Bruiser grabbed the nearest object, a speaker the size of a compact car. He launched the sound equipment, and I watched it sail through the air before colliding into Grim. Both Grim and the speaker disappeared as they smashed into the far wall as fleeing club goers dove out of the way.
My heart clenched.
Before I could try to help him, a welcoming party of three blonde, twenty-something girls with blood-red eyes stepped in, and hissed at me like a pack of aggravated mongooses. They could have been the Swedish Olympic gymnast team from their fair features, compact muscle, and tight-fitting spandex uniforms. No. They were wearing too much glitter, and their outfits…
Two of them broke into impressive flips and twists befitting a gymnastics competition. Aw blood clots, I knew where I recognized them. Someone had turned performers from Cirque de Soleil into vampires. I’d seen the twisting trio on billboards.
At least the master hadn’t turned Blue Man Group and sent them after me. Those dudes creeped me the hell out.
“Call me crazy, but I would love to start a braid train with you gals,” I said, in honest awe of the girls’ flaxen locks.
They charged.
“Guess that’s a no, then?”
I dodged the first one with a last-minute sidestep, letting her momentum send her tumbling behind me. When the second girl came at me, I grabbed her arm. With a twist, I flipped her over. She landed so hard on her back, the floor cracked under the impact.
A feral grin curled my lips. The vampire strength had not gotten old yet.
The third blonde flipped over my head, then scored a punch to my midsection. If I had still needed to breathe, it would have knocked the wind out of me. My stomach smarted from the blow, but I was still standing. Haha, suck it, gymnast barbie!
When I took a step back, my ankle rolled, and I went down like a clown on a banana peel. Damn peep-toe heels. I knew I should have gone with combat boots. My ass took the brunt of the fall, pain radiating up my tailbone and spine, but my ego was far more bruised.
The third blonde wasted no time, scrabbling on top of me, holding down my arms. A second blonde grabbed my legs. I squirmed and jerked, kicking and punching as best I could, but their grips were like iron.
“Pineapples, pineapples,” I cried out. Didn’t they know the universal safe word? “No means no. And pineapples means hell no,” I elaborated for their sake.
Still, they refused to loosen their grips despite my helpful lesson in consent. The last blonde approached, pulling out chains from the back of her tight pants.Whoa. Where had she been hiding that thing?
“If that’s been up your crack, I don’t want it touching any part of me, you hear?” I said, dead serious. She ignored me and wrapped the cold metal around my wrists.
Ew.
The three vampires flew off my body as if blown away by an explosive wind. I tilted my head to find Grim was back on his feet. Darkness hovered around him like he’d opened up a black hole. Gold arced and sparked from his eyes. His hands morphed again, elongating into black nightmarish talons. The skin of his face roiled and shifted as if he were about to transform into something else. His smile turned my blood cold.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to invite whatever transformation he seemed on the verge of, but I was grateful the big scary monster was on my side…for now.
With ease, the blondes flipped back onto their feet before rushing Grim.
Grim’s clawed fist connected with the first vampire, sending her reeling across the room. Then he clobbered the second, sending her smashing into the bar with a crash of glass. He grabbed the head of the third blonde, and with a sharp, violent twist, he tore her head clean off.
Whoa. So that’s one way to kill a vampire. Is that how he intends to finish me off?
When I got to my feet, another hand closed around my arm.
“You’re coming with me,” Bruiser growled.
“For the last time, I’m not going to prom with you. You’ll have to ask some other lucky girl. I suggest checking out the coma patients at Sunrise Hospital.”
“The master wants you.”
The possibility of going along with him and getting the answers I needed flitted through my mind. It took all of half a second to dismiss that idea. I would get answers, but it would be on my terms. The master would have to get his “thrills” somewhere else.
I threw a punch, aiming for his nose, but he caught it. “You think you can handle this, bitch?” Bruiser asked, his sour breath fanning across my face. Then he looked me up and down, as if undressing me with his eyes while dragging his tongue across his fangs. “Though maybe we can stop and have a little fun along the way, seeing as you are begging for a good humping in that slutty getup.” He directed my hand to his junk, and I grimaced as he slid my knuckles against a rising bulge. And they said chivalry was dead.
“Hey, ya big creep, this outfit is not a sexual invitation. I dress for my own damn self.” I left out the part about wearing the skintight suit to drive Grim crazy. “You like it so much, buy your own catsuit and prance around.”
Pitted against Bruiser once again, I wondered how likely I was to tear his head off like Grim had done to gymnast barbie. Examining the thick neck on the meathead, I did not like my odds. So I threw my knee into his groin. He doubled over with a groan of pain, releasing me.
