"She took a step and didn't want to take any more, but she did."

― Markus Zusak, The Book Thief

Chapter 1-

She didn't know what prompted her to go to this place, outside the plain black door she couldn't take the final step to knock at the door.

Her friend, Cinder had given her an invite to the place telling her that it was amazing. Sure she was pretty open and well hadn't had a relationship in quite a few years she didn't know why Cinder would tell her about this place.

Sighing to herself she decided it was best to just check the place out than leave if she didn't like it. Raising her hand to the door she knocked lightly.

A few seconds later a small opening slide open and she was faced with the eyes of someone.

"Um hello. I was told about this place." Neo said but when she got no answer she remembered the invite that Cinder had given her. "I was given this." Neo said handing the person the invite.

The slit slid closed but after a few seconds the door opened and Neo was faced with the tallest man she had ever seen, with him being almost twice the size of her.

The man once more didn't say anything but instead moved out of the way letting Neo enter the rather large, hidden club.

Looking around she noticed multiple rooms hidden by curtains and could hear some people behind them talking in soft voices. Next she saw a doorway that was leaking music making her believe that it was a dance floor with what sounded like a DJ as well.

The main part however was the bar with a few people around it and a couple bartenders around it. But what was caught her by surprise the most was the fact that everyone in the bar, except for the man at the front were all women.

She was able to tell who worked at the club as they didn't seem to wear too much clothes wise and were walking around, talking with people, giving them drinks or even taking them to different parts of the club.

"Hello. You're new right?" A woman asked sweetly next to her.

Turning Neo faced the woman who spoke to her, who was behind the bar and held back a blush as she noticed how little she seemed to wear.

The woman was wearing a red jumper/string dress that covered her down to her upper thighs but exposed her collar bone and some of her chest as it was only held on by a bit tied around her neck.

The jumper was just around below her shoulders but giving her full range of movement alongside hinting at other things. As the outfit only just covered her rear she had black tights on to cover her legs and had high booted heels on.

To complete the outfit she wore a crescent moon with a rose necklace around her neck. And a thin black choker was around her neck with a ruby dangling from it.

Catching herself Neo realised that she had been staring at the woman in front of her, causing her to look away.

Lastly Neo looked at her face to see silver eyes staring back at her and the woman had long black hair with red highlights and tips amongst them.

The woman laughed sweetly at Neo as she said, "Don't worry, I've gotten that reaction a couple times tonight. Plus I find it a complement that you're staring at me." The woman replied.

"Anyway, welcome to the Crescent Rose. Can I get you anything?" The woman asked.

"Um…just a coke please." Neo asked.

"Sure thing. So what's your name? I haven't seen you here before." The woman asked as she sorted out Neo's drink.

"Ah um Neo, my friend invited me here to have a look." Neo answered.

"Hmm." The woman hummed to herself as she handed Neo her drink, "Cinder right?" She asked.

"How did you know?" Neo asked, surprised.

"She told me last week that she's used her invite on a friend of hers, and that she'll be quite obvious." The woman replied with a smile.

Blushing Neo looked down at her outfit, she had only worn jeans, a black shirt and her white jacket but she knew her hair always stood out to people with it being pink, brown and white. It always made her self-conscious about it all.

So now with it being pointed out, although innocently made her think back to it all once again.

"Don't worry about how you look. You look beautiful." The woman said sweetly.

Nodding numbly Neo decided to change the topic and ask, "So what is this place?" Neo asked.

"This is Crescent Rose; the club is invite only. So only a member of staff can invite people, or a…patron who had been given an invite to invite someone else in. However patrons only get them under certain circumstances." The woman explained.

"But it's also only women, except for Yatsuhashi who's an old friend and acts as our bouncer. But well here we have a dance floor, bar, private rooms and we have a number of staff who tend to your needs." She answered.

"Do you mean sex?" Neo asked shyly.

"No. We call it companionship, someone to talk to or listen to your problems. If they want to have conversations in private than they can go behind the curtains and well, I don't police that so what they do behind there is down to them." The woman answered.

"Oh." Neo said, nervous about being caught out saying the wrong thing.

"Don't worry, everyone makes that assumption the first time. So what finds you here than?" She asked.

"I don't know. My friend gave me the invite, but I think it's because I haven't been on a date for someone for quite a while." Neo answered honestly.

"Ah I see, well I haven't been on a date for a long time either. But then again all my time is taken up here." She replied.

Neo just nodded in reply as she was conscious of the people around her as well, and although they were focused on their own conversations she was nervous for her first time being there.

"Why don't we go to a private room and talk some more? The curtains themselves are all soundproof so no one can hear us." She asked, to which Neo nodded in return.

"Ok than." The woman said, coming around the other side of the bar and leading Neo away to a private room.

Room was a little more, it was a booth with a leather semi-circle seat and a small table in the middle but it didn't affect anything as you could still easily move around it.

"I never asked your name." Neo asked nervously, trying to start a conversation again.

"Red." The woman, Red said easily but it was clear it wasn't her real name, but Neo didn't question her.

"So what would you like to talk about? It could be anything you want." Red offered to her.

So they did, they spoke of almost seemingly random topics from music to books they've read but avoided anything personal by not getting into too much detail.

The next time Neo came there, Ruby was wearing a beautiful red dress that reached her knees and exposed her cleavage slightly but it was hidden by a black see through material.

"Hello Neo, drink?" Red asked upon seeing Neo.

"Please." Neo replied tiredly.

Ruby turned to the bartender, and held up two fingers to her an was quickly supplied with two drinks. "Here." Red said, handing one of them to Neo. "Would you like to go to a private booth?" She asked.

"If you don't mind." Neo answered.

"Of course not, follow me." Red said, weaving through the other patrons of the club with Neo in tow until they reached an empty private booth and she opened the curtain for them.

"So, what would you like to talk about today?" Red asked.

"I've almost finished my new book…I've sent it to my editor earlier and just waiting to hear back from him but normally it's not too bad. So I've got a little bit of free time that I just don't know what to do with." Neo said excitedly, taking a sip of her drink as she finished.

"Well, I'm glad that you were able to finish your book. Perhaps you could use your sudden free time to catch up on some TV shows, that's what I tend to do when I can." Red said softly, smiling kindly at Neo.

"I haven't really watched much since I started writing, it can be distracting to watch stuff as I write so I much prefer listening to music instead." Neo commented.

"Oh? What sort of music do you like?" Red asked, remembering from before how Neo was fluid with what she likes depending on her mood.

"A mix, it varies a lot. I like a lot of Linkin Park and Within Temptation, and a mix of Two Steps from Hell and Night wish, but I've got loads of other bands sprinkled in as well." Neo answered with a smile, finding it easy to talk to Red.

"I see. I like the same as well, but it very much depends on my mood though." Red stated, the ever present smile still on her face as the pair continued to talk until the early hours of the morning before Neo had to go home, leaving the club again.

A/N

So this is my new story, it's been in the works for a while but I've only recently finished it. It's rather hard to actually find spots to end the chapters but I want to make this one last a little while so it'll be in chapters.

I'll happily admit I was inspired by another story that uses the concept of the club and stuff but it's very different. That I promise, though a few scenes are similar as it works well but I promise that's it.

Not a lot more I can think of currently, not sure to my current release schedule for my stories as I'm writing rather randomly at the moment. Oh and I may start updating on Mondays instead but again, not entirely sure yet.

So until next time.