Page 24 of Double Shot

“This all seems very clandestine,” Clarence said in a low, throaty voice, and I almost jumped when I felt his pinky finger brush mine.

I whipped my hand up under the pretence of checking the address on the vampire’s business card again, clearing my throat and peering down at it.

“This is the place,” I said with far more cheer than I felt. I was actually kind of nervous. Clarence was right; this did feel kind of clandestine. Like maybe… a little sketchy. And I was a good boy. I didn’t do bad things. I didn’t. Mainly because I didn’t have many opportunities to.

Squaring my shoulders, I stepped forward and knocked twice on the metal door. After a few seconds, a little grate slid open, revealing a pair of slitted yellow eyes.

Lizard shifter, I thought immediately, and another bolt of apprehension shivered up my spine. Oh Lucifer, this wasn’t a mob place, was it? Were we about to get whacked for interrupting mob dealings?

“Yeah?” the eyes’ owner said gruffly as they flitted briefly from me to Clarence, then back.

“Um, I—H-hi.” My voice cracked a little. “Um, I… Do you want the, um, password?”

The lizard shifter watched me through the narrow slot. “Depends,” he eventually grunted. “Know what it is?”

“Um, yes. It’s, um, Ranorak.”

“It’s what?” Clarence asked from behind me. “Anorak? Like the raincoat?”

“No.” My cheeks heated. “It’s, um, Rag…norak?”

The lizard shifter just watched me. I could hear him snapping gum.

“The thing!” I insisted. “I know what it is. The… Norse thing. And there’s… um… Fenrir is here tonight, right?” I remembered one of the vampires mentioning that name.

After a few more seconds, the lizard shifter rolled his eyes. “Good enough. It’s Ragnarök, by the way,” he added primly as the loud clank of a lock being slid across sounded. “The Old Norse belief of the world’s catastrophic end and subsequent rebirth. We always pick something Norse-related when Fenrir’s on.”

I nodded, offering him a bright, beaming smile as he pulled open the heavy metal door. He huffed and didn’t smile back, but jerked his head to gesture us through.

“Thanks.”

“First time here?” he grunted, eyeing Clarence as he followed me inside.

“Yeah.” I blushed again. “Uh-huh. We, um… These two vampires invited us.”

The lizard shifter made a sound of disinterest. “Well, it’s a free shift policy downstairs, and all betting needs to take place in advance. Things can get pretty rowdy in the crowd, but if we see blood, we’ll start kicking people out. Maybe.”

I wasn’t sure which part of that to focus on, so I ended up not really taking any of it in and just dazedly saying, “Sounds good.”

“Betting?” Clarence asked in confusion.

“Down those stairs there,” the shifter said, jerking his chin at the darkness up ahead.

Slowly, apprehensively, I began descending the metal staircase. Clarence’s hot breath wafting over my neck was the only reason I sped up, because I was suddenly doubting how great of an idea this had been.

Maybe I shouldn’t have trusted those two snooty vampire creeps I’d just met in a bar.

Oops.

“I can’t hear any club music,” Clarence said as the sounds of many, many voices grew louder up ahead. It smelled like sweat and too many bodies, the air warm and carrying a tinge of excitement that tasted almost rabid on my tongue. My heart started pounding faster in reaction, the wave of energy that hit me priming my body for something.

Something aggressive. Untamed.

Through the open double doors up ahead, at the base of the staircase, I could see a dimly lit, smoky space teeming with people. Most were in their true forms, the hulking outlines of werewolves towering over everyone else, the delicate and ethereal colours of fae wings glimmering in the smoke, concubus tails whipping through the air, stony gargoyle wings clearing a path through the throng.

Clarence was right—there was no club music thumping through the floor, just the faint sounds of classic rock playing beneath the cacophony of voices. Maybe there was going to be a live performance. Maybe that was who this Fenrir was—tonight’s singer or musician.

What would people be betting on, though?