by Sarra Cannon
I was afraid that asking those questions would lead me down a path I wasn’t ready to walk.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get you inside.”
I couldn’t argue with that. I walked past him and back into the neon glow of Venom.
I wanted to do what I should have done half an hour ago. Grab Katy and get the hell out of there.
But when I started toward the dance floor, Rend called out to me. “Hey, Franki.”
“What?” I said, turning back to him. I didn't remember ever telling him my name.
He motioned for me to follow him, then leaned over the top of the bar and grabbed a black t-shirt. He threw it at me and I nearly dropped my shoes to catch it.
I held it out to get a better look at the shirt. The word VENOM was written in bright green across the chest. On the back was the word STAFF.
I swallowed. “What’s this for?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“You’re one of mine, now,” he said, a smile playing at his lips. “You start tomorrow.”
Episode 2: The Dream
A Black Crow
Large black wings rise up against the shadows. I stagger backwards, tripping over something soft on the ground.
I look down to see a ratty old teddy bear. Something from my childhood that tugs at the edge of my memory. I pick up the small tattered thing and bring it up to my chest, hugging it close. It smells like home. My old home.
I hear the fluttering of wings and look up, but I’m no longer in the dark alleyway. Instead, I’m in a long, narrow hallway that stretches out as far as my eyes can see. Doors line both sides. A light above flickers on and off.
I clutch the bear to my chest and walk forward. I’m not sure what I’m searching for, but I think it must be this way. I follow the sound of the crow’s caw.
On each side of me, the doors are marked with different symbols. A horse. A serpent. A flower. A butterfly.
I keep to the center of the hall, not daring to reach out and touch any of the doors. I half expect one of them to open and reveal some chamber of horrors on the other side. I can’t shake the feeling that someone is watching me. Following me.
But when I turn to look, there’s no one there. I am alone.
Alone except for the crow.
I keep moving forward, my steps tentative, like a little girl. I feel small and frightened.
The sound of flapping wings echoes around me, but I can’t see the bird. She’s here somewhere. If I could just find her, I’d be safe.
I’d be home.
The overhead light finally flickers one last time and then dies, dousing the hallway in darkness. I stop, unsure what to do without someone to guide me or tell me where to go.
But then I see it. Just up ahead, one of the doors is glowing.
I force my feet to move, feeling that if I could just reach that door safely, I would find the answers I’ve been looking for.
The hall is long and dark, but when I finally reach the glowing door, I gasp. The symbol carved into the wood is the outline of a black crow.
With a trembling hand, I reach for it.
The Dream
The buzzing of my alarm ripped me from the dream. Sweat poured down the back of my neck and my heart pounded against my ribs.
Holy crap. Last night had really done a number on my head. It had taken me forever to get to sleep in the first place, and I must have spent the rest of the night lost in the same dream, walking down that endless hallway over and over again.
I pushed my hair off my face and sat up. The black t-shirt Rend gave me was lying on top of my desk. I just stared at it, as if looking at it long enough might make it disappear. How could he expect me to go back to that awful place?
I’d almost died last night. If he hadn’t shown up at just that moment, I would probably be sprawled out in a dumpster, drained of every single drop of blood.
The image of that guy licking up a few drops of my spilled blood from the ground invaded my mind and I squeezed my eyes shut, begging it to go away.
This couldn’t be real. Vampires didn't really exist, right? They were myths or make-believe, not something you actually encountered in a dark alley. Maybe I’d just gotten hold of some really bad drugs last night and went on some kind of weird trip. Maybe I’d get to the club and realize it was all just one, long nightmare.
But I knew in my gut that it was no dream.
I thought about crawling back under the covers and ignoring the rest of the day. What would Rend do if I didn’t show up to work? It wasn’t like he knew where I lived.
I hope.
Still, he struck me as the kind of guy who would know how to find people. And I most definitely did not want him to have to come looking for me.
Random bartender or not, those guys last night had been scared of him. Terrified. So what did that make him?
More than just a bartender, that’s for sure.
And if he expected me to work for him at Venom, I didn’t have much of a choice but to show up.
I forced myself out of bed and climbed into the shower, turning the water up as hot as it would go. I washed off the stench of sweat and cigarette smoke and let the hot water wash the crusted blood from my palms and my elbow. A large black and blue bruise had formed on my arm where the tall guy had grabbed me.
I knew I was lucky to have gotten out of there without more damage done. What would happen if I had to work there now? Night after night?
I couldn’t do it. I’d have to go in today and tell Rend that I’d work off whatever debt I owed him and then I was out of there, gone forever just like he’d wanted in the first place. I would find a way to wipe the whole experience from my mind and move on.
When my skin had turned bright pink from the heat of the water, I turned it off and got dressed, pulling on a clean pair of jeans and the black Venom Staff t-shirt.
The only consolation as I grabbed my keys and headed out the door was that he’d asked me to come in at ten in the morning instead of ten at night. I didn’t think I could face that place again after dark.
The Boss
The outside of the club looked very different in the light of day. Less dark and dangerous and more like any other rundown building on this side of town.
I parked in a nearby lot and headed toward the alley entrance, wondering again why they didn't have a more normal entrance facing the main street. I also realized I had no idea where that back door must have taken me last night. If this was the back alley, where the hell was that?
I shook my head. Maybe there were just some things I was going to have to let go of about this place. I took a deep breath and steeled my nerves for whatever may come. There was no doubt I owed this guy Rend for saving my life. I just hoped I didn’t have to run into anymore demons or vampires while I was there.
I’d be good with never having to see fangs again in my life, thank you very much.
Inside the first hallway, the green liquid still glowed as brightly as it had the night before. Were they open all day? Or did they just leave these lights on all the time?
The tunnel-like entrance beyond was still lit up, too, but this time there was no bouncer waiting to check my ID. I went straight through to the club and looked around for Rend. He hadn’t told me exactly what to do when I got here or where to go, so I had assumed he’d just be waiting for me.
I checked my watch. It was three minutes after ten and there was no one else in sight.
The lights were all on at this time of morning and the place looked far less exotic. I walked over toward the bar, then flipped around as one of the doors on the other side of the room opened.
I hoped to see Rend, but instead, the other bartender from last night appeared. Azure. She was dressed almost the same as she had been the night before. We could have been twins except that her hair was blonde and curly and mine was black and straight as a board.
She smiled when she saw me. “Franki, right?”
She held her hand out and I shook
it.
“Yes,” I said. “I guess Rend told you I’d be coming in today.”
She nodded and motioned toward the bar. “I have to tell you, I was really surprised when he told me you’d be working here.”
“Me too,” I mumbled. I followed her to the bar and took a seat on one of the stools while she went back behind the counter and started unloading a box of new glasses onto the bar-top.
“Just out of curiosity, what made you want to work here?” she asked. “I mean, no offense or anything, but I’ve never seen you around and you and your friend seemed pretty freaked out by the place. We don’t get a lot of newcomers around here.”
“That’s kind of what Rend was telling me last night,” I said. “Why is that exactly?”
Other than the whole demon vampire thing.
She shrugged. “It’s the kind of place that caters to a certain... clientele. Most of the regulars have been coming here for years.”
“Okay, but why don’t new people stop in all the time? I get that this place isn’t exactly on the main strip or anything, but if you guys put a sign out front, I'm sure you'd get a lot more business.”
“More business isn't something we're looking for,” she said. “And to be honest, I’m not sure the boss would want me to explain it even if I could. At least, not until you understand more about what it is we do here.”
Great. More cryptic answers.
“Okay, so how do I find out what it is you do here?”
I had obviously already figured out this wasn’t a typical bar or nightclub, but I still didn’t understand what it was that made it so different. Surely everyone who was here last night wasn’t some kind of demon, right?
“I think it’s safer if I just wait and let the boss man tell you when he thinks you’re ready,” she said with a laugh. “In the meantime, he asked me show you around the place and get you started on some of the basic morning tasks.”
I slid off my stool and followed her back toward the other side of the room. “So, when will I get to meet him?” I asked.
“Who?”
“This mysterious boss man,” I said. “Rend didn't say anything about him.”
She stopped, a huge grin spreading across her face. “You are so adorably clueless,” she said. “You really don't know?”
“Know what?” My cheeks flushed.
Azure laughed and opened a black metal door just off the dance-floor.
“Rend is the boss.”
Don't Get Used To It
I felt like an idiot.
“Oh, god, I thought he was just a bartender,” I said. “No offense. I mean, I have nothing against bartenders, it’s just that, crap. I had no idea he owned the place.”
“It’s his baby,” she said. She led me down a narrow hallway painted in all black, then opened a door and motioned for me to go inside.
The storage room was huge. Metal racks lined the walls from floor to ceiling, stacked with boxes.
“I’m not surprised he didn’t mention it,” she said. “He’s a real hands-on kind of boss, always working behind the bar and making sure things are running smoothly. Still, did you really think a guy behind the bar could just hire you on the spot and demand that you show up the next morning?”
I shrugged, feeling stupid. “After the night I had last night, I didn’t even think to question it.”
She frowned. “Did something happen? I mean, besides your friend getting sick? I saw Rend go out on the floor to dance with you and at first, I figured maybe he knew you from somewhere else.”
She climbed up on a step-ladder and pulled down a box, handing it to me before grabbing another and climbing down.
I didn’t know where to start. Was I supposed to keep what happened in the alley a secret? I wasn’t about to tell her about my mom, but I didn’t really want to tell her I’d almost been eaten by vampires, either. “I’d never met him until last night,” I said, deciding to leave it at that and let her push for more if she wanted to.
She made a face. “You guys got pretty cozy with each other there for a while,” she said. “I’ve never seen Rend do that with a customer before. Don’t get used to it.”
Was that a hint of jealousy in her tone?
“I’m sure it won’t happen again,” I said. “I think he’s pretty pissed at me.”
“Pissed enough to hire you?” she said, laughing again. “Set that down over here and open it up. I want to show you something.”
I brought the box over to the middle of the room and pulled the tape off the top. She set hers beside mine and opened hers, too. Inside both boxes were plastic shot glasses in various neon colors. Stacks of them were wrapped in brown tissue paper. Each glass had the Venom logo on it. A serpent with its fangs outstretched. I shuddered at the image, wondering if snake fangs had anything to do with human fangs.
“This, obviously, is one of the main storage rooms,” she said. I was grateful to be talking about the job and out of the line of fire for a minute. “We keep all our merchandise-type items in here. Shot glasses, t-shirts, novelty type stuff. On this other side, are the paper products, like napkins and toilet paper. Your first job is to unwrap all the glasses in these two boxes and bring them up to the bar area for me. Sound good?”
“Sounds easy enough,” I said.
“Great.” She slapped her hands against her legs and looked around. “So, I’ll just leave you to it for now. I’m going back up front to work on washing the other new glassware. Come back out when you’re done and I’ll finish showing you around.”
I nodded and sat down on the floor next to the boxes.
“Oh.” She turned around as she reached the door. “By the way, welcome to Venom.”
“Thanks,” I said as she disappeared into the hallway, leaving me alone with the boxes.
The Real Question
In an hour, I had all the glasses unwrapped and stacked on the edge of the bar. So far, it wasn’t a bad job, but I wished I had thought to bring some headphones with me so I could listen to music on my phone. Anything to distract me from thoughts of what happened last night.
Azure showed me around the rest of the club, but there wasn’t that much to see. At least not that she was willing to show, anyway. She took me on a tour of the main sections of the club like the dance-floor, the exits, the second floor balcony. She showed me where the bathrooms were, even though she knew I'd already been inside them last night. She took me to a second storage room where all the glassware for behind the bar was kept, and finally, she showed me to another room on that same hallway where the employees took breaks during their shifts. There was a coffee pot and snacks on the counter, some well-worn couches, and a TV, but other than that, nothing else to see. Just your basic break room.
“That’s everything,” Azure said, ignoring the fact that she'd walked me past at least half a dozen doors that she didn't open. “When you start your shift, you’ll come here to the break room and clock in on this computer. I don’t think your name is listed officially yet, though.”
“I haven’t filled out any paperwork,” I said.
She shook her head. “We’re all kind of off the books here at Venom, so to speak.”
I studied her to see if she was just messing with me. “What do you mean? Like, no taxes?”
“I mean, no official documentation that you work here. No taxes, no W-2’s, no paychecks.”
“So, how do you get paid?”
She smiled. “Rend pays us once a week.”
“In cash?”
“In cash and other things,” she said.
I wanted to beat my head against the wall and tell her to stop messing around with me. So far, this place was full of secrets. It was driving me mad.
“What kinds of other things?” I figured she wasn’t going to tell me, but I needed to ask because I didn’t want to end up working here and getting paid in plastic neon shot-glasses.
“Most of us who work here have our own special needs that only Rend can meet,” she said. Wh
en she saw the disgusted look on my face, she laughed and touched my arm. A static shock went off between us and I jumped, but she didn’t seem surprised. “I’m not talking about anything gross, so get your mind out of the gutter. I just mean he has some particular talents that are in high demand in our world.”
I was relieved she wasn’t talking about sex. The idea of Rend touching me again wasn’t exactly offensive, but I did not want to be a part of some sex-demon freak show. Still, the way she’d said ‘our world’ made my heart beat a little faster. As if stepping into this nightclub meant stepping into another dimension. One where reality ceased to exist and creatures from the world of nightmares came out to play.
Or feed.
Rend had used that word last night in the alley and it still haunted me.
“I’m sure he’ll go over all that stuff with you when he gets a chance,” she said.
“Is he here?” I asked. I hated that I sounded eager when I’d meant to sound completely uninterested. Had she noticed?
“He’s completely off-limits. You realize that right?”
Oh, yeah, she noticed.
“He’s my boss, I get it. I just have a lot of questions after last night.”
She stared at me, and I tried to act cool. I had a feeling she could see right through me. I hated that almost as much as I hated the fact that I kept thinking about the way his thumb had brushed against my skin.
“I’ve seen that look before,” she said. “Trust me, every girl who comes through those doors wants a piece of him. And every girl ends up leaving sorely disappointed.”
“I’m not trying to get a piece of anything,” I said, snapping at her more sharply than I’d intended. She was annoying the crap out of me. So what if every girl wanted him. I wasn’t like every other girl.
Besides, she was the one who had said she’d never seen him dance that way with anyone before.
And, as much as I hated to admit it, no one had ever made me feel the way he had last night. Some nagging part of me wanted to know if he had felt it too, or if he’d just truly been trying to keep me safe.