Dead Before Dawn: The Vampire Curse

Chapter 20 - Max is an Idiot

It was Max's first day in L.A. to talk to his brand new publicist. Terisa had acted as his agent and his publicist for years, because she was a control freak like that, but his public profile was going completely mad and so she had found him an agency to help.

The one thing that became abundantly clear very quickly, however, was that he was an idiot.

He was trying to get back in the swing of things as far as his social life was concerned and he'd agreed to a fun evening out in L.A. with a couple of his new friends from the agency. They'd had dinner then gone to a bar. Ella and Franky had caught a cab to go home and Max was just about to grab one to go back to his hotel when he spotted a very familiar face.

Scott Wilberg, of all people, was just coming out of the next bar along with a few friends of his own. Max felt all of him sit up and take notice; vampire side included. Stepping back from the curb he watched. The alcohol in his system lowered his inhibitions just enough that ogling a fellow actor didn't seem too bad.

The thing was, he and Scott were not exactly friends. They had both been up for best supporting actor at the Oscars two years ago and Max had won. Scott had then been quoted in the press saying something rather catty and Max had drunkenly tweeted an equally catty reply and the rest, as they say, was history. So it was that celebrity feuds were born.

They had actually successfully worked together before the whole Oscar thing and they quite regularly interacted with each other at events without bloodshed, but that was boring, so the media didn't care about that. Every time either of them came up for an award they were immediately compared to the other. It was annoying, only Max didn't feel remotely annoyed at seeing his rival just about then.

That really should have been warning enough.

As the group set off down the street to where there were a couple of clubs, Max couldn't help himself; he followed.

There was a line to get in, but famous actors didn't have to worry about things like that. Scott and his group went straight to the front and were immediately let in, and Max waited for a few moments, pretending to be on his phone. Once the others were inside he put his phone back in his pocket and walked past the queue. He didn't often use his fame as a free pass, but he was rather focussed on Scott at the moment.

"Hello," he said, looking the doorman in the eye and smiling.

Clubs in L.A. were more than used to dealing with celebrities and he saw the man recognise him in under a second.

"Welcome to Fandango, Mr Statton" the man said smoothly, immediately unhooking the rope, "please go right in."

"Thank you," he said, tipping the man on the way past.

The club was loud and Max was hit by a wall of sound and what he suspected was a wall of pheromones as well. Parts of his body and brain lit up like a tree on Christmas morning and his senses heightened. He had to pause and refocus, because his train of thought was completely derailed. For a fraction of a second his brain screamed at him that this was a terrible idea, but then he saw Scott disappearing towards the VIP section and it didn't seem so bad.

He had no particular plan in mind, but keeping one eye on Scott and the second level, he made his way towards the dance floor. The beat was thumping and the floor was heaving. The smell of fresh sweat and sexual arousal permeated everything as couples and groups moved to the music. Some might have been just dancing, but to a vampire's nose, everything screamed sex.

Max wove his way into the mix and let the music take him. He had always loved dancing, but he didn't get much chance to indulge these days. For a while he lost himself in moving and allowed the crowd to take him where it may. However, he never lost sight of Scott, not even when the mass threatened to swallow him.