That was it. The night Laurent would kiss a man again. Maybe more than kiss, since with so many people around he felt safe enough to try his luck. Someone would help him if the man he chose became aggressive, surely. He’d gotten a second chance at life from the devil. A chance to live freely in a world where he could do as he wished, and he would not waste this opportunity. He would be the master of his own destiny.
An enormous crowd of people he didn’t know mingled in the dark space illuminated with red and yellow lights as if this was the pit of hell where all and any sins could take place. The tight outfit made Laurent feel as good as naked, but his nerves eased when he saw that he did in fact blend in, and the alcoholic drink Nao put into his hand helped as well.
Knight was making out with Jordan in the corner by the pool table, and Beasts of Hell were playing their devilish music on the stage.
Their singer, Lizzy had frightened Laurent horribly when they first met, but then Laurent learned that the man’s reptile eyes were ‘contact lenses’, and he even took them out when Laurent wouldn’t believe something like that existed. Instantly, Laurent wondered if he too could get those invisible glasses, but it turned out that he couldn’t wear them because of his condition.
But he didn’t want to be greedy if modern medicine allowed him a safe way to improve it and eventually see like a healthy man. Nao assured him he looked very good in the new glasses they chose together, paying with King’s money. He wondered if she found it equally difficult to recognize people and discern friends from strangers in the dimly lit room where almost all lights focused on Lizzy, who thrashed on the stage like a man possessed.
Even when he tripped over a cable and dropped to the floor, the crowd only roared with laughter and cheers, as if it was nothing they hadn’t expected. For a few moments, Lizzy played his oddly flat guitar lying down and left the other two members of his musical troupe—or ‘band’ as they were now called—in the spotlight.
All around, people brushed against Laurent when they passed, and he could swear someone actually rubbed their hand against his ass, but the unsolicited touch was gone before he knew who was to blame. It left him with a sense of confusion about his position. Was it his outfit that made someone think he was available for such fondling? And if it was, then shouldn’t he invite such touch instead of shying away from it? He did intend to experiment tonight.
Despite his better judgment, his gaze browsed through the tangle of bodies in search of the tallest of men, but the unusual haircut Beast wore was nowhere to be seen. Had he retreated somewhere? Was he getting air outside? Laurent couldn’t focus with Nao tugging him through a crowd so vast it seemed larger than the entirety of Brecon’s population in Laurent’s own time.
The town had changed and grown since then, just as Mayor Lamont had wanted it to. The Orient-inspired town hall was now dwarfed by buildings far grander and more eye catching, and instead of walking on mud and manure, the inhabitants rode machines and gaited over the hard surface that was asphalt.
When the music died down somewhat, King stumbled onto the stage with a microphone in hand, smiling widely and squinting, as always when he drank too much. With Lizzy and his band getting off the stage and no music coming from the box, all attention was on him.
“So many people. I hope no one damages our ceiling again,” King said, swaying slightly. In the void left behind by the music, laughter and groans mixed into an odd concoction, and in the corner of his eye, Laurent saw Nao scowling.
“What is he doing…?” Though King’s girlfriend, she was surprisingly critical of the man.
“We’re all here to celebrate my son becoming vice president of the Kings of Hell motorcycle club.” King pulled on one of the lamps so that it pointed toward a spot in the crowd. Beast was seated by a table, with a beer in his hand, looking like the true ruler of the club. He scowled as soon as the light hit his face. “I never thought this day would come,” King continued, waiting for the audience to laugh at his joke and only continued when he got what he wanted. “But he’s my blood. I suppose he’s earned it now that poor Davy retired. You know how it is when no one else wants a job,” King said, smiling as if he were one of the comedic actors Laurent has watched with Beast on television.