Chapter 4: The Imp

Sophie & Ilaria

Club Tropic, Miami Beach - 12:32 AM

Looking around nervously, Sophie stood by the bar with her friends. Ilaria wanted to leave.

But something made Sophie stay.

“Sophie!” Sydney yelled at her. Startled, Sophie looked over. “What the hell is wrong with you? You’re acting weird!” Sydney continued.

Sophie looked down to see a gin and tonic sitting on the table in front of her. She picked it up and said, “Thank you.”

Taking a sip, she looked up over her right shoulder at the next level balcony. Whatever that thing up there was, she had never sensed anything like it before. But somehow, it felt familiar too. Whatever it might be, she knew it would be more than she could handle if it turned out to be the imp.

But somewhere over in the VIP section, she felt an entirely different presence. She guessed that was where she’d find her query.

A full BTC! She thought. C’mon Sophie, you can do this.

She refocused on her friends and began chatting with them to help calm her nerves. As they talked and boys came up to talk to them, the VIP table on the second floor started causing a real stir. The group at the table was being really loud—one very deep voice in particular.

Nearby, she could hear people talking, suggesting there might be a famous professional athlete upstairs. Everyone wanted to go and peek in on whoever might be up there, including Sophie’s friends.

“I’m not going up there,” Sophie said, shaking her head. “I don’t think you should either.” Her three friends stared back at her waiting to hear her reasoning. But, not knowing how to explain why, she left it there.

“You’re no fun tonight,” Mercedes accused her.

“Whatever,” replied Sophie. “Fine, go up there if you want. I don’t care.”

Lila grabbed Mercedes's arm, urging her to come along. “Come on, let’s go check it out,” she said to her friend.

“Okay,” Mercedes said, sticking her tongue out at Sophe as they left.

“You are acting a little off,” Sydney told Sophie once their friends were a few steps away. “Are you sure everything is alright?”

“Yeah, yeah, everything’s good. Don’t worry about me,” Sophie reassured her.

“Okay,” Sydney agreed, finishing her drink. “Then I’m going to check out what’s going on upstairs too. Maybe I can get a free drink,” she added hopefully.

“Okay,” Sophie said with a sigh. She gave the crowded upstairs table another glance over her shoulder. “But, be careful.”

“I’ll be back soon, don’t worry,” Sydney said before heading for the stairs.

Sophie watched her go, sighing again. Looking at the crowd around her, she took another sip of her drink. A lot of eyes around the club were focused on that second floor party. It was an ideal distraction.

If I’m going to make my move, now’s the time, she thought.

‘No,’ Ilaria’s impression in her mind was strong. ‘This is a mistake!’

Sophie turned to look directly into Ilaria’s eyes. As soon as she did, their lines began to blur. ‘We are doing this!’ Sophie sent back to the wolf. ‘We need this!’

Ilaria’s frustration was tangible to Sophie as the lines between the two blurred until they nearly shifted entirely.

As far as Sophie could tell, even when she and Ilaria fully shifted, she still appeared human for the most part. But she definitely behaved more animalistically, and her strength and speed increased to inhuman levels. She hadn’t figured out how to turn that on or off quite yet anyways.

It was hard to control herself in those moments when Ilaria took over. Her instincts seemed to dominate her persona at those times. But it also felt refreshing. Whenever they shifted, the air rushing into her lungs felt more wonderful. The world appeared more beautiful.

But right now, maintaining her bearings was important. With Ilaria this close, she could hear more, see more, sense more. Her reflexes would be quicker, and she would be faster and stronger.

She’d be braver too.

She turned her focus on the odd presence over in the main VIP area on the other side of the dance floor. Too caught up by the fun rowdiness upstairs, people didn’t even take notice of Sophie as she walked across the dance floor.

She made it to the edge of VIP where a bouncer stood covering the entrance. He was also distracted by the craziness on the second floor.

She held out her hand and gave him a special smile. “Can I please have a stamp?” she asked him.

Glancing down at her, the bouncer seemed lost for a moment as he looked into her eyes. She tilted her head a little to the side, which seemed to snap him out of it. “Jesus Chris, you’re beautiful,” he said. He took her hand gently with his own, and stamped a little yellow dog on the back of it.

“Thank you,” she mouthed. He opened the rope and she strolled into VIP. The thing she was looking for was sitting in the corner, not 30 feet from her. She didn’t hesitate, heading directly for it.

The skinny man she saw in the corner appeared very antsy. He had shifty eyes and eyebrows like Jack Nicholson. He wore a tan jacket and sat with two other bored looking men.

She watched as the three men looked her up and down, mentally removing her clothing. While their imaginations went wild, she helped herself to some of their tequila.

She took a seat on the bench, next to one of the imp’s companions. “Hi, I’m Sophie,” she said.

The three men exchanged looks, and then all turned to her smiling.

“I’m Ronnie,” said the man to Sophie’s right. “This is Simon,” he said, gesturing to the skinny man she felt pretty sure was the imp. “And that’s Oleg,” he said, pointing at the third man.

“Nice to meet you,” Sophie responded, taking another sip of tequila.

The man introduced as Simon tapped Ronnie on the shoulder. Ronnie reluctantly turned away from examining Sophie’s face to look at Simon.

“Why don’t you make some room so Sophie can get more comfortable over here?” Simon said, tapping the empty bench space next to him. Simon immediately came off as sleazy just in the way he spoke and eyed Sophie.

But Ronnie stood without question, gesturing for Sophie to move her seat. So, she stood and sat next to Simon.

This man—that had to be the imp—had a truly uncanny resemblance to Jack Nicholson in terms of his mannerisms. He had a receding hairline and very expressive eyebrows that made him appear devious all of the time.

“So,” Simon said. “Come here often?”

Sophie felt glad she kept Ilaria close. Whatever this creature was, it unnerved her.

She nodded. “Yeah, it's a popular club here on South Beach.”

Simon either knew nothing about being discreet, or didn’t care, as he just stared openly at her chest. ‘Yep,’ she thought to Ilaria. ‘I don’t think I’d have any problem killing this thing if I had to.’ She could feel Ilaria silently agreeing.

Eventually Simon’s eyes came back up to meet hers. “Oh, so you live around here then?” he asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. Are you guys here on business or something?”

Simon turned to look at Oleg, smiling. “Yeah, that’s right. Isn’t it Oleg? We’re here on business.”

Oleg nodded uncomfortably, nursing his drink as he looked back and forth between Sophie and Simon.

That’s not weird, Sophie thought sarcastically. She had officially made up her mind about following through with the gig. Becoming “friends” with this thing would be easy and she would make sure it stayed uncompromising.

Suddenly, Simon’s face was right next to hers, whispering in her ear. “I know your little secret,” he said. And then she felt his hand on the inside of her right thigh blatantly sliding up her dress.

Furious, she grabbed his wrist turning towards him. “What do you think you’re doing?” she snarled into his face.

“Just having a little fun darling,” he said, eyes drifting down towards her chest again.

She looked down. Somehow the clasp holding her shoulder straps had come undone and the top of her dress had fallen free. Her breasts were entirely uncovered.

She let go of the imp and stood, using her arms to try and cover herself as best she could. She wasn’t having much luck. Trying to get a strap back over her shoulder proved useless, her breasts spilling free every time.

People all around her stared as she fumbled with the dress.

She looked up frantically to see the three men, including Simon, ogling her, drinking in her nudity. Her rage grew and before she knew it, lines blurred. Ilaria clicked into place. They were one.

Furious, Ilaria forgot about covering herself, letting the dress top fall free. She reached over and grabbed Simon by the top of the head with one hand, lifting him from the ground.

She squeezed mercilessly.

His legs kicked and he screamed making this alien high pitched sound. Before her eyes, his body began to shrink and turned a dull shade of pink. Two small horns sprouted up between Ilaria’s fingers from the top of its head. Simon’s clothes fell away until she was holding a small naked devil-like creature with a long pointed tail.

In disgust, Ilaria lifted the little imp over her head and threw him at the wall with crushing force. The imp slammed against a picture, shattering the glass and cracking the wall.

People all around her were screaming.