GRANITE

027

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
BLOODLUST

𖥸┈┈┈𖥸┈┈┈𖥸┈┈┈𖥸

RUBBER BURNED AS CAMREN WHIPPED THE CAR

around a corner barreling towards Lucy's. He'd overheard the conversation between James and Freya easily as he was still stood with a smile on her doorstep. Camren tried to dial Desmond to no avail and Liam declined the call three separate times. Camren was insistent on Freya staying home, that he'd handle it just fine on his own but she stood firm in thinking she'd be able to you through to her cousin.

"You should have stayed home. If what I think is happening, I really don't want you to see this, and I know he wouldn't either." Camren said, fingers anxiously drumming along the wheel.

"I will be just fine, Cam. From the sounds of it, maybe seeing a familiar human can help snap him out of it." Freya reiterates. She's nervous, fighting flashbacks in her brain of the night her and Eve had first witnessed them feed. Her own anxieties bled through as she picked off the fresh layer of brown nail polish she'd lain that morning.

Cam lets out a hefty sigh as they pull up in front of the building. The sign adorns a pretty cursive font, they "y" spiraling into a cherry stem with the cherries barely covered in a bikini top. The buildings around it are run down and barely, if at all, in use; Lucy's seems to be the one shiny thing on the block.

There's a couple men outside the building, most of them perched in a circle with lit cigars hanging from their lips. A man wound tight in a thick jacket sits hunched against the building. His only sign of life being the soft snores that float into the night air. The circle of men all turn as Freya exits the vehicle in a hurry, moving to b-line it to the entrance.

"Hey!" One of them calls out, taking a step towards her with a smirk. She pauses, her head whipping in his direction. The man opens his mouth to speak to her again but in a blink she's nudged and stumbled back a couple paces towards the car. Fingers are entwined with hers and she's held at an angle behind Camren and out of the men's sight.

"Don't even think about it. I can make each and every single one of you look like an accident." Camren says with clenched teeth. The man laughs, raising his hands in surrender and turning back to his group. "Stay by me." Freya nods despite Camren not looking her way and is forced to make quick strides as they walk into the establishment.

Freya is surprised to see no bouncer at the door to check ID's when they finally breech the doorway. The acrid smell of cigars, cigarettes, booze, body odor and buckets of perfume invade her senses immediately causing her to wince. The black tile reflects the lights from two stages as two girls twirl around the poles with ease. A woman passes by with a tray of drinks, her hair teased high on her head and thick black liner rounding her eyes.

Freya involuntarily squeezes Camren's hand as a couple of the men sat at the bar eye her upon their entry. Their hooded eyes trailing her fully clothed form and stripping her in their minds. Camren squeezes her hand back in an attempt to offer some comfort, eyes rapidly scanning the building for the VIP rooms. He struggles to focus on finding the sound of Aron as he picks up on the comments being made about Freya from all four corners of the room.

Once he confirms to himself the direction he needs to go, he nods his head for Freya to lead the way. "Back in that corner, I'll walk behind you." Freya gives him a worried expression, swallowing hard. "I've got you, Frey. Don't worry." She sucks in a breath, putting on a brave face and making way past the bar.

The hallway is long, lined on both sides with bright red doors. It echoes with moans and squeals and screams, a chorus of debauchery taking place behind each and every door. Freya's gaze darts between all the doors, Aron is really behind one of these? What is he doing that her dad found so urgent?