oh yes, that way I can feel even more pathetic than I already do.  Not only can I not get a guy but my friends have to either pay or bribe one to even consider me.  I don’t think so.  Maybe in a few years when I am a little more desperate.”

“Dawn, you have been single for almost five years, I don’t think that you can get much more desperate.”

“I know people who have never had a date in their lives and they are perfectly fine.”

“Name one,” Crystal challenged.

“Natalia Briden…and my roommate Brianna.  That’s two punk!”

“Yeah, you’re still desperate.”

“I am only twenty-one.  I think that I have plenty of time for desperation later.”

“Fine, but if you want my advice, you will take them up on the offer.  Or you could get yourself a dog.  It’s not the same as a man but it is companionship.”

“How did we get from sex to animals?  Bestiality is wrong.”

“Technically we went from companionship to animals, so get your mind out of the gutter.  Of course, you could also look at it in that we went from men to dogs; I think that that one is closer to actuality.  Besides, I think that you need someone to keep you company and to be devoted to you unconditionally.  The only way to get that is with a dog.”

“Thanks, Crys.  I didn’t know that you cared so much about my loneliness.”

“Yeah…don’t get used to it.  I think that I have about ten seconds of compassion left.”

“In that case, let’s save it for the dressing room when I have to show you how terrible I look in everything that you have right there.”

Crystal frowned as she picked up one of the shirts on her arm and looked at it.  “I think that you’ll look cute.”

“Great, I always wanted to be cute,” Dawn did not even try to hide her sarcasm, “For once can we please try something that will make me look, oh I don’t know, like an adult rather than a thirteen-year-old?  I am coming of age, you know.”

Crystal rolled her eyes.  “Fine, we’ll do what we can to make you look older, but I can’t perform miracles, Dawn.”

Crystal shoved Dawn toward the dressing rooms.  “I don’t expect miracles, Crystal.  Just a little talented make-overing.”

“If you are going to start making up words, could you please come up with some that don’t make you sound like a complete idiot?”

Before Dawn could argue, Crystal shoved her into a dressing room, pushed the clothes into Dawn’s arms and closed the door.

“So, back to the party plan that you are trying to ignore in an attempt to make it go away, which won’t work, by the way,” Crystal said through the door as Dawn started changing into one of Crystal’s selections.  “We are going to go to the restaurant for food and drink and then head over to the club where I will watch you make a fool out of yourself while attempting to dance.  I have watched you dance sober so I can’t wait to see how much worse it is when you are inebriated!”

“I feel so loved.”  Dawn fumbled with a tie on the top that she was trying on.  “I don’t think that I like this one.”

“Well, I don’t trust your opinion at all, so you need to come out here.”

“Fine, but I am telling you that this is not the one.”  Dawn opened the door and stepped out.

Crystal stepped back.  She had her fist in front of her mouth in a pensive pose.  “You’re right there’s something not quite right about it.”

Dawn moved to stand in front of the three-way mirror.  She was wearing a light yellow baby-doll top with a thick ribbon just below her chest that tied in the back.  The neckline was low and showed off what little cleavage she had.  The jean skirt that she wore was so short that she could not bend over without showing the world everything that she had to offer.  It was not something that she would have picked out for herself and she was not really sure why Crystal had even tried.

“I look like a pregnant baby-doll that also happens to be the local prostitute.  I am not going to wear this tonight…or ever again.” Dawn went back into the dressing room and shut the door.

“You are far too critical…and you are too stubborn for your own good.  I think that that is why you can’t get a man.  You should try to listen to my advice and stop being so judgmental of yourself.”

“I should listen to a girl who hasn’t had a boyfriend for as long as I have.  You have no better luck with men than I do so you’ll forgive me if I don’t take your advice.”

“I don’t have a man because I am just as stubborn as you are.  Do as I say not as I do.  Are you sure that you don’t like the entire outfit?  I thought that you liked yellow.”

“Just because I like yellow does not mean that I like everything that is yellow,” Dawn said as she sorted through the clothes again.  “And since when have I ever worn a mini skirt?  I rarely wear skirts at all, let alone ones that show off my entire backside.”

“Well if your backside wasn’t so friggin’ big then we wouldn’t be having that problem would we?”

“You should advertise for diet pills.”  Dawn muttered as she slipped out of the skirt and into a pair of black pants.  “Why do I even need a new outfit?  I have enough clothing.  We could sort through it and find something for me.”

“You are getting a new outfit, so shut up and deal with it.  You have not bought new clothes for as long as I’ve known you.  You cannot wear your sister’s hand-me-downs forever.  I won’t allow it.”

“I like the clothes that my sister gives me.  Most of them she never wore and the ones that she has she only wore once or twice so they are basically new.  I get free clothes and I don’t see a problem with that.”

Crystal let out an aggravated breath.  “The problem is, Dawn, that those clothes are not you.  You look good in them, yes but they are not your style.  You are not comfortable in them and I am not going to let you be self-conscious on your birthday.  I am going out with the beautiful confident you or I am not going at all.  You are lucky that I’m even letting you come along at all.”

Dawn chuckled.  She knew that there was truth behind what Crystal was saying but it did not make her any more excited about shopping.  “First off, you don’t know my style, which you proved with the mini skirt.  Second, how would you explain the fact that you are throwing a birthday party for a girl who isn’t even there?”

“I am a college student.  I am sure that I could come up with some BS to explain you away.  That’s what I do in my classes.”

“How do you BS history?”  Dawn took off the yellow top and dropped it on the ground.  “I could understand if you were a business major, like me, that’s all that business is, but history is harder.”

“Harder, yes, but not impossible.  It’s just one more thing that I am better at than you.”

Dawn pulled a red shirt on over her head.  “I would call you the queen of bullshit but I think that you are more like the jester.”

“Rather the jester of bullshit than the janitor.”

Dawn laughed as she opened the door to the dressing room.  “Fair enough.”

Crystal was standing in front of the three way mirror, swaying from side to side.  She looked like a child entertaining herself in any way possible.  When she caught sight of Dawn in the mirror she went still and her eyes widened.  She turned around slowly to face Dawn.

“What?  No witty remarks about how I should be showing more skin or a little more of my chest?”  Dawn put her hands on her hips and gave an exaggerated hip jut for posterity.

Crystal shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes on Dawn.  “I am honestly at a loss for words.”

“Is it that bad?”  Dawn pushed past Crystal to stand in front of the mirror.

The woman staring back at her was almost unrecognizable.  The slacks hugged her curves just right and the black color slimmed her large hips.  The blood red corset top had thick tank top straps that made Dawn more comfortable about baring her shoulders while showing a fair amount of skin at the same time.  There was less than an inch of creamy skin showing between the pants and top which would normally have made Dawn self conscious but for some reason it just seemed right.  Her pear-shaped figure was well-accentuated in the outfit.

Dawn’s honey-brown hair hung down past her waist, with layers that framed her face.  Her soft features gave her an innocent quality that contrasted greatly with her new sexy outfit.  She had always favored a Goth look but her face always made her look out of place in the style.  It annoyed the hell out of her.

“I think that we have found the outfit for you and it only took half an hour.  That has to be record for me.”  Crystal stood behind Dawn to stare at her in the mirror.  “I am amazing, if I do say so myself.  You look hot!  I might just have to keep the guys off of you with a stick.”

Dawn smiled.  “Use whatever you have to, just don’t scare them away.  I don’t want to end up in the same lonely boat that I am in now.”

“Hey, it’s not all that lonely out here with me around.”

Dawn narrowed her eyes in suspicion.  “Was that sentiment that I just heard in your voice?  that’s twice now, Crys.  If I didn’t know any better, I would say that the hard-ass has a soft side.”

“I know.  I think that I must have just had a stroke, or something.  I’ll have to keep an eye on myself tonight.  I wouldn’t want anyone to think that I am actually a kind soul.”

“Yeah, we can’t have that,” Dawn retorted sarcastically.

Crystal punched Dawn’s arm hard enough to sting.  “Shut up and give me the tags on those clothes so I can pay for them.  I don’t wanna stand here while you change anymore.”

Dawn rubbed the sore spot on her arm.  She pulled the tags off, which Crystal snatched out of Dawn’s hand and hurried toward the cash registers.  Dawn smiled and shook her head.  Crystal was very excited about tonight and that excitement was starting to seep into Dawn.  She  knew that something was going to happen tonight, she just wasn’t so sure that it would be bad.

Over the course of a few hours Dawn had not only plowed her way through a burger and fries but also three shots and four daiquiris.  Dawn was being so obnoxious and loud that Crystal was worried they would get kicked out.  Luckily, all of the guests were running interference with the restaurant workers.

Dawn’s good friend Natalia was shepherding Dawn around whenever the girl decided that she needed to get up and talk to someone.  From the few times that Crystal had seen the small girl she had found that Natalia was extremely reserved, especially around new people.  Tonight, however, Natallia was socializing like a pro.  It was amazing how people could change while protecting their friends.

Crystal was glad that so many people had shown up to celebrate Dawn’s birthday.  She should not have been surprised.  Everyone loved Dawn.  She was a loyal friend.  She was known to drop everything to help anyone who asked her to.  She was nice to everyone, which Crystal found extremely annoying.

Crystal was the kind of girl to speak her mind.  If something bothered her, then she said something about it.  Dawn, on the other hand, kept her thoughts to herself unless someone asked an honest opinion of her.  The girl did not lie if you asked her a direct question, but she did not always let you know what was going on in her head.

“Hey Crys!” Dawn yelled from the seat next to her.

“Hey Dawn!” Crystal replied in the same tone.  “I’m sitting right next to you.  Don’t yell.”

Dawn giggled.  “Sorry.  I was just wondering why you are not having anything to drink.”

“I’ve already had two beers, honey, and since I am designated, I’m done.”  Crystal glanced at Dawn’s empty glass.  “You, however, have not had nearly enough.”

Crystal waved the waitress over and ordered two glasses of water.

“I’ll drink more when we get to the club.  What time is it, anyway?”

“Eight-thirty.  We’ll leave soon.”

Dawn gaped, then slurred.  “It’s only eight-thirty?  That is insanely early.  Maybe I should slow down.  I don’t wanna be sloshed by midnight and have to go home.”

“It’s your birthday, get sloshed if you want to,” Natalia spoke up from the other side of Dawn.

Crystal smiled.  She had been slipping Dawn water in between her drinks just to make sure that her friend would not get into trouble with the excessive amounts of alcohol that she was imbibing.  Natalia knew what was going on, as did everyone else at Dawn’s gala, except for Dawn.  The girl was tipsy, for sure, but she was definitely not drunk.  It was amazing what tricks the mind could play on the body.

“You will be fine, my darling,” Crystal reassured Dawn.  “Remember that I am looking out for you, and I am not the only one.”

Crystal didn’t look like much of a threat but she was a feisty little woman, especially when it came to her friends.  She didn’t care how much you picked on her but if you massed with her friends then she became a mama bear.

“Yeah, birthday girl,” Jack said from across the table, “Let yourself go.  We’ll keep you safe.  Plus, you are funny as hell when you are drunk.”

“Because hell is so funny,” replied Dawn.

“It will be once we all get there,” Jack retorted quickly, “So I say drink away, girly.”

Jack was a short guy with dark hair and puppy-dog brown eyes.  He kept his hair styled in a fo-hawk.  He was a strangely handsome man even with his large nose.  Were it not for the fact that he was gay, Crystal probably would have dated him.  Not that any man’s sexuality had stopped her before.  She had a tendency to be attracted to homos.  She had even turned a few herself.

Her gay-boys even used her as their gay-dar.  If she thought someone was cute, it usually meant that they favored their own gender.  It was not her proudest accomplishment, but she had was used to it.

Crystal gathered up a few empty shot glasses and began to wipe them out with her napkin.

“What are you doing?” Dawn asked in what sounded like an offended tone.

“Just gathering up the empties so they’re not in the way of the fresh stuff coming in.”

“Oh, good idea!”

“Hey Dawn.”  Alice distracted her from across the table.  “When are you heading to Cowboys?”

Alice was a large girl with dark hair that hung to her shoulders.  She had beautiful soft features and Crystal had grown to love the girls off-beat style.  Alice was the kind of girl who became fanatical about anything.  It was fun to listen to the crazy stories that the girl would find online.  The newest topic was the TV show Supernatural, not that Crystal could judge.  She too was a fan of two hot men running around through urban legends.

Dawn shrugged.  “Crys says soon, but I am not the woman in charge so don’t ask me.  Why do you need to know?”

“I just wanted to know what’s going on.  Jeeze!  Am I not allowed to know?”

“Nope.  You are not allowed to be privy to information that has anything to do with my whereabouts.”

“Wow,” Jack said sarcastically, “That was a mouthful.  Are you okay after that one?  You didn’t strain your brain too hard trying to put that sentence together, did you?”

“Shut up!”

Crystal took advantage of the distraction and filled three shot glasses with water.  She put them in a row in front of Dawn along with the glass of water.

“Alright, you lush,” Crystal regained Dawn’s attention.  “Here are your next three shots.  There’s a condition to them, though.”

“I would expect nothing less.”

“Between each one, you have to take a drink of water.  I don’t mean a little sip, either.  I mean a huge gulp before you get to go to the next shot.”

Dawn picked up one of the small glasses and sniffed it.  “What is it?”

“It’s Vodka,” Natalia interrupted, giving Crystal a knowing smile.

Dawn made a disgusted face.  “I don’t really want Vadka.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Alice chimed in.  “It’s your birthday and you’ll drink what you’re given.”

“…and get sloshed if I want to.” Dawn mused.

“That’s right,” Jack laughed.  “It’s the rules of the twenty-first.”

“There are rules?” Dawn asked incredulously.  “I don’t like rules.  I live outside the law.”

“Yeah, that’s what you’re known for,” Crystal said sarcastically.  “Now, shut up and drink!”

Dawn frowned, looking almost green.  She took a deep breath and knocked back the shot quickly.  “That tasted like water.”

It was good to know that Dawn wasn’t entirely stupid.

“It’s the new water flavored Vodka,” Crystal replied.  Dawn was gullible, not stupid.  “It’s all the rage.  I’m surprised that you don’t know about it.”

“It’s really cool,” Jack added.  “I might get one for myself later.”

Jack, Alice and Natalia, who were the only people paying attention to Crystal’s scheme, burst out laughing.  Dawn was too distracted to notice.

“Water flavored Vodka?  That could be dangerous.”  Dawn smiled mischeviously.  “Give me another one.”

Crystal pulled the other two shots out of Dawn’s reach.  “Not until you have the water.  That’s water flavored too.”

Dawn pouted pitifully but took a long pull from the straw in the water glass.  Once Crystal was satisfied she set one of the shot glasses down, which Dawn snatched immediately and threw back.  If Crystal did not know that it was actually water, she would have been worried.  As it was, she was having trouble keeping herself from laughing out loud with the others.  Dawn was even more gullible when she was drinking than when she was sober.  It was almost too easy.

Dawn was actually letting loose and having a good time.  Since the girl was usually a walking rubber band, always tight, it was a relief to see that she could relax, even if it was only for one night.

The night was still young, though.  Who knew what else Dawn might do?

Crystal rolled her eyes as Jack stumbled up to her for a third time.  It had been funny the first time that he had bothered her to check out a boy, but it was getting old.

Crystal interrupted Jack before he even had a chance to say anything.  “Jack, I am not your gay-dar.  Stop asking me to check out guys.  I am tired of finding out that everyone I think is cute I can’t have.  It’s like a rejection before I have even met him.”

“But I love you,” Jack said simply, “and you are so good at it.”

Crystal shook her head in disgust.  “Just because you butter me up, it does not give you the right to use me.”

“I promise that I won’t do it again…” Jack hesitated for a moment, “tonight…If you just help me with this one guy.”

“Come on Crystal,” Dawn placed her hand on Jack’s shoulder.  Crystal couldn’t tell if Dawn was showing her support for Jack or if she was using him to hold her up.  “Help a gay man out.”

She glared at her drunken friends.  She hated it when they teamed up on her.  It always worked.  She held out for as long as she could without giving in, which was about twenty seconds.  “Fine!” she blurted, then pointed at Jack.  “But you have to agree that you will not ask me to do this again for a month.”

“Deal!” Jack and Dawn said at the same time.  They looked at each other then burst into drunken laughter.  Crystal was growing wary of being the only sober person around.  She just wanted to go home.  She took a deep calming breath before she decided to strangle two of the only people who put up with her caustic attitude.

“Who am I judging for you?”

Jack sidled up next to Crystal and put his cheek against hers.  She could smell the alcohol on his breath which made her gag.  He closed one eye and pointed to the far side of the club.  “The tall hunk leaning against the wall over there.”

“Nope,” Dawn said quickly, then started dancing again without a care in the world.

“Did she even look at him?” Jack asked getting distracted by Dawn’s flailing.

Crystal ignored him.  There were a lot of men on the far side of the club, but one man stood out from the rest.  She had already noticed him.  He was a tall man, standing several inches above everyone around him.  His hair was dark and curly and hung down to his shoulders.  His eyes were mostly hidden but Crystal had the distinct feeling that she knew where his eyes were trained, since they had been on the same spot all night long.  He wore a black leather coat that dusted the floor judging by the way that he looked Crystal did not doubt that there was something concealed under the duster.

“The one with the long hair?” she asked to clarify even though she already knew the answer

“Yes,” Jason said bringing his attention back to Crystal.  He looked at her with those big, brown, eyes.  “So what do you think?”

Crystal could not look at his pathetically pleading expression when she said.  “No.  Sorry, honey.”

His lower lip was almost lethal as he pouted.  “How do you know?”

Normally Crystal would just ignore that question and send him on his way but she decided to indulge him this one time.  “One, because he is so not my type, which generally means strait.”

“But that’s not always true…”

“And two,” Crystal interrupted before Jack could convince himself to go over and make a move.  “He’s been staring at Dawn all night, which has completely escaped her notice…as usual.”  The last part was a whisper which Jack could not hear.

“Maybe he’s just…”

“No Jack,” Crystal shook her head firmly.  “Let it go.  You will not get this one so walk away.”  Crystal turned him around and started him back to his drink at the table.  “Just walk away.”

“Fine, I’ll let him go,” Jack gave in willingly.  “But I am  not going to uphold our bargain.”

Jack pranced away before Crystal could catch him.

“What?!  Jack!”

He waved his hand behind him dismissively.  “I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

Dawn stepped in front of Crystal to stop her from attacking the boy.  “Calm down, Crys.  That’s just Jack.  You know that you love him despite his smart-ass-ness.  That’s hyphenated…” Dawn put up two fingers, “twice!!!”  Dawn burst out laughing.

Crystal smiled with her friend.  Dawn was so enthusiastic about her new word.  It was far too amusing to watch Dawn when she was drunk.  No matter how annoyed Crystal got with everyone else, Dawn could lighten her mood.

Crystal’s mood darkened when she looked back at the man across the club.  He was watching Dawn with way too much interest.  It unnerved Crystal.

The club was dark.  The only luminescence was coming from the multi colored lights around the dance floor and a strobe light that was wreaking havoc on Jerrit’s sensitive eyes.  The crowd was large for a Sunday night, but Jerrit had no trouble keeping an eye on the girl.  Even from the opposite side of the club she stood out like a hippie at the Republican National Convention.  She had always been a hard one to miss.

Jerrit had not seen the woman since she had been a young girl, barely able to remember him.  Even back then she had favored long hair.  Now it hung to her waist with teasing the waste-band of her pants.  Her face still held the child-like innocence that he remembered.  She was far from a child anymore.  The girl that he had met only once before had grown into a beautiful woman.

Her dark blonde hair seemed to catch what little light there was and glisten.  Her blood-red top cinched her waist accentuating her figure.  A small sliver of skin showed between her top and her black pants, teasing men by giving them a glimpse of what lay underneath.  The woman permeated confidence, but he was pretty sure that was mostly the alcohol.

Dawn’s movements with the music were not coordinated this late in the night.  In the short amount of time the he had been watching, she had consumed four shots aof what looked like Rum.  Captain Morgan’s seemed to be her alcohol of choice.  He was surprised that she was still standing, let alone dancing, if you could call it that.  Tonight was the last night that she would be able to feel it.  The buzz would be gone within a few hours and then she would be forever sober.

Jerrit could not imagine such a feeling.  He had tried many times in his youth to get drunk, but he did not have the ability.  It was part of his curse.  Everyone made such a big deal out of the experience but every time that he watched the people around him get inebriated it did not seem to be all that it was cracked up to be.  He could relate to wanting to forget himself even if it was only for a few hours, but he could not figure out why anyone would want to be so far out of their own minds that they could not function of their own free will.  The one time that he had lost control of himself had been debilitating.  It was not something that he was willing to do again.

The alarm went off on his cell phone signaling that it was a quarter to midnight.  He swore under his breath.  He only had fifteen minutes to get the woman out of the club and still did not have any ideas on how to do it.  How had he wasted so much time just watching her?  The real trick was getting her away from her friends.  Several had already left but one small female was keeping an annoyingly close watch on her.  Everywhere that the woman went her friend was right by her side.  He commended the girl for her meticulous care but it was going to make his job much more difficult.

He pushed away from the wall.  No one jostled him as he moved slowly through the crowd, toward his target.  At six foot four he was not easy to miss and people gave him a wide berth.  Occasionally he felt a soft caress from a woman who dared to try to grab his attention but he ignored any pass that was sent his way.  He did not like to deal with anyone that he did not have to, and women tended to complicate even the most simple of situations.

Jerrit stopped a short distance away from the woman he was after.  He had hoped he would catch any attention, but his presence was immediately detected.  The small friend’s eyes grew wide when she saw him.  She whispered into his targets ear.  The woman in red and black giggled innocently.  Normally he would have been repulsed by the childish sound, but coming from her it was adorable.

The woman spun around suddenly to look at him.  Her beautiful brown eyes met his.  Time seemed to stand still as they stared at one another.  His senses went blank and his heart beat quickened.  A shiver ran down his spine.  Something strange passed between himself and the woman that he was sent after.

Her eyes suddenly unfocussed, breaking their connection, then rolled back into her head.  Jerrit moved quickly to catch her as she fell toward the floor in a faint.  He scooped her up to cradle her in his arms.  He commended her timing.  She had just given him a way to get her out of the club without suspicion.