Some dreams are so vivid you don't realize they are dreams until you wake from them. Sometimes the waking world is so surreal, your mind tries to convince you you're asleep...

Face throbbing, I wake up in a dank dimly lit space chained to a column. The air stinks of mildew and piss. It reminds me of this abandoned building I once had to make a delivery to. The place was rank and crawling with roaches. I try to ignore the things I see crawling in the shadows because I'm not a big fan of bugs and the idea of roaches the size of house cats instantly makes my skin crawl. I can't see what's tugging at my leg, but I kick with everything I have and whatever it is sails through the doorway and down the hall on the other side of the room.

"He's awake," a vaguely familiar voice calls out.

It all comes back to me. The restaurant, the giant hand, the dwarf, the spiked champagne. I try to wriggle free from the chains but they're too tight. I push up on my tiptoes and feel a bit of give just as my captors walk into the room. Thinking fast, I relax so as not to give myself away.

They walk in and spread out. I recognize three immediately. Our waitress, the cyclops, sits in the far corner as if trying to separate herself from the others. The bandage on her forehead somehow manages to make her look even more adorable than before. The burly dwarf woman who'd punched me in the face leans against a second stone column, her black beard tied into a series of braids. She scowls at me as if she'd like to hit me again. Local news personality and matchmaker to the rich and famous, Ada Silk, walks up to me and roughly examines my face. Gone is her disarming smile.

"His pupils are still dilated. You said the drug would only last a few hours," she looks over her shoulder at the two men standing by the entrance, "he's still high."

"Human physiology isn't my forte," says a handsome wolfman. I feel like I've seen him before, but I can't be sure. He was possibly a member of the restaurant wait staff.

"Where's Obera and Colette?" I ask, my voice hoarse as it scratches through my sandpaper dry throat.

"Maybe it's for the best. He'll be a bit more pliable while he's under the influence," says the last member of their little kidnapper's club.

I didn't feel under the influence, but I wasn't going to tell them that.

He steps forward to join Ada and the shadows move with him, filling the air with smoggy fallout. Another fucking vampire. I finally understand why monster hunters on my side of the veil can't stand them. You see them everywhere, once you start looking.

He's medium height with skin so pale it's almost white in the diffuse light coming down from the one high window in my little dungeon. Weird tattoos cover his clean-shaven head, reminiscent of the ones succubus cosplayers wear on their abdomens. The gauges in his ears scream counter culture. I stare at the ink on his head instead of his blazing red eyes.

"Can we get this started?" The dwarf grumbles. "The vainglory and the peacekeepers are already searching for him."

She walks up beside Ada and the vampire, cracking her knuckles. Looking at them I realize they are all wearing the same uniforms: black on black with a white R on the front.

"Have I been kidnapped by Team Rocket?" I ask, chuckling to myself.

No one gets the joke, but the confusion on their faces tickles me. A light in the darkness.

"Who the fuck is Team Rocket?" the dwarf finally asks.

"Where are Obera and Colette?"

"That vainglory sergeant and the Azi'Zoro bitch are probably at the bottom of the crevasse by now."

My anger is sharp and sudden. I jerk against the chains and kick out, catching the dwarf in the shoulder as she tries to jump out of the way. She rushes forward and headbutts me in the gut as the vampire eases Ada aside. I try to kick her again, but she's too close and I can't get good leverage. She headbutts me again and I get my knee up, connecting with her chin. Her beard cushions the blow, but I still knock her onto her ass. Getting to her feet, she lunges at me, dodging around my next kick.

"Enough!" the vampire snaps.

The dwarf stops and I kick her with both feet, sending her back to the floor. The cyclops and the wolfman restrain her, pulling her back as she fires round after round of venomous words at me. I don't speak dwarven, but I'm pretty sure she's saying terrible things about my parents.

"Enough, Mr. Smalls," the vampire says, stopping just out of my range.

"Who are you people?"

"We are the Resistance."

More of Hwang's people. I guess subtly is a spider's thing because these guys are anything but that. A public kidnapping and uniforms. I wanted to laugh, but I feared it would bring the dwarf flying back at me.

"We're going to stop your human invasion before it can take root."

I actually do laugh, which seems to piss everyone off. These aren't Hwang's people, but some other players in this crazy place.

"You think this is funny, human?" Ada asks. "I've done my research, I've read all about how you Americans operate. I know what's coming."

The laughter dies on my tongue. If I'd read about the history of the world Super Powers without context, I think I might have felt threatened too.

"This isn't what you think it is," I explain. "Your side contacted us."

"That's exactly what you want us to think."

"No, I'm serious. We–"

"Just let Frost do him, Ada," the wolfman interrupts. "That's the only way we'll get the truth."

"Do me?" I don't like the sound of that.

"Fine. Frost, do it." Ada gestures towards me.

"Wait, no need to 'do me' at all!"

The vampire steps forward and the shadows engulf me. They take hold of me, pull me down, down, and down even further until we splash into a familiar swimming pool.

Sasha, you sneaky bloodsucker. You never needed eye contact to dominate me.

...

Frost rises up out of the still waters packing a raging erection in a black speedo. I back paddle away as fast as my lethargic hands will let me. His face contorts and he cocks his head to the side.

"Stop," he commands and the entire pool house shakes

"No," I tell him and the shaking abruptly stops

We both look at each other in shock.

...