Charley was surprised to see his companions still seated at the bench. He felt like he had been gone for hours. Getting perved on by some creepy guy in Vegas had that effect on a person, he guessed. He had ran all the way back from the alley. The teen was breathing heavily and he could feel his heart pumping hard. He hoped the adrenaline wore off soon.
"Charley, what happened?" Adam asked, sounding concerned. He stood up and placed a hand on Charley's shoulder.
"Someone try to mug you or something?" Ed asked. He was looking a bit awkward, obviously not sure how to address Charley after their fight.
"Uh, something like that," he murmured quickly. "Look, c-can we just go? I don't want to talk about it."
They hesitated for a few moments, but relented. Charley never was one to talk about his problems.
"Yeah, let's go," Adam agreed. They started to make the way to the show in an uncomfortable silence.
Ed spoke up after a few minutes. "Look, Charley, I'm sorry about what I said earlier."
"Don't worry about it," Charley muttered. He could swear that he still felt that man's eyes boring into him. He wanted to get indoors as soon as possible.
"So, uh," Ed stammered "are we, you know, cool?"
"Yeah, sure. We're cool," Charley said flatly. He honestly didn't care about Ed's stupid feelings at the moment. Fright Night had better live up to its hype. He wanted to take his mind off recent events. Maybe he should have asked his friends if they knew how to get fake IDs. That way, he could have ditched these two and gotten smashed in one of the city's many bars.
Even though the show didn't start for another hour, the hotel was already crowded. Charley mentally scoffed when he saw the star of the show on a large poster above the front doors. This guy must be quite the narcissist. (To be fair, that might have been his manager's idea.) It was brightly lit enough outside for him to make out Peter Vincent's features. He looked like some Russel Brand or Jack Sparrow wannabe with his long, dark locks and facial hair. The black leather clothing and amulets around his neck completed his goth image. Charley resisted the urge to sigh. Like vampires, he never cared much for the whole goth thing.
It turned out to be a good thing that they were early. The line was already pretty big. By the time they joined it, it almost reached the hotel's casino. Throughout the entire time they waited in line until they were seated, Charley drowned out the excited chatter around him. He couldn't stop himself from fixating on what happened in the alleyway. How the hell was that creep so strong? And how did he get Charlie to talk to him? Jedi mind trick, maybe?
God, he was still such a geek.
He tried to envision how the show would go to distract himself. It would probably just be Vincent strutting around in his ridiculous outfit and performing some fun little tricks. The thought amused him until a darker one pushed its way into his mind. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about Peter Vincent seemed familiar. Where had he seen the man before? Ed or Adam must have had a poster of the guy in their rooms or something. He was brought out of his musings by Adam shaking his shoulder.
"It's starting, pay attention!" his friend whispered.
Looking around, Charley noticed that the lights had been dimmed and everyone had gone quiet. He leaned back in his seat and relaxed. Maybe he shouldn't be such a cynic. How bad could this thing be?
He was proven wrong when the cheesiest "scary" music started to play. He supposed it was supposed to set the mood. It was just getting on his nerves.
A spotlight came on the stage. There was a woman in white laying on a bed, and several other women were creeping up to it. A giant puff of smoke appeared on the front of the stage, and with it, Peter Vincent. He looked exactly like he did in his poster. His eyes scanned over the audience for a brief moment until they landed on Charlie. He realized in that moment that this was the man who had pinned him in the alley. Time seemed to stop as those same chilling brown eyes to bore into his. He saw Vincent give him a smirk before he turned back to do his job.
"Back, demons!" he yelled at the women. It was definitely the same voice from before.
The one on the bed levitated and bared her "fangs". Vincent shot some sort of fire at her.
Charley wanted to leave, he really did. But he seemed to be frozen in place. Internally, he panicked and begged his body to move, but he stayed still in his seat. What the fuck did that creep do to him now?
Since he would have died from a stress induced heart attack if he kept thinking about his current predicament, he focused on the damn show. It actually wasn't half bad. Vincent knew what he was doing. Charley had no idea how the man did most of the things he saw.
Vincent ignored Charley for the rest of the show. It was almost enough for him to forget about his current situation. Oh god, what if he was stuck this way all night?
When the show was over, there was a standing ovation, of course. Vincent and his co-stars happily took their bows. He turned to each part of the audience and bowed at the waist. Even though Charley was the only one still seated, that weirdo still managed to look him in the eye. And to his relief and joy, he found that he could move again. Unfortunately, there were too many people in the way for him to run out of there.
"I hope you all enjoyed the show!" Vincent cried. "I've decided to sign autographs for a select group of people tonight. So in ten minutes, I'll be in the lobby. Meet me there and see if you can get lucky." He finished with a grin and a wink.
There was a deafening roar of approval from the crowd. Everyone then started to make their way to the door. Charley was relieved. He could finally get out of this place. After slowly making his way out, he was planning on bolting for the exit. He was stopped by his companions enthusiastically gripping his arms and practically dragging him to the lobby.
"I can't believe it! He never does autographs like this," Ed gushed.
"Can you imagine if we got picked?" Adam added. "How awesome would that be?"
"Guys, let go!" Charley protested. "I don't wanna do this-"
"Oh, stop being such a downer," Ed scolded. "This is a once in a life time chance! You can't just go back to the hotel already. Besides, this shouldn't take more than another hour."
Unable to think of a good excuse to leave, Charley gave in and stayed in the lobby. They were in a room full of people. What could the creep really do to him?
True to his word, Peter Vincent appeared before him with a few of his body guards within ten minutes. Charley winced as the crowd cheered loudly again. The cause of the noise, however, only smiled slightly and ran his eyes over the crowd. Charley had to look away when he felt those damned eyes land on him again. He was getting a bad feeling. But he was stuck in place now.
"Let's see here," Vincent mused. He began pointing to seemingly random people. "That group of girls in the back, those ones with the matching shirts over there, that nice elderly couple to the right, and, oh, those three lads there in the middle."
Fuck. Every instinct told him to bolt, but Adam gripped his arm excitedly, and he could already see a guard coming to escort them to the stage. He reminded himself not to panic. The creep couldn't – wouldn't – do anything to him in public.
They ended up in the back of the line. The girls who were picked were at the front, and giggling excitedly. Two of them pulled their phones out and asked for pictures with Vincent, to which he declined. They looked disappointed, but their faces quickly lit up again when he gave them each a peck on the cheek. After he signed some pictures for them all, they tried to stay and talk to him, but the guard made them leave.
The next group didn't look too much older than Charley. They were all wearing matching green shirts that had some company's logo on it. They were calmer than the girls, but they were kicked off the stage when they started to try and promote their business or whatever it was.
The elderly couple didn't take long at all. They merely accepted their autographs and told Vincent how much they enjoyed the show before they left.
Charley was not prepared to suddenly be so close to his assailant again. The man gave him the same leering look he seemed to give everyone else, but Charley could see the obvious interest in his eyes.
"Hello, boys," the magician greeted. "Enjoy the show?"
"Oh, yeah, Mr. Vincent, it was awesome!" Ed gushed. "It really lived up to the hype."
"Yeah!" was all Adam said in agreement. He was obviously having too much of a fanboy moment to think coherently.
Vincent only smirked in amusement. He then turned to Charley. "And how about you?"
"Um, uh, it was alright," he stammered in response.
His companions shot him scandalized looks, but their idol only laughed. Then, the damned weirdo had to nerve to reach out and take hold of Charley's chin – again. "You alright there, mate? You seem a bit tense," the bastard teased. "I think you need to relax a bit."
Charley had every intention of telling the cocky douchebag off, but he was already a few steps ahead. Turning to Ed and Adam he said "How would you lads like to come with me for a bit? I'm guessing it's your first time in Vegas. It would be a shame if you ended your night so early."
Charley didn't really consider midnight early, but Ed and Adam enthusiastically agreed, not bothering to correct the older man about where they lived. Then again, if he wasn't afraid of being creeped on again, Charley would probably be getting excited right along with them.
"Follow me," Vincent said with a wink. The guards flanked their sides as they trailed behind the celebrity.
Okay, this was getting to be pretty bad. As soon as they left the lobby, Charley felt more trapped than ever. He had the sick feeling that even if he tried to leave now, Vincent and his guards wouldn't let him. His companions were busily trying to kiss their hero's ass and did not notice his stress.
"Settle down, lads," Vincent said. "You can save the questions for later."
He stopped and turned to look at Charley. Something flashed in his dark eyes, and Charley suddenly felt woozy. It was the same feeling he got when he was really tired in a boring class and he couldn't concentrate on anything besides trying to stay awake. He didn't even notice he was beginning to sway until a firm, cold hand grasped his arm. "My, my. Your mate here seems tired," he heard the goth dick say to his fans.
"Charley, you okay?" Adam asked, only sounding a bit concerned.
"Maybe the lights just got to him. I've had that happen to audience members," Vincent said smoothly. What bullshit. "You boys go wait for me in the lounge. I'll take Charley boy here to get some aspirin or something."
Charley felt himself being dragged somewhere and heard the ding of an elevator opening. He also heard what he hoped was Ed protesting before the doors shut and the lift started to move up.
"Well, this night turned out rather well," Vincent hummed. He ran a hand over Charley's forehead, and the teen felt himself become fully aware again.
At that moment, the elevator opened again and Vincent all but shoved him into his large hotel room. Charley barely had time to grasp his surroundings before he felt himself being pushed down on something soft. A couch maybe. He let out a muffled gasp as he felt a pair of cold lips pushing on his. The fake beard was scratching his chin. Crap. Fuck. Crappity fuck fuck fuck. This weirdo had gotten him into his house and was now kissing him. Charley lashed out, pushing against the older man and trying to claw at any bare flesh he could find.
This only made the magician laugh. After moving his lips against the boy's for a few more moments, he pulled away.
"Get – get off -" Charley panted.
"You sure like saying that, don't you?" the man teased. "Mmmm, nope. I think I'm fine right here." As if to prove his point, he pressed himself hard against Charley.
"Leave me alone! What the hell do you want with me?" Charley asked, even though the man's actions had given him a pretty big hint.
Vincent actually looked surprised at the question. "Y'know, I haven't really thought too much about that. Well, not in the long run, anyway," he said with a jerk of his head. And then, to Charley's horror and disbelief, a pair of fangs descended from his mouth.
"What the fuck?" he gasped.
"I 'm a vampire expert for a reason, darling," Vincent said before digging his fangs into Charley's neck.
Charley howled and tried to squirm away. No, no. This was not fucking happening. He was having a bad dream. He had gotten high at Mark's party and was hallucinating. But he was sure as hell not having his blood sucked by Criss Angel's vampiric cousin.
It didn't seem too long before he grew to weak too fight. He was dimly aware of the sharp fangs pulling out of his neck before everything went dark.
X
Thanks for reading. I hope you liked it. Next chapter will start with Peter's POV. Also, for plot reasons, I'm planning on him being a different breed than Jerry was.