Larissa woke with a start, absolutely drenched in sweat. Her breath came in large gasps, and she was terrified, utterly senseless. She glanced at the clock as she began to calm down. It was 3 o’clock in the morning. She wanted to scream, to laugh, to cry, but she realized that it was all just a dream, that she wasn’t dying, that Randall really did not suck the life out of her like that. But… it felt so real. And it terrified her to death.

“This can’t be what the man I am going to see is… I must be trippin’.” She said silently to herself, getting up to go to the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of water and sat down at the table, thinking about her dream. The time passed quickly as her mind wandered, and soon the clock chimed 6 o’clock. She realized she had to take Atella to work in an hour, so she went to her room to wake her up.

Only, she wasn’t there. Larissa panicked for a moment, until she saw the piece of paper lying on Atella’s bed. It was unlabeled, so she unfolded it and read its contents.

She refolded the note and just stood there, dumbfounded. Atella never left like this, especially not unannounced. Larissa wondered what the hell was going on with her, and why she had been acting so weird lately. She finally shrugged off these worries, figuring that Atella had her own life, and that she did not need any more weird occurrences messing with her head.

At that time, Larissa decided to go back to bed, and luckily enough, she was not haunted by the ongoing dream. She woke up around noon, and for the rest of the day she focused on her and the man’s, or “Randall’s” date. She eventually went shopping, for she wanted to look nice for the club, if she was even to get in. Coming back at around 6 with a pretty, yet conservative black dress, she found Atella to be absent, still gone from the night before.

Preparation for the night was frantic, yet exciting. Larissa rushed around the house trying to find the perfect necklace, the right earrings, etc. She was finally done at around 8 pm, and on her way out she stopped in front of the mirror to survey her appearance. She looked extravagant, in a black low-cut v-neck dress that hung right above her knee, black silk Manolo Blahnik heels, and her hair done in loose waves down her back. If this didn’t get her in, nothing would, she thought. She poked and prodded at her dress until she was satisfied, then she grabbed her small purse and headed out the door, leaving a note for Atella, if she ever decided to return.

~At The Club~

Larissa hopped out of the cab, about a block away from the infamous place. She paid the driver (including tip), and proceeded to walk slowly toward the massive, elegant nightclub, nervous yet excited. She looked up and saw the big silver lettering on top of the stone structure that read, “Dalton.” She noticed a long line coming out to the right of the door, and started to walk past the bouncer to go stand at the end of it.

“Hey…”A Big, yet handsome black man standing at the door yelled to Larissa as she walked by. Larissa turned around, not quite sure if the man she saw was talking to her.

“Me?” She said timidly, as she took a couple of steps toward the man.

“Yeah, you… why don’t you come in?” Larissa was shocked.

“Maybe you’re mistaking me for somebody else…” She had a confused look on her face. A couple of the people in line stared at Larissa, with both intrigued and jealous looks on their faces.

“Ms. LaRue, correct?” The bouncer read off of a notepad. Larissa nodded, astonished at how he knew her name. “You have been personally invited inside by the owner of the club himself. I have received a description and a name. You are Ms. Larissa LaRue, correct?” She only nodded, being awestruck. ”You may go past the line.” The bouncer proceeded to pull aside the red velvet ropes that lined the entrance, and ushered her through the big silver doors. Larissa smiled and felt honored that she was allowed to get into the club, let alone bypass the whole line.

Once in the club, Larissa casually looked around, but did not see the man, or, “Randall.” There was heavy electronica music surrounding her. She did not want to look completely alone and obvious, so she just started slowly making her way over the see-through tile toward the bar. As she walked across the massive dance floor, she looked at her surroundings, seeing beautiful women with immense strands of pearls and diamonds and other precious metals, and men, the executive type, some still clad in their designer shirts and ties. They were laughing, sipping off their drinks, and yet… something wasn’t right, something didn’t feel right. Larissa looked more attentively around the crowd, not quite sure of exactly what she was looking for. She noticed a table to her right, where two executives talked, one tapping his mirror with the razor while the other did his line of cocaine. She gasped and looked to her left, where one woman was lazily caressing and licking the neck of another woman who was smoking Morticia-style, out of a long pipe. Overall, the place held a strange aura to her.

“What kind of a club is this?” Larissa started to become wary of her surroundings, walking faster to the bar. She stood near the bartender, who had his back turned to her. Once he turned around, Larissa opened her mouth to speak, but he had already placed a drink in front of her. A Gin and Sin, her favorite. She just looked at it, a little shocked, but already starting to get used to the strange things happening to her. She murmured a thank you and quickly reached into her purse, hoping the drink didn’t cost a million dollars like most of the places do. He just waved his hand at her, and shook his head.

“Nothing here costs anything…” He said. Larissa looked around and noticed no cash registers anywhere. He continued, “They pay the price when they choose to come in.” She took her drink and was trying to decipher what he said until she felt eyes piercing the back of her frame. She whipped around, and saw him, the mysterious man, or as in her dreams, “Randall.”

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet with you, Larissa…” He took her hand in his, and kissed the top of it, letting his lips linger, just like in Larissa’s first dream. She pulled away slowly and nodded, admiring him. He was wearing a white collared shirt with blue pinstripes, suspender clad, tucked into traditional black slacks. He looked fabulous, as always, she noted. She sipped her drink and then let out a small laugh/gasp as she remembered what she wanted to ask him.

“I don’t even know your name…” He smiled, and took her hand, leading her into the outskirts of the dance floor.

“My name is… Justin.” He replied, somewhat hesitatingly, but not enough for Larissa to notice. “Welcome to my club, Dalton.” He said, gesturing to the vast expanse of the place.

“So you own this place?” Larissa said, looking up toward the second story that wrapped its way around the edges of the first, and noticed just how big this place was.

“Yes, for quite a while now.” He said, stressing the word quite. He turned toward her, and looked into her eyes, staring for just a moment too long. Larissa just took another nervous swig of her drink. “Would you like a tour, then, perhaps, we may sit in the V.I.P. area?” He said, looking away, half asking and half telling. She nodded, and took another sip of her drink, letting him lead the way.

He gave her a tour of the huge place, from bottom to top. It had two large bars, with rows and rows of nice bottles and glasses, one on the first level, one on the second. The place had a dark vibe to it, and the floors were clear tile with some sort of shiny metal rigging underneath. It was utterly magnificent and completely trendy. He stopped here and there to talk to people, some employees, dressed in all black, adding to the strange aura. Some he just stopped by and stared at for a moment, and they walked away nodding as if he they understood some kind of unspoken language. Throughout the tour of the club, Larissa would look around and notice a man, a handsome tall one with dark brown hair and the same blue eyes as Justin had. He wore a midnight blue suit, complete with a gold pocket-watch. She noticed this man in remote locations around her three times while being taken on the tour. He stood still and was gazing at her each time, seemingly not caring that she noticed him. Justin never seemed to notice this man. Larissa found this interesting, and continued to look at him.

Justin snapped her out of her daze as he led her into a large room on the second story of the club, labeled V.I.P. Larissa forgot all about the other man as she looked around the room. It was surrounded by one-way mirrored walls, so that one may see the rest of the club from within, but no one could see inside of the room. They stepped in, alone, and Justin shut the door behind them, only about a quarter of the music filtering into the room. He led her to one of the big, plush leather couches, and they both sat down at each end, Larissa setting her drink on one of the coffee tables.

They made small talk, talking about politics and major events and the such, and sat in the big couches, Larissa feeling more and more relaxed by the minute. He continued to talk about a topic that they had rested on for the moment, but as he talked, Larissa found it hard to concentrate on the words that were coming out of his mouth. Bits and pieces of her dream started to flow back to her, making it hard to focus. As the flashbacks became more prolonged and vivid, Larissa fought hard to keep her eyes on Justin. She felt her eyelids getting heavy, and soon, before she knew it, she was in a deep slumber, Justin towering over her thin body.

_____________________________________________

“NO! I will not go with you…” Larissa screamed at the top of her lungs, her voice powerful for one so young. Night had fallen, and Larissa had woken up from her day-slumber to find a man looming in the shadows of her room. Randall was nowhere to be found.

“Why, yes you will… sweet, sweet Larissa…” He spoke with an evil tone, grabbing both of her hands in one of his own and pulling her up from the silk-lined coffin to stand on her feet. She struggled to fight him, but she was too weak, this man was incredibly powerful… almost more so than Randall. He must be one of her kind, she guessed, as she helplessly looked at him, dangling by the strength of her arms and his grasping them. He wore entirely black clothes, and had icy blue eyes, accented by dark brown hair. His face was the epitome of evil, and she noticed a flash of something gold by his side, although she couldn’t figure out what exactly it was, for her body was contorted in a weird position.

“Dear Larissa…” He used the other hand to touch the side of her face, and she tried to pull back, fighting hard. Her eyes were glowing a deep violet, and she felt the pressing of her own fangs into her bottom lip. She continued to squirm, and then screamed loudly again, only to be responded with his hand clasping over her mouth. She wondered where Randall was, and why he wasn’t here to protect her. He tightened his grip on her flailing body, and she sunk her fangs into his hand, causing him to throw her across the room, landing into a wall.

“Tsk Tsk Larissa… why do you fight me?” He said to her shaking body, which was leaning against the wall. “Soon, you will learn it is I who love you, and not that weak, human-like Randall… You do realize he carried mortal weaknesses, don’t you? That will be his ultimate downfall.” Larissa could do nothing but cry as he walked nearer, reaching up to hit her…