"So you and I agree that Alex just wants to protect Draco in his peculiar, impulsive way?" Zeth asked Everett and then he looked around the restaurant. A waiter emerged from the kitchen, one Zeth hadn't seen before, carrying a mop in his hand. He and Everett were sitting in a booth with a very dim light above them, with dirty dishes still on the table. It was strange that no waiter had come for them yet.
"I think it is true, but..." Everett trailed off, "What if Alex is right? What if Draco isn't in love and it's just pheromones?"
"That worries me. Alex's pheromones have affected me at times, and yes, maybe once or twice I've gotten horny being around him when he's sweating," Zeth turned to see a waiter entering the kitchen, not a familiar face. How weird. Where were the waiters who were working here a few minutes ago? "Frostakov, you are straight but, have Alex's pheromones ever made you think of him in ways, you know..."
"Waiter is already mopping," Everett said quietly, "I think it's time to go."
"This is important," Zeth told the Big Guy and then turned to the booth where Draco and Finn were, "Seamons! Draco!" Zeth shouted. They looked up quickly, "Come here. Emergency meeting!"
"Ha-ha, among us," Draco chuckled.
The two men hurried over.
"What's wrong?" Draco asked as he and Finn sat across from Zeth and Everett.
"Alex is straight and can't love you, and Alex is asshole. Fix this already. Talk!" Everett told him immediately.
"Frostakov!" Zeth shouted and the Big Guy lowered his head with an 'I screwed up' face.
"What?! What's point of not getting to point?!" Everett said with dramatic hand gestures.
"I need another glass of wine," Finn said, "There's no way I'm going to survive this sober."
Draco looked very surprised, his scarlet eyes wide.
"What Everett meant is that this drama needs to end already," Zeth said, "You need to understand that Alex can't reciprocate your feelings. And he needs to understand that he can't be a jerk to you for it. You two need to talk or all our efforts to get to the top will be in vain, and I'm not talking about fame, I'm talking about friendship."
"But Alex doesn't talk to me anymore!" Draco lost it.
"When Alex has problems, he never says anything, he just starts acting weird." Paul pointed out, walking towards the table, startling everyone, "Sorry. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I noticed you were sad, Draco. And I think I know Alex well enough to know that he doesn't want to hurt you, but rather he wants to protect you from himself."
"Oh really?" Draco raised an eyebrow as Paul sat at the table.
"Alex is aware of how hurt you are, Draco," Paul said, "And I know that it hurts him more than it hurts you to treat you this way. It hurts me to see you like this too. You're both the closest people I've ever met. Alex would never reject someone for their feelings or sexual preferences, believe me, he is not like that and he had a huge problem with his family because of it. Not to mention that many of our clients at the strip club were gay men and he never treated anyone badly."
"I think Alex just wants to protect your friendship from his pheromones," Zeth said. "It's the only reason he would walk away from you, Draco. There's no other likely reason."
"If his idea of ââprotecting friendship is to completely ruin it, he is stupid." Everett said matter-of-factly,
"Frostakov is right," Zeth whispered, looking around. The entire restaurant had that aura of armed peace. Something that wasn't right. The waiters who were here when they arrived were no longer around, the doors had already been closed, and those whispers in the kitchen? This felt like a trap. "But we need to go to the suite and talk to Alex."
"I will ask waiter for bill," Everett growled, "But if Alex gets stubborn, I'll beat him up."
"It's fine," Paul squeezed Everett's shoulder lightly, "I think Alex is mature enough to talk."
"Good." Finn said, rubbing his palms together, "Then let's get back to the suit before the waiters kick us out."
"Hey, I don't mean to be nosy but..." Paul began, blushing, "I saw that this girl, Jade, was with Frank. Wasn't the date supposed to be for Evie? Why did Frank invite that girl to a romantic dinner if he wants to be with Evie?"
"Oh! Evie stood Frank up," Draco said sadly, "Poor Frank. He really wanted to be with Evie."
"Guys, I think there's been a misunderstanding here," Finn said, "I think Jade thinks, ever since we went to the strip club, that she..."
"There's no misunderstanding!" Draco shouted, very upset, "Jade said that Evie stayed upstairs and wouldn't be coming. And Jade said that Evie already understood her place in the poly relationship or something. How can you misunderstand that?"
"Looks like Alex isn't the only one breaking hearts tonight," Paul said, looking down, "Although Evie doesn't seem like the type of girl to do that."
"Maybe there's misunderstanding?" Everett asked.
"I think there is," Zeth said.
"That's what I said!" Finn raised his voice, "I think Jade..."
"Hold up," Zeth's phone buzzed, "Oh! Alex sent me a text. Weird. Doesn't he know what an audio is?!"
But upon checking it, his eyes widened.
"What did he send you?" Draco asked.
"We gotta go," Zeth slowly turned his head, raising an eyebrow when he saw one of the waiters looking at them in a way that was, to say the least, strange. "Guys. These aren't waiters."
Draco's eyes were wide open and his lips were pursed, Finn was looking from one side to the other looking for an escape rout, Everett was already grunting, Paul was looking at everyone without knowing what the hell they were all so worried about.
"Draco," Zeth eyed the vampire, "Draco, no matter what happens, don't turn into a giant bat. Everett, you know what to do."
"What did you just say?" Paul asked as Zeth rose elegantly from his seat to approach the red-haired waiter who was mopping the floor real close to the booth.
With a glance to the side, Zeth saw a short waiter closing the glass doors of the balconies that overlooked the Rose Garden.
"Oh, excuse me," Zeth patted the red-haired waiter on the shoulder, "Would you mind telling me where the bathroom is? I drank too much wine."
"Paul," Draco whispered, and the boys turned quickly, "We're in trouble."
"Why?"
"Because Zeth doesn't need to go to the toaletÄ, like ever," Draco whispered, "We're in danger."
"The bathroom is over there," the red-haired waiter told Zeth, and all the guys at the table immediately turned pale... Except Everett, who looked like an excited child about to see WWE wrestlers fight.
"Oh, thank you very much," Zeth said, stepping forward, "One more question."
"Yes?" the red-haired waiter, who was already sliding a hand into his vest suspiciously, asked.
"Would you mind having to mop when the ice melts?" Zeth asked, looking over his shoulder and nodding, "Frostakov! Now!"
Everett raised his hands and a huge wall of ice materialized itself around the booth where he, Draco, Finn and Paul were.
It was then that the clicking sound of a firearm alerted Zeth, who looked around and chuckled as the short waiter, holding a handgun, approached him.
"I wonder who you are working for," Zeth said, looking over his shoulder at the red-haired waiter, who was already raising his handgun too. "Oh well, I guess you don't kiss and tell." Zeth cracked his knuckles and spun around, kicking the face of the red-haired waiter, ducking to dodge the bullet of the short one.
Zeth rose up and kicked the short waiter hard in the chest, sending him back over a table.
The red-haired waiter was already standing up when Zeth turned around again.
"I'm too old for this," Zeth ran and quickly stood on a table, flipping sideways in the air and kicking with both feet the red-haired waiter, knocking him out.
Gunshots echoed.
The short waiter was firing incessantly to break the ice wall.
"Shit! Hang on, guys!" Zeth ran closer, and with a quick flip he kicked the waiter, knocking him unconscious.
Zeth landed gracefully, adjusting his hair a little.
"They only sent two?" Zeth raised an eyebrow but suddenly, there were footsteps behind him, "Obviously not."
When he turned, a blond waiter was getting closer.
"And where the hell did you come from?" Zeth grunted, raising his fists.
There was a noise, a metal cord retracting into a grapple gun, and then the glass door of the balcony burst into a thousand pieces.
"Hang on!" BC-13 shouted, rolling on the floor, getting up quickly and putting his grapple gun in his leg holster.
"What took you so long?!" Zeth shouted.
"I was busy, okay?" BC-13 jumped onto a table to be high enough to place both his legs on the shoulders of the blond waiter, and then he swung sideways while carrying the man with his head between his thighs, slamming him against the floor, knocking him out.
"Busy doing what exactly?" Zeth insisted.
"Stopping the Hunters out there from shooting you while you and Finn flirted," BC-13 pointed back at the rose garden, "I neutralized twelve hostiles."
The double doors of the kitchen opened up with a bang, and a bulky waiter appeared. He had a machine gun with him.
"Shit!" Zeth groaned, and both him and BC-13 rolled on the ground to hide behind a sand coloured marble column. "Your bullets won't hurt me, you moron!"
"And why did you hide then?" BC-13 asked.
"Why ruin my perfect physique with bulletholes?" Zeth joked.
Then there was a familiar noise. Stiletto heels on marble floor, running.
"Hang on!" Evie came rushing down from the balcony.
"Evie! I'll help you with my powers!" BC-13 said, snapping his fingers.
The bulky waiter turned his machine gun and pulled the trigger to shoot her, but the gun jammed.
"Thanks!" Evie dropped down onto her hands and lifted her legs, wrapping them around the neck of the bulky waiter before lifting her whole body up and hitting his head with her elbow, making him fall unconscious with a bang.
Zeth stood in front of a mirror and adjusted a lock of hair that was out of place.
"It's not the first time this has happened this year," Evie said, "But it's the first time they've brought actual guns and not tranquilizer darts."
"This blond guy did have a dart gun," BC-13 said, inspecting a fallen waiter.
"And this one too," Zeth said, taking the weapon that was still in the red-haired waiter's hand. "Evie, go to Frank. Alex sent me a message telling me there's a hunter in the gym. Vanessa Helsee."
"I've already got Miley looking for her everywhere," Evie nodded, walking elegantly towards the broken glass door, taking her grapple gun out of its holster. "I'm sorry it took me so long. When I heard BC-13 having trouble in the rose garden, I decided to go down and investigate. All the Hunters out there carried dart guns, but I didn't find anything else. And there weren't twelve hostiles, BC-13. There were twenty. You're welcome." She said with a cocky smile.
"You're such a show-off," BC-13 said laughing. He checked his shoulder, removing the microphone she had placed on it. "Very clever, Evie."
"What can I say? I'm a cautious woman," she said, stepping out of the broken glass door onto the balcony, firing her grapple gun to a gargoyle several floors above, "See you around," and then she went up at full speed.
"Hunters using darts again?" Zeth put a finger to his chin, "I don't think they want to kill us. I think they want to kidnap us. These gentlemen will have to be questioned."
"I'll put them in the prison downstairs and get all the information I can out of them, although I doubt they'll know who the client is as usual," BC-13 said, holstering his grapple gun, Then he pressed his earpiece, "I need a cleaning team, for yesterday." Then he nodded at Zeth, "We'll take care of the Hunters, Mr. Rahman. And I'll keep one of these dart guns."
"Fine. Frostakov, melt the ice!" Zeth ordered, "And you, I want you to look for the waiters, make sure they are okay. Maybe they are tied up in the kitchen or..." Zeth turned around, to the left, then right. But BC-13 was already gone. "Hmm. He didn't even say goodbye. So rude."