Krave, Echo Bay, California, Saturday Night

[napking]

Krave was a warehouse in an industrial area, seemingly innocuous except for the parking lot full of cars in the middle of a Saturday night.

And the bass you could hear thumping through the walls as you approached the building. Also that.

A bouncer greeted the brothers as they approached, and then eyed Arden. "She human?"

"She's my friend," Gray said, which got him a narrow-eyed, suspicious look at the non-answer.

"Is she old enough to be here?"

"I dunno, man," Raiden told him. "You know we don't know that human age shit. She's in college?"

The guy thought about it for a moment, then said, "Eh, close enough. 21 is a stupid number, anyway. All right, Gray's friend, here are the rules. No fighting. Anyone in a fight will be made to leave. If you get in over your head, someone's hassling you, they won't back off, tell an employee."

"But first tell 'em you're with us," Raiden put in.

"Yeah, that works, too." He paused, then said, "There are no other rules. Have a nice night." He stepped aside and opened the door in one motion, gesturing them into the club.

At first glance, it might seem like any other nightclub. Music with bass that rattled your bones, green, blue, and purple lights flitting across the packed dance floor, bar stations along the walls, a sweet and smoky smell like incense hanging in the air. But when one looked closer, it was...different.

On a couch to the right, a woman exposed her slender neck as a man sunk his teeth into her throat, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Another man bit the opposite side of her neck, and her blissed-out expression said she wasn't having a bad time here. Another woman flitted around the room at an impossible speed, and when she stopped for a moment to talk to a group of people, small translucent wings trailing a glittery substance were visible on her back. In the corner, two men were making out, and when one slapped the wall clawlike fingernails were visible, protruding from his skin.

There were beings with blue skin and some with green. Some had small horns jutting from their heads, while others had tails. Men danced on raised platforms in various shades of undress. Gray gestured to one of them, a slender, gorgeous Nephilim with bronzed skin and dark hair, just as the dancer released his wings, shades of green mingling with the black feathers. "That's Daman." So Arden had sort of kind of met all seven brothers after all! Gray turned and grinned at her. "Welcome to Krave."

(For that totally-a-human-she-swears. NFB due to distance. Part of this post adapted from book one of my dumb Nephilim books, Galen.)

Comments

[afraid_of_marshmallows]

Arden, wearing the gold dress that has won unanimous approval from Kamala and Cal. It had also been the deciding factor in which of Castor's other cars they'd taken tonight, because obviously they had to take the car that matched her outfit. Obviously.

Cars as the ultimate accessory was a new one to Arden. Being rich making the family more alien than being Nephilim ever could sure was continuing apace. (That being said, Arden did think it was a cool and sweet gesture, even if it was just to keep Castor from having to decide otherwise. And, she has to say, getting out of a gold luxury car in a gold dress with gold strapoy heels and glimmering in gold body glitter did make her feel cool af, so points to Castor for that, too. For men who were Avatars of deadly sins, Gray's family seemed pretty much as kind as he and Professor Raiden were and she liked them.)

"Holy shit," Arden said, looking around with wide eyes. The people making out made her flush a bit and quickly glance away, Daman's dancing also had that effect (dear Gray's brothers, please stop being so hot and also so unavailable, it's rude), and she seemed a bit surprised to see so many varieties of supernatural folks in here, but, the very sharp might realize that she didn't seem surprised by them. People having claws or wings or fangs didn't seem to throw her off at all.

On the other hand, they knew she was friends with sentient smoke who sometimes looked like a woman, so maybe her lack-of-reaction to the supernatural was taken as a given.

"You were not kidding when you said this place was awesome," she said, still drinking it all in. And then immediately darting her eyes away as one of the people in the booth she'd just glanced at started slid below the table with a wicked smile at their seatmate. "And...um, a lot," she added.

Like, a lot, a lot. But in a good way? Certainly in a new way and that was as exciting even as it was a little nerve-wracking.

Not that she had anything to be nervous about. She had the protection of Gray and his brothers. What could possibly go wrong?

"All right," she said. "We're in possibly the coolest club in the world. What do we do first?"