Maxis tapped the steering wheel as he maintained a few cars’ worth of distance between his vehicle and the pink Lamborghini. Pursuing someone like this wasn’t something he was accustomed to, and he fought the nerves that threatened to overtake him and send him running with his tail between his legs.

  Ren didn’t seem affected one way or the other by what had happened at the apartment complex. He constantly shifted in his seat, twirling some discarded plastic straw as he occasionally looked out the passenger side window.

  “It’s crazy to me that you’re so nonchalant,” Maxis said, sighing. His grip tightened, and the leather of the wheel squeaked in response.

  “All good, Grandma?” Ren snickered and gestured with his hands. “You worry too much.”

  What happened to the fear he felt earlier? Maxis wondered.

  He continued to drive, glancing down in his lap at his phone. A notification appeared at the top of the screen. “Could you take a look and see what that’s about?”

  “On it.” Ren tossed the straw over his shoulder and snatched the phone from out of his lap and scrolled past the lock screen of him and his girlfriend, Terra. A few seconds later, Ren’s brows lowered, and his lips formed a straight line. “It’s from Olivier.”

  “What’s it say?”

  Ren hummed and nodded as he scrolled. “Whoa, there’s a lot here. She was attacked by some strange creature, and she and that shithead boyfriend of hers got into a fight again.”

  Maxis sighed and made a right, fighting the urge to look at Ren or the phone. “Great. Did she say if she’s okay?”

  “I think so.” He continued to scroll, then sighed. “Hey, you mind if I text her back?”

  “Go for it,” Maxis nodded.

  Ren’s fingers danced on the keypad and a notification came back moments later. Ren leaned back and breathed a sigh of relief. “She says she’s okay. Shaken up, it sounds like, but she didn’t get too hurt. What a relief.”

  “Olivier’s smart,” Maxis said. “If she’s fine, then I trust her. You should too.”

  “I do. It’s other people, other things I don’t trust.”

  Maxis hesitated. Ren had a tendency to wear his heart on his sleeve, and it often prevented him from seeing things clearly. “Anything else?”

  “Yeah, hang on.” Brief silence passed while he texted. “Whoa, dude.”

  “What is it?”

  “The way she talks about this thing. Hang on, going to ask her a question.” Ren quickly tapped his thumbs on the screen, then adjusted his posture. A ding came, and Ren’s brow narrowed. “She says it morphed and changed. Blood and meat and bone just moving, swimming across the floor basically.” He sat up and his thumbs danced on the keypad again. Another ding. “It was distracted by a hotdog cart?”

  A wild idea began to concoct in Maxis’s mind, and he wondered if the truck attacks and this creature had a connection, after all. Perhaps Ren wasn’t too far off.

  “Maxis, I think… well, I wonder if this is the same creature that’s been attacking the meat trucks,” Ren said, echoing Maxis’s thoughts.

  “Might be a bit of a stretch, but I’m starting to wonder the same thing. If the Lurker had been attacking meat trucks, then why chase Olivier?” As plausible as the idea sounded, Maxis was not one for jumping the gun. Get an idea, and it would be too easy to look for evidence to support it. In his experience, he’d learned that it was best to try and piece the puzzle together, rather than look for only the pieces you wanted.

  Ren shrugged. “I dunno, man. Maybe it’s not smart enough. Maybe it just follows the smell of blood or something. Some Lurkers are stupid as hell.”

  “Smart as hell, too,” Maxis reminded him. He leaned to his side as the Lamborghini pulled into a parking lot on their right. A small crowd of people were standing outside a business, and as Maxis leaned forward to get a better view of the sign, he saw the word, Boballin’. “We’re here.” He made a left into the opposite facing lot, taking great care to take a spot a few rows down to avoid looking suspicious. He turned the key and extracted it, then snatched the phone out of Ren’s hand just as he was typing something back to Olivier.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “Hey!”

  Maxis glanced at the texts, then clicked the power button on the right. Seemed he and Olivier were getting a bit more mushy. “If you want to talk to her, then just text her, dude,” he suggested as he shoved the phone into his front pocket.

  A gentle hue of pink colored Ren’s face. “Yeah, I guess.”

  Maxis snickered. “And now you’re blushing.”

  “Dude, shut the fuck up, no I’m not!” The hue intensified.

  “Come on, let’s go,” Maxis said, fighting down a second snicker.

  “Right,” Ren said with obvious apprehension.

  Maxis and Ren stepped out of the car and strode through the row toward the building. Girls dressed in skimpy attire—short shorts, bras, and bikinis, just to name a few—stood outside, giggling and flirting with some of the larger men. The men weren’t much better, as many of them were shirtless. There were some dressed in wifebeaters, and whether it was a stylistic choice or otherwise, many of them were pants with holes in them.

  Inside, music was blaring, and a pair of men who were notably just as tall as Maxis guarded the door. Beside them was a fold out sign that read, “Meet Matt Kelmer from Everyone’s a Catgirl!” Maxis frowned at the sign.

  “Yeah, this seems kinda cliche’,” Ren muttered.

  “Just concentrate, okay?” Maxis said. “Not my style, either.”

  Maxis wasn’t sure what they were supposed to find. His nerves were getting the best of him, but he knew that the average person wouldn’t be able to tell. So long as he took his time to answer and just put on a brave face, most would be none the wiser.

  “Let’s keep our distance and see if we can figure anything out,” Maxis suggested.

  Ren clicked his tongue. “If you say so.”

  As Maxis and Ren approached, the two burly men stopped them and motioned for identification. “Isn’t this supposed to be a boba shop?” Ren asked. “Where’s all the red and white striped uniforms and little paper hats and shit? Now it looks like a strip club.”

  Maxis pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

  The man on the left, who was a bit fatter and meaty around the neck, raised a brow. “You want in or not, kid?”

  “Kid?” Ren repeated with a snap to his voice.

  “Just flash your ID, man,” Maxis pleaded.

  Ren did as he asked, and Maxis mimicked him.

  Ren was beginning to fidget. The men looked at their IDs carefully, then motioned behind them. “Congrats, kid,” the left man said, “on turning twenty-one.”

  Ren flashed the peace sign and pocketed his ID before making his way up to the doors. Maxis offered a curt nod as he followed him. The doors shut behind them as they entered, and they were bombarded by gray fog and strobe lights of every imaginable color. A dance floor spanned the majority of the establishment, with two bars at opposite sides of the room. Bartenders conversed with customers while they poured drinks and men and women flirted and laughed.

  “Okay, I changed my mind,” Ren said, “this is definitely my scene. Dude, this kicks ass!”

  “Yeah, you haven’t been to a club yet, huh?” Maxis asked.

  Ren shook his head. “Nope. First time! Damn, why is everyone here so attractive?”

  “That’s the club scene for ya.”

  “Hello, honeys! We’re home!” came a voice behind them. Maxis looked over his shoulder to see two flamboyant men. A lukewarm applause followed from a few of the onlookers, all men. The blonde man, whom Maxis had seen earlier in the bathroom, stood beside another man, each of them wearing extravagant coats of the finest fur. Swor and Gato. “Goodness me, what’s with the terrible response?” the blonde one asked, clicking his tongue.

  “Come on up, you two!” A man stood on a stage at the back of the room where a DJ was playing. Brown hair framed a face with young, masculine features. His green jacket and pants hid the strong physique underneath—something the average person wouldn’t have caught. Maxis had seen enough guys like this to know how to find it. He noted that a thick lock of hair at the front was dyed red. Two girls stood beside him—both with long hair, one red and the other brown—with cat ears strapped to their heads. “Keke and Ravyn are waiting!”

  “Sweetie, we’re here for you,” Swor said as he and Gato strode through the crowd. Despite the initial response, the crowd made way for them without a moment’s hesitation.

  “I can’t get over why a boba place would switch gears this fast,” Ren said. “It’s whiplash.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Maxis said. “We need to see what they’re doing.”

  “Looks to me like they’re enjoying the scene. And I think… I’m going to do the same.” Ren tapped him on the shoulder then jogged over to the nearby bar and asked the bartender, “So what’s the quickest and cheapest way to get sloshed?”

  Maxis rubbed his forehead. He should’ve known it was going to be like this. Guess we can just enjoy the show until we find a moment to talk to them. He crossed his arms and tapped his elbow as he came to Ren’s side. Ren excitedly pointed at the drinks, asking what each one tasted like and how it would affect him.

  Damn it. I don’t like this one bit.

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