This is a Lie

Title: Happy Birthday
Word count: 570
Characters: A werewolf, a stripper, two vampires, and a bartender.
Rating: PG-13 (language)
Warnings: F-bomb. Strippers. Violence. Bloodshed. Someone or something explodes.

Summary: They can’t stay out of trouble. Not even on Nick’s birthday.

Disclaimer: This is original fiction. NOT fanfiction. The characters belong to me. Any similarities between these guys and anyone else’s characters is coincidental and unintentional. Do not post this story anywhere without prior consent from The Ninth.

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I spat blood and cursed silently. Alex touched his index finger to my lower lip and it came away bloody. He sucked his finger clean and grinned like a maniac.”Vintage Shifter,” he said. “Happy birthday, by the way. You throw a hell of a party.”Emphasis on hell. Alex and I were crouched behind what was left of what had been the door to the stairs that led to our apartment.Alex and I share a tiny place above a strip club in Baltimore City. It’s cramped and cheap, and it’s usually not dangerous, but all things change when a vampire enters the equation.

Another vampire, I should say. One who thinks challenging my vampire on his home turf is a good idea.

The night started out normal enough, but don’t these stories always start out that way? Anyhow, we were in the club, at the bar, “celebrating” my birthday. Sheena (the punk rocker) was on stage providing entertainment for watery-eyed drunks and college students too poor for the more upscale places. And Alex. Me? I was more interested in the brass pocket watch the bartender picked up in Philly.

I was engrossed in the details of the watch when the bartender tapped my arm and used his chin to point at the door.

The stranger wasn’t much taller than me, but he was broad. Solid muscle. He had dark hair slicked back and pulled into a ponytail, and doll’s eyes.

“Fuck,” Alex muttered into his glass. He put the drink down, stood up straight, and squared his shoulders. “You have no business here,” he said.

“I have business with you,” the new vampire replied. “I’ve come to challenge you for your territory.”

Alex stepped forward. He had almost six inches on this guy. “No. You have no business here.”

The stranger’s overdeveloped neck muscles made it hard for him to look up at Alex, but he managed. “You really think you can stop me? I’m over a hundred years old. I’ve got a right to this city. You’re just a baby.”

Everyone underestimates Alex. He’s an idiot. His sire was an idiot. But the thing that a lot of people don’t know is that Alex spent the first ten years of his new life in the care of Xyj’Ru, one of the most ruthless demons in the underworld. Alex has skills that have nothing to do with what he is. This wasn’t his first challenge, and it wasn’t going to be his last.

Alex’s nostrils flared. “My grandmother’s almost a hundred. Come back when you can impress me.”

There was a blur of motion. Never let anyone tell you that vampires aren’t fucking fast. Suddenly, I was being tossed out of the bar and into the street. I met the sidewalk face-first. Before I could even clear my head I was airborne again, crashing through the plywood door to the stairs.

There was a wet, snapping sound followed by a pop and a rush of air. Alex climbed through the hole I’d made and knelt next to me. The smear of grey ash on his face was all that remained of the intruder. I spat blood and cursed silently.

Alex touched his index finger to my lower lip. He sucked his finger clean and grinned like a maniac. “Vintage Shifter,” he said. “Happy birthday, by the way. You throw a hell of a party.”