Chapter 27: The Mirage, Part 4

I looked up at him, smiling sweetly in a voice too low for the humans to hear. "I was born in the year of our Lord, 1758. I think I'm old enough to enter." Of course, I could have shown him a fake ID, too, but vamps knew you could fake anything you wanted-if you had the money. Then, I smiled menacingly as my eyes flared.

"Sorry, Miss," Burly said, touching my shoulder. "It's just protocol. Go on in."

Body print. He didn't know what he just did when he touched me. But, then again, I'm sure he hadn't run into anyone quite like me, either.

"Same as her, handsome," Annie said with a sexy smile, running a hand over his muscular arm as she walked by, checking him out. She wasn't a shape shifter. She just liked men, sexy men.

Rick rolled his eyes, "Behave yourself, Annie," he said, letting us go in front of him. "This isn't a pleasure trip."

"So you say!" Annie replied. To Annie, everything was an opportunity for fun. But immediately her demeanor changed as we entered the dark club; her eyes narrowed, checking out every corner. I was glad she was on our side.

In the club, vamps of all eras and countries danced to eerie music. A few in a corner had multi-colored hair in shades of cobalt blue, fire engine red, and bright yellow, with skull tattoos. They were young. At the bar were a few vamps that could pass as humans, if they chose, probably stepping in for a drink. Another wore a typical Dracula cape with his hair slicked back, and long fingernails painted black, obviously wanting the attention. But, then again, he might be from that era-one of the old guard. Thank goodness vamp style like that was no longer in vogue. On the dance floor were a few beautiful vamp women wearing dresses slit up to their waists, dancing with dashing young vamps. These vamps were from the silent movie era and never really got over the glam of the time. Other vamps were short, tall, punk, not-vamps of every kind and every era, but you didn't want to mess with any of them.

"Rick, cover me," I said low, backing into a dark corner, as Rick and Annie stood in front of me. It was so dark in the club that no one noticed. Most of them weren't paying attention to anything other than their conquests.

Behind Rick and Annie, my body shimmered, shaking and changing, morphing until I looked like Burly, the bouncer at the door, with broad shoulders and ripped muscles. Within the matter of a second, I towered over Rick and Annie, close to seven feet tall.

Stepping around them, I said, "Let's go." Then, I strolled past them toward the punk rockers in the corner.

"Steve?" A vamp in a power suit stopped me, grabbing me by the arm. I turned to glare at him. "What the hell, man? Haven't I told you not to leave the front? Who's out there?"

Rick and Annie flanked me, ready, if needed.

"The new guy," I answered simply.

"Oh, my God, Steve!" he bellowed, obviously the boss. "You didn't! He's new! How could you do that?" As he ranted, I looked around to make sure no one was looking, but it was so crowded that no one cared. Suddenly, I punched him in the face with the back of my fist, catching him on the side of the head. I could hear his skull crack as he slumped over. Rick and Annie grabbed him and slid him quietly out of the way without notice. I didn't kill him, as his skull would heal, but he'd be out for days and would wake with an extreme headache. Steve would probably be fired.

"Hey, Steve," the bartender nodded to me as I walked by. He was an old vamp, I could tell, but dressed in contemporary clothes, with long, light brown hair that waved to his shoulders and was built. He probably was once a gladiator.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" I asked the two punk rocker vamps. One had cobalt blue hair and the other had a bright yellow Mohawk with bright red sides. Both had tattoos.

"Buzz off, Steve," the vamp with the bright yellow Mohawk retorted.

"Now, is that any way to treat another vamp?" I asked him in Steve's fluid baritone voice.

"Buzz off! We're not doing anything wrong, so take a hike!" the other vamp with the cobalt blue hair said.

"Not yet," I continued calmly, then leaned down low so no one could hear, looking Boy Blue straight in the eye. "Ever heard of Abbott?"

"If I did, I sure as hell wouldn't tell you!" Boy Blue's eyes suddenly flared, and his muscles tensed. "Get the hell out! Go man the door or something, but leave us alone!" Then he turned to walk away. He knew something, and from the way Big Bird looked, they both did.

Then, looking like Steve, my muscles rippled and my green eyes flared. "That was the wrong thing to say," I said, grabbing Boy Blue by the throat, lifting him off his chair, as I pushed him toward the back door. Annie and Rick flanked me, watching the vamp crowd.

"What the hell?" Big Bird asked. "I'm getting Bill! This isn't right!" Boy Blue must have been his girl.

"Bill's out of commission right now," I said calmly. "You're coming with us."

"The hell he will!" Big Bird yelled, taking a swing at me, when Rick caught his fist in mid-air. A few vamps across the room looked over, noticing the exchange.

"Now you're coming, too," Rick said, grabbing Big Bird by the back of his neck with one hand and pinning his arms behind his back with the other.

Annie stood between us and the crowd, protecting us from anyone else who tried to be brave, as we headed out the back. A few vamps by the front door across the room talked to another bouncer, as Steve came in the front door.

"Guys! We have company!" Annie yelled, as other vamps turned to look.

Looking across the room at us, seeing himself, Steve yelled, "Hey, you! Stop right there!"