By George Woodruff

Part 11

The club was a riot of sight and sounds, scents and odours, movement and bodies, lights and shadows. There had been a tense moment when they approached the doorman, where Steven was worried they might have to wait or even be turned away, but Susan had just locked eyes with the behemoth and he demurely opened the velvet rope and ushered them in ahead of all the others.

"Wow, how did you do that?" he asked her as they descended into the bowels of the churning maelstrom of music, strobe lights and writhing bodies. She answered and he caught her words despite the cacophony.

"Never underestimate the power of a woman." He laughed in agreement with her as the stepped off the stairs and wove their way into the pulsing beat of the beast that was the dancing mob. As he became concerned that the milling mass of dancers'd separate them, he felt a hand grasp his and pull him after her into the centre of the floor. She smiled up at him with a feral grin that sent shivers of desire and fear racing the length of his spine. She began to dance and he felt himself drawn into a ritual of movements that were both erotic and aggressive. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something sail out of the flickering confusion of light and darkness, and he was pleasantly surprised as her shawl snaked about his shoulders and pulled him closer to her. Her eyes were alight with a feral fire that sent his heart racing. He lost his trepidation and let himself touch her.

Susan felt an electric charge fill her being as Steven finally gave himself permission to touch her. She had been afraid that his sensitivity would have required her to make all the first moves. She thrilled as they bounced, bumped and ground out on the dance floor. She could see the feral nature in Steven beginning to awaken and she revelled in the sense of power that was flowing between them. They danced, gyrating and grinding together as the music pounded at them, sweat forming a glistening sheen on their writhing bodies until Steven's resources were nearly tapped. She could see the fatigue overcoming him and as one song ended, she lead him to one of the many bars scattered around the place and made him have a drink of water, then a fruit juice before letting him have a beer. As all that fluid passed through his system he excused himself to go to the lavatory. She smiled as she watched him disappear into the crowd. She turned back to the bar and asked the Keep to get her a beer.

"Hey baby... you need a real man to keep up with you, not that little boy." The voice came out of the cacophony of sounds and belatedly she realised that it was directed at her. She turned to look at the man who had spoken to her and stifled a laugh at his expense. Though definitely gifted with an impressive physique, she could see narcissism writ large upon his arrogant features and black clothes. Something about him unsettled her and unbidden she uttered the following phrase which took her by surprise as much as it did him and those about them.

"Put it away little man, before it gets you in more trouble then you can handle." The look on his face told her that she had crossed a line with him. The silence about them indicated that it was a pretty well known line in the ephemeral sand of the place.

"What did you say bitch!" he growled at her. And in doing so he had crossed a line with her.

"You heard me small cock... put your ego away before it gets you killed," she growled back and as he lashed out to slap her she grabbed his arm with one hand while punching him with the other. In seconds they were rolling on the floor, tearing and slugging at each other. Soon two parties that seemed undecided whether to pull them apart or rip each other to shreds surrounded them. A silver coin spun through the air and struck her opponent in the face. He howled with pain, flinging her from him as he clutched his face, she was ready to leap at him and tear his throat open when fingers of iron locked in her hair and held her fast.

'Sit down little daughter, this one may be your speed, but we don't kill in public!' She was about to scream back her defiance when she realised that the words had echoed in her mind and not been spoken aloud. She turned and looked into a pair of golden eyes and immediately felt compelled to quell her rage. The eyes left her and looked across the space that divided them from the others who had a hold of the gothic fellow she'd been fighting with. Susan followed the gaze and saw her opponent standing looking chastised and afraid as an immaculately dressed woman who though she was not touching him, seemed to be nearly breaking him in two. She looked at Susan and for the first time since her attack, Susan felt herself wither under someone's gaze.

'Don't look into those eyes little one!' the voice in her head growled and Susan snapped her eyes away. 'That one would eat you alive, and not even bother to spit out the bones.'

'What the fuck is going on here?' Susan managed to respond.

'A battle older then you can imagine. But it is not your fault, this particular conflict was his fault, he saw you and desired you, not realising your nature. He will be punished by his own kind.' The woman that held her looked up and as if by magic the two parties seemed to dissipate. Steven walked up; looking concerned and asked her what had happened, pointing to her ripped and torn blouse.

'Tell him nothing little one, and get out of here, had we not been watching you, you would both be dead. Go home with him!' Susan almost jumped out of her skin at the command.

"Let's get out of here, Steven, take me home!" The fierceness of the woman's commands tempered her own speech as she tried to arrange her shawl in a manner that would conceal her exposed flesh. Steven nodded as he offered her his jacket to help.

They left the club, hailed a cab and were on their way back to his place before the shock of what had happened over came Susan. She collapsed in his arms and wept fiercely and bitterly. Steven tried to calm her, uncertain what had happened but presuming that she had been attacked or something. He looked behind him and saw the auras of those who watched them leave. He wasn't sure if she was involved with them, but he could sense that they were interested in him and quite possibly her. He checked the weft of his shield and was thankful that it hadn't slipped, but it made him pause, if he hadn't let his nature slip, then why were they so interested in Susan and him... he looked at her with the second sight and saw the wolf submerged in her aura. It hadn't been there when he'd first met her, it was definitely very young, but also very powerful. 'Oh ho!' he thought to himself. 'I wonder if she even knows?'