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VAMPIRES NOT INVITED

Excerpt

An angry voice from behind me caught my attention.

"Look at them," one of the two Vampires males said. "Content to do nothing but go along with their pathetic little lives."

"I'm sick of this." The other Vampire kept his tone low. "We put up with the way these idiotic paranorms treat our kind. No respect."

It took some effort to not turn around and say, "Want respect? Why don't you start with doing something with your lives other than sucking blood?"

Then I remembered Vampires have no life.

Heh.

Instead of making any kind of remark, I tried to watch a Shifter and a Doppler arm wrestle. They were at the same table, cattycorner to Nadia and me, where the first opponents had been competing.

Tried and failed to focus on the competition. I couldn't concentrate because of the Vampires who were talking on the other side of our table. I wanted to tell them to shut their traps.

But their traps were saying such strange and peculiar things, like "It won't be long," "Things will change," and "He'll let us know when the time is right."

When one of them said "Volod," my pointed ears perked up. They were talking about the city's Master Vampire. I'd never met Volod—Vampires aren't exactly my favorite paranorms—but everyone knew about him in the paranorm world.

"Volod will see to everything, Joseph," one of the Vampires said.

I turned just enough to set my empty martini glass on the table and see the two Vamps from the corner of my eye.

"Yeah, we won't have to worry about putting up with paranorm shit much longer," the Vampire called Joseph replied. He was the young Vampire. "I've told you before to call me Joe." I wanted to laugh when he told the other Vampire to call him Joe. Who ever heard of a Vampire named Joe? He added, "Not Joseph, just Joe, okay, Dracula?"

Dracula?

The other Vampire stared at Joe with his cold green eyes. "Drago," the Vampire said in a voice impossibly colder than his eyes. "Don't fuck with me, Joseph."

"Yeah. Drago." Joe shrugged but the act wasn't as nonchalant as the young Vamp tried to make it. "Whatever you want."

I took another sip of my martini, doing my best to act like I wasn't eavesdropping. Considering the pounding music and all of the voices in the crowded nightclub, I shouldn't have been able to hear them all. A gift or a curse, sometimes I'm not sure, but my hearing is exceptional.

Trying to go unnoticed when you have blue hair and amethyst skin becomes more of a challenge. Fortunately the two Vampires weren't paying attention to me.

"So what's the plan?" Joe said in a hurry, like he was trying to change the subject.

"Volod will make his plan known to all Vampire kind soon." Drago started to take a drink of his fake blood cocktail and made a disgusted face before he put the glass down again. "For now all you need to do is be prepared." His eyes locked with Joe's again. "And keep your mouth shut."

"Like who am I gonna tell?" Joe muttered then looked away from Drago. "I don't even know enough to tell anyone what's gonna go down."

"Exactly." Drago's fang's glinted in the strobe lighting. "And that's the way we'll keep it. For now."

"Vampires don't belong in a paranorm night club," came a very hard, very drunk voice. I did turn then, just enough to see a Shifter named Jack who I didn't know very well, but had always avoided. He was well known as a real jerk.

Jack held a bottle of Bud and wore a more belligerent expression than usual. "Your kind shouldn't be allowed through those doors."

Drago raised his head and hissed, his fangs looked sharper, longer than before. The green-eyed Vampire slowly got to his feet. "Leave, Shifter. Or I will make you."

With a harsh laugh, the Shifter threw the contents of his beer bottle into the Drago's eyes.

The Vampire moved so fast I barely saw it. He grabbed the Shifter by his neck and lifted the male so that his feet were dangling.

A gurgling sound came from the Shifter's throat a second before he shifted into a snake.

Drago looked disgusted and flung the snake to the floor. The snake immediately rose up back into his human form.

Joe shot to his feet and slammed his fist into the Shifter's face.

The Shifter stumbled backward then morphed into a cougar.

It pounced on Joe, driving the Vampire to the floor.

The next thing I knew, the cougar was flying across the room.

It landed on a table. It collapsed in a crash, drinks and broken wood flying, and knocking five screaming Pixies and Nymphs off of their chairs.

Drago's green eyes burned with hate as he started to stalk the cougar. Before he'd taken a step, two of Rodan's Doppler bouncers, Tony and Kyle, grabbed the Vampire by his arms.

"You're out of the club." Tony dug his fingers into Drago's biceps as he began to drag the Vampire toward the door.

Kyle had the Vampire's other side. "Don't even think about coming back."

Drago hissed but didn't struggle. When they reached the door, the Vampire said loud enough for me to hear over the music. "You have failed to respect our kind, but you will."

"Whatever." Kyle shoved the Vampire out the door, and out of sight.

I looked at the other Vampire who was already following Drago. The cougar was licking his paw, never taking his tawny eyes from Joe.

The second Vamp strode to the doorway where Kyle and Tony had just thrown out Drago.

Joe paused a second as he looked at the bouncers. "You'll regret this."

Tony made a snorting sound. "Don't bother coming back. It's a wonder any of your kind are allowed in the Pit."

The Vampire snarled before brushing by Tony and Kyle, then past Matthew who still manned the front door in Fred's place.