"The Ties That Bind" (A Vampire Story, closed to Jenn1982)

[MarieDavisRPs]

"The Ties That Bind"

(A Vampire Story, closed to Jenn1982)​

Manhattan, New York

The club was called Nightstalkers, which many people would have found a bit ominous to lead to their partaking of its offerings: cold drinks, hot and horny patrons, and -- in the rooms on the floors above which could be rented by the hour -- instant gratification for those who made a connection on the dance floor or in the dark corners of the club.

Evan Campbell hadn't come to New York for such hedonistic things; he'd come here for school. Evan had finished his associate's degree at a community college back home before getting a full ride scholarship to Columbia University. Being a quiet kid from a small rural town, he'd never had an interest in clubbing, let alone patronizing a place called Nightstalkers.

His new friends spent weeks trying to talk him Evan into going to the club. It was only after his new girlfriend Laura told him that dancing got her hot and just might finally lead to her opening her thighs to him did Evan say he was in. She took him shopping for proper night club clothes and off they and six others went on a beautiful Saturday night.

Something happened to Even there that night, and it wasn't seeing Laura get hot and bothered and -- in one of the rooms above them -- ripping both of their clothes off. He'd disappeared for a half an hour or so, and when he'd come back to them he'd seemed ... out of it somehow. No one had seen what had happened, and Evan offered no details.

But it would change him, and quickly Evan would become obsessed with the night club. He demanded that they go back the next Saturday, then the Friday and Saturday after that. Soon, he was going to the club on weeknights, sometimes alone; he would return to his dorm only as the sun was rising the mornings after.

And he'd never attempted to sleep with Laura, not that first night nor any night afterward. Laura had demanded answers to Evan's behavior; she initially believed that he was seeing another woman he'd met at Nightstalkers that night, then began thinking that he was seeing more than one. She broke up with him, which didn't seem to affect him in the least.

And then, two months after that first evening at Nightstalkers, Evan Campbell simply ... vanished.

He abandoned school, his dorm, his friends; calls to his cell went to voice mail, until finally the In Box was full and rejected new calls. People were, of course, very worried ... but none more so than his sister...

 

[Jenn1982]

Iris checked the time on her phone for what seemed like the hundredth time. Her cup of coffee sat untouched in front of her, barely lukewarm at this point. Her brother’s ex-girlfriend, Laura, had agreed to meet her at this cafe at 5:30 but it was just past 6 and so far the woman hadn’t shown up. She had tried calling her twice and already sent four texts asking where she was. In any other situation she would’ve given up but she had to talk to this chick. So far she had only been able to track down a couple of Evan’s friends and they didn’t seem to have any idea where Evan could be. The only direction they’d been able to point her in was Evan’s ex. If this didn’t pan out Iris had no idea where she’d be able to get any clues on where Evan might be.

“Are you Iris?”

Iris had been wrapped up in worrying about what she’d do if Laura didn’t show she hadn’t even noticed the woman walk up to the table.

“Yes! You must be Laura right? Please sit down, do you want a coffee or anything?”

The urgency Iris felt came through in how she rushed through the words.

“Uh no, I’m fine, thanks. You said you wanted to talk to me about your brother but I broke up with Evan like 3 months ago and haven’t talked to him since.”

“I know, I mean, that’s what his friends said but they said he was spending the most time with you and that you might have some idea why he disappeared or where he might have gone,” Iris said hopefully.

“Pff, is that what they said, that he was hanging out with me all the time? Yeah maybe when we first started dating but within a month or so he was spending most of his time at Nightstalkers, without me. That’s why I broke up with him.”

Iris could tell that Laura was still pretty bitter about the whole thing and was probably ready to quit talking about it.

“Oh, I think one of his friends said something about some club but he wasn’t sure about the name. Do you know who Evan was going with once he stopped going with you? I know you have other things to do but I’m desperate, I have no idea where Evan could’ve gone and I’m just so worried.”

Laura glanced at the woman and could see the anguish written all over her face.

“Look, I really wish I could help more but I don’t know who he was going with. He just started going there all the time and would go alone since I didn’t want to go there practically every night. I confronted him about it but he said he wasn’t going with anyone, he just liked to go let off steam there but I knew that was bullshit. Who goes to a club everynight, usually until 4 or 5 in the morning just to hang out by themselves.”

Iris sighed, feeling like she was going to start crying any second as her last real chance at getting information about Evan seemed to evaporate.

“Okay, thanks, for talking to me and stuff, I know you’re busy. Before you go though, do you have the address for the club, at the very least I can go ask the bartender or someone if they have seen or heard from Evan.”

“That club is always packed, I doubt they would remember a specific person but who knows, maybe. I’ll text you the address. Good luck, I really hope you’re able to find him. He used to talk about you a lot, I know you guys were…are close.”

Iris smiled and thanked the woman again. After Laura left Iris took a few half-hearted sips of her coffee before throwing it out and heading back to the hotel she was staying at. True to her word Laura had texted her the address of the club and Iris pulled it up on her phone. She warmed up a slice of the pizza she’d ordered the night before in the microwave and ate it as she looked through the clothes she’d brought. She hadn’t brought a big variety of outfits since her mind had been on finding Evan, not worrying what she might wear. Still she found a dress that looked like it wouldn’t be wildly out of place at a nightclub…just pretty out of place. She put on some makeup and got dressed. She ordered an uber and 30 minutes later she was standing outside the club.

It did look like a club but it was also had…kind of a menacing aura about it. It was not even 8 yet so there wasn’t a big line or anything so luckily Iris didn’t have to wait in some line forever. Once she’d shown her ID and paid the cover charge she headed inside, the music growing louder as she walked further inside. There were a few people scattered around at the tables and booths on the outskirts of the dancefloor and more people actually out dancing. She glanced at them for a moment before walking up to the bar.

The bartender was a tall, muscular guy who definitely had a menacing vibe about him. He didn’t seem like he’d be eager to answer a bunch of questions about a guy who had been coming around, at least not right off the bat. She gave him a tentative smile and ordered the only drink she could think of for some reason, a rum and coke. He grunted in what she assumed was acknowledgement and went about getting her drink.

“You want to set up a tab or what,” he asked gruffly.

“Uh yeah, that would be great. Hey, I also wanted to see if you recognized this guy,” she said showing him a picture of Evan on her phone.

“He’s my brother…I haven’t heard from him in a while and I’m getting worried. I heard he was coming here…a lot.”

The guy gave her a look that was not entirely…or even kind of…friendly before glancing at the picture.

“I don’t know the guy.”

“Are you sure? I have other pictures that might be better…” she trailed off as the man glared at her.

“It’s just really important that I find him…is there anyone else here that might have seen him?”

The guy didn’t answer for a few moments and Iris was starting to think he wasn’t going to when he finally spoke.

“Maybe one of the waitresses or something, they’re not here yet, they come in at 9. I guess you can wait and ask them…as long as you’re ordering and not just sitting here taking up space.”

“Of course, I’ll definitely order another drink as soon as I’m done with this one. Thanks, really!”

Iris smiled as she felt a little bit of hope blossom inside her.