FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

~ Chapter 30 ~

Infinitá was packed this evening. I sipped a drink and watched the crowds from my seat at the booths. It allowed me to oversee a good portion of Infinitá's first floor while remaining unobtrusive. There were a few people I was looking for this night. I scanned, looking and absorbing.

Kat was at the bar dealing with a customer. Between people walking around, getting drinks, or milling about, I saw Kat wasn't too happy with whatever order she was getting. Some guy in a suit, a black fedora, and sunglasses gesturing with his index finger.

I recognized him as the bald guy who was touching Tiffany a few weeks ago. There wasn't any sign of his two buddies, though.

Two buddies? Snappy dressed? A bar?

He matched the description Ursula gave me. He was human though and I tried to remember if she mentioned it or not; a pretty fucking important detail. He was responsible for Bo's death, my sister's accident, Wilkes' apparent blackmail-

-and Marc's assault. It clicked. Kat had taken over the bar from Marc when he was sent to the hospital. I was asking questions when I came by the club the other day and she was nervous. She didn't want to talk about it. Was he there at that time? I couldn't remember anymore. That was before Becky's accident.

I inwardly laughed a morbid chuckle. Time had become 'Before Becky's Accident' and 'After Becky's Accident'.

Ursula talked about Remy putting a bar tender in the hospital and would get away with murder if he could. A pretty fucking important detail.

"Done with that?"

I looked up and Aaron was standing at the edge of the booth with a tired look on his face.

"I, uh.... yeah, I guess," I stiffened.

"Okay, I can take it," Aaron grabbed my glass from the table, averting his weary gaze.

"Hey Aaron, you alright?"

"Yeah, fine."

Taking a second to parse my thoughts I proffered, "If there's anything you want to talk about- "

"Don't worry about me," Aaron dismissed, "I can take care of myself." There was a lie in those words. He walked away, towards the bar.

"Fine," I mumbled. "Be that way."

I needed to dance. I needed to get rid of the mounting frustration that welled up because of Aaron. Kat's involved with a criminal? Nothing I can do about it. Aaron's being a jerkass? What else is new? I jumped onto the dance floor.

The speakers thumped out the familiar deep bass and counterpoint hi-hat claps. Synths glissandoed a melody. Lights spun and flashed as bodies twisted, shifted, slid, writhed under their multicolored spectrum. I stepped and swayed along with the beat doing my best to get lost in it. The warmth of the lights, the scents of the bodies around me, the bass beat in rhythm with my heart. And a familiar crop of hair not so far from me.

There were his eyes, staring at me. They glinted and shone in the lights. A fanged smile crept upwards from behind his lips.

I wasn't dancing anymore. I felt small. Infinitá its self seemed too small, now, but wouldn't be able to hold enough bodies between me and him.

Get away. Get away. I silently yelled at him and at myself. I wasn't moving but I needed to. He was negotiating the bodies as deft as a shark that smelled blood. I didn't want to be chummy with him in the slightest. I wasn't moving.

Ezio lifted a raccoon-headed pez dispenser and tongued out a blue tablet. Or maybe it was white. Or green. Or pink. He held it between his teeth, still smiling at me.

Then he was holding my chin, looking down at me.

Ezio bent down and kissed me. His tongue invaded my mouth and rubbed the back of my teeth. I tried to pull back but his hands held me. Something dissolved against the back of my throat and I swallowed reflexively. A suggestion of black licorice medicine seeped into my taste buds where the something touched my tongue.

"Relaax..." he airly whispered directly into my ear. His breath evaporated off my ear. A clawed hand tickled my chest as he gave me a hug from behind and disappeared into the crowd.

Conscious of my petrified state, I woodenly moved in time to the music feeling giant, clumsy, and conspicuous. I turned around, keeping an eye out for Ezio but he was gone. I moved across the dance floor and scanned the booths, the tables, the bar, and everywhere else I could see from the floor.

It was warm and my body was electric. All I felt was like dancing and if Ezio was gone then that's what I was going to do. Whatever the hell was up with him, I didn't want any part of. The lights above me drew neon traces behind them as they swung around. Screw everyone, I was finally enjoying myself for once.

I grinned as I gyrated with the music. My body was buzzing and I felt good. It had been a long time since I felt this good and I was going to take advantage of it. I ran my fingers down my body feeling my fingertips tingle and my body buzzing from the trails left behind. Contours of dancers swam around me and I took in their aura. It was hot and I took off my shirt. I was stupidly happy and I loved it.

I chewed a mint and the flavor burst in my mouth like an explosion of cold that set all the fiery nerves of my person to ice. I spun, I swayed, I flowed with the music and the crowd and the floor. I touched my lips, a stranger's touch that sent shivers radiating outward. I laughed and ran my hands through my hair.

A heavy hand was place on my shoulder and I looked at my new dance partner. It was Bruise. He said something, but my hearing was watery. Gently, but firmly, he guided me off the dancefloor.

"My mouth tingles," I laughed. Bruise set me down on the floor of a storage room. The thumping booms of the music were muted. Fluorescent lights hummed and glowed above me. "What's up, Bruiser?"

He had tribal-like patterns on his fur and I could only imagine how long of a dye job that took. "How are you feeling, Cade?"

"Absolutely fantastic, sir!"

"I'm sure you are. Kat should be here shortly. Do you know why I brought you back here?"

"Not a clue," then with a hushed tone, I added, "The wall is breathing."

"I'm sure it is. Cade, look at me."

"Shh!" I buzzed in irritation, ignoring Bruise. The wall was breathing! Air teased my fingers that were placed on the floor, and my lower back. Twisting I stuck my nose into the air and sniffed. The air was cool, damp, and musty. I felt the air eddy in my nose, I could taste it, and it froze my lungs just as much as my mint had flash-frozen my mouth, teeth, and tongue. "Your storage room is alive!"

"Cade, it's just an old tunnel. Sit up."

"Really?" I obeyed and looked at Bruise. I couldn't make out the expression on his face.

"It's an old prohibition tunnel. So you were enjoying yourself on the dance floor, right?"

"Yeah, of course. Why?"

Kat appeared with a bottle of water. She handed to me and I drank it greedily. "Cade, you were slipped something. Do you know what it was?"

"A living wall!" I whispered to her and giggled. "You look good in glasses, by the way."

Kat pulled a pill bottle from her jeans and shook out a couple of its contents. She held them out to me, "I need you to chew on these."

"Candy!" I squeaked, "I love you." I gobbled the pellets. They were bitter and mediciney. "Eww..."

"Just chew."

I grumbled, chewed, swallowed, and held out my tongue for her to examine.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" She nagged and held out another bottle of water.

I drank that one even more greedily and I started feeling clearer headed. Bruise and Kat were examinate.

"So what happened out there?" Kat asked again.

I shook my head to clear away some cobwebs that had built up, "Ezio was there. He kissed me. He had a pez dispenser and when he kissed me I felt something fall into my mouth. He held it out, at first. Blue, I think. I'm not sure; the lights."

Bruise shot Kat a knowing look, " 'Cupid's Arrow'. It uses 'Blue Fox' as a base but creates a stronger sense of euphoria."

"Cade," Kat turned to me, "You were slipped ecstasy. I gave you something to counteract the high, but you may feel some side effects in a little bit. Bruise?"

Bruise nodded and left.

"What's happening?" I tried to make sense of the situation.

"Infinitá has a zero-tolerance drug policy. Bruise is tracking down Ezio and will escort out. He's banned from here."

"What about Aaron?"

"Aaron's been working tonight. I haven't seen him use any illegal substances for as long as I've known him. I trust him," She smiled. It reminded me of my mom's smile.

"Your glasses. They're gone."

"I never had glasses."

"Too bad. You looked cute in them."

"Aw, thanks," her eyes seemed to dance and she sighed, "Why didn't you say anything right away when Ezio did that?"

I looked away, "I should probably go home."

"You think you're up to it?"

"Yeah."

Kat lifted me off of the cold floor and ushered me through the side door I once snuck out and had met her, on the other side, for the first time. She saw me to the end of the alley and turned back. The music of the club played on.

Dad and Mom were sleeping by the time I got home. Time was elastic and my inner clock had crumbled its gears. No cars passed me on my walk home and no persons walked, jogged, or biked by me. I was alone.

I climbed the stairs to my room, being careful of the familiar creaks and groans of the wooden steps. At the top of the landing, opposite the hallway from me, was Becky's room. Her door was open but there wasn't any noise; no t.v. playing. I closed the door to my own room when I stepped inside it and bathed myself in the darkness. Light spilled from my window and from the glow of various electronic gadgets plugged into my wall. My eyes couldn't adjust to the red glare of my alarm clock and I gave up trying to decipher the time after only a few seconds. It took too much effort to think. I sat there, feeling my own breathing and my ears searching for any sound.

I started crying. It was an all-too-familiar feeling lately. My breath rose in my tightening chest. I slammed a fist onto my mattress, feeling the bouncing recoil. I repeated the punch with my other fist. Crawling onto my bed, proper, I punched my pillows with sharp grunts that were cut with sniffs and respires. Burying my face into a pillow I screamed. I surfaced for air and screamed into my pillow again, wet with tears, snot, and saliva. I pushed the air out of my lungs and through the warming pillow, wanting to feel the breath of my screams on the other side. I screamed as hard and as long as I could; screamed until there was nothing left inside me.