VAMPIRUS

CLUB NITE

Danny listened intently to everything that both Blake and Broderick told him; mostly from Blake.  About an hour and a bottle and a half of chardonnay later, he sat back in the chair, contemplating all of the information he was just given.  Blake and Broderick watched him patiently, allowing him to soak everything in.

Danny leaned forward and grabbed his glass of spirit.  "Wow," he simply stated after taking a swig.  "Wow."

"That's all you can say?" Blake chuckled.  Broderick sat beside him, saying nothing.  His eyes focused on Danny but he stayed quiet.  Blake noticed it during the conversation and placed a comforting arm around his shoulders.

Danny shrugged.  "I don't really know what to say.  Seems like Broderick's past keeps catching up to us."

"Us?" Broderick broke his silence.
"Yeah," Danny retorted levelly.  "Aren't we all in this together?"

Blake raised his brows and nodded in agreement.  "Yeah.  We are."

"But I don't want to stay here and dwell on it," Danny said.  He downed the rest of his glass and set it on the coffee table.  "I say we go out."

Blake glanced at Broderick and was pleased to see a smile spread across his face.

"I'm down," Broderick replied.

***

The spacious warehouse-turned-dance club was live.

Blake, Broderick and Danny, dressed in their own individual style, entered the festive interior and slowly descended the small staircase leading to the main floor.  The lights flashed and danced crazily throughout the entire atmosphere to the hypnotic rhythmic beat of the selections the main deejay was producing.  The numerous patrons mainly flooded the dance area with adequate room to meander through the crowd.  Most of the clientele were mortal.

Easy pickings.

Blake's spirit relaxed from the events earlier as well as had Broderick's.   He as well as Danny quickly caught onto the vibe of the festiveness around them and broke away from Blake, joining each other in their own little part of the dance floor.  Broderick turned his fitted cap backward and placed his strong arms over Danny's shoulders, the two of them gyrating rhythmically in tune with music, Danny wrapping his arms around Broderick's waist, a Blu e-cigarette between his fingers.  Blake watched them with a pleased expression then slowly made his way over to the bar, slyly sniffing the delectable flesh of the throbbing and sweating humans around him.  Some even caught his stare with hungry gazes of their own.  He'd smile respectfully at them and continue on, leaving his own seductive energy behind to flood their senses.  It was all part of the game:  seduce but not overpoweringly, just enough to titillate and leave them in a slight euphoria of lust.

He finally approached the bar and telepathically ordered the bartender for a mixed drink and a bottle of Merlot, which he then took and tossed it into the air without looking, sending it in Broderick's direction who caught the bottle by the neck without looking, opening it and gulping it down.  The toss and catch between the vampires was so quick and fluid that no one noticed except Danny, whontook the bottle from from Broderick and took a swallow.  Blake attended to his own drink, a gin and tonic, and scanned the scene.

It was mostly a younger crowd but there were older members, some who were all up in the faces of the younger folk.  All of it was a beautifully fascinating array of bodies of all sizes, colors and shapes.  Blake's eyes sifted among the pulsing bodies, occasionally shooting an unsuspecting prospect with a telepathic twinge, causing them to lose their pose and look around, confused.  Eventually their eyes would feast upon his gaze as he stared back at them for a brief moment then mentally pull away, making said individual refocus on their surroundings but remain slightly dazed and incoherent of the past few seconds.  One or two of Blake's victims eventually crossed paths with him, which would then initiate phase two of the seduction, be they male or female.  He enjoyed toying with them.  It made the game of seduction much more fun.

Taking another sip of his chosen poison, Blake shifted his gaze over to the two love birds, Broderick and Danny ... and seeing another suitor join in with the dance:  a tall and slender young man, dark complected and handsome with dark eyes set within chiseled yet baby-faced features.  This peculiar individual sidled up alongside Danny and spoke something in his which caused Danny to catch a case.  Blake's senses shot into overload.

As did Broderick's.  He immediately sandwiched himself between Danny and the stranger with vampiric speed.  The young man, with cocky grin and arrogant attitude, remain unmoved.  He actually took a step closer to Broderick, sizing him up.

Blake immediately shot to Broderick's side.  Stay calm, he warned him in his mind.  We don't know who's up in here.  Broderick knew enough that if anything were to pop off in any precarious situation, it was best to use discretion as there were those in the populace unaware of the dark world of vampire, witch, magic, secret societies of the metaphysical and paranormal.  Blake deeply sensed that this stranger, no doubt himself knowing this, was trying Broderick's patience in order to get him to cross that line.  This guy no doubt did his homework.

"There's a time and place," Blake advised him.  "Plenty of room outside.  You down?"

The young man's grin never faded and he laughed.  He leaned even closer to Blake.  "Nothing would give me more pleasure than watching you die," he growled.

Blake's power exerted outward more to keep both Broderick and Danny restrained, and he could feel their anger seething at him for doing so.

Blake! Broderick growled at him.

Not here, Broderick! Blake returned.  Not here!

Broderick mentally hissed at him. 

Blake fought the urge to slap him by concentrating all of his attention on the antagonist in front of him.  He'd deal with  Broderick later.  

"Lead the way, mortal," Blake addressed the young man.  "I do hope you know what you're stepping into."

The lad snickered.  "Do you?"

Just then, Blake and Broderick spun around, both of their senses kicking into overdrive.  Danny was in the clutches of a young slender woman, curvaceous, dark-skinned and head full of hair, pushing a dagger (although concealed) against his chest, right at the heart.

"One wrong move," she snared at them, "and your buddy suffers true death."