Chapter One
Ethan
“This club is super fun! I promise.” Humphrey pleaded with his hands clasped together in front of him.
“No,” I said firmly for the hundredth time. Clubs were not my thing. Everyone in Paesson loved clubs but not me. I preferred to spend my nights running as a wolf, not pretending I knew how to dance in a tiny room full of people.
“Come on!”
“No.”
“It won’t be fun without you. Please, Ethan. ” He turned his puppy-dog eyes on me and I groaned. There was a flicker of triumph in his eyes for a second before he went on, “I only turn 21 once.”
Humphrey was human. My only human friend. At first, our friendship had started because I was a little, tinsey-bit, attracted to him. Thankfully, my attraction had long since-faded, but the friendship had stayed. Now all he did was drag me to places I had zero interest in going to.
Ahh his eyes! I really couldn’t resist his begging. I had to go, I just had to.
“Okay. I’ll come,” I said after a long pause.
He slapped me on the back and cheered loudly. “Alright! We promise not to get you into guys or anything that wild,” he vowed with a teasing grin. That made me shift uncomfortably. He had no idea I was into guys as well as girls. I hadn’t kept it secret on purpose. It had just --surprisingly considering all Humphrey talked about were guys-- never come up. Ever.
Sultry neon lights and booming music was a given for any club, especially a gay one. But Lollipop Sunset had these heavy-fog machines that just blasted full time making the areas all around them clouded and secluded. It felt like a foggy dungeon in there.
“This way.” Humphrey held my arm and pulled me towards the bar. It was at the center of the club; an island accessible to all the four separate dance floors.
One of the bartenders eyed me and pouted when I ordered for a beer.
Humphrey rolled his eyes. “No one will see you order something fruity, Ethan.” He flung his arm over my shoulder. “And no one will judge you.”
“I like beer. Okay?” I defended, biting back a smile.
Humphrey pursed his lips. “Fine. Be like that,” he bit out.
He was a big-sized human. Muscular and tall. Though I was a little taller at 6′2, he made up for it in confidence and good humor. He led me to a booth where his friends were and before long Humphrey had escaped to the dance floor. I sighed. Of course he’d left me here with these almost-strangers.
They tried to make small talk and I made it back, but these weren’t my friends. They were all human, and in a place like Paesson Island their kind was sparse. Paesson was where Vampires and Werewolves each had their kingdom, the native Island for both species. It made for messed up diplomacy but it went back millenniums which meant that nether group was giving it up any time soon.
The population was predominantly Vampire and Werewolf. Humans, witches etcetera formed little clubs where they bonded about home and their cultures.
Exhibit A: Humphrey’s little group. He was the only one among them born in Paesson and he had quickly taken them in. Plus me; a lone wolf whose family was distant and lived far, far away. Which was a big fat lie. My family lived thirty minutes away from the university.
I sighed at the topic change. Now they were talking about school. I thought we had come out here to have a good time, not this snooze-fest.
All at once the energy in the room shifted. Someone tall and pale made their way to the bar and just like that a seat cleared up for them. On a Saturday! The busiest day of the week.
Dressed in a tight top that stopped above their belly button and tight black leather pants, the person somehow managed to give off an almost feminine air-- a slender waist and long legs certainly helped.
Oh, and they were wearing the highest heels I had ever seen!
Something warm tugged at my stomach. It was telling me to go talk to them. See them up-close. Hit on someone in a gay bar. That was way out of my comfort zone.
But something was telling me to go right then or I would be sorry for the rest of my life.
