SEQUEL: SEVEN

The bartender snuck a glance at Iyla as he wiped down a glass, noting that she studied the drink intently after it was offered to her and when both of the other girls weren’t looking, she got rid of it.
It made him frown, he didn’t like to see good drinks getting wasted even if they were already paid for but it wasn’t his place to protest so he kept his lips shut and kept attending to the evergrowing crowd.
One of the pretty blondes had even been nice enough to tell him to put a dash more of alcohol in her tense friend’s drink, there was no way she was going to loosen up though if she kept ditching the drinks.
“Excuse me? Can I have another drink? What they ordered?” The quiet girl in the leather jacket signaled to him.
He looked her over and then nodded politely, “Sure can do, coming right up.” He accepted, going over the motions of preparing her drink.
He didn’t need to be a genius to know that she wasn’t very good friends with the popular blondes but he had to hold himself back from telling her that she didn’t have to fear anything from them and that the drink they had gotten for her had been completely clean.
He did know one way to help out their friendship along though, he owed it to the pretty blonde that had made the order to do that at least. What had she said her name was? Maddie? He wondered if he could get her phone number before she left the bar for the night.
The bartender let his hand slip and made the alcohol content in the fresh drink thrice as high as the original he had made for the blondes. He might have overdone it a bit but he really wanted to get on Maddie’s good side.
Iyla took the drink and this time, she drank it. She made a face after drinking it down, it was a little too sweet for her tastes but the tension in her shoulders eased after she drank it, emptying the glass and considering if she should ask for more.
There was no way such a sweet drink could have that much alcohol and if she wanted to get through tonight, she would need to be at least slightly drunk.
On the other side of the counter, a small crowd was forming around the two chatty blondes who were effortlessly charming a decent percent of the entire bar.
It made the bartender’s expression sour imperceptibly, his chances with Maddie were dwindling the longer they spent at the bar. He gave up easily, however, knowing deep down that she was way out of his league.
Their dowdy friend that they had left at the bar however had been downing the sweet fruity drinks down like it was punch, he was almost tempted to make them normal because, at this rate, she would be hammered in no time.
Iyla shot to her feet abruptly, “Could you tell them if they asked that I went to the restroom? Thanks,” She mumbled to the bartender before leaving.
She didn’t have to though because Madeline had been keeping a sharp eye on her the entire time, when she noticed Iyla heading in the direction of the restrooms, she leaned closer to the beefy man beside her that had been constantly trying to put his arm around her waist, without tact too.
Now she let him do just that, smiling warmly at him, “Could you do me a favor, big boy?” She whispered to him in a sultry voice.
The mostly drunk man was enthralled, “I’d right about kill a man for you if you asked.”
“Oh, I don’t need you to do that much,” She cooed, stroking his arm. “I just want to teach a bitch a lesson,” She said sharply, her sweet voice going cold. “You saw that creepy looking girl at the bar? She crossed me and I want to make her pay, she just left for the restroom and should be very drunk, a very easy target.”
The beefy idiot looked hesitant like he thought that Madeline was trying to set him up.
“If you get it done, I’ll do whatever you want,” She said bluntly, looking him straight in the eye.
That was enough to convince him, he hiked his faded jeans higher on his waist and strutted off with determination.
Madeline just scoffed under her breath, “So fucking easy.” She grabbed Alina’s arm in the next moment, slid a piece of paper across the bartender with a wink and immediately started for the exit amidst several protests from their admirers.
The bartender tried to protest them leaving to tell them that their friend had just left for the bathroom when he was distracted by the piece of paper he had instinctively snatched up. A quick look at it showed him that it was indeed her number that he had been working himself up to asking for the entire time they had been there.
That was enough to shut him up real quick, he returned to his mindless tasks of making drinks feeling like he had drunk down an entire bottle of vodka in one go. He buzzed as he thought about reaching out to her after he got off… no, no, she would probably be out clubbing till late. Instead, he should send a good morning text to check up on her…
On her way to the restroom, Iyla felt the floor swim under her feet, she had to quickly place a hand on the nearest wall to keep herself upright. Her vision blurred next which had her muttering a litany of curses, she hadn’t been careful enough, she had let them win.
Continuing her journey to the restroom was a lost cause unless she wanted to faceplant right on the tacky carpet. Had her drink actually been drugged? What exactly had Madeline said to the bartender?
She leaned against the wall for a few moments, breathing deeply in a bid to clear her head somewhat so she could continue her journey to the restroom. Splashing some water on her face should help to clear her head somewhat.
She cursed again, her vocabulary foul; she had underestimated those snotty bitches, she should have avoided ingesting anything but she had viewed them as slow-brained and now it was coming to bite her in the ass.
“Hey there, little lady, you alright?”
A greazy voice interrupted her self lecture making her grimace, a lecher trying to pick her up was the very last thing she needed. She looked up at him, squinting in a bid to try and get his features into focus but it was no use.
The man laughed, a sinking sound, “Hell, she was right. Your pretty friend wanted me to teach you a little lesson.” He said slimily, inching closer. “There’s no hard feelings, you understand.”
Iyla watched him with a predator’s focus as he came closer, and just as he reached out to grab her, she moved, jabbing him in the side with a slender knife and jumping to the side when she twisted it and pulled it out so that she wouldn’t get any blood on her.
Adrenaline had given her a clear head long enough to defend herself, and afterward, the thought that she had just stabbed a random man in a deserted hallway in a random bar kept her dizziness at bay.
She dashed to the restroom, there was no time for the beefy lecher to recover, she had stabbed him in a vital point and she could hear him dropping to his knees behind her as she ran, his voice coming out in faint gargles.
Iyla didn’t stop till she was in the safety of the restroom, heaving a sigh of relief when she found it empty, and almost like Fate was on her side, there was a window wide enough for her to squeeze through.
She quickly rinsed her dagger and hid it again in the thick belt she wore around her waist, it had so many trinkets on it that she could have word her dagger right on it and everyone would just think it was part of the design. She splashed water on her face and scrubbed it dry with the scratchy towels provided in the restroom before sneaking out.
Her boots hit the dry ground with a soft thud and she straightened up and went around to find Madeline and Alina about to leave the club just as she had predicted.
“Hey! I didn’t get to tell you where the club is!” She waved at this, fixing the biggest smile on her face.
Madeline and Alina went pale at the sight of her, one would almost think they had seen a ghost.
Madeline recovered first, “Oh my god! Iyla! You’re still here? That stupid bartender said you had gone,” She lied baldfaced.
“I can’t believe it! I wouldn’t do that.” She played along, making her way over to the car.
“Then where were you?” Alina said suspiciously, looking like she would like to tell Madeline to step on the gas.
“The restrooms were a mess, God! I had to step outside to get the much needed break I was searching for.” She said affectedly, arriving beside the convertible. “So, are we still going to that club?”
Madeline was usually much more composed than this but she had been so shaken that her plan didn’t work, and Iyla wasn’t giving her the time to compose herself.
Alina on the other hand was laid back, confident that Madeline could handle everything no matter what it was, she trusted her best friend that much. Although, regardless of that, she wasn’t too eager to continue the night with Iyla, she was starting to get sick of pretending to be able to stand her.
“Sure,” Madeline said, uncertainty filling her voice. “Hop in the backseat, directions are on you.”
She should probably have given up after the first fail but Iyla was so fucking annoying, if she didn’t hate to get her hands dirty, she would have ripped her stupid face off with her bare hands.
Alina trusted Madeline so she didn’t question her decision, having no other choice but to carry on with the facade.
Without realizing it, time had sped past while they were at the bar and now it was a quarter to 11 PM, the prime time for clubbing.
Iyla was surprisingly efficient with her directions, it was clear that she knew her way around New York. By the time the clock read 11:09 PM, Madeline had pulled up into a driveway at Iyla’s directions.
At first glance, the driveway looked abandoned but upon closer inspection there were a variety of expensive luxury cars parked around.
Alina stepped out of the car first, a look of expressive disgust on her face when she looked around and found that they were in what looked to be a deserted shopping complex. “So where’s this club you’ve been raving about for forever?” She rudely asked, her capacity for niceness long empty.
“Underground,” Iyla announced grandly, stepping out as well. “Welcome to the biggest underground club in all of New York, I even got us passes!” She squealed, holding out three tickets.
For the moment, Madeline and Alina were both distracted by the elusive underground club to remember to hate Iyla.
“So how do we get in?” Alina asked, sounding more subdued.
“Easy. We’ll just walk up to those guys, show them the tickets and they’ll take us there.” She said confidently, striding forward.
Just as she had said, there was a duo of what looked to be absently strolling guards who watched them intently although they acted like they weren’t paying attention. Iyla walked up confidently to them like she had done this several times and said a couple of words to them before beckoning the other two over.
Alina strode forward confidently, Madeline a little cautious, for the first time all night, she was starting to be wary of Iyla. The werewolf rubbed her in all the wrong ways but she couldn’t say for sure exactly why she did.
“So you three are here for the Underground?” One of the masked guards said in a gruff voice.
“We are,” Alina answered haughtily, standing proud.
The guard that had spoken seemed to look her over intently then he nodded, “Sure, come with me,” He invited, starting off for the abandoned store.
Iyla confidently followed after them so Alina and Madeline had no other choice but to do the same as well. “Don’t be put off by this, it's just safety measures put in place by the organizers, rules are a little lax in the Underground, you know.” She whispered to them, waiting for them to catch up. “After you,” She gestured when they got to the entrance of the storehouse.
Alina slowly stepped into the dark store, Madeline keeping a tight grip on her wrist which she really appreciated because she felt really jumpy just then. Even with her improved eyesight as a werewolf, the store was impossibly dark, the place that was dimly lit was the path they were following.
A couple more steps in and Alina’s instincts started blaring, she froze to a stop, Madeline doing the same. They needed to get out of there right now!
Unfortunately, they were already too far in and just as they stopped walking, they heard the ominous sound of the store doors closing sending them into complete darkness.