Page 12 of Only Fangs

In all meanings of the word.

Chapter Five

Collin stared at the mirror in front of him.

There was no way anyone was going to recognize him dressed as he was in a thick dark robe and a hood that covered half his face–and a black mask that hid most of the rest. In his left hand, he held a fake scythe, making him look like the Grim Reaper. He’d chosen this particular costume because it hid his features, and also because nobody expected to find a mortal dressed as the personification of death at a vampire club.

He’d paid a small fortune for scent blockers, but he realized that it would be weird for him to smell of nothing at all, so he’d sprayed himself with cologne, hoping that he wasn’t using too much.

He really had very little experience with this kind of thing.

But he thought he’d done alright, all things considered.

His own mother wouldn’t know who was hiding under this costume.

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to relax his racing nerves.

This was fine. Everything was going to be fine.

He was just going to go in, find some collaborators, talk business, and leave before Mikael even had a chance to approach him.

It was going to be great.

“Here goes nothing,” he whispered to himself as he grabbed his keys off the dresser and headed toward the exit. He paused to check that Luna had food and water, gave her a quick pat, and then stepped outside and locked the door behind himself.

The club was located on the west side of the city, in an area called Rubyville, just to the side of Gemstone Valley and south of Topaz Heights, where all the rich shifters lived.

Collin took the bus to Rubyville, ignoring all the people who whispered among each other at the sight of his costume.

He chose to look out the windows instead. Collin had never visited this area of town before, since it was notorious for its vampire population, but it was surprisingly pretty. Even in the dark, the houses looked cozy, the streets lined with trees. Collin could imagine himself living here if it weren’t for the danger lurking in the dark alleys. Or the fact that he couldn’t afford it, of course.

When he arrived at the club, he hesitated for only a moment before pushing the door open and entering the building.

The interior was dark and smoky, with flashing lights and loud music. The floor vibrated beneath Collin’s feet, the heavy bass of the song pounding into him like a frantic heartbeat.

The place was packed with dancers and people mingling at the bar, all of them in costume. Only a few of the other guests had chosen to fully conceal their identity the way Collin had, though. Most of the attendees didn’t bother with masks or hoods, and instead opted for makeup that changed their appearance, or wigs or hats or different clothing. There were a fair amount of firemen, sexy cops, pirates, superheroes, and various versions of zombies, ghosts, and skeletons.

Collin stood near the entrance awkwardly.

What was he supposed to do now that he was here? He wasn’t exactly sure how this sort of event worked. Were people just supposed to come up to each other and introduce themselves? Was he meant to go around and try to figure out who was who, or…?

First, he had to find a safe spot, a less crowded corner from which he could observe.

He walked deeper into the building, past dancing bodies and eventually spotted a table in the back with no one sitting at it yet.

Perfect.

Collin hurried to claim the table before anybody else could get it, and settled in.

Now what?

He looked around, scanning the club and the people in it. A couple of the men in the club caught his eye–a guy with bright green skin and pointy horns, wearing an outfit that looked vaguely Greek, another dressed as a pirate, complete with fake eyepatch, hook and parrot–and his gaze lingered on them for several moments. He was fairly sure they were both streamers. Collin had seen their videos. The man with the green skin was called Zelos and was known for how flexible his body seemed to be.

He was definitely worth chatting up.

Maybe.

Collin swallowed, feeling suddenly overwhelmed. He wasn’t usually so shy about approaching guys, but this was different. He’d watched Zelos do all sorts of weird sexual things on camera, and his goal tonight was to ask Zelos to do weird sexual thingsto him.

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