Episode 2:
Anton and I followed the thumping music down the stairs and into the nightclub. We took our time, not wanting to rush as we had the whole night to ourselves. I could tell that Anton was on edge, as if he was wondering what the fuck he was going to do.
"Hey man, you OK?" I asked.
"Yeah! Just nervous and wondering what the fuck I'm going to say to make Calliope not mad at me anymore," he breathed.
"You know, for a vampire that's a few centuries old, you still are a bit dense," I chuckled.
"What?" he growled, fixing me with a seething glare.
"The apology bit that you want to go and give Calliope is a good place to start. If you want her back that badly, then I would suggest that you should be honest with the woman," I told him.
"Be honest with her? How?" Anton asked, checking his rage as he saw that I was offering advice and that I needed his full attention for it.
"Simple. Speak from the heart when you talk to her. How she makes you feel, what it is that she is to you and whatever it may be that makes you crazy about her. Things like that are what women want to hear about," I stated.
"She already knows these things!" Anton griped.
"And you need to remind her of these things, to show her that you haven't forgotten them. If you sit there, resting on your laurels and never remind a woman why you fell for her in the first place, she's liable to think that you forgot and don't care anymore," I went on.
"That's absurd! I would never forget how Calliope pulled me in that first time! Even though we may be vastly different in what we are and how we hunt, that doesn't dampen how I feel about her!!" Anton rebutted.
"There you go!! Bring that passion to the table when talking to her and she'll get around to forgiving you," I chuckled.
Anton blinked for a moment, then smiled as he found his confidence, reclaiming that swagger I'd seen him strut around with on so many occasions. We finally came to the main entry to Darksiders, and were met by a trio of harpies. Two of them guarded the doors leading into the club proper, while another sat in a small room that appeared to be a coat check of sorts.
"Good evening, Anton! Didn't think I'd see you in here tonight!" one of the harpies, a black-haired, fair skinned number, told my vampire friend.
"I'm wondering how it is that you got past Lydia!" the other guard, a flame haired, dusky skinned bird-girl, wondered.
"It wasn't anything I did! That's all on Geralt for gaining us entry," Anton stated proudly. All three bird-girls then turned their gazes to me, shock and indifference on their beautiful faces.
"I don't see what's so special about this one. He looks like an average every-day human to me," the third one said, who was darker skinned and had an east Indian caste to her features.
"Is it every day that a human like me can make a woman like Lydia sing?" I offered, wondering what their reaction would be. Almost instantly, their eyes lit up and smiles graced their faces, along with hungry, predatory looks.
"You did what?!?" the first harpy asked, in full disbelief at this fact.
"Feel free to ask Lydia about it when you have a beat. I have no reason to lie," I told them as I shrugged. The other two were looking more feral by the moment, like they were eagles who had spotted a juicy looking rabbit to pounce on. Only in this case, the rabbit was me.
"How... how did you do that?" the flame haired harpy asked.
"Trade secrets dearie, sorry! Like I said, if you want to know the dirty details, go and talk with Lydia about it," I reiterated.
The black-haired harpy walked up to me and eyed me up and down, while looking at my physical form. I was wrong about her having hair, as what looked like hair on her was actually feathers that had been shaped much like hair. She came close enough to smell me and as she did, I heard her intake of breath go deep, like she was surprised by something.
"Well, Iris?" the dark-skinned harpy asked.
"He's not lying! I smell our friend on him and... wow!! It smells like she really enjoyed herself!" Iris replied while fanning herself and using her arm's feathers as a fan.
I noted that her skin had become flushed and... did her boobs just get bigger? Maybe she was standing straighter? I didn't know. What I did know what that this harpy was staring at me like she wanted to drag me away and have her way with me, as did these other two. Their eyes were hooded with lust as they all smirked at me, as a predator does their prey.
"OK ladies, you know the rules on Human Night! No touchy the human unless he or she invites it!" Anton told them, snapping them out of their little daydream.
"I don't know. Maybe the human wouldn't mind a little touchy feely," the red feathered harpy grinned, showing a mouthful of razor-sharp teeth. I knew that harpies could be territorial about things, especially anything or anyone they saw as theirs.
"Like Anton said, no touchy! No-o-o-o-o touchy!" I replied, moving my hands in a mock move like Cuzco from the animated film Emperor's New Groove. The three of them pouted, a little crestfallen that they wouldn't get any playtime. I decided to assuage their egos a little, just so I wasn't seen as a dickhead.
"Just know that I like my women, the way I like my coffee. Dark, smooth, and robust. Maybe I'll be by later to spend some time with you," I said, shooting a glance at the harpy standing in the coat check. She perked up instantly and preened at the attention I gave her. To be fair, she was thicker than either of her counterparts, something along the lines of thick-fit, which was a selling point for me. Her friends looked at their friend incredulously but still were a bit huffy.
"Hey, just like a woman's got her own tastes, so does a man," Anton told the pair at the doors, who looked a little sullen but admitted us into the club all the same. The doors parted, and we walked into a veritable menagerie of the nightlife!
What I mean by that is that Darksiders was a club that was a well-balanced mix of dance club, lounge, rave, strip bar and swingers' club! Each zone was massive, looking like its own self-contained club, and had its own color theme, to make it easy for any humans to tell the place apart. Red was for the strip club section, purple for the swingers zone, blue for the dance club, a pinky lilac for the lounge and a pulsing electric green for the rave.
