A Dark Fall [ORIGINAL & UNEDITED VERSION]

Three

The taxi drops us off across the street from the club in the trendy part of Brick Lane. The nameless club is a black stone building, a sort of neo gothic looking affair with blacked out windows.  It looks like its been involved in a fire, but as I get closer I see the stone has actually just been painted a dark charcoal colour making it look fire damaged. It's set back from the road and seems to have a garden around it, kind of like a country mansion in the middle of the city. It must have been here for years yet I cant remember ever having seen it before.  Though its not as though I frequent Brick Lane a lot.  Or London at all these days for that matter, in fact I try to avoid the city unless absolutely necessary. I'm a country girl at heart.  And I have an ex and his new girlfriend here whom I want to be at least 50 miles away from at all times.

Of course the venue is ridiculously crowded and normally this sort of queue would put us off and we'd totter along to the next club, but these VIP passes get us to the left hand side of the doorway which is a much smaller line and moving down at a faster pace.  As we walk to stand in line the heavy thumping of the music from inside gets louder.

"God Alex, you really do need to thank Nick for these.  We don't even need to wait in the muggle queue," Robyn says craning her neck down the line and back up with wide impressed eyes.  "Oh my god is that Adam Smith?" she nudges me. Adam is stand-up comedian I vaguely remember seeing on one of those panel shows I hardly ever watch. As I glance ahead of us down the line in the direction she's indicating I nod. It is.  I think. He's one of those new young comedians who looks like a student, so I guess it could be him, or it could just be a student. From looking around at the people queuing it appears that the clientèle is mixed.  Those in the 'muggle queue', definitely look more like trendy student types whereas ours seems to be catering for yuppie city boys, who could also be footballers, and their WAGs; and possible stand-up comedians.   Our queue moves very fast and a few minutes later we're ushered into a dark moody foyer where several gorgeous maître 'ds are taking coats and signing VIPs in.

"Good evening Doctor." a 6ft tall, black-haired glamazon says to me after I hand over my invite. "Only 3 of you tonight?" She asks casting a friendly glance over Rob, Leigh and I.

"Yes, just the 3 of us.  Is that ok?" I ask, looking sideways towards Robyn and Leigh.

She nods, "Yes of course, it's no problem.  The invite admits up to 8 and most people take advantage of that. If I could I get you to sign in here please, and if we could have an address and contact telephone number for you - I assure you it wont be passed to any 3rd parties.  Its just to maintain our guestlist," she tells me professionally.  I hesitate briefly, I would never give out my details but since I don't want to appear rude or snooty by refusing I put my mobile down and scribble my address and hand the pen back to her. 

She takes it and smiles. "Thank you Dr Marlowe.  Ok, so we have you at one of our best tables this evening, number 3, on the mezzanine level.  It has a great view of the stage, and an elevator to the dance floor.   Our main guest DJ is on stage at 12 midnight and there is champagne chilling on the table for you right now.  Please help yourself.  There will be hosts on each floor should you need anything, and Kyle here will show you to your table," She says and indicates to an eager looking, incredibly attractive young guy who's smiling at us.  Kyle is pretty. "Oh and there are also cards on the table inviting you to pick a name for the club, so for fun why not submit a few – you never know.  The person who has the winning name gets a Magnum of Champagne and a VIP table for a year.  Worth a shot.  I hope you have a great night.  Kyle?" she turns to him, as the three of us look at each other and nod, with wide eyes impressed.

Kyle beckons us forward and we follow him up an elegant staircase to the mezzanine.  The inside of the club looks more like a mansion than a nightclub; it has lots of elegant features like gilded bannisters and intricate cornicing on the ceiling and dark red wallpaper along the walls.  So far I'm impressed.  The music starts to get louder as we're led down a carpeted, high ceilinged hallway that reminds me of a hotel.  Kyle stops at a door, which reads "Number 3" on it and slides a hotel style key-card into the lock and pushes open the door, revealing for the first time the main part of the club.  It's dark, with lots of exposed brickwork and modern neon strip lighting - it manages to look gothic, with an almost futuristic modern twist. The music is loud, and the lights are low and the booth is circular and raised with seats of dark leather and a contemporary black chandelier hanging low above the table.  The girls and I smile and nod at each other in appreciation as we sit down.