This place will go basically unused

“Fuckin’ creeps,” Joe stated as he pushed out of the club and past Mick, Tommy, and Nikki. Speaking loud enough for the three to hear, mostly just wanting to get into a fight or get them so fed up that they would go home.

The door shut, and Joe glanced over to see all three pairs of eyes on him; they shone bizarrely in the dark, unlike any human, more like a deer or a predator of some kind. Joe subtly turned away from the trio, taking out a pack of cigarettes and pulling out one, placing it in his mouth as he searched his pockets for a lighter. Eventually, he fished a lighter out of his pockets before immediately dropping it on the ground. He fumbled to pick it back up.

Poor Joe didn’t even have a chance to light his cigarette before Nikki sank his teeth into the poor guy's neck.

.

James led Vince back to a dressing room, which wasn’t really a dressing room, more so a small closet with a broken mirror shamefully hanging on the wall.

“Did you see that?” James asked in hushed tones, but was frantic enough for Vince to label it as panic.

“Oh, the way that chick was totally diggin’ me on the way over here? Yeah-” Vince began with a smirk and a light chuckle.

“No, not that. Vince, be serious.” James interrupted, his brows furrowing with annoyance.

“Dude, you’re gonna have to be a little more specific. I see a lot of shit at the club.” Vince responded with a huff, getting annoyed himself.

“Those were demons, vampires- somethin’. They had fangs, and their eyes… you’re tellin’ me you didn’t see that?” James asked angrily.

Vince thought about it. Sure, he did see it, but they all could be played off for different reasons. Everyone has fangs, well, most do, maybe theirs were just abnormally longer, and their eyes? Probably just a trick of the lighting. Vince stared at James with a blank look before he broke into a fit of giggles.

“I think you smoked one too many, man,” Vince said with a laugh, patting James’ chest before walking away, but before he could leave the room, James grabbed Vince’s bicep, pulling him back with so much force Vince was sure marks would be left there the next day.

Vince stared at James with confusion. James was only staring back with a cold gaze. Vince was sure he could count the beads of sweat rolling off James’ forehead with how nervous he looked. Vince attempted to take his hand back, but James’ hold was firm and unmoving.

“Don’t go outside, not ‘til I can drive you to your parents' house,” James stated sternly.

Vince was baffled; his easy-going smile changed to a look of annoyance.

“What the fuck is up with you? Get the fuck off me!” Vince yelled at him, throwing a punch at James’ face before continuing to speak, “This is bullshit, you can’t tell me what to do!”

James let go of Vince once the punch was thrown. He nursed his face, and Vince left the dressing room.

Originally, he didn’t want to go outside, but now he did. Just to prove a point to James, and after he got his sweet, sweet victory of proving James wrong, then he could bang that hot blonde chick at the bar.

Vince made his way through the bodies on the dance floor, some hands grabbing for him, but he’d give them a rushed excuse and continue his adventure to the door.

Once he got to the door, he felt stricken with anxiety. Why was he so nervous to open a door? That’s so stupid. But what if James was right? No, that was what James wanted Vince to think, and then they’d just be chasing each other in circles of paranoia until they are both cooped up in an underground bunker with tin foil on their heads.

Vince pushed open the door. The alleyway seemed empty; there was no talking, and as soon as the door shut, there was barely any music, just soft melodies drifting through the walls.

“Joe?” Vince called out. He glanced around the alleyway until his eyes landed on it.

It was Joe, Vince was sure of it. What was bizarre was all the blood surrounding him and the fact that three figures were ripping him to shreds. They shoved flesh into their mouths, and blood leaked from their lips all the way down the front of them. Their hands were encased in that crimson gore. Joe was practically ripped open, the only thing slightly intact being his face, which didn’t last for long as one of the figures quickly ripped apart the skin left there and took it to eat.

God, Vince was going to be sick.

He didn’t know what to do. His heart raced. He only stood and stared; he could’ve sworn the three figures would’ve heard his heartbeat from how loud it sounded in his ears. He felt like a deer in headlights, and he knew these wolves were going to tear him apart any second now, but his brain couldn’t seem to function to give him the ability to run. He couldn’t. No matter how much he screamed at himself to get out of there, he couldn’t.

It felt like time was slow.

That was Joe. That was his bandmate, his friend.

He couldn’t hold it back.

He gagged. The sight of it all became too much for him, and he probably would’ve fallen to his knees and thrown up right there if it wasn’t for the six eyes immediately looking at him.

“Oh, hey, man.” Tommy stated to Vince as if it was a casual day like they’d just run into each other walking the streets. Not like he was literally eating a person in front of him.

James was right.

Vince ran.

“Both of you take care of this, I’ll be back.” Nikki stated to the other two, before starting his chase after Vince.

Vince was so thankful he found it in himself to actually run, it was dark and he was surprised he didn’t trip over himself in the dark as he dashed away. He didn’t know where he was going; he just needed to get away from them. He just had to run until he lost them.

There was nobody in the streets, which he was happy about, so he didn’t have to warn them of the demons chasing him, but knowing him, he was so selfish he probably wouldn’t have even warned them, that would slow him down and he needed to get away from these monsters.

He didn’t want to glance back. He didn’t want to know how close they were to him, how close he was to being killed, but he couldn’t help himself, he glanced back, one street light showed a silhouette of a man with his spikey hair following him, he wasn’t running, he was just walking. Clearly catching Vince wasn’t as important to Nikki as getting away from Nikki was to Vince.

Vince ducked into an alleyway hiding behind a dumpster. It smelled rotten and bad but it was better than being eaten alive. He went weak in the knees and fell behind it, covering his mouth with his hand as his breathing was quick and heavy, he couldn’t risk Nikki hearing him. He glanced between the crack of the lid and the dumpster itself, watching the sidewalk, and he let out a heavy sigh of relief when Nikki walked past the alleyway, not even giving it a second glance.

Vince didn’t know what to do. He sat there, he couldn’t stay there all night and he couldn’t let his emotions get the best of him yet. He focused on his breathing trying to block everything that just happened out, he just had to get back to the club, maybe he’d take up on James’ offer, maybe he would go see his parents again, a nice warm dinner sounded amazing, he hadn’t had one of those in a while.

When he felt pressure on his throat he thought he was having a panic attack, until he was lifted to see two glowing eyes staring back at him.

“I’m not stupid, you know,” Nikki stated as he glared at Vince with a smile. Nikki’s teeth were blood-stained like his clothes, and his chin, and well, mostly all of him. Nikki let go of Vince’s neck but trapped him against the wall using his arms. Vince wouldn’t have been able to run anyway, with how his legs felt; he wasn’t even sure how he was standing up at the moment.

Vince was horrified. He had so much ahead of him, and this was how he was going to die? He wasn’t even well known yet; he’d probably be found dead in a dumpster and be played off as some junkie that overdosed, that was if he was still recognizable; he might be assumed to be a mangled piece of horse meat if they were going to do the same thing they did to Joe to him. So what was Vince to say to his future murderer? He should probably be nice so Nikki would give him a quick and painless death. Nope, not Vince.

“I beg to differ.” Vince spat into Nikki’s face. Nikki chuckled.

“I’m not gonna kill you, blondie,” Nikki responded.

“I’m not scared of you.” Vince continued, his brows furrowed and his heart beating being the only thing he could hear.

“I beg to differ.” Nikki put on a slightly higher-pitched Southern Californian accent, clearly mocking what Vince said. “Listen, Vince, we have a deal for you,” Nikki added, returning to his normal voice.

“I don’t wanna hear it,” Vince said bluntly.

“Oh, but you will,” Nikki answered.

“Nah, man. I don’t wanna hear it.” Vince continued.

“It wasn’t an offer, but fine, I’ll give you some time to think about it. Go.” Nikki said, bringing his hands to his sides. Vince stared at Nikki for a second, like a sheep whose gate had just been opened, but it wasn’t sure what to do. They stayed in eye contact before Nikki slightly tilted his head. Vince suddenly moved to walk off and started his journey. His parents’ house didn’t seem all too bad right now. He didn’t want to go back to the club. Nikki might’ve been in the alley, but Mick and Tommy were still outside that club, probably still ripping Joe to pieces.

They were ripping Joe to pieces.

Vince took a deep breath. He fought his want to look behind him, to see if Nikki was following him. He just needed to get to his parents’ house. It was quite far, but he didn’t care. He probably wouldn’t even be able to focus on how long he was walking for, not with these thoughts racing around his head.

What the hell were they?

Demons? Monsters? Vampires?

Maybe Vince was hallucinating or dreaming. Maybe he’d wake up any second now. He hoped he would wake up any second now, but what he was feeling now was very real. He felt the night breeze blowing across his face, through his hair; he felt his hands shake with worry, and he felt the nausea that was bubbling up his throat.

Maybe he drank a bit too much and didn’t realize it.

No, definitely not, this was not how it felt. When he was drunk, he felt like he was out of control of his own body; right now, he felt grossly in control of his own body, he didn’t want to deal with this. Vince wasn’t the type of guy to experience stuff like this; he wasn’t the person to be the main character in a horror movie. He just liked to let things go, not think of the past, and didn’t spare a second thought for the future; he just liked to live in the present and go with the flow.

But cannibalistic clown-looking vampires? Yeah, no thanks. He couldn’t go with the flow with… that.

He didn’t even realize he made it to the street his parents' house was on, too caught up in his own thoughts, like he expected. Now just to figure out which house it was…

What? You can’t judge him. You move out of your parents' house and get doped up on drugs and alcohol in the span of two years, then you try to find your parents’ house. Yeah, didn’t think so.

Vince happened to stumble upon a house that seemed more familiar than the rest and became quite positive it was this house, and if it wasn’t, and he was breaking in, jail was a lot better than out here on the street with the risk of them getting to him.

He knocked on the front door; thankfully, the lights were on, and he didn’t even realize what time it was, but that was the least of his worries right now. The door opened, and Vince was face-to-face with his mother.

“Vince!” His mother exclaimed and quickly pulled her son in for a hug.

“Can I crash here tonight?” Vince asked, he wasn’t sure if it’d just be tonight, he didn’t really want to set foot outside after what he’d just seen.

“Oh, yes, of course, this is your home still, you’re welcome here any time. Are you hungry?” His mother said with a smile, pulling Vince into the house after releasing him from the hug.

He was hungry before he saw what happened to Joe. Now he just thought he’d throw it up right after he ate it. His stomach was in knots; he couldn’t imagine eating.

“Nah, I’m okay,”

“Are you sure? Are you feeling alright? You look sick, Vinnie.”

“Yeah, I just need some sleep.”

“Well, alright. Goodnight then, love.”

Vince walked to his old bedroom, shutting the door with a sense of security. He let himself breathe in long, hard breaths; he let himself feel the emotions he’s safely packed away for the last hour. He took a seat on the ground, running his fingers through the carpet to ground himself. He wasn’t even sure the last hour was real; it didn’t feel real. He got a feeling in the back of his throat, which he knew only came when he was about to cry, tears gathered up in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away, choking out a shaky breath.

He sat with his eyes closed, trying to decipher what just happened, when a knock on his door pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Vince, honey, are you still awake? Your friends are here.” His mother's voice said outside his room.

Friends? Must be James and John, but how did they find him? They didn’t have his mother's number, and he didn’t tell them where he was going.

Vince quickly cleaned himself up and opened the door.

His mother was standing there and behind her… Nikki, Tommy, and Mick, and they looked normal, no blood, no peculiar shine in their eyes… They looked like normal people.

Vince’s breath caught in his throat.

“I’ll leave you four alone.” Vince’s mother said and walked off.

“Dude, your mom’s hot. She was all like, “Can I get you anything?” and I was all like, “Maybe a piece of that ass-” Tommy started before Mick harshly swatted him in the arm.

“Shut up, drummer.” Mick interrupted. Tommy let out a pathetic ‘ow’ and rubbed the spot on his arm where he was hit.

Panic filled Vince. How did they find him? He wasn’t safe in his own house anymore.

“I gave you time to think about it. Can we come in?” Nikki asked with a devilish grin.

They had to be invited inside.

They were vampires.

“If you don’t let us in, we will kill your mom in cold blood, and you’ll just have to think about what you could’ve done to stop it. Just listen to us.” Mick stated coldly. Nikki sent him a glare of disapproval, Vince couldn’t tell what for.

“You gonna let us in, blondie?” Nikki asked, his smile gone.

“Fine. Come in.” Vince responded with annoyance, not letting his panic shine through his voice. He was going to die. Tonight. His mother would find her son in a gory, filthy mess and never be the same.

Tommy stepped in first, taking a step of pride once invited, a shit-eating grin on his face as he did so, he stepped in as if he were the first man on the moon, one small step for man and one large step closer to Vince’s death, he supposed.

Mick shut the door and leaned on it so there would be no way out of the room unless Vince wanted to go through Mick, and honestly, he was too tired. He knew he was going to die, but wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“We’re not gonna kill you,” Nikki stated as he sat on Vince’s bed like he owned the place. Tommy was snooping around, grabbing random things off of Vince’s shelves and inspecting them, pocketing a few things, thinking Vince wouldn’t see, but Vince did. He was lucky those items were left here for a reason, because Vince didn’t like them, or else Tommy would’ve been nursing a broken jaw. Which Vince was considering still doing anyway. Vince curled his hand into a fist in case he decided to punch Tommy in the face.

“Vince.” Nikki started, catching Vince’s attention. “We’re starting a band and we don’t have a lead singer,” Nikki added. Vince was actually so surprised he laughed, which made Tommy snap his head up and quickly pocket some jewelry.

“What’s so funny?” Nikki asked, a genuine, confused look on his face.

“You killed my bandmate and expect me to join your dumb ass band? Fuck no, man! Are you insane?” Vince started, laughing through his first words before just yelling at Nikki with anger.

“He was in the way,” Mick explained.

“Hell no! I’m not joining whatever fucked up band you’re making! I’m not eating people!” Vince yelled in panic.

“Well, don’t alert the whole neighborhood about it,” Nikki said with a chuckle, and Tommy laughed with him.

“Blondie, you’ll wanna listen to this plan,” Mick stated, wanting to get them back on track.

Vince wanted these people out of here, but it seemed there was only one way to get them to leave, and that was listening to their fucked up plan, and Vince was quite curious.

Once Nikki was sure Vince wasn’t going to sucker punch Tommy and race out the door, he started to explain the plan.

“Vince, listen, we’re vampires, but we were all born with different talents to attract other vampires, which was how we turned into them. I play bass, Mick is a guitarist, and Tommy plays drums.” Nikki began, Tommy quickly grabbed two figures and beat them against a shelf to show off his “drumming skills” which resulted in one of the figures breaking. He hurriedly picked it back up and pocketed it.

“You are a singer. Your voice attracted us tonight, and we found our perfect frontman. You’re lucky we found you before any of the others did.” Nikki continued, Vince opened his mouth to talk, but Mick interrupted before he could say anything.

“Shut up, before I rip out your tongue. Listen to the entire plan before you go talking bullshit.” Mick stated.

“If you join us, we can become the best fucking band in the world. You’ll get all the chicks, drugs, and alcohol you could ever want. We’d already have a tour set up, a band that popped up out of nowhere but started selling out arenas and stadiums in only a few sets. Don’t you want to perform for an audience, Vince?” Nikki added, Vince thought about it, and it sounded nice, all his dreams and wishes would come true, and he’d get pussy, what more could a guy ask for?

“As a vampire, you’d be young forever, you’d feel no pain, and have physical abilities stronger than any regular human being. If you go on the tour with us, you have to become a vampire, but I’m willing to turn you into one after the tour.” Nikki continued.

“What about the eating people part? And going out in the sun? You’re not telling me the full story of being a vampire.” Vince stated. He was on the fence. Nikki promised something amazing, but would it outweigh being a vampire?

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Nikki answered with a smirk. “I’ll give you a few days to decide. Cya, Vince.” Nikki said casually before Mick opened the door, Tommy left with a few giggles, and Nikki gave one last smirk at Vince. Vince followed them into the kitchen, making sure they wouldn’t ruin the house or hurt his mom. Vince’s mom was sitting in the kitchen as the group passed by.

“Goodnight, Mrs. Neil!” Tommy exclaimed as Nikki and Mick stepped out of the front door. He gave one last wave and wink to Vince’s mom and then gave a casual wave to Vince.

“Who were they? They seemed sweet.” Vince’s mother said to her son. She was entirely oblivious.