Part Three: It's All Going Down In Chinatown
"Hello Robin, thank you for coming," Belle said sweetly, taking her hand.
"You're welcome. A bit confused about why you asked me though," Robin replied, surveying the new surroundings.
It was a square room with two large mirrors, one on either side and a large metal desk in the middle. A large couch and small bar area were the only real furnishings, save for a large painting of a blue orchid behind the desk.
"Well I just wanted to thank you again for saving me and to show my gratitude, I want to offer you a job here," Belle said warmly.
"A job? What kind of job?"
Belle laughed at the implication of the question before answering, "don't worry, you won't be doing anything illegal or strange. I run, what you would call a gentleman's club, a highly exclusive gentleman's club. And recently, I had to dispose of my one of hostesses and need a new one and you seem to be exactly what I'm looking for."
"Oh I see…" Robin nodded, studying the older woman in front of her.
She was definitely a stunning woman and it was hard to tell how old she was because of her flawless skin and immaculate appearance, although her voice and attitude betrayed a maturity, so Robin guessed somewhere in her forties. She had blonde, kiss curled hair and large blue eyes, a classic bombshell dressed in her tight green pencil skirt and pristine silk shirt.
"I only need you till the end of the week, 4 days, and then I'll be moving on," Belle said, waking Robin out of her observational trance.
"Moving on?"
"Yes, well the thing about novelty and exclusivity is that it wears off quickly. And I want to leave my customers wanting for more, not getting bored and moving onto greener pastures, so to speak," Belle's voice was sending shivers up Robin's spine although she wasn't really sure why.
"I know what you mean. Men are always hunting for something new, aren't they?" the girl said, laughing innocently, trying to cover her nervousness.
"Yes, they are," Belle agreed, her voice hardening. She quickly walked to her bar and downed a glass of something before turning back to Robin, "so how about an even $2000?"
Robin almost choked, "$2000 for 4 days?"
"Is that too little? Ok, make it $2500," Belle could already see Robin's greed building, pushing her to take the job.
"Yeah, that's fine. When do I start?" Robin said, although somewhere she felt she wasn't going ever going to see that money.
"Tonight. So we'd better get your outfit sorted out now," Belle said, putting an arm around Robin's waist.
"Outfit?"
What the hell, am I going to have to wear? The girl thought to herself, as images of latex and leather popped into her head.
"Robin, everything at the Blue Orchid is an act, a beautiful illusion and you are part of that. No one here is what they seem, don't worry. And also, while we do your costume, I can talk to you about the rules…"
"So this is Chinatown…" Dean said, surveying the neon signs and crowds of people.
"Yeah, well it's going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. There are no listings anywhere for a club called Blue flower or whatever. What we going to do?" Sam said, quickly stepping to the side as a small man rushed past him with a load of boxes piled high in his arms.
"Ask around, I mean how many dodgy clubs could there be?" Dean remarked, as he caught sight of a number of shady looking buildings with some shifty characters in front.
Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it would be.
"Well come on then, we'd better get started," Sam said, walking down the main street.
"Uh-huh, yeah, you go down there, I'll just go over there," Dean shouted.
Sam turned to see his brother run up to a nearby small shop where a pretty Chinese girl was closing up. Typical. He stood there for a moment and Dean seeing him standing there, made a gesture for him to talk to someone. He sighed before turning around, confronted with an elderly lady seated on a chair outside her shop, might as well start here, he thought to himself, approaching the woman with a friendly smile.
Robin stared at her reflection in the mirror, she looked stupid. Although Belle had assured her, she looked amazing and alluring, perfect even.
Her dark locks had now been replaced with a long auburn wig and her eyes ringed with black eye-liner. The finishing touch were her lips, painted a seductive deep red, she felt like a clown in full face paint. But still that wasn't as uncomfortable as the tight corseted plum dress she'd been squeezed into. She reminded herself of a Barbie doll gone wrong, maybe hopped on acid or something.
"Hey there, you must be the new girl," a bell-like voice called.
Robin turned to find a very pretty brunette walking towards her.
"I'm Lucy," she said, holding out a delicate hand with red nails.
"Robin."
"You look great. Isn't Madam amazing?" Lucy said, looking at her profile in the mirror.
"Madam?"
"Belle. Sorry. I heard you're only here for a week? Shame, you should stay on. The money's really good," the girl said, puckering her lips before applying another coat of lipstick.
"Yeah well, we'll see…so how long you been here?"
"It's my 3rd year, so you know, I'll be going after this," Lucy said, her voice tinged with sadness, whether genuine or just her greed talking, Robin wasn't sure.
"What do you mean?" Robin asked, trying to find a way to stand without her corset digging into her ribs.
"Well basically, you can only work here for 3 years. You know Madam, never wanting to let things go stale or whatever. She says it keeps thing fresh and interesting."
"Right…" Robin said, leaning to one side with her hand on her hip. Finally finding a second of comfort.
"You ok?" Lucy said, looking at the other girl with a funny expression.
"Yeah, sorry, bit nervous."
"Oh, don't be. It's fine. Most of the customers are really nice, I mean they are a bit intense but you get used to it. Come on, we'd better get out there," and she took Robin's arm in hers.
Robin could feel her head feeling light, could she do this? Could she actually do this? God, was she going to faint?
"Shoot, almost forgot," Lucy said suddenly before removing two vials from her cleavage, "here," shoving one towards Robin.
"What is it?" Robin asked, studying the dark green liquid inside the tubes. It was swirling around as if it were alive…
"It's like a natural aphrodisiac. Makes the customers go wild and also gets your game on, if you know what I mean?" Lucy said, winking cheekily.
"Aaah…nah. It's cool," Robin said, pushing the substance back to Lucy.
"Er…no. You gotta take it. Belle says so," and the girl shoved it into Robin's hands, a cold, forceful look in her eyes.
Damnit, what was she getting herself into...
"So did you get anything?" Sam asked quickly.
They had been out now for a couple of hours and his hope of finding this place was getting dimmer and dimmer by the minute.
"No, nothing," Dean replied, his annoyance bubbling in him.
The locals were either completely in the dark or they were hiding something out of fear. Neither though led them to what they wanted.
"What we gonna do now?" Sam said, looking around at the bustling people, wishing the answer would just jump out at them.
"Ooomph, watch it, buddy!" a loud voice cried out, as an oaf of man walked into the side of Sam.
He was dressed in a smart business suit with slimy hair and was on his phone, obviously completely oblivious to anyone else except his ego and his wallet.
"Why don't you watch where you're going, eh!" Dean shouted after the guy.
The man at the sound of Dean's reply, abruptly stopped and turned around, almost knocking out a passer-by in the process
"What did you say?" Slimy shouted, striding pompously towards the brothers.
"I said, why don't you watch where you're going," Dean repeated, squaring up to the guy.
"Oh God," Sam muttered under his breath, already seeing the amount of money he would have to use to bail Dean out for assault.
"Look buddy, I don't know what kind of street rat you think you are, but people like you don't talk to people like me with a mouth like that, ok?" the man said in a pseudo macho voice.
"I'll give you one warning," Dean growled, moving towards the guy, his fists at the ready.
The locals were already building a crowd; a fight was always a good way of passing a slow evening.
"Or what?" the man shouted, pushing Dean with his free hand.
"Oh, you're…" Dean started, lunging at the man but Sam quickly jumped between them, holding Dean still.
"This is not helping man, just let it go," Sam whispered, feeling his brother's anger breath on his face.
The business man laughed and replaced the phone to his ear, "sorry, sorry, just had to take care of this stupid punk…"
"Let me go, Sammy!" Dean roared, trying to fight his way out of Sam's grip.
The man snorted again before turning to walk away, "so yeah, where's this Blue Orchid then?"
As the name fell out of the man's mouth, both brothers stopped and looked at each other.
The hunt was back on.
Writer's note: Is anyone reading this?
