The seven of us lifted the clear glasses and took the shot. I made a face, managing to keep the disgusting contents in my mouth, before lifting the bottle and spitting it into the beer.
I shuddered a little. Hopefully these shots weren’t so potent that I’d still get drunk from just having it in my mouth, because I was pretty sure I could spit fire right now. We continued this for thirty minutes, ordering beers and shots like they were going out of fashion. The bit of alcohol I was getting was enough to loosen me up, and then it was easy to start acting drunk. We were drawing attention, the enforcers around me were both feared and revered amongst the ash, even tolerated by the vampires, sort of. Not to mention the rumors were running wild about why our security clearance had been revoked and where Ryder was. Vamps were gossiping bitches.
When a new song came on—this group of karaoke wannabes were a lot better than the last—I let out a shriek and grabbed Kyle’s hand, dragging him away from the bar and toward the dance floor.
“Wheee!” I squealed, pulling him into the fray, smashing against people as we went. I flailed my arms in a ridiculous version of dancing, even managing a couple of leg kicks which knocked down more than one vampire around me.
Kyle threw back his head and laughed. Somehow he’d managed to bury his anger deep enough to pretend with me. Both of us kept this up, creating more than a little ruckus on the dance floor. Kyle reached out and captured both of my hands, spinning me around. Ash and vamps were diving out of our way, but we made sure to extend our reach and still bump a lot of them. Aim of the game: annoyance. And we were on fire.
Finally, we nudged the wrong vampire. Knew it couldn’t be long before their arrogance kicked in and someone decided to put us stupid ash in our place. I anticipated the shove, but because I was supposed to be drunk as a skunk, I pretended to trip and I hit the ground hard. Kyle roared above me, in a pissed off cave-ash type of way. Then it was on.
The vampire I had nudged was now locked into a brawl with Kyle. I allowed myself one quick glance to the far wall and saw Lucas enjoying some blood wine before I jumped up and threw myself into the fight. Forcing my movements to remain staggered and clumsy, I swung around and cracked the vampire, who had Kyle in a headlock, in the back.
I let out a crazy sort of giggle. Everyone had to continue to believe we were hammered. One of the ash bartenders leapt over the bar and came at me full force.
“Break it up!” he yelled, reaching for me.
Sorry, buddy, you’re kinda cute, but you’re going down. I gave him a strong upper cut to the jaw and he flew back as I let out another fake cackle of drunken laughter. Another bartender flew over the bar, but Sam tripped him before he reached the dance floor.
Suddenly Lucas was stalking towards us with two meaty vampires at his side. I fell to the ground still laughing, making sure everyone got a good view of my bootyshorts. Drunk chicks did stupid shit like that all the time. I should know because … Tessa.
I gave a silent cheer as Kyle flipped the vampire over his shoulder and slammed him on the ground. The enforcer grabbed at his mouth and began to laugh as well.
Lucas shouted loud enough for all to hear: “Throw these idiots in the pit. They’re completely intoxicated.”
The vampire that Kyle had attacked stood to his full height now and glared at us. Suddenly meaty vampire #1 had my arms behind my back. I pretended to wobble and sway as he dragged me out of there with Kyle at my side.
“Screw you,” Kyle slurred as meaty #2 jabbed him hard in the back. Kyle and I let our heads drop and our words mumble as we shuffled our feet along to the elevator.
We were dragged over to the special red elevator, meaty #1 and #2 using their security clearance to call it up. Entering the elevator, I met Kyle’s eyes for a split second, and knew he was ready to rock and roll.
It had killed Sam and the rest of the crew to stay back and allow us to get our asses kicked, but the plan required just me and Kyle to get into the pit. The others were off doing their part now. My eyes flicked between the two meaty asshats. If I was being honest, I was a little nervous about taking my meathead down. I had never fought a full-blown vampire before. But we needed their access cards since ours were confiscated.
Kyle straightened, and it was time to put part two of the plan in motion.
“Dood, I gutta piss,” Kyle slurred.
I nodded, slouching and swaying at the same time. “Just go … just let it go.”
Meaty #2 freaked, pushing Kyle away from him, which released the enforcer’s hands from behind his back.
“You will not piss in this elevator!”
Kyle, now hands free, grabbed at his zipper. “I can’t stop, dude, I’m too … too…”
He fumbled, getting the zipper down before reaching inside of his pants. I seriously wanted to laugh my ass off at how horrified both meaties looked right then, but I needed to use this distraction to my advantage. I pretended to fall forward, and was relieved when my hands were released.