When Alex and Draco arrived at the strip club, an old and small place in the southeast area of ââHallow Woods, the owner was already waiting for them at the entrance.
Mr. Darke was a former inhabitant of the now sunken Kingdom of Hellstorm, who came to the Human Lands to try his luck. The human form he had taken was far from what Draco had expected. He was short and potbellied, nothing like the red and muscular, long-horned demon Draco had imagined when he heard the 'Darke' surname.
The place was closed, but Draco figured it would be fun to see it all lit up in neon lights.
Inside, it was like a warehouse. There was a bar, cubicles with red curtains, people sweeping confetti from the grey floor, and a huge stage that took up most of the venue. There would be hundreds of people here tonight, and Draco was excited to see what this place looked like when it was alive.
Mr. Darke immediately greeted Alex and gave him a big hug and a pat on the back. He also told him that he was proud of him and then asked him how he liked the place so far. Alex replied with a nod and a bright smile, and Mr. Darke said that he was glad he still liked it here and that it would become even better when people started coming tonight.
Draco was too busy checking the stage to pay much attention, imagining what Alex looked like in his stripper days up there.
Alex had danced in front of Draco before, but it was different dancing sexy and sometimes shirtless for Monster Mash fans than doing it oiled up in a mini hammock-like piece for horny women. Draco had already seen everything, Alex's entire body without any clothes, but it probably was nothing like seeing him performing like a legitimate stripper on stage.
Maybe Draco was already losing his mind again, over a Lycan, something forbidden...
Oh! Of course! Because it was not an aberration when his father married him to Marchioness Luna Alfaro in the past just for power and to keep her hostage in Kizah, but it was actually forbidden to have a relationship with a Lycan in the name of love?
What a stupid thing!
But Alex was a straight Lycan, and Draco was a bisexual vampire, and there was no way their love could thrive.
The history of their rival species started long, long before Draco's ancestors had even been born.
It was not known exactly, but it was said that Lycans had been born from shape-shifter sorcerers from what would become Mexico thousands of years later.
For years, these sorcerers known as Nahuales performed rites to shapeshift into their tonal animal counterpart, but a war between two factions forced Alycandro 'The Founder' Alfaro to flee with his people on rafts to find a new home.
They found what they were looking for on the southern coast of the lonely island of Evalon, where they erected the Village of the Three Goddesses in collaboration with the native Madmen.
Everything was peace and harmony for about two decades, until the twelve-feet-tall moon vampire: Draco 'The Original' Von Stroker and his four subordinates: Orava Nosferatt, Frank Stein, Captain Atlan Greak and Atheena Greak, landed with more than twenty thousand men at the mouth of the Holy River on the south-western coast of Evalon.
And so began The Vampire Conquest.
Draco 'The Original' and his enormous armies, tried to subdue Alycandro 'the Founder' and his Lycans under the banner of the God Uvhash. The Lycans fought a desperate war for their lands and faith in The Three Goddesses, while the Madmen fought to survive the crossfire.
The Lycans used sacred wood and Vorpal Steel gifted by The Three Goddesses.
The Vampires were equipped with silver swords and armour.
But there was never a victor.
After years of warfare, they fought one another to a standstill.
The Madmen, Vampires and Lycans agreed to a truce, signing the Pact of Covenant Islet.
The Eastern and Southern lands of Evalon were given to the Vampires and their multi-species allies, the Central lands to the Madmen, and the Northern forests to The Lycans.
The Age of Vampires began with the signing of the Pact of Covenant Islet, and during that time, a hundred kingdoms rose and fell.
Then came the Age of the Dukes, and then the Age of the Rahman Kings, but peace never lasts forever.
The War of the Nine Kingdoms ended the peace between Lycans and Vampires after hundreds of years without conflict.
"A war my father started," Draco whispered, "Look at me now, Dad. Making alliances with wolves without any bloodshed."
Draco was proud to say that out loud, because yes, he did turn an enemy into his best friend.
Initially, Alex and Draco were too different for any kind of friendship to work.
They frequently ran into each other in the university hallways. and each time, Draco ended up head first in a trash can or, in the worst case scenario, in a truck headed to the dumpster.
Alex used to make fun of Draco's height in front of his multiple girlfriends, because yes, he had many, and sometimes they all knew each other and were fine with it.
Alex used to be a complete asshole and jerk. He used to hate Draco more for being a Von Stroker than for being a vampire. But they worked on it together one afternoon when Alex challenged Draco to lift a weight in the gym to humiliate him in front of some girls, so Draco accepted the challenge and thus began a competition that left both of them sweaty, tired, without a girlfriend but with an unlikely friendship.
Soon enough, they became Gym Buddies.
Slowly, Draco realised that Alex only did what his parents wanted, including being a basketball player and being rude to him for being the brother of Queen Batrix 'The Black Widow' and the son of Duke Dimitri, both responsible for the near extinction of House Alfaro during the War of the Nine Kingdoms.
Alex was faking it, Draco realised; He wanted to release fury from all the abuse he had experienced at home and make his dad feel proud. Draco empathized because, once upon a time, he also wanted to be accepted by his father.
Draco went from hating Alex to being so close to him they rarely were seen apart, which didn't sit well with the Alfaros, who kicked Alex out of his home with only the clothes he was wearing.
Draco found out about this very late when he stopped seeing him at the gym and at school.
Alex was never able to graduate from college.
Erich heard this and offered Alex his house to stay. Alex found a job at the strip club and paid Erich rent to let him stay in the room that used to be his daughter's.
When Draco found Erich at the gym and asked if he had seen Alex, he told him everything.
The afternoons at Erich's house began.
They talked nonsense, had dinner together even though Draco didn't need to eat, and even watched movies until late. In no time, Alex was back at the gym and went from strip club janitor to stripper.
"Hey! Draquito!" Alex's voice snapped the vampire out of his mental spiral, making him shake his head, "Elord told me we can do whatever we please here as long as we display the name of the club for advertising. He won't charge a dime," Alex was walking over as he texted someone, probably Zeth, "So, what do you think of this place? It's great, isn't it? Simple but it works."
"I've been here before actually," Draco said, "It was a building materials warehouse about fifty years ago, give or take."
"Really? I didn't know that," Alex replied, but then noticed Draco blushing, "All good? You look absent."
"I was remembering..." Draco had to come up with something to say and quickly, "I was remembering the day you auditioned, I mean, look around! Your destiny was to be on stage." Draco never understood why Alex never invited him to come over, but he was glad he never did. His little heart wouldn't resist that much, "When you entered the suite to audition, you said that you worked in a strip club and had never sung in public. And here we are, back to the beginning."
"Zeth wasn't even going to let me sing, maybe because of the wolf and vampire rules, but it was you who told him that it didn't matter, and even I was surprised," Alex sighed, hands on hips, looking at the stage.
"Your talent brought you here," Draco said, reaching up to put his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Never forget that. Furthermore, your name was always synonymous with greatness in Evalon."
"What do you mean?"
"I say that men named Alycandro were almost always Lycan cornerstones," Draco explained, "The first Alycandro was the man to whom the Discovery of Evalon is attributed. The second was the wise duke who bent the knee when Zeth 'The Conqueror' arrived to conquer Moonfall."
"And the third Alycandro became a singer," he laughed, "Sure, it sounds very heroic."
"Well, there were other Alycandros, but those two were the most important... Although there was an Alycandro who lived in The Titan with Zeth and I, but what happened in The Titan stays in The Titan."
"Sometimes it worries me when you say that," Alex laughed, "But it's okay, I don't want details."
"You definitely don't want details," Draco laughed and bit his lip, wondering again...
Had fate brought Zer Alycandro Alfaro back?
Draco might never know if reincarnation existed, but he knew that he loved Alex, and that was enough for him.
"I remember a guy who used to work here," Alex ran a hand along the edge of the perfectly polished stage, almost like a mirror. "We used to talk about you and Zeth whenever we met at the gym. He actually helped me get a job as a janitor here when my parents kicked me out. He would always listen to your covers at the gym without headphones. He even auditioned for the band... And Zeth said no," Alex lowered his head and sighed. "He's with Fifth Octave now."
"I knew I had seen that guy before!" Draco exclaimed, too loudly as always, snapping his fingers.
"It hurt me to know that Paul joined the competition," Alex replied. "We weren't very close, but he was the one who introduced me to the striptease business. I used to sweep the confetti and mop the floors after hours until, one night, he saw me dancing with my headphones on. I didn't see him standing there," Alex looked up, where a glittering disco ball was. "He told Elord to let me be a stripper, after all, I already had a fit body... How come someone so life-changing becomes so distant?"
"What do you mean?" Draco looked down, wanting to take Alex's big, black-finger-nailed hand, but wondering if that was the right thing to do.
"I only saw him one night a week as time went by, and we almost never met at the gym, so we drifted away. I heard that he auditioned once and gave up on his dream of being a singer," Alex put his heavy arm around Draco's shoulders.
"Maybe Paul should have auditioned more times," Draco said, patting Alex's chest. His tank top was warm and a bit wet. "Finn, in fact, auditioned three times before making it. He tried each and every one of the three days it took us to find the last member. Zeth told him he was young enough to keep on trying somewhere else, that he had to leave, but Finn was either too brave, too stubborn or too stupid to give up on his dream. He jumped security and climbed through a window, and we were on the tenth floor!"
"Finn told me that you and Zeth were very hard to impress," Alex laughed. "But that's how Zeth is, right? But back then, I just couldn't understand why you didn't make room for Paul."
"There were already too many boys in the band," Draco discreetly cuddled into Alex's body, "In fact, Everett was going to be the last member. With you and him, we were already five, but then Finn entered through the window right after Everett left."
"Finn must have made a big impression on both of you after hearing Everett," Alex chuckled. He pulled Draco a little bit closer, holding him against his body, and Draco enjoyed every second of it.
"God! Everett impressed us so much that we made room for him!" Draco said, discreetly inhaling the masculine, woody scent of his friend's cologne. "Everett was stubborn. He stepped into the hotel room and stood still even though we told him the auditions were over. Everett did not move, he did not speak. Not even two security guards could get him out. Only after Zeth promised to listen to him if he left afterwards did Everett nod."
"That totally sounds like Everett," Alex laughed. "And what song did he sing?"
"He sang 'Never Enough' from that Showman movie and blew me away! It was like hearing Karl Loxley's version of that song! Zeth was angry with me for adding a fifth member, but later said he was mad at himself for not seeing Everett's potential at the time." Draco ran his hand over Alex's chest again, hoping he wasn't pushing his luck too far. "But then Finn came along! And he also refused to leave until he got a third chance."
"What song did he sing?"
"The first day he sang 'Immortals' and the second day he sang 'Hold Me Tight Or Don't' both songs by Fall Out Boy, but the third day he sang 'Dream On' by Aerosmith and left us truly impressed with that iconic high note, it was literally like listening to a Patrick-Stump-ish Steve Tyler. The previous tries weren't bad, but this one had something special. In fact, Zeth decided to give him a chance despite my doubts."
"And to think that, just because Paul told me that you and Zeth turned him down I went to the audition," Alex laughed, running his hand through his brown hair, "I mean, Paul was older than me, If my math doesn't fail me, he must be twenty-nine years old now, but I went into big brother mode and... I got carried away. I actually wanted to kick your immortal asses."
"Wait, you didn't tell me that," Draco said, pushing away a little.
"I was furious because you didn't accept Paul. That's why I made the line. I wanted to talk to you. I was planning to tell you to give Paul another chance, but... After hours of waiting in line, I thought it was worth trying. I mean, everyone seemed so excited to be in the band. They said that you were a sensation on YouTube and that you earned a lot singing covers. I figured I could give it a try. In fact, I didn't even know what song to sing until I stood in front of you both."
"Well, that's shocking," Draco blinked rapidly.
"Sometimes I think I'm taking Paul's place," Alex sounded regretful.
"Everything happens for a reason," Draco tried to quiet Alex's guilt, for he knew that oppressive feeling well.
But then, Draco saw a boy, black hair and athletic body, hiding behind a curtain.
BC-13.
So, Evie sent him to look after them. Draco better not say anything, because Zeth preferred to always keep Evie's right-hand man in the shadows.
"Hey, you got distracted," Alex said and Draco shook his head.
"Ãmi pare rÄu, what were you saying?"
"That you all picked up stripper moves fast. You're quick learners," Alex ran a hand along the edge of the stage again. "Even Frank was agile, even though he fell flat on his face a lot... Hey! And what about Frank's audition?"
"That one is a long story. Frank was fourteen when Zeth met him in ninth grade, they were in the same class. Zeth was pretending to be a high school student again, one who looked too old for being fourteen like those pseudo-teenagers on Netflix." Draco and Alex laughed a bit before the vampire continued, " I mean, Zeth stopped aging at twenty-eight and didn't look fourteen at all! But anyway! He immediately liked Frank's energy and attitude. Years passed, and..." Draco clenched his fists, his eyes and teeth.
"Draco? What's wrong?" Alex crouched down a bit to be eye-level with him. "You're okay, right?"
"We should have protected him... But..." Draco shook his head with all his might, but a tear came out of his eye. "The first auditions day... He knew us... He could have skipped the line, but he waited his turn. God! Zeth and I actually bought him a cake the day before and celebrated his birthday in the hospital, we even told him that we already had enough money to melt Zeth's swords and ask Franklyn for help to... I just... Frank could have told us he wanted to be part of the band in that moment and we would have said yes!"
"You know Frank likes to work hard to get what he wants," Alex said, "You know he wouldn't have accepted without auditioning like everyone else."
"You know what was the funniest thing?" Draco laughed, but wiped away a tear, "Frank convinced a nurse to help him go to the audition. It was the first time he left the hospital in two years, and came to audition in a wheelchair." Draco was really trying not to cry, but he couldn't help himself, and Alex immediately put an arm around his head, pressing the vampire against his chest and stroking his hair.
"Calm down, let it out," Alex whispered. "I'm here for you, bro."
"Frank was in a very bad condition. He had no legs, he had lost an arm, he was wearing an eyepatch, bandages around his chest and back... But he was also wearing a second-hand suit jacket, shirt and bowtie, and slacks," Draco sobbed into Alex's chest. "It was my fault. I should have realised earlier that Evie was there to... God! Zeth knew there was something wrong, but I told him Frank and Evie were perfect together!"
"You and I know that Evie is a very good actress," Alex moved back and put his hand on his friend's chin, then lifted his face, but Draco was staring at nothing, at the edge of the stage. "Draco, are you okay?"
"Frank was still smiling, holding the microphone with a weak hand, holding on to it just like he was holding on to dear life!" Draco looked at Alex with teary eyes. "Frank was fighting to live! He was so worried about losing his job at the pizzeria! And he kept saying that he was holding us all back by not being able to adapt to his prosthetics fast enough! I... I just..."
"Hey, hey, calm down, it's okay," Alex hugged him tight, and the tears of joy or sadness that came out of Draco's eyes soaked his tank top. "Everything's okay now. Frank is living his dream, he is happy now! You changed his life by giving him a chance. Frank wouldn't have his prosthetics if it weren't for the money you and Zeth made, and the swords. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you and Zeth start the YouTube channel to raise money for Frank's recovery in 2017? And let's not forget about the lemonade stand. It took two years of work to finally give Frank his prosthetics, from his bionic ear to his eye, chest, back, everything! And it was thanks to you and Zeth.."
"It was surprising how many people supported our Patreon to help Frank, and even more surprising that the channel was monetized after appearing in the news but... Guilt is killing me."
"And the joy of fulfilling a dream keeps Frank alive," Alex replied, but he also had teary eyes by now, "You have saved millions, Draco. Mashers, people our charities support, animals, even Frank, Finn, Everett and me."
"Yeah I... I guess. MulÈumesc, for your words," Draco choked out.
"I can take you home if you want, Draquito," Alex suggested, "I can take care of everything. This used to be my workplace, I can handle this."
"That's okay; we've got to shoot this video," Draco said, drying his eyes, "I owe it to Frank, to you and Zeth, to Finn and Everett, to our workers, and to the fans and charities."
"Okay, then help me find a Velcro suit that's Everett's size back there," Alex told him, wiping a tear off Draco's cheek with his thumb. "We're gonna kick Anus Openhole's ass with a video better than his."
"Yes," Draco said, "Let's do it."