Chapter 9: Part 2

A dark, creepy hallway opens up before her. For once, the girl's restroom doesn't have a line. Actually, the hall is completely void of people; even the music is a distant beat, almost like she has entered a bubble of some kind. Her hand reaches out and grabs hold of the restroom door. She begins to lower the handle when something pushes her against the door, forcing their way inside with her.

The door clicks shut behind her, and she whips around to see the aggressive blond leaning against the door.

Get Out of There.

Her eyes are dark, nervously glancing around, inspecting her surroundings. No other doors, no window, in this three-stalled grey-tiled bathroom. His eyes finally meet hers, and she hides a gasp. They flash full of desire and determination.

"You left me with your boyfriend, Red." He sounds disappointed, like she had somehow let him down. He approaches her slowly, a lion stalking its prey.

"He's not my boyfriend."

As her anxiety rises, so does her lack of sense. Her stomach twists inside of her as he grows closer and closer.

"Oh good, then you won't mind that I bruised up his pretty face."

A slick smile spreads its way across his perfect face. Under the light, he's no longer as attractive as she had thought. It's almost as if he's wearing someone else's skin. His skin is taunt, pale, and wrinkled around his throat.

If this guy could beat up a grown man, what could he do to her? With every approaching step he takes, Sera takes one step backward until finally she is out of room and is pressed up against the hard cold tiled wall.

"I don't know why I'm so attracted to you." He licks his lips as his neck does that cobra motion again. "There's something about you. I want to kiss you and kill you at the same time."

"I guess it's my aura." The sarcasm sneaks out of her before she can help it.

"Yes, your aura," he comments with another lick across his lips. Only then does she notice his tongue appears forked. His long, thin fingers reach for her. Sera flinches as he brushes her hair over her shoulder. Leaning in closer, he does something she doesn't expect—he smells her.

"You even smell delicious."

Completely freaked out, she finally has enough sense to push him off. "The feeling is not mutual." She only succeeds in pushing him a few centimeters, but she comes to realize it was a bad idea when his blue eyes begin to darken. The hairs on her arm stands at attention. His pupils expand—too much. Sera can swear his entire eye turns black and soulless before she forces herself to glance away. Over his shoulder, her eyes lock with her reflection in the mirror. Surprisingly, her mirror image doesn't look scared. Disgusted, but not afraid. That tells her all she needs to know.

"I will have you, Red, whether you like it or not." His eyes meet hers once again. They have returned to blue, almost like he had to collect himself. "But, I promise you'll like it." His smile is sly as he insinuates God-knows-what.

"See, aggressive guys aren't really my thing." She has to bite her lip to shut herself up.

"Well, Angels aren't really my thing, but I'm willing to try anything once." What is with his nicknames? His finger lightly traces a path down her shoulder. Sera's eyes fly immediately to his touch, something about it repulses her.

"No means NO, pal!" Her anger flares and she clenches her fists against his rock hard chest in an attempt to keep some space between them.

"I don't think you understand, Red, I'm no Angel, and I take what I want." He pushes her hard against the wall. His blue eyes meet hers once, and a toothy grin spreads across his lips before he leans in and starts kissing her neck. Those long fingers of his begin winding their way down her curves.

Sera squirms under his touch. "Stop!" she screams repeatedly, but he doesn't even acknowledge her. Her anger rises; frustration pushed to the maximum level as she struggles to hold back the rising tears. In a last ditch effort, she gathers all the strength that she can muster, and with one swift motion, she pushes him.

Sera blinks. She has to blink again to focus on the sight before her. The cocky blond stranger hangs unconscious, slumped over the sink which has broken in two at the impact. The mirror above shattered all over him and the floor. Water even seems to be spraying out from the broken pipes making its way to her patent leather boots. Did I do that? She stares at the crater his body has created in the cracked tile. Her cell phone chimes to life. Sera snaps back to reality realizing she is just standing there staring at the man's wide-mouthed. She needs to get out of here before he wakes up. She spins on her heels and dashes out of the room only to run smack into Jack.

"Sera!" Jack's happiness is evident all across his face. "I was looking all over for you. You weren't picking up your phone." He pulls the phone from his ear and puts it in his pocket.

"Sorry, I was in the bathroom." Her head nods behind her; Jack notices the tension around her as she tosses her weight from side to side glancing at everything and anything but Jack's curious eyes.

"Sera, are you okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine." Her eyes continue to avoid his. She needs to get him away from this door. She definitely doesn't want to be around when that guy wakes up.

"I don't believe you."

Damn it, Jack. He reaches around her and opens the bathroom door before she can stop him. "No, Jack!" Sera's hands reach for him, but he's already snuck inside. Her hands run through her hair searching for excuses, "I can explain..."

"There's nothing in here. I don't get it. You look like you saw a ghost or something."

Speechless and unbelieving, she pushes around him and peers behind the bathroom door. The blond creep has vanished. The sink and wall is completely untouched. The floor is spotless—well as spotless as a nightclub bathroom can get. What the hell is going on? Sera wanders back out into the hallway and stares at the faces before her. The hallway is buzzing with activity, the music is blaring again. Her eyes scan the area around her, her body automatically on the defensive expecting retaliation.

"Sera?" Jack pops up in front of her, his face ruffled in concern and confusion.

"I need to find Amanda."

He nods, linking her hand in his before guiding her through the crowd to the glowing bar. As they continue forward, Sera can't help but study the faces of the people they pass. She has a feeling the blond isn't going to let her go that easy.

Amanda's slender back comes into view, sitting in front of the bar. Beside her sits a man with a baseball cap on. Her body relaxes, finally. Sera slips into the small stool beside her friend and Jack stands by her other side. For some reason, Sera feels safer with Jack beside her.

"Hey girl!" Amanda slurs smacking her on the back. "I was wondering where you went." Her eyes wander over to Jack. "Hey, sexy Jack," she says and grabs his hand.

"Hi Amanda." He hides a smile before slipping his hand out of hers and wrapping it around Sera's waist. "How are you?"

"Drunk!" she responds, giggling. "Where is your drink, Sera? You need to catch up!" she teases, tapping her finger against her empty glass. She could certainly go for a drink right about now. Jack leans forward and places an order with a bartender. Sera glances up and down the bar, the green-eyed bartender has disappeared. The new bartender places two drinks on the bar, and Jack leans over to hand her his credit card.

"Don't worry about it, I still owe you a dinner remember?"

With a smile, she sips her drink and tries to get her mind to relax. As the minutes pass by, she realizes she's getting more anxious—the opposite of what was supposed to happen.

Two hours later, she's still hasn't moved from the same stool. Amanda has left her to dirty dance on the floor with the baseball-cap hunk. Sera watches Amanda twirl around to face him and wrap her arms around his neck to pull him into a drunken kiss. The encounter makes her wonder why she isn't drunk at all.

"Want another one?" Jack asks her like he can read her thoughts. She meets his gaze; his eyes are slightly hazy. She has to be the only person not inebriated in his bar. Jack has been ordering shots and drinks for the past two hours. She's pretty sure they must have exceeded his credit card limit by now. So, she shakes her head in the negative. There's no point, apparently being immune to alcohol is another strange addition to the onslaught of other symptoms.

Jack is once again drunkenly talking about how pretty Sera looks tonight, but she allows her mind to wander. Her eyes gaze out across the club. Everything appears clear even with the lights dancing over people's faces. Every shape, every crease in their face, and even the sweat beading along their brow as they bump and grind on the dance floor is crystal clear. Through the sea of faces, something catches her eye. As the crowd parts, she can spot those piercing, blue eyes that make her knees weak every night. His chestnut hair glistens when the strobe lights hit his face. It's him! Sera stumbles to her feet. Her amazing eyesight can just barely make out that he's wearing all black making those eyes of his a major statement. She scrambles out of her stool and leaves a still blabbing Jack at the bar while she heads for the dance floor. If this is the man she's dreamed about for weeks, she has to meet him.

As she makes her way through the crowd, she loses sight of him. She ducks, pushes, and elbows her way to the center where she saw him last. Only when she gets there, she's standing there alone. Well, as alone as one could be in the center of a busy dance floor. She spins around trying to catch one last glimpse of him. Where had he gone? Did she imagine this, too? Sera suddenly wants to go home. This is no longer fun. Maybe, it never was, she can't help but think as she pries Amanda from the baseball cap stranger and heads out of the club.