“What the hell?” he whispered “Why do they want you?”
“It’s hard being so popular,” I whispered back.
“You,” George said to Quinn. “They’re your friends, right? Do something!”
Quinn’s expression was bleak. “Not anymore. There’s nothing I can do.”
“Then come on.” George pulled on my arm. “Let’s sneak out the back.”
I shook my head. “No. There’re too many people in here that will be hurt. And Thierry’s going to get himself killed if we don’t do something to stop this.”
I scanned the crowd and spotted Amy sitting with Barry at a small table near the stage.
She gave me a quick wave of her hand and mouthed, “What now?” She clung to the small frame of Barry as if he were the only thing keeping her from falling into the abyss. He stared up at the stage with a fierce, brave expression on his face. I shrugged at her. I honestly didn’t know what to do next. All I knew was that I couldn’t just slither out of here on the floor, saving myself but no one else. It just wasn’t polite.
“Any dealings you need to have,” Thierry said to Peter in a commanding tone, “you can have with me. Sarah has nothing to do with any of this.”
Peter took the microphone off the stand and pressed it against his lips so the words came out slurred and extra loud. “Sa-rah. Sa-rah. Come out, come out, wherever you are. I think I’ll start with your eyes and work my way down that luscious little body. Come on now. Don’t keep me waiting.”
Quinn climbed over me to stand next to Thierry.
“Peter,” he yelled up to the stage. “Don’t do this.”
Peter smiled at his former acquaintance. “Well, if it isn’t Michael Quinn. Glad you’re here. Wanted to say thanks a bunch for leaving me at the restaurant like you did. They had to take me to the hospital and pump my stomach. I almost died.”
“Kill or be killed, man. Times have changed.”
“Yes, they have. Look, Quinn, I’ll do you a favor because we have a history. I’ll let you walk. Leave now and I’ll look the other way. Doesn’t mean I won’t hunt your ass down another time, but all I want tonight is that bitch.”
Quinn was blocking me so Peter couldn’t see I was sitting right behind him. He shook his head. “Can’t do that. You’ve made this my fight now.”
“Stupid decision. Maybe your father’s been right about you.”
“My father is dead.”
Peter’s eyebrows shot up. He took a moment before speaking again. “Then I guess you really have made your decision. Okay, people”—he turned from Quinn to survey the rest of the crowd—“let’s get this show on the road. Time is money.”
He jumped off the stage and snatched Amy right out of Barry’s arms. He dragged her back up to the stage with him, his arm tight around her neck.
“Hey, darlin‘.” He kissed her cheek with a sloppy, wet sound. “Good to see you again.”
I didn’t even feel myself move, but suddenly I was on my feet. “Hey, asshole,” I called up to the stage. “Let her go right now.”
Thierry turned around to glare at me for making my presence known. Quinn too. My two handsome protectors. I sure was a lucky girl.
Peter smiled at me but didn’t loosen his hold on his ex-girlfriend. “I’d be happy to let her go. Why don’t you come up here and take her place?”
“No, Sarah!” Amy’s voice was strangled.
Thierry, Quinn, and George grabbed my arms to try to stop me from moving forward, but I was determined. I marched through the crowd, which now parted before me like the Red Sea, and then I was standing in front of Peter.
“Here I am, you one-eyed bastard.”
“Come a little closer. Don’t be shy.” Peter stared down at me, and raging fires burned beneath the furious gaze of that one good eye. He was going to kill me. For what I’d done to him in self-defense.
I hesitated. After all, I didn’t want to die. Maybe I was all talk, no action. Come to think of it, that’s what they used to say about me in high school. But I didn’t want anyone else to die tonight, either. What was up with these hunters? Didn’t they realize what they were doing was wrong? We weren’t evil. We weren’t monsters. But that’s how they saw us. A breath caught in my chest. They saw us as evil, bloodsucking monsters that needed to be exterminated like insects.
That was it. That was the answer. I tried to make my voice as calm as I could. “You can have me, Peter. Do what you want to me. But could I say a few last words to everyone first?”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“A condemned person on death row gets to say their last words. They also get a last meal, but I’m not hungry. All I want is my moment in the spotlight. Come on, be a sport.”
He studied me for a moment, men sneered. “Sure, why not? Go ahead, darlin‘. Say your fill. After that, you’re all mine.”
The smile he gave me then was full of the promise of all the horrible things he’d do to me if this didn’t work. I suddenly wished for a Plan B. You can never be too prepared. I stepped onto the stage. He released Amy after giving her a last disgusting lick up the side of her face and pushed her hard out into the audience. A few people caught her so she didn’t get hurt or land on top of the dead singer. Peter’s smile widened as he moved away from the microphone, waving his hand at it to indicate it was all mine. I was now close enough to him that if he’d wanted to reach out and snap my neck, he could have easily. But he’d promised to let me have my say. I guess he was a man of his word, even if that word was “asshole.” He sheathed his stake and crossed his arms.
I tapped the microphone. The lights were painfully bright up there, and the faces in the audience were darkened now, but I could tell I had everyone’s undivided attention. At the back of the club I could see two more hunters guarding the black door so no one could escape. That made, I counted in my head, twelve hunters in total. I looked over to Thierry and Quinn. George had stood up next to them so he could see me better. They all watched helplessly. They had no idea what I was going to do, other than get myself killed.
“Hi, everyone,” I said into the microphone. “I don’t have much to say. I know Peter here’s in a big hurry. Men, you know. The thing is, he’s just doing what he thinks is right by killing me and maybe killing the rest of you before the night is through. That’s what the hunters do. They kill vampires. I mean, look at what Hollywood has done to us. Made us into bloodsucking, murderous monsters. Ugly, white-faced bat creatures. Scary, icky night stalkers. Or, on the other hand, you have the hot, steamy vampire lovers. Those are my favorites, of course, but they’re still mostly evil.”
I pulled the microphone off the stand so I could hold it closer to my mouth.
“And evil things should be killed, right? If we were all just regular folks—doctors, lawyers, and schoolteachers—going about our daily business… well, that would be another thing. We wouldn’t deserve to die because of that. These hunters would be the murderers then, wouldn’t they? But we’re not those normal, everyday, boring things.”
I took a deep breath. “We’re monsters. Evil, scary, fanged monsters. Strong and dangerous, able to look after ourselves and our nasty friends and families. We give the hunters a run for their money, don’t we? We’d never make it easy on them or they might enjoy it too much. Might look at killing us as a game, a hobby—big fun. Something they can do to feel powerful and important.
“They have the weapons, sure. They have the teamwork, okay. But at the end of the day—in the wee hours of the night—take a look around, my monstrous friends… we have the goddamned numbers.”
I heard a rustle through the crowd as they looked around at one another, whispering about what I was saying and the point I was trying to get across. I hoped to God I was making that point loud and clear. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Barry climb up on top of his chair.
“She’s right,” he said loudly. “We are monsters! And there’s a hell of a lot more of us than there are of them.”
There was silence for a moment, and then another vampire rose to his feet. And then another. And then another. In the space of a few heartbeats, the entire club of a hundred-plus vamps were on their feet, staring up at the hunters, their fangs catching what little light there was in the club. I heard a growing growl, which got louder and louder, and I felt my grip on the microphone increase along with the tension in the room.
I turned to look at Peter. His eye was very wide and white, and I could see a shiny film of sweat on his face now. I smiled at him.
“Thanks. That’s pretty much all I wanted to say.”
My army of monsters took a collective step closer to the stage. I placed the microphone back on the stand and shaded my eyes from the bright lights. I glanced at Peter again.
“Now, where were we?”
“Smug little bitch,” he said under his breath, but I could taste the fear that covered his words like a candy coating.
The vampires never had thought to fight back collectively against the hunters. They considered themselves victims that were going to be picked off one at a time. They didn’t know what to do except to try to avoid it. Well, avoidance didn’t get you much in life. Except in this case, it might get you dead. I figured, if the hunters thought they were dealing with evil monsters, then let them have to deal with evil monsters. See how long they still found it fun and games.