Lost
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A loud gong reverberated through the room, vibrating every molecule in my body, sounding until the music stopped, until everything stopped. Spotlights focused on the first level arch above the DJ booth. Ty, the owner, stood there waiting. Applause broke out, the shadowed creatures enthusiastic, the others going along with everyone else.

"There is a door," a small voice hissed next to me, "at the end of this wall." Looking down, I saw the woman I'd saved from falling earlier. Her large eyes blinked up into mine. "If you can get to it when it starts, you might survive the night."

"What do you mean?"

"Provided you didn't eat the food. If you ate or drank the food, you will moan while they devour you." My eyes widened. Before I could speak, she placed a long bony finger to my lips. Cold. "You helped Margo; I'll help you this once." Her heavy lisp made her sound like a snake. "When the gong strikes three times. Run." With that, she vanished. As the applause closed out, I stood wide-eyed.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming tonight. Those who are friends, those who are guests," Ty started his speech.

Without thinking, my feet had me moving, slowly, one step at a time, along the length of the wall, towards the hidden door the woman had revealed to me.

"In a moment, the clock will toll three o'clock, and it will officially be my birthday." Indicating the clock on the wall opposite where he stood, the crowd turned look at the clock, but my feet kept moving away from the buffet, towards the door.

"Two hundred and twenty-five years can go in a flash." The guests laughed, the shadowed figures did not. "I can't believe I'm celebrating another birthday again. Can you believe it's been twelve months since I opened this nightclub, changing the way we hunted?" Cheers went up. "Yes, change is good my friends. Adapting to the outside world has brought our numbers back up, has seen us at our healthiest and the most powerful we've been in centuries."

Another roar of support, but now only from the shadow creatures. Tiptoeing further towards the hidden door. I was trembling. When Ty's eyes landed on me, flashing silver in the light, I froze. He lifted a brow. "Tonight, we will celebrate in the traditional ways. All will partake in pleasure, feast on flesh, and drown in blood." Covering my mouth to hold in a scream, I couldn't prevent the fear that leaked from my eyes and down my cheeks as the shadowed roared their agreement. Ty chuckled before turning his eyes to the clock. The other guests stood enthralled, smiling at Ty's words, entirely oblivious to the meaning.

Searching the crowd, I spotted Lisa looking around excitedly. Gus wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, whispering to her. Her smile grew. Gus's grip tightening, his eyes looking over her head to meet mine. The shadows swirled around him and slipped away. Talc white skin, flame-red eyes, sharp glistening white teeth flashed at me before he blew me a kiss.

"Esha will start the banquet, then, as the clock strikes three, my friends, Feast and be merry."

A curtain below where Ty was standing drew back to reveal a raised dais. One of the white-skinned monsters stood there kissing a human girl passionately. The shadows were falling throughout the room, exposing many of the talc skinned creatures, and many others that the words ogres, trolls, and goblins seemed suited too. None of the humans seemed to notice the shadow curtain come down, or recognize the difference in those standing close to them, rapt as they were in the show.

The man on stage was shirtless, displaying a hard muscled, lean body covered in purple tribal markings. While everyone watched, he pushed the woman's dress from her shoulders and ripped the front of it open. The girl jolted from the force of it, but moaned for him. As he discarded her clothing, her eyes seemed vacant of the awareness that they weren't alone. Sickness crept beneath my skin as I recognized that spaced out expression all too well.

For a moment, sorrow filled my heart, drowning out the fear. This girl had no idea what was happening to her, yet, her movements were unhindered by intoxication, nor were her eyes glazed with the high of pharmaceuticals. She was sober and willing, but unaware of the space around her, or that time was ticking by her. Too many times I had vanished into a similar state. It's what drove me out to the streets.

Like a slap in the face, I realized I'd stopped moving. As the man on stage discarded his pants, a subtle rattle filling the silence, my feet found their momentum again. My eyes sort the darkness of the wall, the escape of the hidden door. While everyone else stood enchanted, I searched for the way out. The woman's loud gasp and moan drew my attention back to the stage. Looking over my shoulder, I watched the man impale her, driving into her, their lust spilling out from the stage like a wave the flowed over the audience.

The slight rattle grew, many more joined with the first, as if the audience held maracas, shaking them in their support and encouragement. The noise was curious, and as it filled my ears, vibrating through water molecules of my body, I found myself stimulated, aroused, and drawn to the stage. My feet hesitated, turning me to fully appreciate the beauty of the mating taking place on stage.

The passion was undeniable, his powerful thrusts, the way she touched him, his caresses, her kisses. The entire scene called to a part of me, my left hand tingled, a need filling me. Just as I took my first step back towards the gathering, the man dropped his mouth to the woman's throat and bit her. She cried out in pleasure, a little pain in the mix.

The clock struck once. The man on stage lifted his face to look at the clock, his mouth covered in blood, the wound on the woman's neck exposed for all to see. My stomach hollowed, the spell of the moment broken for me. Stepping back, I searched the crowd to see if anyone else was terrified by what was happening. All eyes remained on the couple on the stage, unaffected as the man returned to devouring her blood, while he mated with her.

A pair of fire-red eyes found mine in the crowd. Gus grinned as he met my gaze, his eyes narrowing in evil delight. He pressed his mouth to Lisa's, kissing her like the man on stage had kissed the woman he now drained. While I watched on horrified, it happen all over the room. The talc white monsters kissed the humans in their hold; the larger, scarier creatures started to remove the clothes of their human companions.

My feet were moving without hesitation now, drawing closer to the door, my eyes wide as the clock struck the second time. Moans were echoing throughout the room. Bodies falling to the floor in a lust filled orgy. Naked limbs were spreading, welcoming the creatures to take what they will from the flesh. No one objected; everyone gave willingly.

A sensation of understanding filled my mind. You give to receive. The free food, free drinks, offered to the homeless. They fed us, rehydrated us, sated our need. Now, it was time to return the favor. My eyes returned to the balcony. Ty stood above it all, watching the scene unfold. I expected to see the same evil grin that Gus had given me before he took Lisa to the floor and I lost her in the tangle of naked limbs. Instead, the birthday boy watched, not with interest or joy, but with boredom. Nothing happening in this room excited him.

Then his eyes lifted and found me, a beacon standing beyond the sea of depravity. Ty's shoulders shifted back, he stood straighter, his head tilted, and the side of his mouth lifted. I was wrong. There was something in this room that excited him.

My back hit the wall as the clock struck for the third time. Lustful moans filled the room. Masculine grunts of exertion, heavy breathing, female moans, and giggles joined with the multitude of maracas to provide an erotic soundtrack to the orgy taking place.

As the third chime rang out, the feasting began. Teeth sank into hot human flesh and ripped it open. All around the room, blood was flowing. Those that had elected to have the red bat stamp provided sustenance to the talc skinned, tattooed monsters with red eyes. I'd found the show on stage hard enough to stomach, but it didn't impact me. Nothing did after the life I'd already lived.

Over the last year, I thought I was numb to the atrocities of life, yet when those with the blue beast stamps started to repay this clubs generosity, a part of me I never knew still lived, died.

They gave their flesh to the large troll-like beings and the little humanoid-looking goblins. The creatures sank their teeth into their victims, ripping and tearing at their bodies as they devoured flesh straight from the bones of the living. I watched horrified as skin and muscles were viciously shredded, blood spurting into the air like fountains as veins were torn open.

Unlike the talc-skinned creatures who took a human each, the small nasty goblins moved like a swarm of piranhas. As one of the larger predators finished with their prey, the tiny, sharp-toothed creatures crowded over the corpse, taking huge chunks of flesh into their mouths, chewing open-lipped, blood dripping down their chins. The entire scene was chaotic, heartwrenching, fear-provoking, and yet unsettling in another way. There should have been shrieking, and the lack of it made it all surreal. Everyone moaned as if the teeth ripping them apart were the sensual caress of a lover.

My watering eyes dropped to the fresh tattoo on my wrist. My fingers were trembling as I touched the purple and black scarring in my flesh. I didn't want to find out what happened to those branded with a black W.

I need a door!

Startling, I found a handle digging into my back. Yanking the door open, I ran from the erotic massacre into an endless hall. The sound of bones crunching chased me from the room, the noise crippling me. Unable to bear any more, I dropped to my knees and hurled my stomach contents to the floor. The door swung closed behind me. A solid slam reverberated down the stone corridor, shutting me out of the morbid banquet. After the aural overstimulation of the nightclub, the silence was resounding and deafening. Peering over my shoulder, a stone wall stood where seconds ago I escaped through a door.

Confused, I forced myself to stand and walk back over to the wall. My hands felt over the smooth stone to discover there was no handle, no cracks, nothing to indicate a door. Cautiously, I considered the corridor, trying to work out which way I should go. I held in a scream at the emptiness of it, unsure where it led. My head was telling me I was dead no matter what. Apparently, by the length of this one hall, the place was massive. Reminiscent of the movie Labirynth I'd enjoyed watching as a child, the chances of finding my way out without someone discovering me were slim.

I want to go home, I thought to myself. But, where was home? I hadn't had a home since I was five, and I couldn't remember where that was even then. Sobbing, I tried to steady my breathing. If I couldn't find my right home, what did I need most right now? I need a safe place and a way to escape.

A flash of color caught my eye. As I watched, a beautiful blue butterfly flittered its way up the corridor towards me. In awe of this moment of beauty, I stood still and observed its peace as it fluttered past me. Still watching it when it was ten meters away, the butterfly turned towards the wall, then went through it. Startled, I quickly moved down the hall and discovered an opening into another corridor. The butterfly was making its way along it swiftly as if it sensed the predators lurking just behind the wall here.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of my thrift store heels and chased after the butterfly. I'd run track at school and found running was one of the few things I could do well. Tonight, I beat my personal best.