Zoara Bela

Seduction is always more singular and sublime than sex and it commands the higher price.
—Jean Baudrillard

Zoara Bela

Zoara Bela is an “exclusive” Gentleman’s Club located in Midtown, and represents the most public face of the Byzantium coven. Zoara is frequently mentioned in the press, has a massive illuminated façade, and is renowned for entertaining celebrities ranging from Howard Stern to 50 Cent. Managed by a Lasombra neonate named Enrique Quesada, the suave Cuban understands the corrupt world of mortal politics, and monthly bribes to the proper authorities allow Zoara to flout the city’s liquor laws—despite the fact Zoara sells overpriced drinks, its dancers are free to remove all their clothes. Although Zoara maintains close ties with Byzantium proper, Quesada himself belongs to the Viriconium coterie.

Enrique Quesada
Born in Cuba in 1920, Enrique “just call me Quique” Quesada was a well-connected gangster who ran casinos and strip clubs in Havana’s glory days. Embraced shortly before the Revolution by Don Macedonio Carriego Casares, Enrique wound up in New York City working for the Latrocinium Council as a glorified bagman. He was appointed to Venus and Orchid’s coven in 1986, and placed in charge of Zoara Bela in 1994. Quique is tall and handsome, but radiates a theatrical suaveness that occasionally approaches self-parody. With his pencil moustache, silk handkerchiefs, and cigarette holder, Quique’s version of machismo is strangely effeminate, and a few younger licks have compared him unfavorably to “Ben,” Dean Stockwell’s character from Blue Velvet.

Culture
Zoara Bela takes pride in being the “least sleazy” of the big city strip clubs. While it’s certainly prone to the vices of corruption, bribery, and prostitution, Quesada insists that “his girls” are treated fairly. Zoara Bela does not charge a stage fee, and strippers are paid minimum tipped wage. Of course they must give the house a cut of their tips, but even that’s reasonable by industry standards. Managers are discouraged to become too handsy with the girls, and Quesada is not afraid to discharge male employees who begin “taking liberties.”

Houri
Some of the dancers at Zoara Bela earn extra money as houri, identified by a stylized “ZB” painted or tattooed on their left ankle. Besides being trained in various sensual arts, these hetaerae are schooled in basic memorization techniques, and are taught subtle methods to extract information from distracted clientele. Ignorant of their real employers, some of the houri believe that Quique works for the Mafia or the CIA, a rumor the Lasombra does nothing to dispel. Those hetaerae “in the know” are usually pallakís, or blood dolls, distinguished by the Greek letter “pi” tattooed on their wrist. Any “regular” dancer who stumbles across the supernatural nature of the club is quickly Dominated into forgetting.

Security
General security at Zoara Bela is handled by human bouncers, the traditional force of brawny young men dressed in black and sporting earpieces. They are managed by Ricky Rourke, a former vice detective enghouled to Quesada since the early eighties. Because the club maintains a fairly low supernatural profile, no Templars are needed. Quesada’s biggest headaches originate in the mundane world—greedy politicians, egotistical quarterbacks, or the reckless misbehavior of Usher’s entourage. The bouncers are reinforced by numerous “floor managers,” mostly ex-cops with connections to the Sabbat. These men dress in charcoal grey and carry snub-nose .38 revolvers holstered beneath their Armani jackets. They maintain general order among the girls and troubleshoot typical strip-club problems like drunk boyfriends, botched drug deals, and “accidentally” overcharged credit cards.

Layout

With three floors decorated along a “desert oasis” theme, Zoara Bela boasts multiple stages, bars, VIP lounges, and private rooms. There is also a basement level that serves as a bordello, a Champagne Room reserved for Cainites, and second-floor lounge used as a weekend cabaret.

The Vale
The basement of Siddim is known as the Vale, and is composed of private rooms called “odahs.” Each odah is tailored to fit a particular erotic scenario, from massage tables to miniature harems. To those approved by management, a generous tip to one of the houri results in a trip to the odah of the customer’s choice. Referred to euphemistically as “private dances,” these sessions range from “lessons” in the Kama Sutra to a good old-fashioned lap dances with no limitations. The most expensive option is a visit to the Grand Vizier’s Harem, where a few thousand dollars earns an hour of erotic entanglement amidst a perfumed seraglio of four talented houri.

The Gomorrah Lounge
Sometimes referred to as the V.I.V. Lounge or the “Real Pain” Room, the third-floor Gomorrah Lounge is reserved for Cainite visitors. Vampires are allowed to openly feed in the Gomorrah Lounge, and the only dancers permitted in the lounge are the pallakís. Quesada is careful to keep bloodthirsty Cainites away from his “regular” girls!

The Indigo Room
Originally a lounge devoted to more exotic forms of striptease such as belly dancing and burlesque, the Indigo Room was spun off as a semi-private cabaret in the nineties under the leadership of Gloria Excelsis. Although “Loviatar” now runs Cabaret Tannhäuser, the Indigo Room continues to host burlesque shows and various risqué productions. Open on weekends, the Indigo Room charges a separate cover, and has attracted a crowd of regulars who rarely visit “the strip club next door.”

Lupanaria of Byzantium
Club Byzantium | Viriconium | Siddim | The Hippodrome | Zoara Bela | Cabaret Tannhäuser | Empusa Theatre | Hellfire Club | Satrina

Sources & Notes

The core of the Gotham Sabbat was first uploaded on 31 October 2000, but the Byzantium Coven was extensively revised during the August-October 2018 update. The illustration on the banner is Snake Ink, by the delightful Medusa-Dollmaker. A few of the details regarding Zoara Bela’s inhabitants and business practices were taken from the accounts of strippers who worked at big New York clubs such as Scores and the Hustler Club, such as Ruth Fowler’s “Confessions of an Ex Scores Stripper.”

Author: Great Quail
Original Upload: 29 September 2018
Last Modified: 6 October 2018
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
PDF Version: [Coming Soon]