3. Willow: Black Card.

I had hoped and prayed that what I'd seen the night before was just a terrible nightmare, but it wasn't. It was all too real - the monsters that had lurked around the Juggy bar after 10 o'clock were very much real.

Maybe not all of them were complete monsters. That man, Luca, hadn't drunk fresh blood, nor eaten fresh meat. He'd seen me, yet let me go. Why had he lied about me not being there?

Why did he let me go? It was a question that haunted me.

I couldn't get the image of the hungry beasts out of my mind. I avoided George at work that day, unable to look at him in the same way. I was plagued by terrifying thoughts. What if everyone who came to the Juggy Bar were like those monsters? What if they were all part of George's pack?

"Willow!" George's shout rang in my ears and I jumped off the bar stool knocking over a glass of wine. It shattered on the counter and the scent of wine filled the air.

"Oh my, goodness. I'm so sorry George" I panicked trying to clean up the mess with a napkin.

"No. It's fine. I got this." He tried to take the napkin away from me and our hands touched. I pulled away from him instantly, my hands trembling.

His expression shifted from concern to alarm, and I was frozen in place. His warm, welcoming face I'd seen so many times was gone and replaced by the dreadful countenance of a beast.

"Are you okay, Willow?" He asked.

"Yes!" I tried to get myself back. I shouldn't make it so obvious that I was scared of him. I needed to control my emotions. "I'm so sorry, George…I zoned out."

"You've been doing a lot of that zoning out today."

"I truly apologize. Mum's health is…"

"You need to get a grip on yourself, Willow. If you keep worrying so much, you'll not get the strength to work and make money for your bills!"

"I know…I'm doing my best Boss."

He leaned closer to me and whispered. "It's all going to be over soon. Those enormous bills are going to be settled"

"Hopefully," I mumbled.

"I have a job for you. Come with me." He said. I remained in one spot, I couldn't move. There's no way I'm going anywhere with George. He ripped the flesh of a deer and drank its blood, he chewed it and swallowed it, that kind of man could eat me too. I didn't leave a note for my mum before leaving the house, if anything happened to me, how would she know?

"Why the fuck are you still standing there?"

"I'm coming." I rushed behind him. I didn't have an option. If he hadn't hurt me for more than a year that I've worked with him, I needed to keep that hope alive.

George strolled into the locker room and my heart raced even more remembering yesterday. He moved to my locker and then stopped, I stopped too glaring at him with sweaty palms and shaky legs.

What could be wrong? Did he find out?

He tilted towards me and mumbled. "This job requires you to be your very best."

"Yes.." I whispered

He moved back and he continued walking and with a loud voice he said. " I recommended you because you're the best worker here and you work very hard to make a living. Also, you have a sick mother and bills to pay." He stopped at the curtains, the same curtains that demarcated the locker room from the guest bar, yesterday's curtain.

"My very good friend will talk more about the job to you." George opened the curtains. "Luca, she's here."

My blood seized, my muscles tensed, sweat slicked my skin, and weakness filled my bladder. Luca?? The same Luca?? No! He saw me yesterday, he fucking saw me. Why did he call me here? Did he tell George about yesterday? Did George lure me to him?

"George..i.." I tried to hold George back as he was leaving. He was my last hope.

"Don't worry, he's safe and he'll be quick," George whispered and left. Was it just me or did that sound scary? He's safe, he'll be quick?

"Come." I heard Luca say to me. I fiddled with the fabric of my clothes as I walked towards him. He was standing behind the small counter of the guest bar. I stayed at a safe distance and buried my head to the ground.

"Good evening, sir," I muttered.

"Closer," he commanded.

My feet dragged as I struggled to go closer to the counter. I thought he had saved me yesterday, but now he was back. I was in a mess, I shouldn't have resumed back to Juggy today.

I was close enough to him now, the only thing between us was the bar counter, goosebumps sprouted on my skin and I felt a drop of urine on my thighs. I raised my head to look at him, he was way different than what I had seen yesterday, but I still knew it was him, his eyes sold him out - an eye the color of a stormy sky, with flecks of silver and flecks of charcoal, like tiny raindrops. The iris is like a whirlpool, swirling with shades of dark grey, light grey, pale, and soft - I wished he didn't remember my face or what happened yesterday.

"Hello, Mousey." He said and my heart thud. He remembered. He fucking knew I was the one. He called me a mouse yesterday and now he's making the same reference. I'm in deep shit.

"Hi. Luca." I eventually said his name. The name that had been running through my mind since yesterday, I finally got to call it out in front of him.

A smirk curved on his lips for no reason when I mentioned his name, his gaze fixed directly on me. "Did you pee again, Mousey?"

I froze. It was just a drop of pee, there was no way he would have noticed like yesterday.

"I didn't." I instantly defended myself. "Why did you call me here, Mr Luca?" I wanted to pretend like we'd never met. Not like we have officially.

"I thought you would love to say something to me…" he played with his drink by stirring the cup. "…about yesterday."

"Yesterday? What happened yesterday? This is the first time I've met you, Mr Luca. I have no idea what you're talking about." I fidgeted. I failed at pretending, that was too fucking obvious.

He chuckled. Oh, his smile looked better and more human than the fangs I saw yesterday. He spoke in a confident voice and his manner was charismatic - almost intimidating too.

He took a sip of his drink and his nails tapped the counter several times. "What you saw…"

"I saw nothing..saw no one." I cut in.

"Does your boss, George scare you now?" He asked. Of course, I was scared of George now, but I was more scared of what these monsters would do to me when revealed that I had seen them yesterday.

"George doesn't scare me" I lied.

He laughed with his gaze fixed directly at me. It was adorable to watch but I didn't want him to catch me staring. "You tiny liar." He huffed in his breath and I was crazy to think that was seductive.

"In all honesty, Mr Luca, you don't have to panic, your secret is safe with me." Oh boy, I was the one panicking right now. I wanted to appear confident, but hell nah, I wasn't.

He held one of my hands that was placed on the counter and I almost pulled back in fear, but his grip was so soft it was pointless to fight it. "Instead, your secret is safe with me," he smiled.

I felt relaxed, I didn't know why or how but all my tensed muscles became calm, my sweat dried up and my heart beating steady. Maybe he wasn't the monster I thought him to be, maybe just like yesterday he wasn't a real animal eater beast like George. Maybe he was different.

Shut up, Willow. Someone who looked like this couldn't have a kind heart. He was all shades of perfection.

After staring at each other for what seemed like minutes, I broke the silence. "George said you needed me for a job. That's what I'm here for."

"He's right." He gulped his drink again and the sweet scent of wine filled the air as he spoke. "I need a maid."

"I already work at Juggy Bar. If I'm to work as…"

"It's a one-time thing." He cleared his throat. "Except you're willing to go longer than a night"

I swallowed, my mind drifting places. "I don't understand you…"

"It's nothing serious. I'll be attending a family dinner tonight, I do not trust other maids to serve me, so I need mine."

He must be kidding. "And you trust me?"

"Yes." His response was concise.

I didn't trust any of his words. After what I witnessed yesterday, these people were not humans and it would be a huge risk to believe him. "If you can't trust your family maid, why would you trust a total stranger?"

"You're not a stranger, Mousey. You saw the real me yesterday." He snickered, glancing at my lips for a few seconds.

This sounded like a trap.

"I'm sorry, I cannot do it" I bit my lip in some sort of regret. George recommended me and I felt horrible about letting him down, but I needed to save myself from these beasts first, what if George was in on this plan to get me eaten like the deer?

As I turned to walk away, Luca stopped me. "How long have you been working at Juggy?"

"A year and some months. Why?" I turned around.

"How much have you earned in total?" He asked. I raised my brows at his funny question.

"I don't know…" I muttered, my brain making calculations instantly. "…about forty thousand pounds. Big flex by the way to have achieved much in the tiniest amount of time." I bragged.

"Fair. I'll double that for you." He gulped his drink completely and dropped the glass.

My jaw dropped but I couldn't help but laugh. "Good joke, Mr Luca."

"Too little? Okay triple."

"Wait…no..are you kidding me?" I shouted.

He brought out a black card from his pocket and placed it on the counter. "You are allowed to withdraw some of the money before the job"

I stared at him dead in the eyes, he was serious, and there was no form of joke in his facial features. I looked down at the card, his name was boldly embossed on it- Luca Carver. This was the miracle I was praying for! I would be fucking rich! Just one night! All that money!

This seemed too good to be true. Was this a bait? Is this a way of firing me from Juggy and leaving me stranded? Were they paying me off? Does this Luca beast want to feed me to his friends?

I don't want to seem too excited, but I can't help it. Mum was going to get a good hospital, my school loans would be paid, rent too, and other debts and then I get to spend my earnings like a normal adult.

"Look, Mr Luca, this is a trap. No one pays that high for a one-night job. I know you're looking for a way to punish me for walking in on you last night, but I promise, I don't care what animal you and George are. I just wanna protect my job."

He laughed. "You mesmerize me, Mousey."

I still found it hard to believe and I pinched myself to see if this was happening. It was.

"Is the money real?" I asked.

"Try the card, Mousey." He stepped away from the counter and moved closer to me, he was way bigger than me so I had to look up to meet his eyes. "A ride will be waiting for you at the front of your porch by 8 pm," he said and walked out before I could catch my breath.