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He wasn’t a religious person by any means, but he did wonder sometimes if there was some higher power that was responsible for every moment in his life that lead to him sitting on a questionably stained sofa belonging to a group of vampires he once very firmly disliked.
Tonight was the night of The Unholy Masquerade, and for the first time in its history, werewolves were invited. Well, technically, just two werewolves, Anton and Stu. Somewhere between Deacon complaining about how unworthy werewolves were and then apologizing to Stu for implying that he was unworthy, Anton got the impression that this was supposed to be a big deal, so he agreed to attend. He never did receive an apology from Deacon about the unworthy comment, though.
He was hesitant at first when he was told that the invitation had come directly from The Beast, who, as it turned out, was just a blonde woman named Pauline. She invited Stu as a) an apology for calling him a virgin in front of everyone and almost having been eaten by vampires, causing him to have been almost eaten and subsequently turned by werewolves, and b) a thank you for installing a wifi extender in her sex dungeon. Anton didn’t ask and purposely tuned Vladislav out when he explained in explicit detail the reasons why they needed one.
Stu had insisted that since Anton was the Alpha, he couldn’t attend without him, and not wanting to insult The Beast after she and Vlad were finally starting to work things out, Vlad agreed to ask her if Anton could come as the leader of the werewolves. After some grumblings, and from what he was told by Nick and Stu, rather acrobatic hate sex, Pauline sent the second invitation. So here he was, sitting on a couch that had no right to be as comfortable as it was, waiting patiently for the vampires to finish getting ready so that they could leave.
He was informed that he needed to dress up in costume and, in no uncertain terms, that Wesley Snipes from Blade was off-limits. Not only because Wesley Snipes himself was the guest of honor this year (and did that take Anton some time to wrap his head around), but because Viago had already attempted to get away with it last year and was told that was not ever going to happen.
If Anton had to cross his legs after being assaulted with the mental image of Viago head to toe in the leather, dark sunglasses, and holding wooden stakes, well, that was no one's business but his own.
He and Stu had a bit of trouble deciding on what to wear, and after a slightly tense evening where Vlad had offered one of his old, blood-stained fur coats, they decided just to keep it simple and wear what Anton considered 'church clothes' (had he ever bothered to go) and paired it with some Vencian masks his brother had sent him when he was in Italy on holiday.
“We’re going to be late, and The Beast will make sure we’re not invited for the next 60 years!” Vladislav shouted in the other room.
“Just a minute!” Anton heard Viago shout back.
“IF WE MISS WESLEY SNIPES I AM GOING TO STAKE YOU IN YOUR SLEEP AND PISS ON YOUR ASHES!” Deacon yelled, and then there was the sound of some shuffling and a loud banging.
“You can’t piss on anything! You’re a vampire!” Viago shot back.
“Then I will have one of the dogs do it! No offense, Stu!” Deacon peaked his head around the corner to apologize before disappearing.
“None taken,” Stu said loudly in return. “Viago’s dressing up like Edward from Twilight.” He leaned over to whisper to Anton, “Nick told me.”
“Really?” Anton wrinkled his nose in distaste.
“It’s fucking bullshit. I tell people I’m from Twilight, and Deacon loses his fucking mind, but if Viago wants to be the guy from Twilight, it’s fine. It’s a double standard,” Nick complained.
“No, we just don’t like you.” Deacon briefly appeared once again from around the corner to insult him.
“They like me,” Nick told Anton. “Anyway, Viago’s been trying to get his hair right for hours which isn’t easy when you can’t look in a mirror. They forgot to charge the camera and have been waiting for the Polaroids to develop,” Nick said from his corner, where he was texting on his phone. “You should’ve dressed up like the other guy, the wolf, and made a whole thing about it.”
“That would be a bit on the nose, don't you think?” Anton asked but was ignored as Nick went back to texting.
“Maybe you’re right. I don’t think those guys wanted to fuck each other,” Nick muttered casually, like he didn’t just cause Anton’s heart to stop dead in his chest.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
“Finally!” Nick exclaimed as the other vampires entered the room.
Vlad and Deacon came in the room dressed like… they were dressed as… Anton wouldn’t have been able to say as his eyes locked in on Viago, and he couldn’t have moved them if he tried. He was wearing grey trousers that were riding low and showed off his sharp hip bones. Anton hated being compared to a dog, but a primal part of him wanted to get his teeth around those bones as soon as physically possible.
The shirt was a blue button-down, completely open, exposing his dark chest and covered in a touch too much glitter to look natural. He looked like a meal, and Anton was starving.
“Jesus Christ,” Anton breathed.
All four vampires hissed.