Patreon LogoYour support makes Blue Moon possible (Patreon)

The Half Moon Club (EvelynWillows x Collector of Rarities)

Joe chuckled. He switched some tanks around and restocked the bottles. "So you thought I was gay, hm? That's interesting. Well...are you a lesbian? Cause if the cute guys are gay then the hot chicks are dykes." He took another sip of the seltzer and began stacking glasses.

"Usually I do whatever the fuck Bruce tells me to do. Sometimes it's dishes, other days I fix lights. He hasn't asked me to get out on the dance floor yet, but that's because he knows." Joe leaned conspiratorially towards Carla. "See... I'm white. I got no rhythm." He laughed and finished with the glasses. "I got to fill in for a guitarist once; we sometimes have live bands. Usually it's a DJ techno-crap, but the kids love it and a few songs, a few tequillas, and all of a sudden there are tits on the dance floor. It's a great place to work."

He finished wiping off the counter. "Tits are okay. Anything else gets naked and it's a no-no. It's slippery; a falling hazard on the dance floor, and usually I'm the guy with the mop and bucket."
 
Carla laughed. "Well, I wouldn't say no if an attractive woman started flirting with me," she said. "But then again, I wouldn't say no if it was an attractive man either. Still, I dunno if I'm really on the market for casual sex right now; especially with my new work schedule and all."

She chuckled at Joe and shook her head. "It doesn't matter if you've got rhythm; you just need to get a few drinks in you and you'll find your own way. As for me, I like good club music: I like anything that gets me moving. If it makes me want to dance, I love it. I'm not really the type to get my tits out on the dance floor, though: for one thing, if anyone tries to cop a feel, I'd probably slug them, and for another, it kind of defeats the purpose of flirting. If anyone wants to see my tits, they're damn well going to have to work for the privilege. It makes a girl feel special, you know? Besides, I don't have the daddy issues that most of the girls out there do. If someone isn't confident enough to talk to me for a while before suggesting we head to the bedroom, they probably aren't my type anyways."
 
"Ah, well. You're cute. I'm sure you'll find a few takers in this crowd." Joe looked up as the DJs came and set up.

"Hey," one of them called out. He was a young black man in large white shades. His hair stuck out of his head in little braids and he had plastic barrettes holding his hair together. "New chickie, nice ta' meet ya. I'm DJ Smoooth. But you can call me your Smoothie, baby." He pointed his finger at her and winked before taking his gear to the DJ booth.

Joe smiled to himself. Garth gave him the thumbs up and unlocked the door to greet the line of people waiting outside. It was time for the games to begin.
 
Carla chuckled, but groaned inwardly at the DJ's name and choice of comeon. How many DJ Smooths were there? she wondered. And smoothie? Did she want her associating his name with a beverage? Still, he seemed like a nice enough guy, if a bit corny. Still, she might consider talking to him some more if his music was any good.

Carla continued leaning against the bar as people came in, although she prepared to start moving when she saw the room really start to fill up. "I'm a bit more lax about dating coworkers than you are, Joe," she said, "but if I'm doing security, I'm not going to date the people I'm supposed to be watching. Besides, I'm not really into college kids; most of them are a lot more bark than bite, and I like both."
 
Joe had to laugh. "College kids? Darlin' how old are you? Twenty-two? You're barely out of high school as it goes." He grinned and shook his head. "Yeah, don't get yourself fired on day one, okay? I don't think they're still hiring at Chuckee Cheese."

The DJ put on a heavy-beated song and began to mess with the lights so that the room had an energetic feel to it. As the patrons began to fill into the club Carla could sense all kinds of people there; humans mostly, but a few wolves and after about an hour had passed, a few vampires as well. Some of them seemed there simply to have fun and flirt, but there were certainly those who would be eating before the night was over. Though the club was neutral ground, what clubbers did once they left the Half Moon was their own business.
 
"People always did tell me I look young for my age," teased Carla, but left it at that. Carla smiled a little as she heard Smoothie (dammit, that name had already stuck in her head) put on some music; it was fairly generic club music, but it was something she'd dance to if she was a patron. She scanned the crowd and was surprised to see a face or two she recognized from magazine covers among the crowd. Granted, they were out of makeup, but Carla was good with faces; she knew that the club was very popular, but not that popular. She drifted away from the bar, bidding Joe farewell for now, but intending to chat with him again sometime. She liked him and wanted very much to get to know him better, even if nothing came of it.

She began patrolling the perimeter of the dance floor, keeping an eye on the patrons and making sure that no one was violating any of the club's rules. So far everything seemed to be off to a smooth start, but the night had only just begun and there was a lot that could potentially go wrong.
 
The evening went fairly quietly for the next two hours. Joe waved Carla back to him during a lull in the dancing and drinking. He had been talkng to a lean, fashionable Asian man for a while and looked like he wanted to introduce them.

"Hey Carla, this is Liam Cho, the assistant manager here. He makes sure we all get paid."

Liam gave Carla a friendly smile and extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Carla." He stank of iron and blood; he was a vampire through and through. "It's good to have new blood at the club."

"Yeah," Joe agreed, "and Liam's like you. He can separate work from play and he's single... so..."

The Asian looked at Joe and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Sure, I'd love to take you out some night," he said to Carla. "Working here is so time-consuming; it's been a long time since I've dated someone outside my culture."

"Isn't that what makes things interesting?" Joe asked.
 
Carla chuckled. Liam was certainly cute, but she didn't know thing one about him.

"Well, we'll see if a date actually happens," she said, coyly. "I'm not big on blind dates and I don't want you thinking I'm trying to sleep my way to the top, so let's find some time to chat and see if we're headed in the direction of a date. I dunno if Garth would want me to spend my first night on the job socializing, though, so maybe it's best if I get back to work for now?"

Her stomach growled and her attention snapped back to Joe.

"Although... I kinda skipped dinner tonight," she said, a little sheepishly. "You said that food was on the house when I was on the clock, right? What've you got?"
 
"Well don't worry, I don't bite," Liam teased. When Joe turned away from them for a moment he flashed his fangs at her. "Unless you're into that, of course."

"Dahling! Thank yew sooo much!" Freddy catwalked to the bar and wrapped a pink and green scarf around Joe's neck. "Fabulous, dahling. Absolutely." He turned to Liam and looked him up and down, assessing the lean Asian. Like Liam, Freddy had a lean, fashionable look to him. Unlike Liam, Freddy was all human. Underneath the soap and lotion was the smell of recent sex, wine, and rare steak. "And who do ve 'ave here, hm?" He placed one hand on a hip and looked over at Carla. "Mmm... do cuff cum with that shirt dear?"

Joe chuckled. "Freddy, this is Carla Winters, our newest member of the security team. Carla, Freddy Hernandez. My 'date' earlier."

"Gawd yew are haute! Yew should let me do something with that hair, and maybe some liner, hmm? I can make you boo-tee-ful!"

"I was hoping you'd take over the bar," Joe interjected. "Carla needs food and I'm tired of smelling like cheap beers and Sex on the Beach."

Freddy gave him a long, appraising look. "Yew never get tired of Sex on the Beach if eet's done right, Joey. Nev-ah."

"Yeah, okay. So we good?"

Freddy waved them off. "Ahm handlin' et lovah. Go on, feed the girl." He pantomined sniffing in sadness. "No one loves me anymore..."

Joe shook his head and motioned for Carla to follow him. "Come on, I'll show you what we have to eat."
 
"Not really into the whole biting thing," said Carla to Liam, her eyes turning hard for a split second, "but it can't hurt to be friends with the assistant manager. Still, I'll go out for drinks if you buy the first round." Carla was not a fan of vampires. Part of it was an instinctual thing: wolves were predators and vampires were predators, so when the two met, their instincts started setting off all sorts of red flags. Another was that she'd had several run-ins with a particular vampire in various places around the world and each run-in had ended with the two of them at each other's throats. Still, Liam seemed like a decent enough and Carla wouldn't mind being friends with him, but the fact that he was a vampire eliminated him from her dating pool.

Carla smiled when she saw Freddy. She knew immediately that she liked him and let out a disappointed sigh knowing that he was gay. She liked his flashy personality and it didn't hurt that he was cute, but his preferences eliminated her from his dating pool. She smiled and laughed when he offered to do something with her hair. "Well, I don't want something that I'll have to spend and hour each day maintaining," she said, "so if you can give me something simple and leave it its natural white, I might very well take you up on that offer." She glanced on Joe's direction. "And it's Carla Winter: singular." She perked up when there was a promise of food. "Well, it was nice meeting you, Freddy, but Joe promised me food and I'm starving. I'll be back once I'm working on a full stomach, though."

Carla followed Joe wherever he was leading her. If there was one thing Carla enjoyed almost as much as sex and fighting, it was food.
 
He took her behind the main kitchen, where the cooks were busy making nachos, sandwiches, and fried foods that clubbers enjoyed.

"Quick!" Teased one of the cooks. "Hide anything processed or non-organic! The food police is here!"

Joe shook his head and grinned. "Just making a private dinner, Paul. Not here to take over your kitchen."

"Take over the kitchen AGAIN," Paul joked. "And stay out!" he threw a wadded up wet towel at Joe and Carla.
 
"Ohh, this sounds like a lovely story!" said Carla, grinning. "Are you going to tell me or am I going to have to wheedle it out of the cooks?"

Carla loved a good story, especially if she got a nice little tidbit out of it that she could use to tease someone. Carla wasn't malicious with her teasing, but neither did she let up; if she had something on you, she'd pull it out at just the right moment to get a laugh at your expense. However, she would stop the moment the joke became hurtful; Carla liked having a good time, but not at the expense of someone's feelings.
 
Joe reached out and caught the towel with his left hand just before it hit Carla in the back. He tossed it back to Paul, hitting him in the back of the head and eliciting laughter from the other cooks.

"It's not a big deal; I worked behind Paul one night and I guess my food prejudices came out. I, ah... don't like normal food, I guess." He paused. "Do you want something frozen and fried? Cause if you do then Paul can whip something up as quick as the deep fryer or microwave can handle it. I just assumed that you might like a roast beef on rye or something a little bit more substantial." He paused at the huge professional refrigerator in the back of the kitchen. "Or I can make you some thin steaks and whip up a philly sauce?"
 
Joe had Carla at "steaks". She loved meat, cooked meat if she was in human form, but her wolf loved it raw. She usually kept a few irradiated steaks in her freezer for when she didn't feel like going out; she'd simply thaw one out, shift into wolf form and tear into it. She did her best to eat it off of a plate she left on the floor, but her wolf could be very enthusiastic when eating. The floor was usually clean when she was done, though, because her wolf didn't believe in letting any food go to waste.

"Oh, I'm keeping you," she said, grinning up at Joe. "Steaks sound lovely. I like mine done medium well. So should I stick back here while you're making them or should I go back out on the floor until they're done cooking? I'd rather Garth didn't get mad at me on my first day, so I'm blaming you if something goes wrong." Carla's tone was playful, but she was earnest about not wanting to upset Garth: if the job continued like this, she certainly wanted to keep it.
 
Joe pointed to the earpiece Carla was wearing. "Tell Garth your grabbing a bite with me and will be out in fifteen," he suggested. "He does it all the time with me when it's slow, and there are three of you working tonight. So...medium rare. Good." He pulled out a tub of meat and set it on the counter, uncovering it and then selecting two of the thicker steaks. He ignored the thin sliced ones since it seemed like she was leaning away from a philly sandwich. Garth liked things with bread; Joe had just assumed that all security guards were bread eaters.

He sauteed up some asparagus with olive oil and patted the steaks dry while the grill warmed up. Once it was ready he tossed the steaks down and immediately the room filled with a sizzling aroma that evoked memories of bar-b-ques and sunshine. He pulled one steak off first. It was on the hotter part of the grill and was cooked rare. The other one cooked at a slightly lower temperature to bring it to medium rare a short time afterwards, and then he put the steaks and asparagus on a plate. "These are ribeye," he explained. "At home I'd add some garlic to the mix but Bruce says that it's too aromatic for a dance club and might turn some people off, so you'll have to be content with a bland version tonight." He handed Carla a plate. "Wanna eat on the balcony? You can watch the dance floor from there."

The balcony was on the second floor and had a dozen intimate tables for two or four that overlooked the main room. Most of the patrons sat on the first floor, but those who wanted a quieter area sat above.
 
Carla was about to correct Joe, she'd asked for medium well, but decided that the honestly didn't care enough to make the distinction. The wolf in her liked her meat read, so it wasn't like she was being given something she wouldn't enjoy. She grinned as Joe selected some of the thicker, ribeye steaks. She put her hand to her earpiece and called up Garth. "Hey, Garth," she said. "Joe took me back to the kitchen to grab some dinner and I'll be out in fifteen minutes. Tell me if you need me sooner."

Carla grinned when she was handed her plate: the food smelled heavenly. The nice thing about having a wolf's sense of smell was that it allowed Carla to practically taste most food before she even put it in her mouth, which in her opinion made the process of eating much more enjoyable. "Oh, I know what these are," she said, grinning. "I actually have a couple of these back home. I've never been able to cook them like this, though." Carla let out a pleased hum at the thought of adding garlic as she followed Joe out to the balcony. It was fairly empty at the moment, so she didn't feel guilty sitting down. She could also get right back up again if the area started to fill up. "You've got real skill," she said, cutting off the first piece of steak. "Why do you work here of all places? You could start up your own restaurant!"
 
"Cooking them like this is all about a nice, hot fire." Joe said. "It's easy. If it wasn't I could never do it!" He looked over the dance floor as they sat down and nodded to Garth, who brought two fingers to his right temple when he saw the two upstairs.

Joe grinned as he cut a piece of steak and considered the best angle to eat it at. "Eh...running a restaurant's a big job. You get married to the work. Here I have a lot of freedom and I get to work with interesting people." He popped the bite of charred fat and red meat into his mouth and half-closed his eyes in pleasure. Once he was done with the first bite he sighed. "After over twenty years of eating processed, over-salted food it is SO good to have something real to eat." He smiled and then nodded towards Carla.

"What about you? What did you do before you came here?"
 
"I dunno," chuckled Carla. "You seem like a pretty take-charge guy. I think you could handle it if you put your mind to it." She ate half of a steak before answering Joe's question. It wasn't that she was ignoring him, she was just hungry and she ate ravenously. "I used to be pretty big in women's MMA," she said. "Lightweight titleholder for the past six years. It would have been seven, but I got bird flu my first year and I couldn't make it to the match. I had it pretty good to be honest: I won every match, with the exception of that one I couldn't make, I had plenty of advertising deals and I made quite a bit of money. But towards the end I got involved in this organization and it started taking up a lot of my time. So I decided to drop out of the MMA and find a less time-consuming job. Fortunately, the organization pointed me towards Bruce and, well, here I am."

Carla glanced back down at Garth: she didn't want to take up too much time eating and talking to Joe, but she also didn't want to get Garth mad at her. It was a bad idea to piss off the guy in charge on your first day.
 
Joe listened intently to her and ate his dinner, occasionally glancing around to make sure that all was well. "Hmm...MMA. That's like; wrestling or boxing, right? One of those things on TV where you wear a costume and have some kind of superhero name?" He smiled and it wasn't apparent if he was teasing or joking. "Cool. It brought you here, so it's got to be decent."

He looked up as some patrons were approaching them. Thankfully they were almost done with their meal.

A group of college aged kids waved at Joe; two men and two women dressed in Goth and wearing too much eye liner. "Yo, Mister Ranger Man!" One of the guys tipped his hat as they approached. "I tried switching out the plugs, man. It worked like a fuckin' charm!" he and Joe smacked their hands together and then air-punched their fists. "Hey, cute broad. Heya."

The man's girlfriend smacked his shoulder. "I'm right here Andrew! Stop being such a pig!"

"Hey... it's just Drew, got it babe? Drrrreeeewwwww luvs yooooouuuu." He crooned, resting his hands on the goth girl's waist and swaying to the beat. "You're my one and only, Janice."

"It's Janet." She stomped on his foot. "You're such a fucking slob! I can't believe I blew you in the alley!"

The other girl was leaning on her boyfriend, a blond, thin man with pale skin. She was checking out Carla. "Hey - Hey! You're Carla Winters! Oh my God! You're fucking amazing!"
 
"It's more like boxing," she explained, "except you can kick and most people use different martial arts. You get a few repeats, but for the most part, there's good variety. I personally favor krav maga, kenpo and aikido, but I know karate, judo and a few others as well. Never hurts to keep your options open. And there weren't any superhero costumes or secret identities: at least not in my league. Besides, if anyone told me to throw a match for plot reasons, I'd introduce my foot to their ass on the way out the door."

Carla rolled her eyes when the college kids made their way over. She kept her head down and cleaned her plate while they talked to Joe; college kids were right in the crux of being smart but also being a stupid teenager. You had to be smart to get into college, but the ones that tended to frequent clubs tended to party just as hard as they studied, or just partied twice as hard without any of the studying, and as a result tended to get on Carla's nerves. She liked a good adrenaline rush as much as the next person, but she much preferred a fight, a hunt or a good fuck to being packed into a room like sardines with the smell of booze and vomit everywhere. Besides, she was pretty picky when it came to potential mates; she liked to scope them out over the course of a few days or a week before any sex actually happened. She was most certainly not a spontaneous screw.

She almost groaned inwardly when she heard one of the girl recognize her; she'd loved the feeling of power that had come with being in the MMA, but not so much the fame. It seemed foolish, but she hadn't really thought out the fact that she'd be recognized if she was in the public eye. All she knew was that she could make good money doing something that she loved; she never actually thought about the press conferences or being recognized on the street. It was one of the few reasons she was glad that she had to leave the MMA.

"Thanks, kid," she said, forcing a grin onto her face. "But I just work security here now. Tell you what? I'll give you an autograph if you promise not to do anything stupid tonight. Sound good?"
 
"Sure!" The girl reached down and pulled up her tee shirt, showing off her breasts. They were pert little things with dark nipples. She grinned. "Just sign me anywhere!"

Her boyfriend reached up and fondled one of her breasts absent-mindedly, but was rewarded with a smack on the hand from the girl.

"Here," offered Joe. He handed Carla a sharpie. "Always seem to come in handy." He finished his steak and set the plate aside. "I'm going to leave you with your fans," he said, standing up. "Enjoy the rest of the night Carla." He gathered up their plates and went to put them away.

The girl giggled at Carla. "Oh man...I can't wait to tell my room mate that I saw you! She loves you! Really; she really loves you." She lowered her voice conspiratorially. "She actually has a wig and shit and dresses up like you for her boyfriend. You... you wouldn't want to have a five-some with her would you? You can invite that Joe guy if you want," she giggled, "the more the merrier."
 
Carla looked up at Joe with pleading eyes; she desperately didn't want him to go. If there was one thing she'd learned about fans, it was that they'd take up as much of her time as they could take and it was generally frowned upon to simply bolt or punch them if they got on her nerves. She sighed, taking the sharpie and signing the girl's left breast. She'd have to think up an excuse to break away from the croup as soon as possible; she didn't like where the conversation was going. The fact that the girl had a friend who obsessed over her to the point of dressing up like her worried her deeply. There were fans, and then there were crazy fans; Carla was much more resilient than a normal human, but that didn't mean she was invulnerable. Silver was something she had to look out for, but it wasn't the only thing that could harm her or even kill her: she'd die like anyone else if her throat was slit or if she was shot enough times with normal bullets. She was also susceptible to any sedative: the dose just needed to be higher for her. So, if a crazy fan came after her, there were plenty of ways that it could end poorly for her.

"I think I'll pass," she said, doing her best to remain friendly. "I left the MMA so I could have some "me" time; the spotlight just got a bit much for me, you know? Orgies kind of conflict with my plans for the immediate future, but I appreciate the offer." She glanced over at Garth, pretending like he'd shot her a look. "Well, it was nice meeting you, but my dinner break's over and my boss wants me back out on the floor. Have fun tonight, but not too much fun: at least not here in the club, okay?"
 
The fans quickly turned to discussing other things, flopping in the booth and having fun with the signature on the girl's breast. They seemed to enjoy touching her breast where Carla had signed it, and the girl's boyfriend began to bounce her pert tit on the back of his hand.

The dance floor was going full force now. It was almost 11pm and the main crowd had settled in and were enjoying the late Friday atmosphere. Everyone seemed to be doing well, though there were a few rowdies who had to be tossed out, and a couple were removed from the club for fucking in one of the stalls in the men's bathroom. It wouldn't have been so bad but they didn't close the door, and soon there was a crowd gathered to watch the show.

At about 1am Carla felt a familiar, unwelcome presence enter the Half Moon Club. She could instantly sense the presence of an old adversary; a vampire who had long been a thorn in her side.
 
Carla had the pleasant job of breaking up the show in the men's room. Some of the men attempted to grope her, but they'd changed their tune when she picked up one of them by the collar of his shirt, walked him out of the restroom and placed him down firmly, but without any harm, outside of it, then glared back at the rest. Of course, this hadn't dissuaded the drunk couple, but she had a plan for that.

"Jesus Christ, man!" she said, acting panicked. "You gotta get out of here! Someone called the cops and they're on their way right now. Chris is stalling them, but I don't know how long he can hold them off!"

That had done the trick: the drunk couple hurriedly dressed and bolted from the restroom and out a side exit. Carla chuckled about it and walked back out onto the floor. Her cheer was short-lived, though, when she caught a familiar scent over the stench of booze, sweat and hormones. It was a scent she'd recognize anywhere: Victoria Garrett. Garrett was a vampire Carla had encountered many times before and each time had ended in fighting. Most of the time it was physical, thanks to Carla's blunt nature and quick temper, but there had been a few times that they'd simply swapped insults and one time that Carla had had to escape through a hedge maze. Long story short, Carla did not want Garrett to be here, nor did she want Garrett to still be walking. If Carla had her way, Victoria would be a pile of ash.

Carla decided to make Garrett her number one priority: wherever Victoria went, trouble was sure to follow. If Carla knew Garrett, and she did, the leech was not the type to simply enjoy herself at a club. She had some sort of angle and the only person it would benefit was Victoria. Carla began actively looking for Victoria, hoping that she could catch her before she caused any trouble.
 
Victoria was a beautiful woman, made more appealing by her girl-next-door innocence in her features. She had a perfectly symmetrical heart shaped face and full lips. Her skin stayed perpetually tanned looking, and her lush, thick hair hung down in luxurious waves over her shoulders. Though her eyes were brown they sparkled like polished jaspers in the light. She moved with a feline grace that made men hard on sight; hers was the body that any man would love to run his hands over.

She moved through the crowd like she owned it.

Some of the men tried to get her to dance with them, but she just brushed them off of her. Finally she made it to her goal; the center bar. "Ciao, Frederico baby," she crooned. "So this is where you hide yourself at night."

Freddy grinned and threw his hands in the air. "Victoria! Bella! Kissame!" he gave her a peck on both cheeks. "Yew finally came down to see my stomping grounds, Ahm honored!" He picked up a glass and filled it with seltzer water to rinse it out. "Vat can I make for yew dahling, hmm?" He looked up and caught Joe's eye and waved him over. "Joey baby! Come meet the newest partner at Jacobs, Hernandez, Swatze and Garrett!"

Joe was helping a drunk girl get her stiletto heels back on her feet. He glanced through the crowd and saw Freddy waving him in their direction. The girl was giggling and seemed intent on telling Joe some secret but she kept dissolving into laughter instead. He finally got her shoes on and went to plop on a chair.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom