The smoke was beginning to really bother me. The way it hung thick in the air, like some gray fog, was the same way it was hanging in my lungs. The painfully loud sound system pounded the beat into me. If I'd been less disoriented by the atmosphere, or if I'd found anyone to dance with, I might have actually enjoyed the rhythmic asphyxiation. I found my way through the crowded club, being jostled hither and yon as I made my way to a secluded spot.
From here I finished the drink I'd begun some time before, and, frowning at how warm it had become, I decided maybe it was time to call it a night. I passed by a fire exit in the back of the bustling dance floor and paused. Walking back, I made a mental bet with myself that no one would hear the siren if I were to slip out the door, over the driving music. I don't know exactly why I decided to go for it- maybe it was the lack of oxygen, maybe it was the impenetrable-seeming throng.. and maybe something else. But, for whatever reason I pushed at the fire escape, and it opened.
What was most alarming was the lack of alarm! Apparently the warning stickers on the door were all bluff. Taking the opportunity, I quickly ducked out, a patch of the thick gray smoke floating out with me. Closing the door and noticing the haze, I waved about to clear it, but I had no real luck. I began to move toward the parking lot, when I noticed a different door in the building, which was just cracked open. Curiously, I peered in, only to see a staircase leading down into darkness.. and what was that..?
I could hardly believe I could hear anything after the cacophony on the dance floor, but there was... singing? Yes, a woman, singing, coming faintly up the stairway. Too curious to even think about caution, I followed this soft siren song down the stairs. I tried to be careful as I descended, not wanting to disturb what mystery I was about to discover. Unfortunately, the darkness and lingering smoke distracted me just enough to let me catch my black blazer's sleeve on the handrail, tearing a few sleeve buttons from it. They clattered down the stairway, each peck of the nickel ornaments on the polished linoleum causing a jolt on my spine, afraid to upset the alluring song that was now becoming clearer.
The singing hadn't even paused. I let myself breathe again, and began to take the final few steps to what, in the meager light, I thought was likely to be the bottom landing. Just before reaching there, I decided to stop and peer around the open doorframe. Like a kid who wants to sneak a clue about what he's getting for Christmas, by rattling his presents, I strained my eyes to make out light, shapes, movement in that dim expanse beyond the stairwell. My nose told me the first thing about it, though: a sweet, perfumed musky scent was wafting to me. My ears followed fast, finally telling me what the mysterious voice was intoning into the night from here, in this unexpected underworld:
Come to me lover,
complete me tonight,
I feel you near me,
give up your fight...
Incredibly, this song matched the faint but driving pulse of the sound system upstairs, the rest of the commercially acceptable noise stripped, and only its lifebeat finding its way here. My eyes finally adjusted, and my heart melted as I made out the flickerings of the light of one large candle playing over the curves of a woman. She danced, the faint light making only small parts of her glow as portions of her moved nearer the flame, then away...
So close to me now,
join me in dance,
Step closer to me,
Take now your chance...
Her voice was so soft, and yet nothing could have been a firmer command. I felt my desire to be close to this sweet enchantress overfill me, the want seeming to flow down from the crown of my head, enveloping my body, making it move to the landing...
Krik-BOOM!
I didn't turn my head at the noise, I could see what it had been: the door to the alley outside had slammed shut just as my feet both firmly hit the landing. This caused the red EXIT signs at the top of the stairs and just above me to light up, bathing the stairwell in a red radiance. She had turned her head though, and was staring at me, the red light from my landing just touching some of her closest parts as she altered her song. Just for a moment, a part of me lit in wonder that she hadn't missed a beat of it, but that passed rapidly as her words carried over to me:
Otherworldly Male,
