She couldn't believe her good luck. Her first night in a new city, and here she was, holding an invitation to a party so secret that she couldn't even tell anyone about it.
The man in front of her smiled and a part of her melted.
"You understand that this is a private affair, only for new tenants and those we deem worth our attention. You'll be attending as my-" he hesitated a little- "date. Don't engage in any of those troubling little behaviors, such as bringing along a friend. I am interested in you and you only. Come that way."
She caught herself before she giggled. He was so forward- she loved that in a man. (A tiny voice inside her cried out that no, she didn't, she'd been hurt before, why couldn't she say no to him?)
"What should I wear?" She meant it as an honest question, but it came as much as saying that nudity was an option. Her voice was betraying her, and something deep inside her screamed that she was betraying herself.
His smile broadened and the last of her resistance melted away. He could have her on the sidewalk if he wanted to.
"Wear a dress. But no panties, and I'll know if you lie."
She grinned and flicked her eyes down, bashful as a teenager. "Of course."
He stepped in close- too close. He smelled raggedly of cigarettes and a distant iron tang her mind wouldn't let her recognize-
"See you tonight," he whispered, his voice in her ear. He kissed her neck and drew in a deep breath of her fragile girlish scent, and was gone.
She collapsed down into her chair. Vancouver really was a fascinating city.
That night, she got ready. She'd be foolish not to carry mace, she thought, and condoms, and her knife. She grinned a little at her own impetuousness. Brave little girl in the big city, she thought, and slipped her bra into place.
Slipping into her black dress, her hair perfectly formed, red lipstick and dark eyeshadow. She caught her own eye in the mirror and smiled. Well, I'd sure fuck me, she thought to herself.
That same little voice tried to tell her to turn back, to not go, to at least put on the sheer black panties she had laid out on the bed. She left without them.
The address was in a good part of town, a black-glass highrise that loomed above the street like a smooth dark mountain. When she got to the door, a tall and somehow familiar man blocked her entry. "Excuse me," he said. "Invitation only."
Wordless she passed the man the thin paper sheet. He looked closely at it, and then, bizarrely, scanned it with an infrared penlight. A grin broke out on his face. "I see. Congratulations, it's a very big night up there tonight."
"What's the special occasion?"
He looked at her and his eyes sparked against hers like flint and steel. She wondered who was which.
"No special occasion. Let's just say they'll be happy to see you. Go on up."
Inside the lobby was empty. The walls were dark wood, the floor deep red carpeting with a black marble path leading straight through the middle to a single brazen elevator. She snorted to herself. Classy, she thought. Like this was some kind of european hotel.
Her high heels clicked eerily on the path. The high vaulted ceilings, wreathed in darkness, swallowed the sound of her steps.
She wasn't halfway across the lobby when the elevator pinged. A single green light clicked to life and the door opened. A man in a long dark coat stood inside, and that same almost-familiar look wrapped around him.
She felt a little concerned. A thin trill ran up her spine.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, she thought.
She stepped inside. The man next to her shifted easily. She caught that same smell, cigarettes (cloves this time) and iron.
She pressed 7, and settled back for the ride. Her fellow passenger didn't say a word.
Her mind wrangled with an odd sense of discomfort. That smell-
He was looking at her.
She knew it, she didn't even have to look. He was looking at her from under his broad-brim hat, his eyes were ice blue just like the other man's, his teeth oddly keen-
She slowly turned her head. He was staring right at her. His full noble lips parted in a smile that promised horror. His eyes were blue. His teeth were oddly keen.
The door pinged and opened and the man she had met that morning strode in. He was already moving at full speed as it opened, and his long lean body crashed cleanly into the other man, shoulder-checking him up into dark metal of the elevator wall.
He snarled, a savage sound that terrified her and at the same time sent a curling electric shock down between her thighs.
The other man protested. "Please! I didn't know-"
"You've offended me. Go."
The second man skulked off onto floor two. She watched as the doors closed and he flashed her a smile. She could see that his canines were somehow wrong.
Her man stood next to her. He should be warm and at least breathing hard after an exertion like that, after running into an elevator and throwing a man against a wall, but a chill like a winter twilight flowed off him. In fact- she noted with shock- there was a little frost and ice in the cuffs of his jeans and around the soles of his boots. The frost was a little pink.
