“Come on Beth, we are going to be late.”  My friend Sophia yelled from the front of the front door of our shared apartment.  

“Coming!” I hollered back as I grabbed my purse and headed for the front door.  Tonight we were celebrating my promotion to Head Receptionist and her news that she finally got into the art exhibition.  We were going to LUXE, the premiere club in the city.  Apparently another one of the artists had a crush on Sophia and hooked us up with the invites.  I wasn’t a big fan of partying, but I knew it was ok to do so every so often.  

The Uber ride over was relatively quick. I could feel Sophia buzzing with excitement.  She was definitely the party girl out of the two of us.  Plus she had been looking forward to this night as soon as she got the job.  The car pulled to the front of the building and I started in wonder at the beautiful architecture of the building.  An old bank building had been revamped into this hotspot.  

Sophia pulled me along and gave the bouncer her ID.  He checked it to the invite list and nodded her through.  She pulled me along behind her and after the bouncer verified that I was over the legal drinking age, we were in.  

The hallway we entered was dimly lit.  The soft glow of light seemed to come from both the ceiling and the floor, but there were no visible light bulbs.  Sophia gasped at the effect but most of it was lost on me.  Since I’m colorblind (rare for a girl, I know) most spectacular sights were lost on me.  I had a feeling it gave off the cool vibe though.  To me, it almost looked as though the walls had been covered by aluminum foil.  

We entered the club and the flashing lights and gyrating bodies were almost too much to take.  I almost wanted to go home, but Sophia quickly grabbed my arm and steered me towards the bar.  As we approached, the bartender watched us with an almost predatory gleam in his eye.  “Well aren’t you the most beautiful ladies in this place.  What’s your poison?”

I was immediately suspicious but Sophia couldn’t seem to sense the danger I was picking up on. She wasn't worried.  She ordered cranberry juice with vodka and I ordered the same.  The bartender nodded and then walked to a door that was located at the side of the bar.  I thought it was odd, but Sophia quickly pointed out that different men and women in different forms of undress were heading towards little stages that were set up around the room.  Once the performers reached the stages, they began to dance to the sensual music that started playing.  Ok I’m officially uncomfortable, I thought as Sophia took a few steps closer to the nearest stage and to the very handsome man who was gyrating on it.  

“Here’s your order.” the bartender said as he pushed the drinks towards me.  I paid and quickly grabbed the drink to head to Sophia.  I handed her the drink and she tossed it back without thinking.  I was ready to do the same when I noticed that the juice was bubbling.  That’s odd.  I held on to my drink but as soon as Sophia dragged me towards the dance floor, I set it down on the first table we passed.   

Sophia seemed to completely lose herself to the music.  A few different guys pushed me away from her so they could get closer to her.  I tried to push my way back over to her, but it was no use.  I decided to head back towards the bar so that way I could keep an eye on my friend and get out of the uncomfortably close crowd of people.  

As soon as I approached, the bartender came over to me again.  “Why aren’t you dancing?  Your friend looks like she’s having the best time. Why aren’t you right there with her?”

I stared at him for a moment and suddenly the puzzle pieces in my brain started to click.  He was the only one who had touched our drinks.  Sophia started to act really weird as soon as she drank hers, The bubbles that shouldn’t have been there.  “Did you just drug my friend and try to drug me?’ I asked because quite frankly I was shocked that this happened.  

“You have no idea what this club is, do you?” When I shook my head no, the bartender said, “My advice, if you are hoping to see the sun rise, you’d better run.  Now!”

All of a sudden the crowd was being attacked by the people who had been dancing on the stages.  Blood was spurting everywhere as the performers bit into their throats.  The odd thing was, nobody screamed.  Nobody was scared of what was happening to them. 

I scanned the crowd for my friend.  I had lost my view of Sophia from my perch by the bar.   When I finally spotted her, I saw the dancer that she had been drawn to earlier biting down into her neck.  I stifled a scream. I had a feeling that whatever pell this was would be broken by any noise.  

So I did the only thing I could do.  I quietly stepped around the fallen bodies, these strange people who were acting like vampires, and the pools of blood.  I finally reached the door to the hallway and once I reached it, I ran like hell out of the club.  How is it that a place that was filled with so much beauty and life turned into the worst sort of nightmare?