Claws // Colby Brock

💫 32 💫

☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎☯︎

Arcade games, fast food, board and card games, and catchy music literally anyone could enjoy. This place had grown exponentially since the last time I'd visited.

Anna and I were here when it was just a relaxed arcade, but now people of most ages were able to come and enjoy a variety of activities. Sure, there weren't any elderly people, but there were families, dumb teenagers, groups of adults, people on dates; the list seemed to never end. It probably helped that outside was so bright and colourful, inviting anyone and everyone inside. Plus, the music was good to normal people.

Seeing some of the exact same machines that I'd spent hours on not so long ago filled my chest with warmth, and naturally, I spotted a claw machine with familiar dents on the side.

"That's the one," I whispered to Colby, who hadn't left my side since we walked in. Jake and Corey were in the middle of acting 'undercover' by playing on a different machine, and the girls stood over their shoulders cheering them on. Cassie and Reggie were at the fast food counter chatting to the employees.

Colby followed my gaze to the claw machine with the large dent in the side of it accompanied by scratches and other forms of damage. It added to the charm, somehow, of the whole place to see the wear and tear on most of the arcade segment.

"They had to break the machine a bit to get me out," I explained with a snort, my cheeks on fire. "Clearly, I'm perfectly alive, though."

To my surprise, I looked up at an amused smile on his face. He squeezed my hand without saying anything, then turned his attention to Sam, who was stood with a vampire at the other side of the room. I instantly took a whiff of the air, estimating how many scents I could find and distinguishing between our group and theirs.

If I wasn't mistaken, every employee here — including in the fast food section — was a vampire. I could sense that they were all a part of one clan, too.

"Colby," greeted the vamp, sounding genuinely pleased.

Colby nodded back respectfully, but didn't let go of me to shake his hand. "Dima. Didn't know you were the one in trouble."

"We're not in trouble, just... suspicious. We need an outside set of eyes on this, make sure we're not just going stir crazy." Dima scraped his hand across his head, which only seemed to make the baldness all the shinier. "Rumours have been going around that you guys are up against that Paula chick, so anything off is getting to us in case we're the next to be hit."

"It's reasonable," Colby assured. "And yeah, Aiden and Paula are now our enemies. If you see them, you come to us or you might not stand a chance at winning that fight, and we're not up for losing any of our allies."

I felt a smile tug at my lips as I twisted my head up to look at Colby's face. He looked a lot softer than usual, though any expression of his inner feelings was technically softer than usual. His eyes flicked to me for just a split second then away again, but it was half a second too long for me to remain somewhat unnoticed.

"Oh." Dima's gaze locked on me and I geared myself for some sort of dog comment, or a joke about a new pet — anything that would piss me off. Instead, Dima smiled and looked back at Colby, saying, "This her?"

"It is," Sam chimed in before either of us could reply. I knew I looked a little confused, as did Colby. What did Dima mean, her? Had word got around already? Colby and I hadn't been official for very long, and we hadn't even admitted that we were yet to those closest to us...

Dima took a step forward, bowing his head to me. "Nice to meet you. I'm Dimitri — Dima, for short. Been waiting for this dickhead to find a girl for quite a while, so trust me, it's a pleasure."