The Kitty Cat's Mates (ManxMen)

16 | A Party to Die for

King and the others moved out of the private room, pushing themselves against the wave of bodies that raced towards the exit, soles of heels and shoes thundering on the marble ground like hammers thrusting down on earth. There was still the fun, upbeat music playing in on the background, but beneath it was screaming and bellows, most humane and the other the opposite.

When they reached back to the premier room, that's when realized what was causing the havoc—leathery grey anthropoids with chiropteran wings ruining the night with their deadly set of teeth and eagle-like talons.

"Vampires," Kain growled.

The guardians and fighters from the present prides and the Lykaios pack had shifted to control the swarm of the screeching undead flying, swooping, and fishing out their prey from across the vast room. But it was hard to go full out when there were still civilians everywhere.

King turned around, looking for his cousins. His eyes dilated in the dark, his pupil zooming in and out, just like a focusing lens. They were nowhere to be found.

When he was about to push himself into the crowd, an enormous hand lowered in front of him, gently pushing against the middle of his chest. It was furry, clawed, and black as the night. King darted his eyes to his right, eyes widening when he latched his gaze at the massive brute beside him that inhabited the profile of a wolf, and a chiseled body covered in black lupine fur. The werewolf gazed back down on him, a harmless snarl buzzing out of its chest, eyes faintly glowing to an Aegean blue.

Suddenly, a creature burst in from the window near them, smashing glass around them, wings flitting, before it crashed in on the black werewolf. Fortunately, the latter was able to push King away before he could have been squished to death by the weight of two seven-feet creatures that tussled with each other in a deadly brawl.

King grunted, a wave of pain erupting on his side as Zachary hurled him into the air, and crashed down on the long table of the buffet line. His eyes rounded when another hand placed itself on his chest, small compared to its palm, and scooped him up from his position. He whipped his head over to his shoulder and gawked back at the white werewolf, who licked his cheek. King's expression was priceless.

A startled gasp escaped his lips when he saw a shrieking vampire swoop down on them. The white werewolf skidded to the side, dragging King against his chest, and heavily slamming its rock-solid shin against the vampire. The undead creature crashed in the distance. Before it could rise, a grey werewolf cut into the scene and threw a vigorous punch at it so hard that King could hear bones crack.

"Get out of here," Kain linked under the snapping growl vibrating out of his chest. He then turned his head up, leaped and grabbed one of the winged vampire's taloned feet. They crashed back down on the ground.

King's attention darted to the rustling on their left, and his heart thumped as he saw a vampire crawl towards them. Its eyes were black, red, its mouth curled into a bloodthirsty grin. King's breath hitched when he saw the icicle-sharp teeth protruding down on its purplish-blue gums.

The white werewolf holding him started to gently push King away, a low growl growing out of its chest.

"King, go," Yusef's voice transcended to his mind.

The vampire's mouth opened wide, a bloodcurdling shriek echoing out of its throat as it lunged at them. A dominant roar responded out of the white werewolf's chest when it was tackled down by the undead. Reluctantly, King drove his feet back, his gaze fixed on Yusef, who was caught in a violent rumble.

The vampire's head snapped at King, and it zoomed towards him, nearly swooping its sharp claws around his face when Yusef held it back by holding its ankles.

"King!" Yusef bellowed.

King cursed under his breath. Gritting his teeth, he finally propelled his feet towards the exit.

He followed the crowd in the winding stained-glass hallway, rushing like ants towards the lobby and into the outside, before a vampire crashed into the people relatively in front of them, biting down on an unfortunate man's throat. Then there was another, and another. They just kept on pouring in like a leak in a pipe. Screams erupted all over again, and instead of rushing towards the exit, the people ran back to the direction where they came from.

King dug his brows and gritted his teeth. He cursed underneath his breath, jabbing his elbows back and forth into the air as he sprinted forwards and balancing his feet as the panicking people pushed and bumped against each other. Some had started to shift, which only made things much worse because of the narrow pathways and the already crowded passage.

His heart throbbed vigorously, and adrenaline poured into his body. The vampires behind them screeched.

Suddenly, King paused in his track as he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the corner—Annabelle—who was darting her head side to side with a panicked look on her face. She was alone.

King swerved like a chicken across the crowd towards her. "Annabelle!" he yelled.

Her innocent and troubled face immediately beamed when she saw him.

King knelt, looking across the crowd. "Where's your mom?" he asked.

"I-i don't know," she replied, on the edge of crying.

King turned when the vampires' screech closed in on them. He mentally cursed, whipped his head back, and curled his hand around her small wrist.

"We have to go! It's not safe here!"

Annabelle pursed her lips and nodded her head.

King ran with the little girl clutching on his right hand. It wasn't until another vampire zoomed-in in the direction they were heading when his heels broke into a halt. He was forced to bolt down to the door that led down to the basement on the left.

King and Annabelle winded down on a two flight of stairs, reaching down a dimly lit, unpublicized hall with open rooms. It was where the system behind the place ran, one that contrasted the lavishness and deluxe above, and where the screams earlier turned into muffled bellows that echoed down the metal ceiling.

King did not fail to hasten. He peeked through the rooms, anywhere where they could hide until they fended off the creatures. And he landed themselves in the staffs' locker room. He winded his gaze around the bland and unpainted room.

"King..." Annabelle clutched his hand tightly, scared of the gloomy room that resonated with a horror game.

"We'll be safe here for the meantime-"

Their eyes widened when, suddenly, there were loud sounds that came from the hallway where they entered.

King gritted his teeth, immediately darting towards the rows of lockers. Lock, lock and locked. He repeated low curses under his shaky lips, his hand trembling when the noises closed in.

Then one locker creaked open when he pushed the handle down. His face beamed, and he immediately pushed himself and Annabelle inside. Fortunately, they fit.

King peeked out from the three cracks on the locker's door, giving him a limited view of the entry that they came in. The noise that echoed earlier thundered closer and closer until an older man in a wrinkled black tuxedo, who looked like he was in his sixties, entered his view. King watched the man in silence.

"H-help!" the man sobbed.

King's body turned scared stiff. It wasn't the man that made it so; it was the grey ghoul that trailed behind and tackled him down on the ground.

Annabelle jumped when she heard the loud noises rising just outside where they were hiding. She winced and closed her eyes shut tight.

The man's cries and the ghoul's beastly screech bellowed from the other side of the metal door, and King was unable to do nothing but grit his jaw, his heart drowning in his chest as he watched the helpless, screaming man succumbed as nothing but a vampire fodder.

"K-king—"

King placed a hand on Annabelle's mouth. He gulped when the vampire's head whipped up, its pointed ears jerking.