The big night finally arrived. Nick decided he’d go on a Wednesday in hopes that the vampire bar Bite wouldn’t be as packed as he suspected it’d be on Friday or Saturday. Checking over his outfit for the fifth time, Nick finally decided it was as good as it was going to get. He ran his fingers through the gel in his hair once more and then grabbed his keys.

It took longer than Nick had originally thought to arrive at Bite, having gotten turned around a few times but he managed to make it. The hour was decent and Nick handed over his keys to the valet before straightening out his jacket and heading in through the entrance. Bright lights illuminated the sign for the nightclub that hung over the door along with some fangs that slowly filled up with a red color symbolizing blood. Nick thought it was a little gross but kept his comments to himself. This wasn’t familiar turf by any means. Continuing through the elaborate entrance, Nick pulled the pass out of his hand and walked past the long line trying to get further inside. A tall, dark man stood by the doorway and saw Nick with the pass. He waved him on and pulled open the velvet ropes. Glancing over his shoulder as he walked, Nick assumed the man was a vampire and felt a little bad for cutting all the people in line. His attention wasn’t on them for line as he entered the dimly lit nightclub. Bass was being pumped through the speakers throughout the large room, stairs were flashing colors that lead upstairs to the private area. Nick hadn’t ever been in a place quite like Bite before and stood there gawking at all the people and flashing lights.

“Honey…” A female’s voice shouted, attempting to get his attention. Nick snapped out of his daze and looked over to see a beautiful woman standing there waving her perfectly manicured hand. He walked over and gave her his pass to receive a hand stamp and blood red colored wrist band. Nick stared at it a moment before he went into the club completely. Vampires were dancing on the bar top along the far wall, a few others were up on stage DJ’ing and of course there were those entertaining humans with extracurricular activities in the dark corners.

Nick’s eyes feared away from all the commotion and cleared his throat. He searched around briefly once more, trying to find AJ. Without any luck, he went to the bar and ordered a beer. Once the bottle was in hand, Nick asked about AJ and was told he was upstairs.

“Can I go up there?” Nick shouted over the music. The bartender smirked and pointed at Nick’s wrist band, indicating he was free to roam wherever he wanted. A red tint hit his cheeks and Nick thanked the bartender before heading towards the stairs. He showed another security guard his band and was given access to the stairs. As he climbed them, he looked out over the dance floor at everybody seemingly lost in a trance with the music and alcohol. Nick never quite understood the appeal of these places but was starting to get why it was a good way to get lost, forget about life and escape to another world.

The upstairs had even less light than the downstairs area. Nick’s eyes quickly adjusted as he made it to the top of the stairs and walked in to go find a place to sit. The booths lined three of the walls with a smaller stage. Some vampires were up there dancing and Nick recognized one of them. AJ’s friend JC was up there singing into the microphone with backup singers and all of them were dancing to the beat, throwing off clothes here and there. Nick found that a bit odd but dismissed it as he sat down at an empty booth with his beer. His eyes scanned the room for AJ but didn’t see him, though he did see more humans pairing up with vampires. He wished he knew what the attraction was but didn’t think about it too much because just then he noticed AJ joining JC on stage. The two began to sing and more clothing removed. Nick felt embarrassment fill his face as he watched this stage of vampires sing and strip down to practically nothing. He couldn’t peel his eyes away, no matter what he tried to do. The song soon finished and Nick looked away as the performers left.

Meanwhile backstage, AJ jumped off the last step and started to put his clothes back on. He was beyond furious and needed to find something to relieve his stress. Punching the wall, AJ got his shirt on and started to button it up.

“What’s your problem?” JC asked, doing up his own buttons.

“Two words,” AJ spat out. “Howie Dorough.”

JC laughed and shook his head. He should have figured. AJ was supposed to have the night off but as soon as he showed up that evening, their manager threw AJ on the schedule and told him to get to work.

“It’s not fucking funny. Nick is out there, I saw him. I won’t get to spend time with him because some idiot didn’t show up for his shift.” AJ nearly had flames shooting out of his mouth as he spoke.

“The human?” JC asked, slipping into some shoes. He should have known better than to ask about thee human because the look he received from AJ nearly sent darts flying his way. “Well quit your fucking bitching and go out there to talk to him before Dorough shows up again.”

“I’m gone,” AJ muttered before he slipped through the curtain and down the employee hallway. The tattooed vampire walked into the area and gave a smile to Nick as he walked across the room. If he had a heart, it would be fluttered out of his chest.

“Hey Nick. I’m so glad to see you made it,” AJ said walking up to the table. He wanted to sit down in the worst way but waited till Nick invited him. Soon the human did and the pair was getting wrapped up in conversation. Nick mostly wanted to know about AJ’s work and why he had to do the things he did.

“It’s mostly my Sheriff,” AJ explained, a bottle of synthetic blood in front of him. “It wanted to move to the area, start a business and stream line. When you have a Sheriff it is pretty much like your commander…your King or whatever you want to call it. I guess like a President but more so. You obey him, follow him and do whatever he wishes at any time. It’s not nearly as strong as if he was my maker but since mine has long since perished, Kevin has taken his place in my existence. So everybody who works here lives in the same nest and most of us share a house, some live here at the resort. You might see an old vampire walking through the resort area or here in Bite with a gold ring on his finger and tailored suit. More than likely, that’ll be the manager. Dorough, Howie Dorough…he is the first in line after Kevin well he’d have to go through Christina because she would put up a fight but Howie, he wants the power someday. He’d fight Christina to the death for it as well. He still is bitter that he was replaced.”

Nick listened as AJ spoke, nodding at times he thought was necessary. For the most part, he had no idea what AJ was talking about but found it interesting.

“What do you mean replaced?” He finally asked in a soft voice that could barely be heard over the music that was now playing upstairs.

“Howie used to be Kevin’s like as lovers. Well about three hundred years ago, Kevin started to think of opening an establishment among the humans but it just wasn’t time. Humans weren’t ready for us and so he appointed his lover as the man who would run things because he trusts him. Christina was always there but now she was slowly becoming more than just a play thing and at times I know now that Howie feels threatened. Humans know about us, somewhat and for the most part they are okay with knowing that we exist…”

AJ was studying Nick’s face, wondering what he was thinking. He didn’t want to push the human into realizing how long the vampire race has been on the planet but it was something that every human had to come to terms with. It was getting to the point in the conversation though that AJ knew he should change it to something else. Something cheesy like how was the weather, even though he hadn’t seen daylight in centuries. Perhaps Nick was into baseball, AJ could ask about that. He could tell Nick about watching Babe Ruth play and when the first World Series was won. His mind was reeling with so man thoughts of what to talk about next that he didn’t see a figure walk up to the table.

“McLean…you should be backstage.”

If he could have done it and not be heard, AJ would have cursed under his breath. Dorough stood about an inch away from the table, his eyes glaring down at him. For some reason, the manager wasn’t going to let his night off be his night off.

“D, it’s my night off,” AJ tried to protest but gave up after a second. The look on his manager’s face told him to get up and go back to work.

“Nick Carter…meet Howie Dorough,” AJ said before he gave an apologetic look at the human. Howie nodded his head in a polite greeting then went off to the other side of the room to check on the bar staff. “I have to go sing one song and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Nick nodded and told him to go work, it would be okay. He wasn’t going anywhere. Time slowly ticked by and Nick drank beer after beer. AJ hadn’t stopped back by and Nick’s patience was wearing thin. It was going on two hours since he had last even caught a glimpse of the vampire and all hopes of getting to talk to him again were gone. Nick decided it was time to leave. He leaned over in the seat a bit to retrieve the wallet from his back pocket. All he wanted to do was pay his tab and get out of there.

“Nick…right?”

Looking up, Nick saw a recognizable face. He wasn’t sure of the name of the vampire in front of him but was sure it was the same one that showed up at Brian’s the night of Aaron’s party. The unnamed vampire sat down across the table and signaled to waitress to bring over some beers.

“I was just leaving,” Nick finally said, speaking up. “I don’t even know…”

“I’m Justin,” The vampire said, giving the human a killer smile. He put his hand out and watched as Nick reluctantly shook it.

The beers were brought over and Nick slumped back into his seat. He took the cold bottle between his fingers and proceeded to take a big drink. Just about to ask Justin why he wasn’t drinking, Nick suddenly felt foolish. Vampires don’t drink beer. The two must be meant for him, to add to the countless others he had enjoyed throughout the evening.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get the chance to introduce myself the other night,” Justin said. His eyes were watching Nick’s face, studying him. “My brother’s friend doesn’t seem to care for me all that much so as soon as I showed up I was told to leave. Not very polite but it’s what it is.”

“Your brother?”

Justin chuckled a little, his finger smearing some of the condensation from Nick’s bottle around on the table. “Joshua…sorry JC. We’re brothers. And I don’t mean we have the same maker, I mean we are literally brothers. We have…had…whatever the same mother. He was turned before I was and I eventually was turned about eight years after he.”

Nick thought about the vampire’s situation. How weird it would be to live life while your brother was a vampire, or to be turned then yourself.

“Did you ask to be turned?” Nick wondered out loud.

Nodding, Justin explained further. “We were the best of friends. Not being that far apart in age, we had a lot in common and always seemed to have similar goals. He was my bigger brother and I didn’t think I could go through the rest of my life without him, especially knowing that he was out in the world doing whatever and would live forever. It took awhile to find a maker but when I did, and I was turned I knew I made the right decision.”

Thinking about his brother, Nick knew he would do whatever he had to in order to protect his brother. Yet he had no idea if Aaron would do the same. Nick liked to think so.

Thoughts of leaving soon left Nick’s mind as he continued to talk to Justin. Hours slowly drifted by and the two laughed and carried on. Last call snuck up on them and Nick said he needed to head home. Justin made sure Nick was able to drive before he walked with the human towards the entrance. He was sure to look over towards where he knew AJ was, giving him a smug smile then wish Nick a good night.

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