I was making my way to Emma’s house and I saw the cars as soon as I turned onto her street. I became excited, anxious, and happy all at the same time. I pulled up and was greeted instantly by my friends and handed a shot, “A round of shots for the birthday girl, Emma made them, don’t know how good they’ll be.”

Emma shouted from inside the kitchen, “They’re delish you bastard, now cheers.”

We lifted our shots and Emma spoke, “To Kate finally turning 18 and still acting like a 16 year old.”

I made a sarcastic face before I swallowed my shot, letting the hot liquid burn down my throat. It tasted good, but I knew this would do nothing for me. 

My alcohol tolerance was amazingly high, and I hated it.

I spoke, “So who are the driver’s tonight?”

Scott and Amy raised their hands and I spoke, “Good cause I know I’m not.”

They all laughed and we sipped on liquor while we waited for a good time to head out, and finally we were on our way. 

I was crammed in the car with Scott and the driver and two other people, not including me and Emma. We had quite a bit of people coming and I had really been looking forward to this. 

I was the youngest of the group.

We made it to one of their favorite clubs that we knew served to underage people and we made our way to the front of the line. 

Apparently Emma knew the manager’s brother or something. 

We made our way in to the club after getting our 21 and over wristbands and the music pumped loudly into my ears. I saw a ton of girls that were dancing on the floor and I instantly wanted to go but I walked to the bar with Scott and got a drink. I sipped and made my way to the dance floor with Emma and other people, feeling the music ease up my mood. 

It felt good to finally let loose and have fun, and the more I started drinking the less I knew exactly what I was doing. 

I was loose, it felt as if I had been here for five hours and I couldn’t even walk straight. I was slurring my words but I was feeling good, and I didn’t want to stop dancing. 

I glanced to my side, already feeling dizzy as I laughed at something Emma had said, then someone, or two someone’s, caught my eye. 

It was Collin Quinn and some other guy, he was noticeably older, but not by much. His dark tousled hair and those piercing green eyes… 

They were staring right at me, both of them, like they were… watching me?

I made my way out of their sight, wondering what the fuck was going on but it was hard, I was drunk, and anxiety wouldn’t get the best of me. I found Emma in the crowd dancing with some guy and I moved around, attempting to get my mind off of Collin and the other mystery dude. 

And it didn’t take me long when someone caught my eye I the crowd. I made my over to her, dancing the best I could on her. Her back was turned to me but she was all over me, and I smiled, “What’s your name?”

She leaned back slightly, “Jennifer!”

“That’s a sexy name.”

Emma pulled me away then I was wondering why because Jennifer was sexy, and she danced really good. I spoke, “Why the hell…”

“We’re going to a different bar!”

I groaned, looking back at Jennifer, the girl I would most likely never see again. I didn’t even get a real good look at her face, but she sounded pretty. 

Oh well. 

We made our way to another bar and we continued to bar hop until we could absolutely not go anymore. 

~ ~ ~ ~

I woke up in a familiar bed, knowing I was in Emma’s room. I turned over feeling the headache pound through my head like a freight train, but she was still sleeping next to me. I stood, stumbling down to her medicine cabinet and grabbing a bottle of water. 

I was so dehydrated I could barely swallow, but last night was awesome. 

I knew that because I could no longer remember it.

I swallowed the pills with the water and drank as I sat at her counter, I felt like shit right now but I knew we would be going to another party tonight so I had to recover. 

It was already 3:23 in the afternoon, shit had we really slept that late? It was already past lunch! 

I laughed to myself and I went upstairs to see Emma wiping off last night’s makeup and sighing, “Last night was fucking amazing, you had some real balls to do what you did though.”

I tilted my head in confusion, what exactly did I do? I sighed, rubbing my aching head, “What the hell did I do?”

She looked at me, “You really don’t remember?”

I groaned, “Of course I don’t, that’s why I’m asking you!”

She held up her hands, laughing uneasily, “Jeez ok, do you really want to know?”

I growled under my breath in anger, “Yes dammit. Did I humiliate myself? Bust my ass on the dance floor? What?”

She sighed, “Do you remember Jennifer? Does that ring a bell?”

The last thing I remember was… Collin and the other guy watching me. Did I remember Jennifer? Jennifer… wait, yes I kind of remember that… she was sexy, and she was dancing on me. Her voice was so fucking sexy. The way she grinded on me, she wasn’t a kid, and her voice was stuck in my head now.

I shrugged, leaving out the part about Collin and agreeing, “A little, why?”

Emma laughed a bit to herself, “Oh my God… Kate, Jennifer is Miss Riley. Miss Riley was grinding her ass all over you last night at the club and when she saw it was you she nearly fainted.”

What the actual fuck? I sat on the bed, not understanding what the hell I was thinking last night. I didn’t remember her realizing it was me… what exactly did she do? Slap me? Curse me out? Run away? I held my head in my hands, “Oh God…”

Emma laughed harder, “It was awesome, you were trashed but she seemed sober. At least enough to realize you were one of her students. Other than that you had a pretty normal night.”

I sighed heavily, “Thank God I didn’t go to school today.”

Emma continued to giggle but I didn’t find it that funny, I laid back, wondering what had actually happened last night. I really wish I could remember but all I remember was dancing with her, then that’s when I blacked out. 

I wanted to continue to sleep but I knew that would be a bad idea, I would never sober up. I sighed, “Are we going to that party tonight?”

Emma looked at me, “I feel ok, what about you? I heard it’s going to be awesome.”

“Fine, I’ll go, but it better be awesome considering I have a massive headache.”

She spoke again, walking out of the room, “Then go back to sleep.”

I laid down, relaxing and trying not to worry to much about tonight. I was having a bad feeling about it, but that was probably because of last night when Collin showed up. Why were they watching me? Why had I been feeling like they had been watching me all week?

I felt my eye lids growing heavy as my head continued to throb, maybe I would wake up and feel better…

~ ~ D ~ ~ (DREAM)

I was running through a dark wooded area, I was running pretty fast actually, but what was I running from? I looked back, seeing nothing but darkness, but I heard something… 

Growling. 

The fear in my chest was unbearable but I couldn’t stop running, I couldn’t let them get me. I pumped my legs through the woods, trying my best not to trip on the fallen branches. 

Why was I here? Why were they chasing me? What did they want with me?

Then I tripped, my face hitting the forest floor as I turned on my back and held up my hands, “No! Please!”

The growls were over me but my eyes were closed, I felt the hot breath on my skin and the fear had paralyzed me. Then I opened my eyes to see a large wolf standing over me. It wasn’t normal sized, it was huge… 

I backed myself against a tree, trying to escape from this beast but I knew I couldn’t. Those piercing yellow eyes staring at me, the three inch canine teeth catching my eye as it’s tongue licked across them. My heart was hammering inside my chest so hard I could barely breathe. 

I held out my arms, “Stop!”

Then it’s jaws clamped around my wrist, sending a piercing spasm of pain through my arm. I screamed, but I couldn’t hear it, it was a muffled scream.

“Kate? Kate!”

~ ~ D ~ ~

I awoke, feeling my heart still hammering in my chest, I pulled my sleeve up, revealing a normal looking wrist. Emma stood over me, “You ok?”

I shook my head, “Just a bad dream.”

She sat next to me, flipping through the stations on her TV, “Sounded pretty intense to me.”

I lied back, trying to relax my heart from it’s rapid beating. What a weird dream… 

I watched the TV, trying to get my mind off of it as Emma stopped on the News station, staring at it blankly. They announced the weather for the next 24 hours and then the scene cut to a different reporter, and her voice rang out through the TV. 

“A body was found last night around 1:25 AM as the police identified the man under the name of Christopher Gerald. He was outside of a bar and apparently beaten and drug into an alley, if anyone has any information please contact the police immediately.”

I looked at Emma, who was just staring at the TV like it was a scary movie, “That was last night… on the strip? We were there!”

Emma looked at me, nodding in agreement, “Yea, it’s the third murder this week Kate.”

I felt my heart drop in my stomach, I spoke, “What do you mean third? There were others?”

She nodded, “You need to watch the news, the first murder was a woman on her way out of the office at her work. Innocent people Kate, and what’s weird, they said her body was drained of blood, but they refused to say that for the other two.”

I didn’t understand, “Drained of blood?”

She nodded, and personally, I didn’t believe in the supernatural, I didn’t believe in weird things like vampires, Bigfoot, or the fucking Chupacabra. But completely drained of blood? The only animal I knew that  would do that was Vampire bats, which didn’t live around here. 

Emma shook her head, as if trying to get the creepy thoughts out of her head, “You feeling better?”

I shrugged, “Yea, a little.”

“Feel like getting dressed?”

I glanced at the clock, realizing it was getting late, it was already 8:00 PM. I stood, feeling better than I did the first time I woke up, I made my way to her bathroom, washing my hair and drying my hair and dabbing on makeup she had laid out for my use. 

I didn’t really feel like going, mostly because I wasn’t feeling 100 percent but I figured to hell with it, it was my birthday weekend.

Might as well make the best of it. 

I exited the bathroom and Emma had laid out some clothes I had left at her house awhile back, she spoke, “Pick.”

I figured it was a regular house party, so I wouldn’t’ dress like I was going to a nightclub, so I picked up some skinny jeans and converse. Tugging on a white dressy tank and pulling on a leather jacket, making Emma speak, “Ok if you’re wearing that we’re curling your hair.”

I groaned, “Emma.”

She pulled me back into the bathroom and made me sit, spraying my newly washed hair with hairspray and sighing, “Shut up, you’ll look hot.”

I smirked, “I’m not worrying about looking hot.”

She shook her head, “Are you thinking about finding a girlfriend yet?”

I rolled my eyes, she always did this, mostly because she wanted to go on double dates, but I didn’t do that. I didn’t want a girlfriend, I didn’t want an attachment, I didn’t want to fall in love. All I heard was if you fall in love you’re going to get hurt, you’re going to get played.

No one loves me for who I am anyway, they like me for my money, what I looked like, and how I make them feel. I was sex, nothing more, not to the girls anyway. I was never the one to let people into my personal life, every time I got close to someone I would push them away, except Emma. 

But I had no attraction to Emma anyway.

No one liked my personality, but no one knew the real me anyway, I was starting to actually think I didn’t even know the real me. I acted tough on the outside, and I actually convinced myself I was a tough person, but thinking about letting myself be vulnerable to someone brought me back to reality. 

No one would ever put up with all the baggage I had, I was a bitch, I was someone who wanted to have fun all the time and never settle down. 

And if I stayed that way I would never have to feel attachment, never have to feel vulnerable. 

And I would never have to get hurt again. 

I sighed, standing as I realized she was done, “Let’s go, I’m ready to drink.”

And with that we headed out to the party where I would act like I have no worries in the world when in reality I felt as if I was drowning in them.