Chapter 23: Putting the loyalty to the test

 Loud music blazing all around us, people dancing on the dance floor. Not dancing, per se. Having sex on the dance floor, with clothes on, and without any anal traffic.

I love it in here. Now, I have tried to enter gay clubs before, but was never let inside. Granted, I didn't have a reservation, but people should have still allowed me entrance, right? 

Well, no. You see, the purpose of a mating hall, such as the gay bar, is to end up with people in the dark rooms, getting down and dirty. I was fat, remember? Who would want to get down and dirty with me? I feel someone sit next to me, and I look up from Ferenc's phone. 

The man is about forty, and he looks like a wall of muscle. Like, does this man spent his entire day in the fitness? It wouldn't surprise me. He waves the bartender over. A man with a swimmer's built, and tattoos all over his arms, and orders. I go back to staring at the phone. Then, out of the blue, there is a shot glass before me. 

I look back to my neighbor, who smiles at me. He offers his hand, and says something in Hungarian. 

"My name is Julius," I tell him, as I shake his hand. He blinks at me, and then smiles wider. 

"Gabe," he tells me. I think he shortened his name just now, but I don't feel like asking for his full one. I point at my glass. 

"I don't drink," I tell him, and he quirks an eyebrow. 

"Yet, you are at a bar?" He says, and then chuckles. His voice is as smooth as velvet. Then, I notice something. He doesn't have a heartbeat. I look around for Ferenc, and see him on the dance floor, grinding into two men. My mood sours at that. "Is that your friend?" 

"We are not exactly together," I say, and then think about going back to the phone. Deciding that it would be rude, I pocket the phone, and give the vampire next to me my full attention. 

"You are not from around here," he says, and I nod. 

"Germany," I say, and he hums. 

"Yes, you do have a slight accent," he agrees, and I wonder where this conversation is going. It feels like a dead-end street, but who knows?

"For how long have you been one of us?" He asks, and I wonder what to tell him. Can he see that I am not as old as he? He has this aura around him, that tells me he has seen more than one century. 

"About a year. I spent most of it in Hungary," I tell him, and he rests his head on his elbow. 

"Did Ferenc kidnap you?" This question takes me out of the loop. Does that man know Ferenc? A part of me wonders if I shouldn't come clean, and tell him that I was indeed held captive. Then, Ferenc comes from the dance floor, and, as soon as he sees Gabe, he stiffens. 

"Gabor, what are you doing in here?" Ferenc asks. Hah, I knew that the other vampire shortened his name. 

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"I was hoping I can speak to you, but then I found this handsome young thing. Do you feel like sharing?" Gabe sends Ferenc a predatory smirk, and I suddenly feel uncomfortable between them. 

"I do mind," Ferenc says with a snarl. Gabe holds up his hands in surrender. 

"It was just a suggestion," he says, in a calm voice. His smirk is replaced with a frown. "Fer, the hunters know about your hut. If you go back there now, you will be smoked out." 

I blink at that. Hunters? What hunters. Wait, are there still vampire hunters in this day and age? Ferenc curses in Hungarian, and takes a hold of my arm. 

"Come on," he says, and gets me to stand up from my chair. 

"Please don't say that you are going to go back there, old friend. Think about your lover here. He will get hurt, if you are foolish," Gabe calls out after us, but Ferenc all but dragged me to the exit of the club. 

"Are we going back?" I ask, and Ferenc nods. 

"They won't have my home," he tells me, and I gulp. 

"What are you going to do to them?" I ask him because I need to know. If I, a fellow vampire, ended up in chains, then how is he going to treat vampire hunters? The smirk that Ferenc gives me, is all teeth. 

"Don't worry, you will be at a safe place the entire time," he says, and I feel relieved that I won't be there for the massacre. It is not like I would bet against Ferenc in a fight. No way in hell. I know, from all our times playing tag with a rifle, that he is one vicious son of a bitch. 

As I sit on a hotel bed, and type in his phone, I regret that I don't have one of my own, so Ferenc could take his own phone, and call me when he is done. He promised me that he will be back. In case he is not, I have five hundred Euro in my pocket, and the room is prepaid for another week. 

Now, anyone else would have used the opportunity to run away. But I have a Stockholm syndrome. Yes, I know what is wrong with me, and I am not afraid to voice it out loud. 

 I still can't wrap my mind that there are still vampire hunters. - moosyMcmoose.

This is one urban fantasy now. - dragonfly94.

I bet Ferenc will lock the hunters in the basement. - killyourself89. 

I pause in my typing, and reread the last words. Wait, is Ferenc really going to lock up living human beings in the basement? Aliz should know best, right? He knows Ferenc better than I. The only thing I can do is wait. Wait, and pray that there are no bounty hunters in the basement, when I get back to the hut.   

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