Chapter 25 - Club Grimoire

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The quartet spent most of the remaining daylight sightseeing and lifting their feet at the Ridley’s Famous Relaxation Center, but as soon as the sun set, the real fun began. Encouraged by Rinka and later Julie, Damian sped down the streets trying to follow the orange light cast on it. Even Jane had to smile at the childish pursuit… until the sirens sounded. Rinka shamelessly got out of the car and practically shimmied to the officer. Jane looked at Damian, but he was very cool under it and leaned against the street lamp. She concluded that this probably wasn’t the first time this had happened. Rinka successfully managed to squeeze them out of that ticket and they set course to their original destination.

They arrived at The Grimoire a little over 7.30. Damian pulled up the parking lot and Julie would’ve jumped out if Rinka hadn’t beaten her to it. ‘She’s got Night Shift performing tonight. I’d recognize their music anywhere and then there’s the posters, of course’. ‘You’re a fan too?’ Julie looked bewildered. ‘A fan?’ Rinka answered, ‘Probably their #1 fan. I went on tour with them last year for winning the 150 question trivia. Come on, maybe I can introduce you at break time’. The music was so loud; you could stand in the parking lot and move to it. She took Julie by the arm and strolled over the parking lot to the entrance guarded by Blake, the bouncer. Her brother and Jane following close behind.

‘Hey handsome! Long time no see!’ Rinka walked up to Blake, kissing his cheek. ‘Rinka, where’s your cute behind been? Damian’ he nodded in her brother’s direction.

‘Oh, here, there, pretty much all over. Now tell me is that Night Shift I hear?’

‘Only the best at ‘The Grimoire’, you know that. Booked a full house too, so uh, are your friends on the list?’ he looked in Julie’s direction, putting on his bouncer-face.

‘I should think so!’ Rinka smiled innocently.

‘Names?’

‘Rinka and Damian!’ Jane couldn’t help but laugh when the bouncer gave Rinka a ‘haha-very-funny’ look, and shielded her face by moving behind Damian. He stifled a smile of his own when he noticed what she was doing.

‘Their names, if you please!’

‘Oh, I’m sorry! Of course you meant there names! Uhm, Rinka and Damian plus two’

‘Sorry, no ‘Rinka and Damian plus two’

‘Rinka plus one; Damian plus one?’

Blake let his head fall back and sighed. Even Julie couldn’t hold back her laugh anymore.

‘Rinka…’

‘Auw Blake, giving up so soon! I was just starting to have some fun!’ Rinka playfully pouted, ‘Jane and Julie, if you will!’

Blake looked at his clipboard and unhooked the velvet rope. ‘It’s nice to have you back Rin, I missed you!’

‘I know you did!’ Rinka said when she walked passed him. ‘Tell Jess I said hi’ she blew him a kiss before he closed the door behind them, preventing a group of teens from slipping in.

‘He seems nice’ Julie whispered in Rinka’s ear.

‘Nice and gay!’ Rinka pouted, ‘I know his boyfriend Jess from college, also a nice guy’

‘Wow, Jess’ a guy? That Blake doesn’t look gay at all!’

‘I know, I was just as surprised as you when they came out with it at dinner two years ago’

They were still giggling like a bunch of school girls when they walked through a beaded curtain at the end of the hall.

Blake wasn’t kidding. The club was packed. It literally saw black from all the people on the dance floor. Rinka and Damian held on to Julie and Jane respectively, in fear of losing them in the crowd, and steered them towards an empty booth near the bar. Rinka immediately put down her purse and danced her way into the crowd. The one time they saw her again was when she emerged to pull Julie in, after which they both disappeared into the sea of people leaving Damian and Julie to watch their stuff.

Damian stared at Jane as she kept looking around her. Every tiny bit of movement caught her attention. It had been a very long time since she had last been to a club and it wasn't as lively as this one. Rinka told her before they went in that almost everyone in here was either a witch or magically practiced. Some were mortals, apprentices to the magically practiced, hoping to one day join the community.

'Something tells me you don't go to clubs very often' Damian smiled at her. The booth they were in was enchanted to drown out the loudness of the club, allowing for decent conversation.

'What makes you think that?' Jane said glancing at him briefly before something outside the booth caught her attention.

'I don't know the fact that you keep looking around you like you expect to be mugged at anytime. And you take in everything in this place with the sense of 'Awe' on your face'

Jane was just about to deny it when a very punk rock-ish woman with red hair walked up to them.

'Hey, D! Been a long time. I was afraid you'd lost ya way to this place', she said, punching Damian's shoulder.

'Candy, you know I could never forget this place. It's like a second home to me. How ya been?'.

'All good baby, Club's been banging, but you can see that. Who's your friend?'.

'This beautiful lady over here' Damian said elegantly pointing in Jane's direction 'is my friend Jane. She and her sister are visiting from RiverBlossom Hills!'.

'Oh, cool cool. Any friend of D's is a fr..., well, someone to keep an eye on' she winked in Jane's direction. 'So, what'll it be tonight? Your usual?'

The minute the words left her mouth a puff of smoke spun in her hand and turned into an order-pad. When Damian nodded, she turned her attention to Jane. 'Uh, I'll have the same!'

The order-pad went up in smoke once again and two empty glasses appeared on the table. Jane's eyebrows rose when the glasses started to fill themselves with a red liquid that looked very much like a tomato smoothie. 'All righty then, holler if ya need anything else' Candy said leaving with a wide grin on her face.

'You didn't even know what I ordered' Damian said taking a sip from his drink.

'Well, if it's your usual, I assumed it must be good' Jane said lifting her glass up in a toast before taking a sip of her own. It was a delicious drink and she wasn't a drinker, so coming from her, it must've been good.

'Tell me something' Jane said putting her glass back on the table, 'everyone here does or knows magic right? Right' she said after Damian nodded, ' So how do you know which ones do good magic and which ones bad?'

'You don't! This club is neutral. Every alignment is allowed here. There's no law that says who is allowed to have fun and who's not.'

'Yeah, I get that, but doesn't it result in fights? I mean good and bad magic usually clash, so do good and bad alignments. Then how can they...' Damian lifting his finger in a hold-up kind of way, stopping her mid-sentence and she waited for him to swallow the gulp he had just taken. She followed his gaze when he pointed to a table on the other side of the club.

'Do you see that woman over there? The one dressed in that hot red dress...' Jane glanced at him swiftly because of the way he lingered on the 'hot' part before turning back to the woman he was directing her gaze to. She was looking right back at them, a gleam in her eyes. She nodded at Damian and he returned the gesture before turning back to Jane.

'Her name is Francine. Also known as ‘The Canceller'. She is one of the owners of this club and called the Canceller, because that is exactly what she does. She cancels all the good and bad magic in this club. If you were to stand at exactly 16 meters from her, that's her range, she'd cancel out your magic too. Make you completely powerless. It's a rare power one that has been passed on only in her family through birth, it can't be taught. You see the booth we’re in? It’s just out of her reach; which is why the booths are only given to people she knows and trusts. Step out of it and poof. Powerless! There are no spontaneous magical outbursts because no one can use magic in here. Leaves you with just plain loud, fun-making' Damian looked at Jane again, admiring the contours of her face. 'And there you go again, awe all over your face'

'How do you expect me not to after hearing that?' Jane exclaimed, taking another sip from her drink. He smiled and followed her example.

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The minute ‘Night Shift’ stopped playing Rinka leaned over to Julie. ‘Come on, before they go backstage’ They made their way through the mass, hearing a DJ introduce himself over the mic to then follow up with some banging club-music.

They caught the band right when they were descending the stairs. Kaya Villalobos, the lead-singer remembered Rinka from the tour last year, and greeted her warmly like she would one of her own. They shared some laughs before turning toward Julie. The band-members turned out to be some cool guys that each gave her a really warm hug; their temperatures were exceptionally high. All except for the one with the Mohawk she was introduced to as Bane. Instead of a hug she got a sneer. He seemed to sneer at everyone except Kaya. Connor, the keyboardist, seemed particularly interested and kept chatting her up. Julie figured he had a thing for blonds, remembering the twins he was talking to before her introduction interrupted him. No doubt his entertainment for the night. Rafe, the hot newbie, had just invited her and Rinka to the sitting room backstage when her phone started to vibrate in her back pocket.

She excused herself and moved away from Rinka and the band to answer her phone. The only quiet places to talk were their booth, which was too far, and maybe the restroom. Opting for the restroom, she made her way through the crowd. Heavy moaning sounds could be heard from one of the toilet stalls, but she moved to the other side and picked up her phone. ‘Hello? Hey baby, sorry, I had to find a quiet place to talk. Nothing much, just clubbing with my sister and some friends. Auww baby, I miss you too…’

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Jane felt Damian’s gaze burning on her skin and turned to face him, making him break his stare.

'Dance with me' he said standing up.

'What?'

'Dance with me'

'Yeah, I heard you the first time, it's just that, uhm... I don't dance!' she said apologetic.

'I don't either, but today I feel like doing something different, so, dance with me'

Jane couldn't believe he was so persistent. She looked at his hand unsure of what to do. Should she take it or should she make up an excuse and run to the ladies-room. Or maybe if she stared long enough he would drop the idea... He didn’t and she a little encouraged by the drink, took his hand and he led them to the dance floor.

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After saying goodbye to Kaya and the guys from Night Shift, Rinka moved to the restroom to find Julie.

‘I’ll call you as soon as I’m back at the hotel. I love you too’ she heard Julie say.

‘Hmm, and who was that checking up on you?’ she crossed her arms when Julie turned around.

‘Relaxation Package’ Julie grinned.

‘Oh wow, I’ve never heard that one before!’

‘Yoga teacher. Now HE knows how to make a woman relax!’

‘Hmm, can he bend it like Beckham?’

‘Oh, he bends something alright’ Julie laughed, ‘But shhhh, don’t tell anyone. They might try to steal him. Come on. Let’s go back’

When Julie and Rinka returned to the booth, their jaws almost hit the floor. Jane and Damian were competing in a serious lip-locking, very hands-on competition. Jane was the first to notice their presence and turned her head towards them leaving Damian fair-play to slobber her neck.

'Guys, you should try this drink. It is awesome!' she managed to say before Damian re-possessed her lips. Julie stared at her sister as if she were an alien.

'Okay, Jane would never use the words 'drink' and 'awesome' right after each other. Let alone make-out with someone she's known for what 3 days? What is going on here?'

'Well, it’s a good thing no one's watching, no scandal there' Rinka said examining the glasses they drank from; trying to ignore the two still going at it as if she and Julie weren't standing there. Julie glanced around the club. It was true, no one was watching. Still she went over to Jane and tried to pry her off Damian, who was holding on pretty tight. Rinka took a whiff of the drinks and glanced at the bar and a widely grinning Candy.

'Well, looks to me like Candy dozed them with a little too much fun' she said dropping the glass on the table and motioning for Candy to join them in the booth. She was pretty quick about it and stopped death in her tracks when she noticed the reason why she was summoned. 'Oh dear, that worked a little too well this time, huh'

'Ya think?' Julie and Rinka said at the same time, Julie still trying to separate them.

'What did you put in their drinks?' Rinka said holding up one of the glasses.

'Nothing! It's the drink in itself. It's called 'Aphro''

'Aphro?' Rinka repeated, waiting for a detailed explanation.

'As in Aphrodite. Yeah, it’s your brother's favorite drink. His only drink as a matter of fact. He’s been ordering it ever since he first came here. It never seemed to work on him...' she glanced back at the two on the couch, '... until today'

'Well, what does it do exactly?' Julie butted in.

Rinka frowned and she and Candy turned to look at Julie at the same time. 'Aphrodite- Goddess of Love. I think you can figure it out. Although this' Candy pointed at the couch ' doesn't happen... often. It's a mild dose that's only supposed to bring them together, open up so to speak. This only occurs when there's already some kind of attraction. Even a little bit. Mutual attraction that is. Oh, and uhm, you can stop trying to separate them, it won't work. Don't worry, it'll wear off... eventually' and with those words she left, leaving Rinka and Julie with their two sexed-up siblings, waiting for the effects to wear off.

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Author's Note:

Special thanks to Daijahvu for letting her rock band 'Night Shift' make a quick detour to 'Club Grimoire'. I know they have a busy tour schedule. You rock! (I still hate you for Charlie's interview...)

The Band members' temperatures are 'Exceptionally high' because they are all werewolves. If you're interested in Kaya, Connor, Rafe, Bane, making up 'Night Shift' and some other heart-throbbing smexy werewolves... head on over to Daijahvu's The Sims 3 story: After Midnight (AM)

WARNING: MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY!!!!!

After Midnight (AM) is a story intended for mature audiences. It contains violence, nudity (full frontals included), adult content, and STRONG, very STRONG sexual content. You have been warned!

If this isn't your thing... DO NOT VISIT!!! (no, not even to glance at the band... it'll lure you in!)