The Nocere: A Haunting Dystopian Tale Book 1 Read online

  “What does this mean? Can we get hurt in the in between?” I could barely hear my own voice.

  “No, nothing like that,” Fergus quickly answered. “You can still manifest here and other than a slight sensation, it’s nowhere near what you would feel in the real world.”

  “What is it then? I’m confused. What am I getting myself into?” I looked around the room again, it suddenly seemed larger.

  “You’re just doing a job, Fawn. Serving drinks, riding out the time you have left on your contract. Same as me,” he sighed as he descended the stairs and motioned for me to follow him. “The girls are nice. Come meet them. Just keep your head down and your eyes closed. You’ll be fine.”

  *

  The Nocere had an employee lounge built back behind the bar. The contrast between the two rooms was as different as night and day. In the lounge were two white fur lined papasan chairs and a teal shag carpet. A couch covered in a feather pattern lined one wall. Warm lights filled the room and hanging flowers decorated the corners.

  On the sofa sat a twin set of women wearing tight black leather dresses and collars. They had cat ears and long tails that swished against the floor. I didn’t feel as self-conscious about my brown nose when I saw theirs were pink and had whiskers. The women were identical, and both gave me the same lazy look. I half expected them to lick their paws, but they gave me a welcoming smile after they sized me up.

  “This is Chloe and Claire,” Fergus nodded to the feline twins.

  “Hello,” they responded in unison.

  In one of the papasan chairs sat a girl with crescent moons weaved into her long black hair. She wore a silver dress that shimmered when she moved.

  “Astrid,” she said, giving a timid wave. Her black eyes threw me off for a moment until my brain registered that there were stars where the pupils should be.

  “And I’m Lilith,” the girl walked from behind me and sat down in the other chair. She wore a dress identical to mine, except her’s was a deep red. Her heels left fiery footprints where she walked. Her bright red hair ended in flames and two devil horns stuck out from the top of her head. She kicked off her shoes and curled into the chair. “Let me guess, you are Bambi?”

  “Fawn.” I held out my hand to shake hers.

  She leaned forward to clasp it and then sank back into the seat. “Ridiculous isn’t it?” She rolled her eyes. “Talk about stereotyping. Management isn’t very creative.”

  I smiled at the demon girl. I kind of liked her already.

  “I’ll leave you ladies to get acquainted.” Fergus bowed as he backed out of the lounge. “Doors open in twenty minutes.”

  “Thanks, Ferg,” the girls called out as he left. Once the door shut, I stood there awkwardly hugging myself, unsure of what to do. I hated starting new jobs.

  “How is it out there?” I tried to sound disinterested. The twins separated on the couch and patted the cushion for me to sit between them.

  “It’s only the second day. Last night wasn’t too bad, but it was more of a soft opening. Tonight, it’s supposed to be packed,” Claire told me as she relaxed back on the sofa.

  “Way to throw me to the wolves,” I sighed. “I could have started last night too.”

  “I think they were trying to find you. There aren’t that many adults still under contract that can do their dirty work.” Chloe stretched her arms out on the back cushion.

  “Are you all under contract still?” I looked over to Astrid and Lilith.

  “Do you think we’d be here if we weren’t?” Lilith reached down to put her heels back on. “What did you do for your extended time?” she asked as she buckled the clasp.

  “An extra year for running away when I was a kid.” I looked over to the closed door. “What about you?”

  “We all do dumb shit when we are kids. I got a year for trying to find my parents. They didn’t want to be found and turned me in.” Her face was neutral as she spoke, but my heart broke for her. I’d never cared to find my birth parents. They didn’t want me, so I didn’t want them.

  I figured I was sold to the mafia for credits like most kids are. A lot of the time, people who are running low or desperate will come back to the world just to have a child. Then they sell them to fuel their time in the realm. I’d prefer not to know those kinds of people personally.

  “What about you?” I asked the twins, trying to divert the spotlight from Lilith.

  “Two years for stealing,” the twins laughed.

  I could feel my forehead crease. “Stealing isn’t that big of a crime, is it?”

  “It is when you steal all the opium from the den right in front of the customers, and then try to run away in the realm to create your own paradise to use it in.” The twins smiled at each other. “Lilith is right, kids are stupid.”

  “How old were you?” I was trying to keep the shock from my voice. They stole from the mafia inside the realm, that was more surreal than the in between.

  “Twelve,” they said, still looking at each other.

  “But we only have six months to go,” Claire added. “Not much longer of dealing with this place left.”

  “What are they like?” I asked. “The customers, are they horrible?”

  “Last night wasn’t too bad. You can definitely tell that they aren’t good people. Some of them have this way of leering at you creepily…”

  “It’s definitely not like anywhere else,” Chloe jumped in to finish her sister’s sentence. “These people like to hurt people, and they probably do that in the real world. Thankfully, they can’t touch us here. We can also drink as much as we want on the job and this room is our safe room. We can come back here anytime it gets to be too much.”

  That’s not awful, I thought. At least the mafia is taking care of us.

  “How much time do you have left, Astrid?” I asked. She’d been quietly listening and almost disappeared from the conversation.

  “Three years.” Her voice was flat. “For smacking a baseball bat across the director’s face and breaking his nose.” We all turned to look at her wide-eyed. She seemed so delicate and small sitting there in the over-sized chair.

  “Did he at least deserve it?” Lilith asked.

  “Oh yeah,” Astrid smirked. “I wish I could have gotten a few more hits in though.”

  “Remind me to never piss you off,” I said in awe. The girls burst into laughter and the door swung open. A burly man with a top hat and sequined tie stood in the doorway.

  “It’s showtime ladies,” he said as he grabbed a bottle of rum from the shelf above the frame.

  “That’s Karl,” Chloe whispered to me. “If you need anything, let him know.”

  Lilith stormed a fiery path toward the open exit. “Alright girls,” she sneered sarcastically. “Time to go serve some serial killers.”

  Chapter 7

  ∞

  The chandelier cast multicolor lights around the room and a steady cello player strummed alone on the stage. The melody was haunting. The lights changed in tune with the notes.

  A few people gathered into one of the booths and the twins sashayed over to get their order. A lone customer sat at a table against the wall. Another table was filled with patrons wearing green tinted glamour with alien eyes. Astrid and Lilith walked across the room to see what they wanted. I stayed behind the bar with Karl as he poured a drink for the man sitting on the stool at the far end.

  After he gave him the glass and scanned his tracker, Karl walked back over to me. “How are you doing dear?”

  “Fawn,” I said, holding out my hand.

  “Shh.” He put a finger over his lips. “Don’t say your real name out loud. We don’t want the customers to know anything about you.” I nodded. “Good girl. If anything happens you come tell me.” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “These creeps are not allowed to mess with you, so come get me or Bemouth anytime.” He motioned to the muscular bouncer standing near the entrance.

  “Thank you,” I smiled. “Are you under con
tract too?”

  “Me?” Karl chuckled. “A long time ago I was, but not anymore. The pay was too good to turn down for this job. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

  I knew a lot of people who still worked for the mafia. I vowed I never would, but I didn’t blame those who did. I still wanted to convince Vorie not to do it. She was right though, where else was she going to work?

  “You’re up sweetheart,” Karl said, nodding toward the booth against the left wall. “That section is yours for the night. Yesterday it was empty, but management said there was some kind of big show tonight. It may get busy, but we can always hope that it won’t.” He gave me a good wink, seamless and easy. I thought about asking him to teach me how to do that as I walked over to my first customers to take their order.

  *

  There were four men and a blond woman seated in the booth. They all wore black suits. The woman’s satin blouse was unbuttoned just enough to show a little cleavage. For a moment, I was worried about the woman’s safety. When she curled her upper lip and looked at me with cold eyes, I realized she was the ringleader.

  I lowered my face and pulled out my notepad. “Do you know what you’d like to drink ma’am?”

  She tossed the menu on the table like it bored her. “Get me a vodka and seltzer.”

  “And you sir?” I nodded to the man on her right.

  He sneered at me before barking out the words, “Whiskey. Straight.” The man had slicked back hair. He reached his hand out to smack the similarly styled man beside him on the arm.

  “Same,” the second man said softly. His face looked like he was laughing at some joke I couldn’t hear. I quickly turned to address the other side of the booth.

  The biggest of the men was bald and sat to the left of the woman. “Vodka. Neat. Actually, just bring the bottle.” I nodded as I pretended to write it down. It’s not like they were being that creative with their orders. The final man was studying the menu. I gave him a few seconds before asking if he’d like me to come back.

  He raised his face slowly as his eyes traveled up my body. I suddenly felt naked and crossed my hands over my waist. His eyes lit up when they landed on my face. The smile he gave was almost welcoming, like he knew me from somewhere. He looked to be my age, but I’d never seen him before. I’d have remembered those green eyes.

  He placed his arms on the table and ran his thumb slowly across his lip. Then he rested his chin on his fist. “I’ll take an IPA little deer.” His eyes gleamed as he spoke. The hair on the back of my neck stood up and my breath quickened. I nodded without replying as I spun on my heel to leave.

  “Oh, little deer,” the woman called out after me as I started moving down the steps toward the bar. I turned my head over my shoulder. “I’d be careful if I were you, these walls are full of wolves.” She stretched her arms up lazily and smirked. The green-eyed man chuckled softly as he continued to watch me walk away.

  *

  “How are you doing Bambi?” Lilith whispered as she came up next to me behind the bar. She was putting wine glasses on top of her tray.

  “Fine,” I mumbled, pulling my own tray from the stack.

  “You don’t look fine.” She put her hand on my shoulder and I could feel the slightest bit of comforting warmth. “You’re shaking.”

  I moved the drinks Karl poured onto my tray. “Are you sure we can’t get hurt here?”

  Lilith dropped her hand. “It’s weird, isn’t it? Like feeling the ghosts of sensations. I’m so used to feeling nothing at all in the realm. But no, they said we couldn’t get hurt here.”

  “That’s a relief,” I sighed. “Because I’m pretty sure my customers want to kill me.”

  “I wouldn’t take it personally.” Lilith shrugged. “All the customers here want to hurt everyone.”

  I gave her a half smile as she carried her tray away. Her reassurances didn’t really make me feel any better. Karl poured the last of my drinks and I looked up to scan the room. The tables were filling up. Bemouth was stopping people at the door while he waited to see how much seating was left. The cello picked up the tempo and the lights danced faster in tune.

  “You going to be alright?” Karl asked as he popped the cap off the beer. “It’s a full house tonight.”

  “I’ll be fine.” I straightened my chin and carried the drinks over to the customers.

  “Here you go ma’am,” I said as I handed over the vodka seltzer. “Let me know if you’d like it mixed differently.” I stared at her face, there were deep lines there that I hadn’t seen earlier. She sipped the drink while staring back at me.

  “It’s perfect,” she said as she set it on the table. I smiled sweetly and then handed out the rest of the drinks. Green eyes briefly touched my hand on the neck of his beer bottle as I put it down. The sensation caused a jolt of ice through my body and made my heartbeat race again.

  I kept my face expressionless as I looked around the table. “Let me know if you need anything else,” I smiled. Then I hurried away to tend to the other customers.

  The next few hours were a blur of angry or leering men asking for their poison. I kept up with the demands, quickly learning to use charming smiles for some and emotional distance for others. The good thing was that the same customers stayed in their seats all night. I didn’t have to alter the song and dance I’d just learned. The drinks kept flowing as the night wore on. Other than being royally creeped out, the gig wasn’t that bad.

  A little before midnight, I crashed into Astrid as she was making a beeline behind the bar to the employee lounge. She had tears streaking down her face and she slammed the door behind her. Karl shook his head when I asked him what happened.

  My hand was on the knob when I heard the words, “Hey, little deer.” Goosebumps rose all over my body and I froze like… well… a deer in the headlights. I could feel him right behind me. One IPA, green eyes. His voice would haunt my dreams, I just knew it.

  “Did you need something?” My hand dropped away from the door handle as I turned to face him. He was sitting on a bar stool, his arms resting on the counter.

  “I was hoping I could get some water.” He smiled at me, his head tilting to the side.

  “Not a problem sir. Would you like me to bring it to your table?” I moved to find a glass.

  “I think I’ll drink it here. Better company.” He winked at me and I almost stomped my foot on the ground. How does that guy get to be a better winker than I am too?

  I poured the glass of water and then slid it across the bar. “Anything else sir?” I asked as I edged closer to the lounge door.

  “Stay a while.” His eyes held a deep sadness. “I really did walk all the way over here for the company.” My heart skipped a beat as I realized he was hitting on me. Then my brain went into its stupid rationalization mode.

  I mean, he is kind of cute. Strong jaw, straight nose. Wavy brown hair. Those green eyes that pull you in…but, he is also, potentially, a serial killer!

  I must have been staring at him for a moment too long because he smiled brightly. “I know you want to stay, so stay.” He motioned for me to sit on the stool beside him.

  “Is there a problem here?” Fergus appeared out of nowhere. His broad shoulders and blond head of curls blocked my view of the green-eyed man.

  “No problem,” I heard him say in a friendly tone. “Just getting a glass of water.” Fergus turned to me and I smiled at him before disappearing into the employee lounge to check on Astrid.

  She was curled up in the same chair she was in before the shift started. “They get you too?” Astrid asked as I shut the door behind me.

  “No.” I shook off the intense feelings from the interaction with that man. “I’m alright. I saw you run in here and wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “I’m fine.” She pulled her hair over her shoulder and ran her fingers through it, making the little crescent moons dance in the light. “I just needed a minute to breathe. Table twelve is a real piece of work. They decided to t
ell me all the things they wanted to do to me.” The stars in her eyes flickered as she looked up. “Real gentlemen we have here.”

  “I don’t understand how there are so many of them.” I sat down on the couch across from her. “All these messed up people, I didn’t realize that so many existed.”

  “I don’t know that they are all like that.” Astrid leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “Some of them are, but I think some just want the thrill of hanging out with the crowd.”

  “Real exciting.” I rolled my eyes. “That makes them just as messed up in my opinion. I still don’t understand why they are like this.”

  “Maybe the realm became boring.” Astrid shrugged. “When you have almost everything you want, you start to want the things you can’t have.”

  “Why here though? Why’d the mafia build this place in the in between? It scares me that you can slightly feel here. I don’t want them to have any real power.” I knew I was thinking out loud, but it was nice to have someone to bounce my thoughts off.

  “I don’t think it’s enough to do anything.” She glanced at the door. “Or at least I hope it isn’t. I don’t really have an answer for the why here though.”

  Karl poked his head into the room. “You girls okay?”

  “Yes.” Astrid stood up and smoothed down her unwrinkled dress. “Just needed to ground myself. Table twelve got a little graphic.”

  Karl put his tongue in his cheek as he stared angrily at the floor. “Let me talk to management. I’ll see if there is something they can do to protect you all a little better.”

  “Thank you.” The stars in Astrid’s eyes shined bright. “You’re really kind.” She turned to me. “Ready?” I stood up and we followed Karl back into the bar.

  Chapter 8

  ∞

  Green Eyes was gone. I didn’t dare look over to the booth because I didn’t want to see him. Fergus handed me my tray filled with drinks for two of the floor tables.