to be respected.
Crouched at the bottom of the cage, Ashi had time to reflect on his current situation. Definitely not what he had expected a vampire’s empire would be like. The donors were in good spirits, but not in a zombie-like Stepford way. He had legitimate businesses, not terrifying pits of mayhem, blood and death.
It was really tweaking Ashi’s head. Sitting in a cage waiting to dance like a monkey above the heads of humans wasn’t helping.
As soon as Christoph came back, he was ushered into the other cage, Ken despairing over the wrinkles in his shirt. The lights dimmed, strobes and the occasional black light flickered, while an odd collage of provocative Gothic images whirled over the screen behind the stage. The music was deep, throbbing, and heavy on the bass. People soon flooded into the room, spilling onto the dance floor and lining up at the bar. Within minutes of opening, it was packed wall to wall, even on the second- and third-floor catwalks.
A great many of the men wore leather and latex. Most of the women were dressed in clothing so scanty, it could barely be called that. Some blatantly wore lingerie, strutting around in heels and garters. Christoph spotted one in a fishnet shirt with hot pink “X”s taped over her nipples.
Even scarier was the fat, hairy guy in the Catholic school girl outfit, grinning at everyone through his beard.
Most of the patrons were having a good time, laughing, dancing, drinking, and flirting. A handful were dark, moody, and looked like they should be carrying copies of an Anne Rice novel in the back pockets of their trench coats. They slunk around the edges of the crowd, trying desperately to both fit in and yet stand out in the crowd.
A few girls, and even a couple of guys, gave piercing squeals of delight when they spotted Ashi and Christoph, shouting anything from words of encouragement to blatant offers to meet them after work.
Thankfully, much of this was drowned out by the pounding music.
As the first song of the night wound down, the stage dancers took their places. The strobes dimmed and winding, rotating spotlights followed their movements as they started whirling to a fast, heavily remixed version of “Sexy Back.” The crowd gave a spattering of laughter and hoots and jeers while the performers got moving, backlit by a risqué video on the screen behind them.
Their provocative gyrations worked the crowd into a frenzy, many pressing closer to the stage and calling to their favorites. The choreography was flawless, not a one of the performers distracted by all the screaming and hollering and waving hands. With the way Reece ran his hands over his partner’s body, you’d never have guessed his sexual orientation. All for the crowd, of course.
Christoph had danced before. Not this kind of dancing, but at least he knew how to move. He’d also been in situations with bad or varied lighting, usually trying to kill someone, so he wasn’t bothered by the strobes. It wasn’t the most comfortable situation, but he liked being around people, and right now they were paying attention to him. For a pack animal, it was a very gratifying experience.
Ashi, on the other hand, had never danced before. He avoided crowds. He had never been in a situation with a strobe light assaulting his eyes.
Strobes blinded Goliaths. The massive Weres had evolved to work in darkness as they hunted vampires. In a situation where there was light and darkness, their eyes adjusted to the darkness faster than the light. When a strobe was on, their pupils dilated to make up for the contrast. Whenever the strobe flashed, they were blinded.
Without the capabilities of their fuzzy side, Christoph and Ashi didn’t experience nail-gun like pain. However, Ashi was immediately disoriented. He stood stock still in his cage, head craned up like a Goliath on the lookout.
Christoph recognized the stance. He shouted at Ashi, his voice almost lost in the noise.
“Hey! Hey, Ashi! Hey! Dipstick!”
Ashi looked at him. God, he was the very image of a lost puppy.
“Snap out of it! Dude, snap out of it!”
Ashi blinked and looked around.
“Hey! When we get back—hey!—when we get back, Reece is going to give you more lessons than me because you aren’t dancing!”
Ashi’s eyes widened.
Well, when in Rome.
The crowd loved it when they both started moving, the sounds of cheering and catcalls growing louder. Ken watched from one of the security feeds in the back, pleased with this turn of events. He’d