Damien and Greg rolled up to what was the hottest new gay club in town, Club Clove. They were dressed in their best club gear. Damien wore his black leather harness with matching pants, while Greg wore a black mesh shirt and tight silver pants. It was chillier than expected outside, but they didn’t mind. It would feel good after a night of dancing and drinks.

They could hear the music thumping as they approached the front door. They couldn’t wait to shake their asses to Lady Gaga. It didn’t matter what the song was; every one was a banger.

After being carded by the bouncer, they entered and were immediately greeted by the flashing rainbow lights and Axe body spray smell. They felt the all-around good vibes pulse with the beat of the music. It was going to be a good night.

Greg made a beeline to the bar and ordered a vodka cran. The cute bartender mixed his drink with elegance and a smile. Greg winked at the shirtless twink as he slid him a dollar tip. Despite the loud music, he heard Damien sigh behind him.

“Could you not flirt with the staff?” Damien groaned.

“What? Service with a smile deserves congeniality,” Greg said coyly. “Don’t be jealous. Bartenders always expect the customer to flirt with them.” He leaned in and groped Damien in the goods. “I belong solely to you, Dames.”

Damien couldn’t help but grin. He didn’t have to worry, or at least not right now. Three more vodka crans later might be a different story.

“YAAAASSSS GAWWWWD!” screamed a high pitched voice from further down the bar. A thin man in big platform shoes stomped toward them. He wore body glitter all over his bare chest and sported a black feather boa, which he flailed about liberally. “Look what the queens dragged in! Damien and Gregory!” He stooped down and hugged Damien, successfully transferring the glitter to his chest. Gregory managed to avoid it.

“Divinity, it’s good to see you,” Greg said, standing behind Damien. “Long time, right?”

“Yaaasss. Where have you bitches been? It’s like you got boring once you moved in together.” Divinity pouted as he gazed down at them. “But it figures you’d crawl out of your nest for this.”

“It’s not every day a new gay club opens up,” Damien said. “Of course, we had to check it out. Looks fun.”

“Well, let’s go dance!” Divinity grabbed Damien’s hand and led him to the dance floor. He ignored Greg’s irritated stares.

The three of them danced vigorously among the crowd. The DJ was spinning some great hits by Lady Gaga, Britney, Lizzo, and some old school Whitney.

Greg sipped his vodka cran while he watched Divinity dance with Damien. He always knew Divvy had a crush on Damien and was bitter he got him first. He supposed he could allow the poor boy to flirt, just as long as he knew he couldn’t touch.

Tired of watching the shameful display, he decided to get another drink. As he passed through the crowd, he noticed they were all wearing black. Usually, that wouldn’t have stood out to him, but tonight, he thought it strange. Was it a black party? He hadn’t seen anything about a theme in the ad he received. It was probably nothing.

He ordered his second and third vodka crans and made his way back to the dance floor. He carefully navigated back to where he left his friends but found there were no longer there. “The fuck?” he muttered. I knew I shouldn’t have left Damien alone with that bitch! His mission was clear, find Divinity and rescue Damien from his thirsty clutches.

The bathroom was first on the ‘Where’s Damien’ tour. Being a hot spot to do unspeakable things in private, it was only natural to start there. Greg pushed open the door and found two men making out by the farthest urinal. For a brief moment, Greg thought the guy against the wall was struggling, but the moans told him otherwise.

Greg checked the stall to find no one in it. The bathroom was a bust. Maybe Divinity had taken his boyfriend to the back patio. So, he shoved his way through lurkers and arrived at the back patio.

The cool night air felt good on his face. The patio was just as packed as the inside. With all of the people wearing black, it was hard to distinguish one person from the next. Again, he thought it was odd how everyone almost looked the same. Black slicked back hair, tight black shirts if they wore one, and black pants of variable shininess. Was this a goth bar? Come to think of it, he had seen some folks in white face paint. It had to be a goth bar.

Without spilling a drop of his drinks, he waded through the crowd. He eventually made it to the back of the patio and stood on the raised platform. He peered down into the sea of Gothness to find Divinity and Damien were nowhere to be seen.

“Did that tramp kidnap him?” he spoke aloud. “When I find them, I’mma cut her.”

He was about to jump back into the crowd when he felt someone come up behind him. Before he could spin around, a hand with a cloth was already pressed to his face. He struggled briefly before his body fell limp, dropping his drinks. His last thought was how pissed he was for wasting those $7 drinks.

Greg awoke with a pounding headache. His vision was blurry, but he could tell he wasn’t alone. The lighting flickered, making it difficult to get an accurate idea of how many people were standing in front of him. He heard the popping and crackling of a fire nearby. He felt its heat like an oppressive blanket, coating him from head to toe. His tight pants didn’t help with temperature control.

“Ahhh, the tributes are ready,” said a formidable sounding voice. “Let us begin.”

A slap across his face helped Greg wake up. His eyes blinked in response to the tingling sensation in his right cheek. A buff leather-clad man stood in front of him, his face glistened with sweat. In another instance, Greg would have remarked on the man’s stunning resemblance to Freddy Mercury. Tonight, all he had was, “You punk bitch! Try that again and see what happens!” He went to return the slap but found his hands were bound above his head. His arms were so numb he hadn’t realized.

Behind the leather daddy, a large group of similarly dressed men stared at Greg and beyond him. This prompted him to look to either side of him. Divinity and Damien were bound to wooden stakes, just like him. This harkened him back to that scene in Attack of the Clones with Padme, Anakin, and Obi-Wan were tied up in the Petranaki Arena. Just who were these guys?

“You’re probably wondering who we are,” Leather Daddy said in a condescending tone. “Heh, well, I’m sorry. I’m not about to monologue and tell you about our secret society of vampires and our ritual to sacrifice normies to our Vampire Queen once a year to appease her. No, sir. We’re just going to kill you outright and let your blood nourish our queen.”

“Oh, my gawd. I just had the weirdest dream.” Divinity was coming to. “I was dancing with this stud muffin, then these leather daddies grabbed me from behind and gave me the rogering of my life.” He stared ahead and frowned. “Oh. Not a dream then?”

“Silence!” Leather Daddy said. He slapped Divinity open-handed. “Begin the bloodletting ritual.”

A lackey broke from the crowd brandishing a knife that looked like it had been used in dozens of rituals. The steel was stained red. He approached the three captives and eyed each of them, deciding which one to cut first. He glimpsed at Damien and nodded.

Greg caught this and struggled to get free. “If you touch him, I will kill you!” Though he didn’t know how he was going to accomplish that since he was tied up. He didn’t have a chance to stick a lock pick in his mouth before he was chloroformed. Padme had the foreknowledge she was going to be sacrificed. So, he opted to continue struggling impressively. If Damien woke up before being gutted, Greg wanted to appear like he put up a fight.

In a dramatic twist of his wrist, the rope his hands were bound by snapped. The rope fell to his feet, allowing him to lower his hands. “Are you kidding me?”

Leather Daddy saw this and shouted to his lackey to apprehend the prey.

Greg freed his hands from the ropes and swirled it over his head menacingly, imagining himself to be Wonder Woman with her lasso. “Come and get it, bitches.”

The lackey moved in for the kill, but was quickly subdued with a slap in the face from the rope.

“Get him!” Leather Daddy shouted. “We must kill them before midnight!”

The group of lackeys ran toward Greg, ready to pounce. Once again, if this had been any other situation, this would have been welcomed. Tonight was not the night.

“Greg! Run, get help!” Divinity shouted.

Greg scoffed as he managed to weave his way through his attackers. “And leave you alone with my boyfriend? You wish!”

“Bitch, I don’t want your man!” Divinity rolled her eyes. “But I could have him if I wanted.”

“Gurl, are you high?”

“Shut up, both of you,” Damien moaned as he came to.

Greg knew the rope wasn’t going to hold them off for long. He ditched it and ran for the bonfire off to the side of the enclosure he found himself in. He found two sticks that had a sufficient amount of fire on them and gripped them. He swung them about like a duel wielder showing off. He grinned as the lackeys hesitated to approach him.

Greg didn’t waste any time. He beat them within an inch of their lives. Setting them on fire was a bonus. The lackeys burst into ashes on impact, letting out an anguished scream as the wind carried them away.

Damien and Divinity watched with their mouths agape as Greg took out the rest of the lackeys, leaving Leather Daddy left. The ferocity in his eyes was nothing Damien had ever seen in his boyfriend before. He noted to himself he’d do well to remember this.

Greg aimed one of the fiery logs at Leather Daddy and took joy in seeing him piss himself. “Now, you tell your Vampire Queen not to come for me unless I send for her! Capiche?”

Leather Daddy nodded and feebly muttered his agreement before he ran away, screaming into the night.

After he dropped the logs, he untied Damien and Divinity.

“MY HERO!” Divinity draped both of his arms around Greg and gave him a kiss on the lips.

“Get your nasty old paws off me, bitch!” Greg said, shoving him off. “You’re lucky I don’t just leave you here, wherever here is.”

“Yeah, you should’ve asked him for directions before you scared him off,” Damien said, hugging his man. “You were so fierce. So brave. So-”

“Butch?” Greg grinned as Damien nodded.

“Is it bad that I’m so turned on right now?”

“Not at all,” Greg said, pulling him close. “Wanna?”

Divinity scoffed. “I’m gonna go call us a Lyft.” Taking this as his cue to leave, he left the enclosure, leaving the two lovebirds to do whatever. “Ugh. Is this a quarry? What the actual fuck! Don’t they know how hard it is to walk in gravel in these shoes? Ugh!”