a little less dandy, a little more take this spike to my heart

i

"The Sixteen Candles guys are getting close." Geoff tells Otto and Awsten. The faint clacking of shoes on concrete comes into range of Awsten's hearing on cue and he turns to see for himself. Four shadowy figures are trying to creep their way into the city and from the looks of it, he can see they're armed too, except for one.

Awsten sniffs the area and besides the scent of smoke and garbage, there's also the distinct fleshy human scent and scent of something else wafting with it.

"That's them. Only Pete would have that weird dusty musk vamps have and a garlic blood scent," Awsten notes.

The three of them are at a shady alley in a hidden corner the city, the black sky and their heightened abilities keeping them away from any of the vampire gangs itching for a kill at this time. It's nine o'clock now; a period where some Dandies, the most notorious of the gangs, begin to lurk for their first kill of the night and the time the trio is supposed to meet up with the notorious vampire resistance group, the Sixteen Candles Hunters' Agency.

"What if this is just a setup?" Otto spurts. "You know what happened to the Betas. We don't need that happening to us."

Awsten bites his lip, knowing he made a good point. Some Betas were found dead from Sixteen Candles weapons in attacks earlier in the month, or at least that's what most of the pack is saying. They've done minor business with them before with weapon trades so he knows what danger they're dealing with, but he can't shake off the rawness in Patrick's voice in the brief, yet urgent message the agency had sent to them earlier. Somehow it overshadows the fear.

"They think the Betas were under some sort of hypnosis from Dandies, but there was also something else they couldn't explain." Geoff explains, eyes cast downwards. "The Clandestine labs found an extreme chemical imbalance in the Betas they tried to save, but nothing worked and they had to do what was best for everyone."

Otto looks down glumly, and Awsten can hear him take in a breath as the flesh and blood and garlic scents grow stronger.

Four pairs of shoes shuffle towards the alley entryway, blocking off the small exit completely. Awsten can even hear the quiet click of some of their weapons being cocked.

"Petey," Awsten begins, rolling on an overconfident smirk. "Nice to see y'all brought presents."

"Can it." Andy huffs, aiming his gun or whatever he has at Awsten. Christ, they could at least give him a chance to actually speak.

Pete raises a hand in front of Andy, ceasing him from shooting and forcing him to put down his weapon. "Just a precaution, Awssie ." It's Pete's turn to grin now as Awsten scowls, cringing at that god awful nickname.

Pete's smile dissolves as Patrick gives him a light shove on his shoulder and a raised eyebrow to remind him why they're meeting.

"We got some news to break to you and we figure we could use your help." Patrick says, attempting to meet somewhat eye to eye with them in the dark. "We think there's this new gang and they came up on our radar after a Dandy attack downtown. They left some of these in their tracks."

Patrick drops his weapon to pull a neon pink flyer out of his jacket pocket. He holds his arm out, inviting Awsten, Geoff, or Otto to take it. It reeks of alcohol and metal and ends up in the hands of Geoff, Otto and Awsten surrounding his sides to read it for themselves. The Church of Hot Addiction, the title reads. There's a picture of a hissing cobra stamped in black and Hosted at Cobra Headquarters and Accepting new parishioners Friday the 13th at 6:00 P.M. under invitation is printed on top of the design.

"And what does this have to do with us?" Geoff asks, looking up from the flyer.

"Well, we don't know how old this thing is, but this Friday the Thirteenth is a full moon and well—hold that up to the moon and you'll see." Patrick explains.

With a a skeptic brow raised, Geoff lifts up the paper to the sky. Once the moonlight casts a light down to it, something does happen. The fierce cobra fades off the paper and instead, an image of a howling wolf drawn in a glowing white light replaces the empty space.

"Holy shit." Awsten looks in awe of the change.

"Yeah, pretty much." Joe agrees with a nod.

"Anyways, we're thinking this is some werewolf related shit based off that, but we don't know what exactly. This city doesn't need another shitty ass gang harming the humans and definitely doesn't need a new religion." Pete scowls as he grits out the words, probably thinking of all the poor, miserable humans stuck here. "We don't know whose side they're on, but if it's another gang, it's probably not ours. We need your help to infiltrate them and find out what the fuck is going down there."

Otto hums in mock thought and rests his chin between his thumb and index finger. "Let's see, risk our lives helping Pete Wentz and his friends who kill wolves like us or deny the offer."

He can hear Pete start to hiss a little at the statement. Typical vampire, Awsten thinks.

"You do know this involves all of you, right?" Andy has his arms crossed tightly over his chest now.

"We know," Geoff places a firm, yet tender hand on Otto, who sighs and leans in. "but what's in it for us?"

"Not dealing with another gang and not getting your pack fucked over by them." Joe says in a "duh" voice. "There's also some experimental tech we can loan you to help you with that uh, experiment thing we heard you got."

Awsten's eyes widen at the words; Geoff and Otto freezing for a moment hearing it too. The only people who were supposed to know about that were Geoff, Otto, Travis, and whoever was working with Jawn in the lab.

"We'll do it," Geoff announces to everyone without consulting Awsten and Otto. The Sixteen Candles guys look content and a little surprised from the response, Awsten and Otto reacting the opposite of that.

God, they're so fucked.