Broken Lungs

A slow, sensual club mix of some popular song played over the speakers as Finn poked her head out from behind a velvet curtain and spotted one of her friends on the center stage twirling effortlessly around a pole with a wicked grin on her face. She shot a seductive look at a man in the front row who then literally fell out of his chair. Nixie had fit right in at Envoûtante the day they got there. It was like she was made for this life, tempting poor men and toying with them. Swaying her hips she made men fall all over themselves.

Finn looked out as she tried to find the one she was closest to, Eira, somewhere in the crowd supplying the other girls with drinks for the male customers. Eira was too young to dance with the rest of them for one more year then she, too, would become a dancer instead of just a server. Being who they were, they did thoroughly enjoy dancing and singing but with so little clothes on and around so many people was an entirely different story. As she thought about it, Finn subconsciously grabbed at the silk robe covering her body and clutched it tighter, swallowing nervously.

She didn’t see Eira, but that was because something else caught her attention. Rather, someone else. Ever since arriving in Paris and getting a job at the club, she had been the only one of her ‘sisters’ that hadn’t found at least one boy to play with. Well, aside from Eira who didn’t have to participate just yet. She had just told them that no one had caught her eye just yet. She was waiting. Well, this boy certainly caught her eye and she couldn’t look away as he crossed to a small circular table and slumped down. Like every other guy that wandered in, he looked forlorn and confused and he was all alone.

He was beautiful. Tall, fit and muscular, with curly blonde hair that was reflecting the different lights of the club. She couldn’t tell the color of his eyes, but she certainly wanted to know what they were more than just about anything else in the world. She knew what he was the second he walked in – very attuned to all kinds of supernatural creatures – and that only made her like him more. She had never met a varúlfur before but they absolutely fascinated her, like most things. She was a creature of endless curiosity.

“Finn! You go on in fifteen.” She heard Alva calling for her but she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Just behind him, she saw Helene lurking with a glowing red liquid in her hand and she felt her heart start to quicken. “Ooo what are we looking at? Did my sweet younger systir find a boy? Which one? Tell me, tell me!” She felt her move the curtain wider, scanning the crowd. “Oh my, the wolf? Finn …”

“I’ll be back.” Finn waved her arm at Alva and darted out through the crowd, ignoring the stares of the men watching her and waiting for the next dancer since Nixie had just left the stage. Something about Helene possibly giving him that drink had her terrified beyond belief, and not just because she knew that Helene would more than likely kill him.

“Finn, what’s wrong?” She turned and saw Eira with the drinks and grabbed one, the liquid turning a glittering pink in her hand the second she gripped the bottle. “The wolf? Finn, don’t -”

She ignored her, too, and walked over to the table as Helene was hypnotizing the boy, leaning over him as her fangs began to elongate right before her eyes. Despite their kinds never getting along with one another, there was a truce in the club amongst them. The second she got close enough she gripped her arm and pulled her back. Seeing Helene’s eyes darkening and her fangs fully extended, Finn stood tall with her chin up and the bottle in her hand as though she was unafraid. Though inside she was quivering.

“I claimed him the moment he walked in. He is mine. Allez-vous en!” She had never claimed anyone before, and she wasn’t entirely sure what would happen now that she had if she didn’t give him the liquid in her hand.

Helene pushed her back, clearly wanting a wolf for herself. It was so rare they ever came into the club, from what Finn knew, and possibly all the girls were curious. She fell backwards, hitting the knees of the boy she had just claimed and stumbling a little. She set her bottle down to free her hands in case she needed to protect herself but it seemed Helene was going to back off. Finn took a deep breath and smiled to herself. She wasn’t the scariest girl in the club but she could hold her own, even against a vampire.

Or so she liked to believe.

She turned back, ready to get the pretty boy out of the club before someone else trapped him only to see he was already downing her pretty pink drink. “Oh no.” Her smile dropped, her heart stopping. “Spit it out! Spit it out, right now!” She grabbed the bottle but it was already empty and his sad look was transforming into a wide grin with the deepest dimples she had ever seen. And finally, she saw the color of his pretty eyes and melted at the look he was giving her. “Ó Guð minn. You really must spit that out, right this minute!”

“You are so beautiful.” He reached his hand up and caressed her cheek, leaning up. Even sitting he was nearly her height, as she was very petite. “You might be the most beautiful girl I have ever met.”

“Oh my. This is not good. So not good.” She looked up, trying to find the oldest one, Inga, but she was nowhere in sight. She had to keep swatting his hand away as he tried to touch every inch of her uncovered body. “Stop it.” She hissed, seeing Alva waving her that she needed to go on stage.

“Finn.” She jumped and spun around, which left her butt completely in range of the pretty boy’s wandering hands. As he pinched her she yelped, covering her mouth. Her boss, the owner of the establishment, looked behind her and smiled. “Oh, your first. Congratulations, mon petit. You may take him. Have a night off to celebrate.” She snapped her fingers for a bottle of glittering champagne. “Well done, Finn. A wolf. You may have gotten the prize for the evening.”

“Thank you, mademoiselle.” She slapped his hand away from her upper thigh and grabbed the bottle.

“I want more of that pink stuff. Can I have more of that pink stuff? Your skin is so soft …” The liquid turned pink in her hands, just as the tiny bottle had before and she spun around to see his big blue eyes staring up at her. “Mmm … more pink stuff.”

“No … no more pink stuff. I need to find Inga.”

“I don’t want Inga.” He stood up, towering over her and putting both hands on each of her cheeks. “I want you. Right now.” He leaned down to push his lips against hers hungrily. She could hear him growl in the back of his throat as his hands moved down her body to pick her up and put her on the table. She finally had to stop him, lightly zapping him with her hands.

“No – bad wolf.” She covered her mouth and hopped off the table.

“I like being a bad wolf …” He teased, giving her a smoldering look that would make any girl melt into a puddle. “You smell like the sea …”

“Oh dear …” She peeked around his arm and her eyes lit up. “Inga!” Pulling the boy over by his arm as he willingly followed her, trying to smell her hair and kiss her neck. They stopped right in front of Inga who looked about as shocked as Finn felt when he grabbed her butt again making her jump. “Bad wolf!”

“Finn, you picked a werewolf for your first? Are you out of your faerie mind?”

“Inga, it was an accident. I set it on the table for one second and when I turned around he was drinking it.”

“Did you claim him?”

“Well only to make Helene back off. You know she would have killed him – they’re basically mortal enemies.”

“You say the words to claim him and your drink will become irresistible. The second you set it down he would go for it.”

“I didn’t know that! I haven’t done this before!”

“I’m your first?” She could feel him smiling into her neck. “You’re my only …”

Inga, who had looked mad with her arms crossed and her eyebrows furrowed, cracked a smile. She tried to hide it, but it was there. “Well, I suppose you could have done worse. Like a vampire.”

“I didn’t want to do this.”

“You like him, though. I can tell. You’re flushed and your heart is beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings. You know this is what we have to do – had you not picked one soon then they would have thrown you out and I would not have been able to help you.” She watched as she smacked his hand away from her again and let out a chuckle. “We’re social creatures, Finn. You’ll get used to it. You might even enjoy it. Just … try not to break anything in the suite. I’ve had to pick up after Nixie twice already this week.”

Finn flushed even darker. “We aren’t going to … do anything!”

“Mhm … Wolf, listen to me.” She snapped her fingers in front of him to distract from the lingering kisses he was planting along Finn’s neck, breathing her in. When he finally looked up at her, she started talking again with her hands on her hips looking the epitome of authority. “No wolfing out in our apartment – we have a very strict policy about that. And almost everything is one of a kind so if you break it, I will be very angry and you would not enjoy me when I’m angry.”

“If she doesn’t want me to break anything, then I won’t break anything. Whatever Finn wants.”

“He’s like a robot!” Finn hissed.

“That will wear off a little. He downed the whole bottle in one gulp. He’ll relax by morning – not so … robotic.” Inga looked him over appreciatively and smiled at the shorter girl. “He is quite handsome. One more question, Wolf. What color are your eyes?”

“They’re blue, Inga. Look.” Finn said, pointing to his face.

“Those aren’t the eyes I’m talking about.” He flashed his golden eyes at her for a moment so she could see. “Good. Now, run along you two.”

Finn made him wait outside the dressing room as she threw on some regular clothes before dragging him out under the streetlights to hail a cab. She turned to him and blushed again as she saw him staring at her. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Staring at me.”

“Why?” He grinned – a smile so big and beautiful it literally made her lose her breath. “Why wouldn’t I stare at you? You are so beautiful. Your voice is beautiful. Where are you from? Your accent is …”

“Beautiful?” He grinned even wider, causing her to giggle and shake her head, waving her hand and immediately getting a cab to pulled over harshly and almost hitting another car. “I’m from Iceland.”

“I bet Iceland is -”

“I swear if you say ‘beautiful’ I will shove you into traffic.”

“It wouldn’t kill me.” He confidently pulled open the door for her, sliding in easily behind her as she rattled off an address in French.

“I don’t want to kill you.” Just as they started to move he tried to pull her into his lap to make out with her again but she shoved him off. “Bad wo-what is your name?”

“Isaac.” He smiled, pushing blonde hair out of her eyes. “My name is Isaac Lahey.”