Rachael stroked his cheek. "You're sure you don't mind?"
Madison spoke up. "Of course not. Besides, I feel like I walked a hundred miles today. It will feel good to just sit here and put my feet up."
Rachael excused herself and retreated to her bedroom, and Madison slid over on the couch next to Cory. Cory grabbed the remote and turned on the TV, but the volume was low, and neither of them were really engaged in the program.
Madison looked at his delicate profile in the reflected light of the TV. "I'm so sorry, Cory. I had no idea how bad things were for you growing up."
He shrugged it off. "It's nothing. Water under the bridge."
They sat silently for a few minutes, starring at the TV screen, when she spoke again. "Will you take me there? To the club, where your mother met Shade, and where you later found him?"
Cory stared at the TV, as his mind wandered back to the time when he practically lived in the clubs, and all the pain, abuse, and degradation. The things he’d done to survive. "No, absolutely not, Maddie. Why would you even want to see it? That’s no place for you, no."
"You don't need to hide your past from me, Cory. I'm not ashamed, and neither should you be. None of us has any say about how we come into this world. And the more I see of your life, the more I understand you."
Cory stood up, pacing the floor. He threw his hands up in the air, he didn’t want to ruin this trip, but he was just going to tell it like it was. "Look, it’s not like any club you could imagine. It’s run by the vampires, and there’s open sex and feeding. Vampires will feed from mortals, and often, they have to seduce them, and then wipe their memory of the event. But in the clubs, the mortals come to them willingly. It’s loud and crowded, and things happen there, things I don’t want you to see. It’s not even like when my mom went there. Times are different, people exchange blood for money, mortal and immortal. I don’t want you to be exposed. Besides, I’m not like that anymore, and I promised Dad I wouldn’t take you there. He’d kill me if he knew we were even talking about this."
"Cory, you said you found your father there, with Kate. He took Kate there. He must have had a reason, and I suspect the reason was to show her who he was, or at least, who he’d been. If you think this will make me change my opinion of you, I assure you, it won't. Please, take me there, and then we can both put this behind us. You don't have to worry about things you’re keeping secret in your life, because there are no secrets. Can't you see that?”
Cory ran his hand through his hair as he flopped down on the sofa next to her. "I love you so much, Maddie. There’s nothing of the past inside me anymore. Maybe..." His words left him as he considered her request. "If we go, you have to promise me you won’t leave my side, we aren’t staying long. You’re mortal. They’ll assume you’re there to offer yourself to them. I don’t even know what they might try to do. I just worry as to whether it will be safe enough. I could even run into people I once knew."
Madison squeezed his arm. "We'll be fine. We’ll stay together, check out the place, and leave. No big deal. I know it torments you. This is a good way to put it behind you, once and for all."
Cory lowered his head into his hands. "What am I doing? Okay, let’s just do this tomorrow night and be done with it. But you can’t say a word to Mom, nothing. She’ll go off if she knew. We’ll tell her we are going into the city for some night life, deal?"
"Deal. We'll spend some time here tomorrow with your mom, then go out in the evening. But, right now, I'm exhausted. Let's go watch TV in the guest bedroom where we can just fall asleep."
He followed her to the bedroom his mother made ready for them, and turning on the TV, they climbed beneath the covers, but they were both asleep before the program was over.
The next day, they went with Rachael to do some grocery shopping and to see the small town of Walnut Creek. After dinner, they got dressed for an evening out and let her know they were going into the city.
“Okay, be careful."
Cory kissed her forehead. “You worry too much."
Cory drove the SUV to the subway station and they rode into the city, where Cory led her into the seedy Tenderloin district. Madison could see the immediate difference in this section of town over the historic Russian Hills and Pacific Heights sections. Cory led her to a nightclub that was painted black on the exterior. She could feel the vibration of the heavy bass from the music inside.
As they approached the club, they stepped in line with young people dressed in leather, with multiple piercings and their visible skin covered in tattoos. Madison already felt out of place in her long boho skirt and fringed suede leather top.
As they approached the doorman, he looked up with surprise. "Cory! We haven't seen you in years, brother. Welcome home."
"Hey man, yeah been a while. I moved away, so we’re just visiting. Looks like things haven’t changed much."
The doorman released the rope, allowing them to enter, without asking for the cover charge. It was normal protocol for the mortals and the half-breeds who came willingly to offer themselves up to the vampires in the club. Cory remembered the nights he came here, willing to do whatever they wanted, in exchange for money.
He led Madison inside, where they were immediately assaulted by the heavy metal music. Cory could feel the vibrations in the floor. He leaned in close to her ear, his voice still loud in order to be heard over the bone-shattering music. "Let’s stay as close to the dance floor as possible, we don’t need a table. Whatever you see, don’t stare."
Madison giggled. "Come on, Cory, how bad could it be?"
She grabbed his hand and pushed her way through the crowd onto the dance floor. The flashing strobe lights made it hard to see much of anything, but she caught glimpses of people in the booths along the wall, quick flashes as the strobe light illuminated the room before plunging it back into darkness. She caught images of bodies, some of them nude, wrapped around each other, feeding, having sex, and she quickly looked away.
Madison made a space for them on the dance floor as they started to dance to the pounding beat of Living Dead Girl, by Rob Zombie. This wasn’t the type of music she’d normally be listening to, but she’d heard it at the frat parties. As they danced, a very tall man approached and ran his hand through Cory's hair before bending down and licking his cheek.
He hissed through clenched teeth. "Hello, delicious. It's been a while. How much for the night?"
Cory recognized Drew’s voice, as he felt that hot, wet tongue snake across his cheek. He looked at Maddie as she stared in horror at the tall, slim male vampire with the pierced nose, and rings on every finger, covered in leather from head to foot. Drew had been one of Cory’s regulars. His money flowed easy, and he had a taste for young males. Cory could score big bucks with him. But tonight, Drew’s appearance made his stomach churn, and he hated that Madison was seeing this.
Drew licked his lips and ran his forefinger down Cory’s arm. "Come, you were never shy. Come to my booth, and bring her along, if you must."
Cory shook his head. "No, Drew, just visiting, not interested. Find someone else. Leave us alone." Cory drew Maddie close, hoping to shield her from the ugliness.