Stereo Blast Volume 1 [MxM]

Chapter 7.3

The sea of people didn’t part like he would have wanted. He heard the music being turned down, but it faded into the background.

“Move the f**k over!” His voice was lost in the deafening noise. People stared, pointing, and yelling. They didn’t know about Tike yet and he just hoped he could make it out of there before they did. He didn’t need to worry about that right now, not when he had to focus on Ryan. God—he hoped it wasn’t serious. But it had to be if Tike was dead and the damage done to him had been by the hands of Ryan. He didn’t know what to think and as he made it past the party, towards the front of the shop, he felt some of the heavy weight lifted from his chest. It wasn’t over though.

A scream broke out.

Taylor glanced behind him, merely out of reflex. He saw the tops of heads, a sea of color and hair, and beyond that, nothing. But as he glanced around the room, he noticed they crowd was turning and moving towards the front entrance. Then, the screams multiplied. Darkness fell over the already dim-lit room. He wasted no more time and turned to the door. He slammed his back into the door. It swung open and he hauled Ryan out into the freezing street.

The screams followed him. They were blood curdling, the kinds he heard in horror movies, and the kind he heard when the gang tortured victims. His eyes flashed around the street. He ran as fast as he could with Ryan in his arms down towards his apartment. As he searched for a hiding spot, somewhere he could wait out and figure out what the f**k was going on, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. An electric shock shot through his nerves. He skidded to a halt. On their own accord, his legs turned him around. Standing in the middle of the street, glowing under the city lights, a vampire turned his head in Taylor’s direction.

His breath caught in his throat. He gripped Ryan tighter. His feet were frozen, glued to the road, and his eyes were locked with the vampire’s. They were the brightest of blues, glowing in the city lights like a beacon calling his name. He took a step back, stumbling and panting as his mind raced to think clearly. The vampire stood, watching Taylor trip over his feet and clutch Ryan. Those eyes seemed to take all of them in, not missing one detail. The screams of the people, the flood gates of m******e breaking, were in the background. Taylor looked beyond the vampire. Tike’s shop was amidst chaos. People shoved and clawed one another to get out from the building. As they flooded the street, he could see just a glimpse of a fight breaking out between the party. The screams were rising higher and higher until it was all that Taylor could hear except the pounding of his heart. It banged against his rib cage, punching him in the throat, and squeezing his lungs empty.

He took one more step back. His eyes were on the vampire. His foot stepped wrongly and he fell back on his ass. His arms never let go of Ryan. They were jostled and he bit down a yelp.

The vampire was still looking at them and Taylor couldn’t do a damn thing. He was struck by the blue of the vampire’s eyes and the screaming filling the air. He looked once more at the growing crowd. It was horrifying. The screams mixed with a new sound. It was yells of anger and the crunching of bones. People were trampled and those that were still standing had turned on one another. It was a mass of punching and kicking. The city lights reflected off pieces of metal which Taylor could only assume were knives. And those who didn’t have weapons, used their hands. They clawed each other in the face, leaving red and deep cuts.

They gouged eyes, spilling bright red blood and Taylor could smell it. If he wasn’t already in shock, this would have done it. The sight was beyond anything he’d ever seen or could even comprehend. The bloodshed and the outright violence was sick.

The next seconds happened before he could think. The crowd advanced behind the vampire. He turned, his blue eyes flashing with a look that sent an ice cold chill down Taylor’s spine. There was no sound from him, not even the sound of his shoes grinding against the pavement. He stepped toward the gathering crazed people. One lone man broke from the group and attacked the vampire. Before he could lay a hand on him, the vampire grabbed the man’s neck and slammed him down. His head splattered in an array of chunks. The blood oozed between the vampire’s fingers.

The scene which played out in front of Taylor’s eyes was one he’d never seen before. Even through all the years of being in the gang, even after the incident with Cleo on the bridge, he’d never seen so much blood and so much violence in one night. The vampire sliced through the crazed attackers with ease. He swung his arms and leaped out of the way when another charged at him. His fist connected with the man. Taylor heard a crack.

He couldn’t look anymore. It was too much blood, too much c*****e for him to push through. The vampire was fast and none of the people could lay a hand on him. They were merely flies he could swat away with the back of his hand.

Taylor gathered Ryan back in his arms. Ryan was still out and it was driving further home that there was something deeply wrong with him. Taylor struggled to get back to his feet, but the fear fathering inside of him made it easier to brush the pain away. He had to think about Ryan, the one who couldn’t defend himself right now.