Chapter II: In the lion's den

Exibithionist.
This was the first word that had popped into Charlie's mind when he had met for the very first time Peter Vincent's image in the thousands spots in rotation on TV about his amazing magic shows at Hard Rock Cafe of Las Vegas Casino.
He had not changed his mind even when, worried because he hadn't seen him at school, he had went to Ed's house; but instead of finding who once had been his best friend, he had found his computer, with some files inside and a link to Peter's website.

He was firm in his own convictions even now that he was about to check said website apart, searching for more news about that so-called vampire hunter.
That wild long hair, that leather coat so tight - never as tight as his skinny leather pants -, left open in order to show the smooth-skinned chest, so appealing and that oh so pleased attitude, whenever he was throwing some of his fake magic.
Charlie couldn't take off his eyes of that picture. He was just pretending to read the small biography about him and take notes about it.
This was before someone disturbed him.

"Hey!"

Instinctively Charlie closed his computer screen and covered his notes with an arm.
He looked up and realized it was Amy.

"Hey..." he greeted her, not very enthusiastically.

"You weren't in class. What are you working on?" she asked him, sitting on the desk, with dangling legs.
The classic behavior of who's determined to stay there and get explanations.
But right then Charlie didn't want either of those things.
He just had to find a way to make her go away.

"Porn. Hacked it." escaped from his mouth, without even thinking too much.

And he figured it out by her reaction that it was the winning strategy. He had noticed her rolling her eyes and snorting a little.

"Oh, good. I thought it was something creepy." she snapped, still trying to keep calm.

Charlie nodded and smiled so wanly that she could have punched his face. He was trying really hard to make her go away, but she did not want to drop the ball.

"Are you okay?" Amy questioned him, very wary.

Charlie had to reinforce the message.

He nodded.
"Look, I'd better..." he added, wishing she got what he was about to say.
"Get back to your porn. Got it." she anticipated his sentence, clearly pissed off.

"Yeah." the guy shortly confirmed.

And it worked.

"Okay." she hissed, gathering her stuff and leaving.

- Porn? How the hell did I bring myself to say I was watching porn? - Charlie wondered puzzled, while he lifted the screen up again, searching for that website.

The answer was in front of his eyes.

Besides, the site also contained some video from his shows.
And Charlie felt the very weird urge to watch them while he unbuttoned his jeans in order to give himself some necessary relief.

The only thing that prevented him from doing that was the fact that he had chosen a classroom that wasn't totally empty, to do his researches.

- What the hell is wrong with me? I send away my super hot beautiful girlfriend whom half school would do anything to go out with... and I got aroused seeing the images of a perfect stranger? A male stranger, nonetheless! I've always been heterosexual to the bone! - he tried to give himself a logical explanation, feeling bewildered as never before.

And then, out of the blue, his mind drifted back to the evening before.
The way Jerry had appeared at his porch, with the pathetic excuse about the missing beers. And then when he had followed him to the threshold, showing his appreciation for the furnitures in the house. Once more, pathetic.
And then Charlie found himself thinking also about the way Jerry stared at him, at the intensity of his black eyes, at the way his full lips curved in a crooked smile.
He recalled how all his muscles almost threatened to explode from that black T-shirt, so tight... and he wondered how it would feel to trace those abs that seemed to be sculpted in a rock, with his hand.

He also recalled how adrenalinic had been to make that trick of the threshold barrier to him. Oh, c'mon, Charlie had already figured out that Jerry couldn't come into his house without an invitation.
And Charlie was proud of himself for not giving in, not even when he had slipped the sixth beer; he had panicked for some seconds.
For a moment, a single, as short as disturbing moment, Charlie had been tempted to gather the broken pieces of glass from the floor in a clumsy way, cutting at his hand, right there in front of Jerry who observed him from outside, that red line of glistening blood so exposed... and then maybe he could have crossed the threshold, just enough to find out what could have happened.
Charlie slapped his face repetitively, trying to pull himself together.
He managed to and seemed to calm down.

- Oh, c'mon, you also read it on Peter Vincent's website... there are vampires from some tribes who can charm and lure their victims or potential ones of any age, religion, race and most important... of any sex... so it can be. That's why I felt myself almost attracted towards Jerry, it's just and only that. The more far I keep from him, the better is, I'll go back being the usual good old Charlie who has only eyes for his beloved Amy! - he convinced himself.

So what exactly was his excuse for feeling that turmoil of odd feelings towards that one hundred percent human illusionist?
Charlie refused in any way to answer to that inner question, without even mentioning that that same evening he would have tried all his best just to get even one single minute of that illusionist's so precious time.
He owed that to Ed, he had to learn more about that weird stuff, he had to try to rescue him. He had to protect himself and his dear ones.

That's why he would have found an excuse to go to Peter Vincent; he would have found a way to access to his show.
Charlie and that mysterious oh so appealing and charismatic man, all alone in the same room... if only he had played his cards well.

- Come hell or high water! -

-------------------------------------------------

Sun was about to set, but not Charlie's determination. He was walking with self-confidence towards the Hard Rock Cafe in Las Vegas.
Nothing too difficult so far.
He didn't have the tickets for that night show - he had heard they were usually sold out very quickly - but he already knew how to solve the problem.
Step one: he needed a newspaper and the newspaper stand at the entrance was just what he needed.
Sure, he could have simply stolen one, but Charlie was just a too good guy for this, he regularly paid for that, leaving the money on the pile of the remaining newspapers.
Step two: he needed a fake name and a role to play, something that would not arouse suspicion.

Lucky for him, there were plenty of abandoned jacket by their owners who were busy enjoying all the temptations that place offered them, starting with the slot machines.
That's why it was a piece of cake for Charlie to grab a jacket of his same skinny size, with the original badge, replacing the real magazine that guy worked for with that cut out part of said newspaper, fixed properly. That's how he obtained a new, unquestionable identity.
R.E. Barry, journalist for the Vegas Sun.

Now it was only a matter of finding the right door, opening it, sneaking through and waiting.
It was enough just a bunch of minutes of rehearsal to jump to one, incontestable conclusion: Peter Vincent had an impossibly bad attitude.
And he talked like -and even worse than- a longshoreman.

- How many dirty words did he manage to say in just the last two minutes? - he wondered, bewildered by the rude way he had treated his make-up artist, even pushing her a little.

That was the same treatment Peter reserved for anyone in his crew that dared to go too close to him.
It didn't matter. Shit personality or not, Charley Brewster would manage to approach him. He had promised that to himself.

But when he tried to keep it, he figured out another undoubtable reality, which was a tad more hard to admit.

- Oh my god, now that I see him in person, he's even more gorgeous! -

"Mr Vincent, Mr Vincent? H-Hi, I'm fr-from the Vegan Sun. We had an appointment today." he tried to cross his way when Peter walked closer to him.

- Keep calm and stop stuttering! - Charlie imposed to himself. He felt almost like a groupie at her favourite rockstar's concert, without even realizing why.
Well, his wish about a chance to go in the backstage with him for a very, very intimate meeting was pretty much the same.

- I'm doing it just and only for Ed!- he convinced himself, or at least he attempted to.

Peter had already noticed him, of course.

- Well, well, look who is here, finally, the hottie! What a lovely excuse he invented. And he's so damn cute when he stutters... -

"I don't think so, speak to my guy." he had fun playing hard, acting smug.
Actually, he just wanted to test him.

- C'mon, hottie, show me how much you want it. -

"N-no, we did. I'm doing the article. Vampires: separating Myth from the Fact." the guy tried again.
Peter really appreciated his tenacity and stared at the boy intently, glad that the didn't lower his gaze.

Dark chocolate meeting ocean blue.

"Do you want a quote?" Peter retorted in a disdainful way. "That's a shit idea for an article."

Charlie was unimpressed by Peter's rude attitude; he also kept distracting, on purpose, or he deliberately changed topic, pointing at one of the fake vampiresses he had slept with ... and he was giving the boy way too many details about that.

"Look, please, please, I need your expertise and you're the man on this stuff, so..."

In one way or another, his words had hit his target.

Peter turned to him again, his inquiring eyes could lay Charlie's soul bare.

"So is this what? Your first assignment or something, R.E. Berry?"

The emphasized way he had said that name and his pierced eyebrow raised made Charlie guess that his target wasn't buying it.

- Oh, c'mon, he can't suspect anything, right? I mean, how many interviews had him been asked for? Hundreds? - he wondered opening wide his puppy eyes even more.

"Y-yeah." the boy answered, so nervously that it almost sounded like a question.

Peter stared at him again, before melting into a pleased smile.

"Mmmm!" he hummed, pinching his cheek in a sort of affectionate way. "I'm going to pop your cherry, Charlie." he winked, doing his best in order to emphasize the last word.

- It's just the appetizer of what I'm going to do with you! -

Charlie was double dumbfounded due to what Peter had said.

"But... how?"

"A good magician never reveals his tricks." Peter winked at him, before calling his favourite assistant. Yelling, of course.

"Gingeeeeeer! Bring him upstairs." he ordered, gazing at him one last time, before temporary leaving. "You've got ten minutes."

- Oh, Charlie, you're pretending to write a service about me, but it's you who is going to get a little personal service on my own!-

And when the trusted Ginger brought the boy before him, Peter was trying to get attention a little too much, almost setting fire to his table. This before turning to who really had fire inside.

And he would have used much more than a touchpaper.

"Come on in. Come on." he invited the boy, before taking off his coat, without any formalities, remaining bare-chested as he walked towards the bar corner.

- Wait a minute, why is he stripping? - Charlie started to panic, trying to keep calm.

Peter grabbed a bottle with a bright green liquid inside.

"It looks like pee, but I'm hooked. Do you want some?" the illusionist offered, affable, while he poured it on a glass with lots of ice cubes.

"I'm good, thank you." the boy shily declined the gentle offer.

"No?" the other chuckled. "Too much for you? Do you want a Shirley Temple?" he had fun teasing him.

Charlie pretend to laugh at his witty remark.

"No, but I'll accept a Bloody Mary!" he surprised the adult with his answer.

So the boy loved challenges. This only could make him earn even more points in Peter's scale of appreciation.

"And Bloody Mary will be! Speaking of vampires... it's just the perfect choice. I like it." the adult chuckled, preparing it with all the proper ingredients, in a short time. With a lot of vodka.

"Sit down." he ordered, giving him his drink, before going back to take his glass.
"So..." he commenced, taking off his wig and shaking his hair, something that made Charlie gasp against his glass. "I'm the expert for your vampire thing? They're all the rage."

Charlie preferred to let him speak, while he sipped his drink.

- If he ever failed as a showman, he would be a brilliant barman. This is the best Bloody Mary I've ever had." he pondered, taking such a hasty sip that a drop slipped along the right corner of his mouth.

And Peter hadn't missed that scene, losing himself in his kinky fantasies.

- Mmm.. I wonder how well another kind of dense, red liquid could stain your oh so innocent lips: my blood. -

By the famelic way the owner of that penthouse was looking at him, Charlie had the strange feeling that he had ended up in the lion's den.

And said lion would have delightly devoured that maybe not so innocent lamb. Too bad he still had to receive the right equipment for that.

Charlie felt an unbearable sexual tension when Peter sat in front of him, in a totally haphazard way.
Exhibitionist, indeed.

"Shoot." he exhorted his guest, miming a gun and making the verse of a gunshot.
"Right. Well, Mr. Vincent...look I know your show..."
"Nananananaaahhh.." Peter immediately interrupted him. "We're going anywhere until you keep using this pompous 'Mr. Vincent.' with me. Yep, okay, I'm older than you, but not so much, after all. Just call me Peter." he objected, while he took the fake mustaches off.
"Y-yeah.. I'm s-sorry. So I guess i'll call you Peter, if you prefer." his guest pleased him.

"I definitely prefer." Peter grinned, before pulling closer one of the empty chairs. "Besides, c'mon, Charlie, come closer to me." he invited him, patting the empty chair. "I don't bite."

- Well, not yet!-

Even if a bit reluctant, Charlie got up from his farer chair to sit on the one Peter indicated.
"As I was saying... your show is an illusion." he resumed his talk.
"Meaning bullshit?" Peter anticipated him.

He had read between the lines.
Charlie confined himself to nodding with conviction.

- I also love his frankness; instead of licking my ass, he told me what he really thinks!- the illusionist had a reason more to admire him, as he ripped his fake goatee off.

"Yeah, fair enough." he agreed, pretty amused.

"But say I wanted to kill a vampire..."

Peter was amused by Charlie's previous statement, but what he had said now, well, it was hilarious.
That's why Peter couldn't help bursting out laughing.

"Yeah, sorry, go on..." he exhorted him, while he pulled off the fake sideburn.

"How would I go about doing that?" the boy asked for his advices, although it was another his actual main problem.

- Could he just stop taking off stuff and becoming more and more beautiful? - he tried to keep his self-control, but he was really frustrated.

"Pants." Peter muttered, wavering on his armachiar, while he was still sitting.
"What did you say?" Charlie leaned out.

Just what the adult was waiting for.
He quickly grabbed the boy's right hand and brought it to his crotch.

"Leather it doesn't breathe. Fucking rashes are fucking killing me. Can you feel how tight they are?" he went on, bringing that hand to trace the edge of his pants, so mercilessly stuck to the skin of the pelvis that there wasn't any any room for manoeuvre

With the same rapidity, Peter inserted a fleeting hand inside Charlie's black jeans that were more comfortable.
"Yours gives you more relief!" he stated before going back to his previous position.

Everything went so fast and the vodka overwhelmed Charlie so much that he wasn't lucid enough to figure out if that had happened for real or it was only just his imagination.

- Oh, c'mon, he did not insert his hand inside my boxer... did he?" he wondered, as dazed as he had never felt before.

After all, judging by the way Peter was looking at him, so calm and serious, it seemed that nothing had happened.

- Okay, enough with the alcohol for tonight! - the curly guy imposed to himself, placing the rest of his Bloody Mary on the ground.

Very little, in any case.

- Oh, Charlie, Charlie, Jerry and I will have so much fun with you! - Peter sneered, but only in his mind.
Seemingly, he seemed willing to resume his speech and it was what he actually did.

"You want to know how to kill a vampire? Seriously?" he asked for confirmation, ripping also the other sideburn off.

"Yeah, kill a vampire!" the younger exhorted him, regaining a little of lucidity

"Well, let's think..." the illusionist pondered, while he sipped his drink.

- Okay, bold guy, I can even reveal to you the real ways to kill a vampire. The hell I'm letting you go close to my Jerry if you really mean it! - he thought, letting his sense of protectiveness surface.

"Ehmmm. You got the fire," he started, taking off his fake eyebrow ring. "Beheading," he paused, hitting Charlie with it, almost as if he wanted to punish him for what he was asking him.

- These are definitely not the questions you should ask me! - he disapproved, but kept playing his game.

"You can make him a big garlicky omelette." he didn't resist the temptation of being a dick.

Charlie laughed, without taking him seriously.

"Or go traditional. Stake through the heart. Bam!" he shout, pretending to stab his own heart, with a theatrical gesture.

Charlie seemed even way to thrilled.

"Cool. So that stuff really works?" he asked him, intrigued.

"Well, maybe not the omelette." Peter considered.

- Also because Jerry is fond of it! -

"How the fuck should I know?" he decided to mislead the teeneager, once for all.

Charlie lost all his previous excitement, as he stared at him, let down.

'I don't know. You have all this stuff..." Charlie babbled, while Peter let him talk, sipping his drink.
"And you are 'Peter Vincent. Vampire...' I don't know, I'm not sure."

"I read books. You think I'm hanging out with Dracula?" the adult retorted, agitating the now empty glass, save for the ice that clinked inside.

- Well, sort of. - he reckoned, amused.

"And the Easter bunny?" he ovestated the situation. "Fuck off!" he snapped, burping and walking away.

He felt Charlie following him even before he could see him and Peter smiled. That was just what he wanted.

"Look I'm sorry but I have a personal interesting this. I think one of them got my friend." the curly guy insisted.

"What 'One of them' meaning a vampire?" Peter wondered from the bar corner, while he poured some other Midori, not in a glass but on a rag.

"Yeah. Jerry. He lives next door to me." Charlie confessed.

"Jerry? Jerry the vampire?" the vampire hunter laughed, disdainfully. "At least he could have chose a much more dreadful name... such as, I don't know, Zebediah!" he added, for good measures.

"Do you think I don't know how this sounds?" Charlie struck back, while Peter rubbed the rag over his neck, in order to remove the fake tattoos.

"I mean two days ago I would have laughed in my face, but it's really happening! Man, I'm so far down the rabbit hole..." the teenager said, drawing some folded sheets from his pocket.

Peter leant closer, curiously.

"I was in his house, or his lair, or whatever, and I got these pictures. If you just look at them..." Charlie made another attempt. He still wanted to trust in the great vampire hunter Peter Vincent.

- Just wait for Jerry to see these pictures. So this little guy does have a way. He really sneaked through his house. Okay, time for a little drama now. -

"Okay, okay. Get out." he ordered, perentory.

"No, please." Charlie whined.

Those sad puppy eyes were such a powerful weapon, but Peter's will was stronger.

"Naaah, you are a nut job. Ginger!" he called his trusted assistant and also occasional lover.

"Wa-wait. Then, if you ask me, I'll leave; but first I have another question." Charlie insisted.

"I'm listening, but if it's bullshit about Van Helsing or..."

"Is it true that there are vampires from some tribes who can charm and lure their victims ... or someone who is going to become their victim ... in a way that make him have weird thoughts and fantasies that said potential victim actually doesn't mean to have?" the teenager found the courage to ask him.

Peter stared at him with a sort of approval and a very pleased smile on his features.

- Well done, hottie, now you're asking the right questions! -

"Are you really saying that this mysterious Jerry made you feel like a dog in heat?" Peter irreverently asked him.

Charlie immediately blushed.

"Fuck, no, that's not what I said!" he cursed.

Peter couldn't be any more amused.

"C'mon, boy, admit it; this vampire thing is just a majestic bullshit you're using as an excuse not to make a coming out!" the adult teased him, with a light in his look that didn't bode well.

"Wh-whaatt? No, no, I..." Charlie trudged.

For every step Peter moved closer towards him, Charlie took two steps behind, until there was no more room and his back hit the bar corner.

Peter burst out laughing, breaking that unresolved sexual tension he had helped to build.

"I was just kidding, little guy. It's exactly like you said. Well, it seems that someone studied my website good and proper." he clapped his hands at him.

Charlie's face shifted back to a normal colour, while he smiled.
But that smile didn't last for long. Peter trapped him between the bar corner and his half naked body, pushing himself against the boy for an intense and fleeting kiss.
"You know, Charlie, with vampires it works just like this: they trap you inside something you can't control. Everything is so fast, unexpected and fulminating that you can't help wondering if it's happening for real." Peter whispered languidly at his ear.

Charlie parted from him and staggered towards the exit.

"Huh. Well... I guess-- I guess it's time for me to go. I gave you the pictures, didn't' I? Well, ta-take a look. There's also my number on them if you need something... you ca-can call me so we can keep in touch... somehow I think. Or maybe not. Goodbye!" he babbled, as confused as never before, turning his back and leaving.

Peter watched him go with a large smile.

A certain someone just had to be informed about what had happened.

TBC

Well almost all the the speeches are originally taken from the movie, which means I rewatched the penthouse scene something like 20 times lol, what a pity, indeed! XDDD

Hope you're liking it so far. Pleeease, let me know, don't be shy ;)
I know, a whole chapter without Jerry, he'll be back next time ;)

Thanks for reading ^^