Café le Fang

“Hey, fang-face! I’m talking to you!”

He rolled his pale blue eyes and forced himself to breathe even if it was a useless gesture. They were customers, he reminded himself, paying customers. He was NOT allowed to vault over the counter at them, even though he so badly wanted to.

“Hellooo! Jackass, I’m talking to you! Look at me when I’m talking to you!”

Did it matter that he was twice as strong as a normal human and had blood with his dinner instead of water? Did it matter that he had fangs and was a demon of the night? Of course not. Cory forced a smile and turned to face the woman verbally abusing him.

“Yes ma’am? What can I do for you?”

She was staring open-mouthed at him. Cory kept smiling, fangs and all. It was his warning sign to her that he wasn’t happy. Seeing her eyes narrow and her mouth open, Cory recognized those warning signs and simply kept smiling. He turned her out as she began to bitch about the latte in her hand. He just smiled and nodded and replied automatically. He could hear his human co-workers giggling, and figured one of them had probably fucked up and blamed him. He was a vampire, after all. No sense of taste, so how would he know if it was made wrong or not? Shit, if they knew the truth about vampires instead of believing all the pop culture conjecture, they’d be a lot more wary about him!

Cory stared into the foaming milk and wondered if he could spit it in it. That’d get him some satisfaction. He smiled as he gave the woman her drink and said, “Have a wonderful day, miss.” Bitch, he added silently. The dark-haired vampire deftly wiped off the wand steamer and slunk into the back, pretending to fidget with the boxes of food stacked there. He imagined launching over the counter, grabbing the bitch by her perm and sinking his fangs into her neck. He wouldn’t drink the blood, just let it splash all over his chin and throat, and really show them what a monster he was. They’d try to stake him, and he’d laugh at them, the stupid mortal fuckers, because it’d just hurt like a bitch but he wouldn’t die.

“Yo, man, Cory. You’re squishing the cookies.”

Cory looked up into the wild brown eyes of David and felt brownie batter oozing between his fingers. Cory looked at the abused cookies and glowered as David carefully removed his fingers from the batter and box.

“What’s eating your shorts?” David asked as Cory moved to wash his hands. Cory smiled briefly. “Oh. Right. You gotta quit letting them get to you.”

“Says the guy who becomes a fucking polar bear.” Cory snapped back. “They don’t fuck with you because you’re entitled to express your rage. The animal doesn’t mean to be a vicious murderer.”

“That’s low, bloodsucker.” David said with a smile. “Come on. They’re human. They’re supposed to be irritating dickheads who don’t know jack shit about us.” David sidled up beside Cory and leaned in close to the vampire’s ear. “We’re off in an hour.”

“What do I look like? A girl?” Cory snapped. “I don’t want to get fucked or fuck or do anything that deals with said word or action. Bad enough I’ve got a wolf breathing down my neck because I screwed with his mate’s head last year.”

David chuckled. “Hey, she had it coming to her. What’d she expect? That you wouldn’t play the game?”

Cory frowned and reached for a paper towel to dry his hands. “I don’t know what she thought. I’m a vampire, not a blow-up sex doll.”

“Even though you ooze sex like it’s a drug.”

Cory slashed David a bright blue glare. The were-bear simply grinned. “It’s true.” David continued. “You attract attention wherever you go. Must be that dark and mysterious bit.”

“Oh fuck you.” Cory threw the paper towel into David’s face. “It’s feral attraction and you know it, shithead.”

“Come on, Cor.” David tossed the towel into the garbage bin. “This place makes you tense. I’m only offering to relax you. Poor wittle vampire, getting all riled and making coffee for bitches with nothing better to do than gripe.” The were-bear grinned. “Though I’d pay to see you go all Dracula on their plastic asses.”

“Call me poor wittle vampire again and I’ll destroy you.” Cory snapped, though the idea of going ‘Dracula’ on unsuspecting humans appealed to him. “Go tame a druid or something.”

“I’d rather tame you.”

“Get in line. You’ve got a shape shifter and a dracomage ahead of you.”

“Damn. You’re popular.”

“You should see the list of people who want to kill me!”

David grinned. “You make so many friends, Cory.”

“Screw you.”

“Please. Cory, you’re not a virgin, so what do you care? Afraid my cock will destroy your tight ass?”

“One, I’m not afraid of that noodle you call a cock, and two, I’m nobody’s slut. Give me ten million and my own blood bank and we’ll talk.”

David almost grimaced. “You drive a hard bargain.”

“Hey cocksuckers! Get back to fucking work!”

Both David and Cory slashed a glare at the human standing in the back room’s door. The human paled and left. Cory thought he scented urine. Before David could stop him, Cory left the back room and went back to the counter, playing the good little vampire. He didn’t want to think about sex, cocks, blood, or anything dealing with the above. He just wanted to get through the hour and go home.

“Is something wrong with your ears, fangzilla, huh?”

Only an hour.


He was glad he couldn’t read lips. Cory stood on the train’s aisle, gripping tight to the pole as humans and other creatures pushed around him. Coheed and Cambria blared in Cory’s ears, drowning out everyone’s words. He super-imposed words in their mouths, making himself smile and more than a few humans recoil in fear. The lycanthropes stared at him, waiting for a challenge then ignored him when he didn’t move. The train rocked along its old tracks as it headed from the business district to the residential, carrying people home. It was probably just as well that Cory couldn’t hear what people were saying; he’d probably scare more than a few people into pissing their pants and then he’d get arrested.

Like he needed ‘terrorizing humans’ added to his already stellar record.

Inevitably, his mind turned to David. The asshole was right – he needed to get laid. The last time Cory could remember having sex was just last year, when he was being used as a pawn in a lover’s spat. Really, he didn’t know what Jameson saw in Christin – she was great to look at but her bedroom skills were like a five-year-old’s. And her mouth – he’d finally had to gag her with pillows to get her to stop saying those stupid porno lines.

David was willing. More than willing. And unlike a wolf, there were no strings attached. Plus, David was more of the kind of guy who didn’t expect a relationship out of a lay. He wanted the physical, which Cory was more than capable of providing.

The train rocked to a stop, wheels screaming in protest along rusty tracks. Cory looked up at the flashing sign that indicated the stop and moved to get off with the rush and crush of people. With music still blasting his eardrums, Cory started walking the last five blocks to his tiny apartment in the hugest building on the face of the planet. Still, because he was a vampire and had helped the landlady carry her groceries in on more than one occasion (never mind make the building neutral territory for the two wolf packs that lived two blocks away on either side) he got to live there for free. A two-room apartment with a kitchenette and a bathroom for free was as best a deal as Cory would ever get.

He could feel eyes on him, which wasn’t unusual. The packs watched him, the loners watched him, and other vampires watched him. He was like the go-to guy for solving other people’s problems. Never mind his reputation as an assassin kept troublemakers at bay. Except humans ironically enough. Humans seemed to just attract Cory’s ire. Like that fucking dracomage. At least the shape shifter was hot.

Cory shuffled for his keys as he neared home. It was habit, really, to have his keys held like Wolverine’s claws in his hand. Probably something left over from humanity. Either way it made life easy for him.

He started down the street to the high-rise building he called home when he heard it. Cory froze, trying to identify the sound. It was like a screeching noise, loud and buzzing. Almost like a fly in the ear along with the twisting metal of a severe crash. He looked up, eyes widening as he saw it. He barely dodged out of the way and pressed up against the wall of his building as it crashed into the street, twisted metal wings ripping out of flesh. Cory’s nose flared at the scent of blood.

The fallen thing shifted, a human body uncurling itself from the crater it had made, metal wings a crumpled, twisted mess at its feet. Eyes the colour of the harvest moon opened, the pain-filled orbs focusing on Cory. The creature smiled, long fangs revealed behind bloodless lips. White hair fell around pale shoulders, turning pink with the blood that streamed down the creature’s back. Cory pressed up against the brick as the creature, man, thing, reached out for him. It grinned wider.

“I’ve been looking for you, Lacorian.”

Then, the man crumpled forward in a dead faint. Rolling his eyes, Cory wondered how his life could get any worse now.