The Moon Rises (2 page)

“Gigi, are you ready to get started?”

Nodding, Gigi said nothing, just watched the
girls moving around behind Silas. Some of them were watching Gigi, some were
pretending not to. One of them waited where Silas had been standing. She was a
dark haired, blue eyed beauty with a little Cindy Crawford mole over the left
corner of her mouth. Gigi had a friend in high school with a mole like that
over her eyebrow and her name was…gobble, gobble, gone.

“Gigi, this is Justine. I’m going to have her
give you the basics, but Sara will be working with you on the pack level.”

“Is Gigi a nickname?” Justine asked.

“No,” Gigi said, assuming this to be true. Her
driver’s license and birth certificate said Gigi Monroe, so it must be her
name. Her mother named her Gigi because…gobble, gobble, gone.

“Poor thing,” Justine said with a grin.

“Be nice,” Silas warned the brunette as he walked
back to his office.

“I’m always nice,” Justine said loudly, but her eyes
never left Gigi. “You’re starting off with the pack guys and they’re the easiest
to deal with. They usually come here with their Alphas who keep them in line. They
also don’t have any weird hang-ups. The Vamps insist we stand with our hands in
view at all times. The witches are super annoying. They think it’s funny to
screw around with little magic tricks which usually end with us falling down
and them applauding. The ghouls are the worst. They want to smell us and not
how the pack guys smell us, but like really up close smelling. They sniff the
waitresses like dogs sniff butts. It’s gotten so bad Silas keeps track of our
periods, so none of us are assigned to the ghoul level when we’re on the rag.
Don’t worry about the Vamps. They ain’t interested in vajaja blood.” Justine
paused and gave Gigi a big smile. “Hey, look at me making this job sound like
more fun than it is!”

Realizing Justine was trying to make friends with
her, Gigi faked a smile. She should know how to smile and laugh, but she
couldn’t remember ever laughing before. The smiles she gave Silas earlier were
fake too.

Fake it until you make it.
This was a
saying Gigi heard on the television the night before and it sounded like sage advice.

Justine gestured for Gigi to follow her and they
moved to a locker room. Soon she was dressed like Justine in a pair of tight
black shorts which hid none of her thighs or much of her hips either. The black
vest was more comfortable, but it rode up to show off her belly button. A pair
of knee high black boots finished off the look. Sensing she was supposed to be
this undressed, only because all the other girls looked just as half naked,
Gigi shut her locker and followed Justine out to the different floors which
were empty.

“There is a kitchen on each floor because
obviously Vamps eat differently than Weres or ghouls. When you’re on one level,
you go to that level’s kitchen and bar. You never wander around. Picking up the
scent of one group then moving into another group’s territory pisses them off.
We had a girl named Jaylee who once hung with the Vamps for a while then the
ghouls before she headed to Were territory.

“Man, you’d have thought she crapped on the floor.
The Were guys were pissed and Silas got pissed and Jaylee cried so hard she
puked. It was pretty funny actually, but seriously don’t do that.  Jaylee got
stuck with the ghouls for a month and no one can deal with those freaks for that
long. Jaylee quit which was fine because she was pretty illiterate and her orders
were impossible to decipher.”

Nodding whenever Justine looked at her, Gigi
found herself back in the locker room where two girls were whispering until
they saw Justine.

“This is the new girl,” Justine announced. “She
might be a mute.”

The redheaded girl grinned. “Maybe she just
doesn’t want to talk to you?”

The girl in the corner slipped closer, her
movements strange as if she were moving too fast and too slow at the same time.

“Yes, Justine, some people just don’t want to hang
with humans.”

“She’s human too. Take a whiff.”

The redhead sighed. “Another human. Seriously
Silas is so biased.”

“I’m Dahlia,” said the one who moved strangely.
Her hair was a darker shade of brown than Justine’s and her eyes were black.
Her skin was a flawless white, too white maybe, but not sickly. “The ginger
here is Ella and she’s a big dog.”

The redhead growled dramatically then patted
Gigi’s arm. They were making friends with her like Justine had done earlier.
Gigi smiled, hoping it wasn’t the scary one from the mirror. They didn’t flinch
or run away, so she assumed the smile was acceptable.

“She really doesn’t talk, does she?” Dahlia said.

“Nope.  Her name is Gigi, so maybe she was
bullied as a kid.”

With the three of them staring at her, Gigi
realized words were necessary.

“I’m nervous,” she said.

They nodded, understanding her silence now.
Accepting how words were helpful, Gigi told herself to talk more.

“She’s starting out on the pack floor with Sara.”

“Lucky ducky,” Ella said, pulling her thick red
hair into a ponytail high on her head. “My guys are great tippers. Also when
they grab your ass, they’re so sweet about it.”

Justine and Dahlia laughed so Gigi laughed too.

“I’m on witch duty,” Justine said. “Hopefully
Nolan will come in and flirt with me. Otherwise I’ll die of boredom. That is
unless one of the witches decides to play one of those hilarious tricks
involving me bouncing on my ass.”

Dahlia rolled her eyes, but said nothing.

“What floor will you work on?” Gigi asked her.

“Vamps only work on the Vamp and ghoul floors.
Few girls will take the ghoul floor, but Ella loves them.”

“Ha!” Ella snorted. “I get the ghouls because I’m
special. Few Weres are accepted by the ghouls, but I’ve charmed them with my
ability to look them in the eyes without barfing.”

When the girls laughed, Gigi laughed too. Yet her
mind was processing how Ella and Dahlia were monsters. They seemed harmless
enough, even if Dahlia moved strangely and they both smelled different than
Justine who was apparently human.

Dahlia walked out of the locker room in her
strange way and Justine winked at Gigi before following the Vamp. Ella took
Gigi by the arm and pulled her to the pack floor which was decorated in dark
brown and red hues.

Gigi noticed past the tables and booths was an
area full of pool tables while overhead the music was loud with lots of
guitars. The pack floor was masculine and smelled like steak. Gigi liked steak.
In fact once at culinary school, she and two other girls…gobble, gobble, gone.

Standing near the bar, hidden from the few
customers now on the floor, Gigi waited for someone to tell her what to do.
Ella was busy fiddling with her ponytail while the one they called Sara wasn’t
around yet.

Gigi noticed a male enter and she realized he was
a Were – a monster who turned into a dog. That was how Justine explained it
anyway. This male was incredibly beautiful in a masculine way. His dark hair and
eyes reminded Gigi of Silas. Yet while her boss was rough, this male was soft -
well softer. His features were easily perfect on his honey tinted skin. His
eyes - the color of the chocolate Gigi ate with lunch and lined with thick
black lashes - found her as she peeked at him from around the corner of the
bar. A hint of a smile touched his lips then was gone.

“That’s Anton,” Ella said, still fiddling with
her ponytail. “He’s an Alpha. There are three Alphas in the Circle. Anton’s my
second favorite. My pack leader is Declan, so clearly he has to be my favorite
even if he’s a jackass. They’re all jackasses, but at least they’re good
looking.”

Gigi liked looking at Anton, but she knew staring
was bad. Justine earlier told her to stop before someone complained. Justine
was gone though, so Gigi stared at Anton a bit more before noticing Ella was
leaving.

“I’m off to play with the ghouls,” the redhead
said with a bright smile which reached her light blue eyes.

“I don’t know how to waitress.”

Ella snorted. “Silas really is all about the T
and A, ain’t he? Well don’t worry because Sara will show you the ropes and it’s
not hard on this floor. The pack guys won’t hassle you. If you smile and bend
over a lot, they’ll tip you real nice.”

“What if I drop something?”

“Try not to drop it on anyone’s head. If you do
make a mess, bend over and shake your ass while you clean it up and things will
be fine. Good luck, Gigi.”

With this little bit of advice, Ella disappeared
into an elevator. Gigi stared at the elevator the way she was just staring at
Anton who was now sitting at a table with other males who weren’t as beautiful
as him. Gigi knew they were watching her, but she didn’t know what to do so she
waited for someone to tell her.

The door to the pack floor opened and another
handsome male entered. Where Anton was dark, this male was light. Blond hair
and light eyes - so light Gigi couldn’t be sure of the color - this male was a
bit bigger than Anton. Both males were a little scary because they exuded a
presence the way Silas did and the girls didn’t. Gigi suspected this male might
be Ella’s favorite jackass named Declan.

Whoever he was, he brought more males with him. Suddenly
the pack level was filling up and Gigi still didn’t know how to waitress.

Declan O’Connor ran the south side of the Circle.
His territory was filled with businesses which gave his pack a piece of their
profits. Anton’s territory was profitable enough, yet his bottom line was
hampered by the dense residential properties filling a large chunk of his slice
of the Circle. Roger’s part of the pie was an odd mix of low rent residential,
manufacturing, and seedier elements.

Declan seized the best part of the Circle for his
pack. Only a few wars with Anton and Roger were necessary to take it and a few
more might be necessary to keep it, but his prime real estate was worth all the
blood shed.

In the center of the Circle, The Moon Rises
hovered above the surrounding buildings. Filled with clubs, conference rooms,
kitchens, and an underground parking lot for the Vamps and ghouls, the club
kept expanding as Silas bought up more nearby properties. The Moon Rises was a
safe haven to many, but Declan considered the club part of his territory
whether Silas agreed or not.

Walking onto the pack floor, Declan sensed Anton.
His gray eyes never fell on the opposing pack leader, as he moved to his pack’s
reserved tables. Ignoring Anton, who was likely ignoring him in return, Declan
instead wondered about Silas’s missing waitress Katia.

A cute blonde, Katia giggled a lot from under her
bangs. While Declan suspected she never thought a single thing any male said to
her was the least bit funny, she giggled anyway and the guys loved it. For all
her cuteness and giggling, Katia wasn’t great about remembering orders and she
tended to get distracted whenever another pack paid her the least bit of
attention. She especially liked Roger’s pack and Silas hated when the girls
showed favorites. Bad for business.

Katia was gone - missing technically, yet most
likely dead. The other girls went about their jobs as if Katia never existed. Yet
Declan wondered about the missing waitress. Suspecting her fate was tied to one
of the dozens of predators she giggled at every night, he only hoped her death
had come quickly.

Sara waved at Declan’s pack as she arrived on the
floor. The blonde was a friendly little thing, but spent too much time around
the Vamps and stunk of them. Wearing the club’s standard black shorts, vest,
and boots, Sara looked scrawnier than Declan remembered. He wondered if she did
more with the Vamps than serve refreshments.

Sara strolled towards the pack’s table and threw
on a forced smile. Wondering about her sudden crankiness, Declan then spotted
the reason along with the rest of the pack floor.

The new waitress.

Everyone noticed her walking the floor and the
chatter in the room fell into silence. The only noise was the music from the
jukebox. The new waitress stopped walking when Sara stopped. Her face remained
placid, as if she hadn’t noticed how the silence was for little old her.

“Hello gentlemen,” Sara said with a bright smile
despite her clear irritation. “This is our new friend Gigi.”

Gigi smiled in a way which signaled she was
either totally oblivious to Sara’s anger or just indifferent to it. Unable to
take his eyes off of her, Declan felt something pulling at him. Not him
really, but his wolf and he told the damn thing to shut up.

In the Circle, Weres didn’t give their wolves much
lip service. Sure, they enjoyed the extra strength and acute senses which came
with being part wolf.  This was where the appreciation ended. The wolf was the
animal part most Weres pretended didn’t exist. Yet Declan’s mutt yanked on its
leash because it wanted Gigi.

Looking around the room, Declan noticed how the
males were salivating more than usual and not just because Gigi was hotter than
most waitresses. Their wolves were howling at her which made no sense. Gigi was
human so she shouldn’t be able to rile up the boys in the room like she was
doing by just standing there.