“Most vampires try it once or twice at least,” he replied evasively. He got out of bed and readjusted his clothing, purposely avoiding looking at me. “It’s fairly common. ”
The word “whore” made me the most uncomfortable. And I knew how amazing it felt when Jack drank my blood, how I could feel him, and how he could feel everything I felt. It was the most intimate act on earth, and he casually did it with random whores he picked up at a bar. I swallowed hard and refused to think about it.
“Alright. ” I remembered that I had to take it all in stride when dating a vampire. “So how do you go about that? You just… what?”
“Bloodwhores usually hang around the club. They know what the scene is. ” He began pacing the room, pretending to do things like readjust a picture on the wall or move something on the night stand. “You can just go there and find a girl. Or a guy. Whatever you’re into. Then you, y’know, bite them. When it’s done, you go on your way, and they sleep it off. ”
“So how would Jane find out about a place like V?” I asked.
“If she hung around downtown long enough, and she knows what to look for in a vampire, it’s only a matter of time. ” He fixed a piece of tape on his Purple Rain poster and looked back at me. “It’s like it is with any other drug. ”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Bloodwhores are addicted,” Jack said. “Letting a vampire bite you is pretty dangerous, but it’s not the worst thing you can do. And they’ll crave it more and more. There’s only so much blood loss the human body can take. ”
As soon as Milo had mentioned that Jane had gotten involved with vampires, I hadn’t been thrilled by the idea. But I had gotten so used to Jane being reckless and her name associated with being a whore that I hadn’t thought much of it. If Jack was showing even an ounce of concern for her, it meant things were pretty bad off, and he was looking very gravely at me.
“You’re saying that Jane could actually die?” I sat up straighter in bed, and my mouth suddenly felt very dry.
“No. I’m saying that… unless she gets out of that lifestyle, she will die,” he said quietly.
Time seemed to stop. It wasn’t until somebody threatened to take her away that I realized how much she meant to me. Jane was vain, self-absorbed, and a bitch most of the time, but underneath that, she had always been my friend. No matter who was at a party or what they thought of me, Jane always brought me along, and most of the time, she stood up for me. When vampires attacked us a few months ago, she saved my life.
Jane just never believed that she was more than a pretty face. And even through all the things she did, she had been my best friend since I was seven years old, and she’d been there for me as much as she was capable.
Now she was in serious trouble, and it was all because of me.
“We have to go get her,” I said.
I jumped off the bed, scrambling to pull on my jeans as I did. Panic started taking over, and I flew around the room. Grabbing my shoes and my brush and a sweater and thinking that I had to do something to my hair before we went to a club or Jane wouldn’t even speak to me… and then Jack grabbed my wrist.
“Alice. Slow down,” Jack said. “She’s not dying right now. ”
“You don’t know that!”
“I’m pretty sure if she was in immediate danger, Milo wouldn’t have left her there,” he pointed out.
“Maybe. ” My heart slowed a bit. “But we still have to go get her. ”
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“I agree, but you need to take a minute to calm down. We’re going to a vampire club, for the first time since you turned, and it would be helpful if you were in control of yourself. ” Jack smiled wryly.
“Okay,” I nodded and looked down at myself. The casual jeans and top combo I was going for would never work at a club, or at least Jane would say it didn’t. If we were going there, I might as well fit in. “I’m gonna go get ready. Why don’t you let Milo know, and we can get out of here?”
“Sounds good. ” He kissed me gently on the lips, sending tingles through me so much that I almost forgot about Jane. “Everything will be okay. ”
I smiled like I believed him, and I went into the closet to look for something to wear. What exactly did one wear when going to rescue their former best friend from an underground vampire club?
- 13 -
Milo and Bobby took the Jetta down to the club because Jack called dibs on the Lamborghini. Jack was a notoriously speedy driver, but the trip downtown had never seemed so long.
Since it was after two in the morning, most of the clubs and bars had cleared out, and he found a parking spot a block away from V. Milo pulled up behind us a minute later, meaning he had sped as well. I considered launching into a speech about the importance of driving safely, but then I saw a vampire walking towards us.
After becoming a vampire, other vampires are a lot easier to spot. A vampire’s heart beats much slower and much quieter than a human could and still walk around.
The one walking towards us was tall and slender and pale, reminding me of the way Tim Burton would design a vampire. The human girl at his side looked even shorter and chubbier in comparison to him. Her skin had a blotchy ashen quality to it, a symptom I associated with recent blood loss, and her eyes were glassy with overly dilated pupils.
Her Tim Burton companion led her along carefully to keep her from stumbling or simply passing out right there, and while he smiled, there was an offhand way that he treated her. Like he was leading a cow to the slaughter.
I shivered involuntarily, and she smiled dazedly at me, her pudgy cheeks dimpling. She couldn’t be more than sixteen herself, if that, and I wanted to steal her away from him. He wouldn’t be eager to part with her, though, and even if I could get her away, she wouldn’t appreciate it.
Besides that, the horrible truth of it was that this was the way of life. My way of life. Vampires are going to drink from people, and at least this way they’re both willing participants. This is probably the best I can hope for.
“Come on,” Jack said, putting his hand on my back. He saw me watching after them, and while he empathized with her, he knew there was nothing we could do. “We should get going. ”
“Yeah, come on. Before Jane leaves,” Milo agreed. He held Bobby’s hand and walked ahead of us.
Milo turned off Hennepin Ave onto a darkened street. The nearest streetlamps had gone out, and I suspected that was a constant occurrence. Vampires liked night as dark as it could be, which was why the doorway of the club was hidden on the darkest street in Minneapolis.
Bobby held onto Milo more tightly, probably because he couldn’t see where he was going and didn’t want to trip over anything. Jack and I followed directly behind them, and Milo glanced back at us before opening a nondescript door.
The bouncers stood inside the door. They were two massive vampires, and they barely looked at any of us, but they sniffed at Bobby. We squeezed in between to them to the narrow hall lit by a single red bulb.
At the end of the hall, a steep set of cement stairs led down into black nothingness. The only light came from the red one upstairs. It was more than enough for me to see the way down, but Bobby went down slowly and carefully, and Milo kept his hand on him to catch him if he fell.
As soon as we had opened the doors upstairs, I had been able to hear the faint sound of the music, but I’m sure that Bobby was just starting to hear it when we hit the landing. The hall went on forever, but we stopped at a pair of massive doors.
Milo pulled them open, bathing us with a blue light that was almost blinding after the darkness of the hall. To all the people dancing inside, it seemed dim and reasonable for a club, but it was different for vampires.
A long, metallic bar ran along the far side of the room, and bottles lined the back wall, full of alcoholic drinks for the humans. Several very attractive vampires stood behind it, bartending. The stools in front of it were full, and a l
ine of people were waiting to get drinks.
The ceilings of the room were amazingly high for a basement. Electronica filled my ears, blotting out any sound of heartbeats, which was a relief. Nothing could be done for the smell. At least five-hundred people were smashed onto the floor, dancing wildly. And they all smelled deliciously of blood and sweat. Jack squeezed my hand tightly, drawing me back to him before bloodlust hit me.
The dancers were a mixture of vampire perfection and people, but the bouncers sifted through the humans to make sure only the more attractive specimens made it down here. Every one of them was beautiful and delectable. For Bobby’s part, he seemed just as entranced by the vampires. I wanted to be angry with him for it, but they were still captivating to me.
“She’s probably in the other room,” Milo leaned in closer to us. He didn’t raise his voice at all, but I could hear him above the echo of the club.
Wrapping his arm around Bobby’s waist, Milo waded through the crowd. Jack looked down at me, checking to make sure I could handle crossing the floor. It required me to push up against lots of people, to physically be able to feel their rapid pulses beating against me, but I had to learn willpower sometime. Swallowing, I nodded and gripped his hand, and we followed Milo.
Everyone was hot from dancing, and I could feel it radiating from them. Jack pushed headily through, purposely being rough to get them out of the way. He wasn’t a threatening person, but he was strong, and they parted for us. It was still a fight to keep back my thirst. I had no idea how Milo had been able to handle himself so well after he first turned.
We made it across the room, where the blue lights started to fade and a doorway led into the next room, glowing warm under the dim red lights. Milo waited at the door for us, Bobby pressed up close to him, his head resting on his shoulder.
Just before we reached them, I heard something disturbingly familiar. Jack and Milo didn’t seem to notice it, buried in the sounds of the club, but I froze in my tracks. The sound was sweet yet fragile, like a tinkling bell… on helium. I pulled away from Jack, scanning the crowd for bright purple hair.
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The last time we had gone to the vampire club, I had been introduced to a pair of vampires, Lucian and Violet, who became intent on capturing me. Peter took care of Lucian, but she had gotten away. Violet seemed less interested in pursuing me, but like her boyfriend, she had been a caricature of vampirism. Her hair had been dyed purple, her eyeliner was thick black, and she capped her teeth to make them more pronounced fangs.
“What?” Jack asked, watching me search the dance floor.
“I don’t know. ” I shook my head. I had been positive I had heard Violet’s distinct laugh, but I couldn’t see her anywhere.
I was just about to give up looking when a girl at the bar caught my attention. Her blond hair hung down her back, shimmering like silk under the blue lights. She tilted her head back, laughing at something a drunk guy said to her, and I shivered. That was Violet’s laugh.
Absently, she looked back over her shoulder, her odd purple eyes landing on mine, and they flickered with frightened recognition. She traded in the thick black eyeliner for something subtler, making her prettier and younger, more innocent. Turning into a vampire made her look around nineteen or twenty, but something in her eyes led me to believe she was younger than that.
“Violet?” I said, but she instantly looked away, shielding her face with her hair.
“You know her?” Jack was at my side, looking at her quizzically. He had only met her very briefly when she looked much different, so he didn’t recognize her.
“I think that’s Violet. ” I walked towards her, but Jack put his hand on my arm.
“Wait, wait. That’s the girl that was stalking you before? Why are you going to talk to her? Are you gonna…” His face darkened. “What are you gonna do?”
“I don’t know. I wanna talk to her. ” I shook my head, unable to explain myself.
“What’s going on?” Milo asked. He stood in the doorway, his arm around his boyfriend. He hadn’t seen Violet, and that was for the best. He would take running into her much worse than I would.
“I’ll be right back,” I said and hurried over to Violet before she hid or escaped. Jack was right behind me, but he didn’t try to stop me.
The drunk guy talking to her was mid-sentence, and she stood up without explanation. I know I should’ve felt angry. She had almost gotten me, Milo, and Jane killed, but I wasn’t out for revenge. I just wanted to talk to her.
“Hey. Violet. ” I blocked her path, and she looked at me with wide eyes. All of her former cockiness was long gone, and that probably had to do with the death of her boyfriend.
“I don’t know what you want but…” She trailed off, her eyes flicking from me to Jack. “I don’t want any trouble. ”
“Neither do I. ” I glanced back at Jack to make sure he wasn’t glaring at her or anything. Jack had such an open face, it was pretty hard for him to look threatening unless he was really pissed off.
“What do you want then?” Violet tried to look strong and angry, but without the confidence behind it, she just looked like a whiny child.
“I don’t know. ” I chewed my lip. “Before, when you were chasing after me, what did you want?”
“I didn’t want anything with you,” Violet said. “I mean, at first, I went after you as a joke because you were so tasty…” She lowered her eyes. “But Lucian, he wouldn’t let it go. I think he liked the idea of stealing you from another vampire. ”
“Well, now he’s gone and she’s a vampire, so that’s settled then,” Jack interjected with a clumsy smile.
“How old are you?” I asked, ignoring Jack.
“I don’t know why that matters,” Violet said, but she looked flustered. “I was fourteen when I turned, and that was like two years ago.
“Look, it wasn’t my idea. ” A strand of blond hair fell into her eyes, and she looked at me, as if daring me to defy her. “Not going after you, not turning into a vampire. It was all Lucian. He thought this was all some great big fantasy, and he had somebody turn him, and then stupidly, I had him turn me.
“But he’s dead. And I’m over it. So…” Blinking hard, she tried to keep me from noticing the tears in her eyes. “Are we through?”
“Yeah. Sure,” I nodded, unable to think of a reason to keep her talking to me.
Violet brushed past me, disappearing into the dance floor. Even after everything she had put me through, I felt this strange sadness for her. To be so powerful and young, and yet so confused and alone. She had been a dumb kid playing around with Hot Topic makeup and got in way over her head.
“You okay?” Jack touched my arm.
“Yeah. ” I remembered we weren’t here to check up on my enemies. Jane was here somewhere, probably losing blood as we spoke. “Sorry. Let’s go. ”
“Who was that girl you were talking to?” Milo asked when reached them, and Bobby craned his neck around to see.
“Nobody. Where’s Jane?” I asked.
“I haven’t seen her yet, but we’ve just been waiting here. ” Milo gave me an irritated look, so I pushed past him into the adjoining room.
The light above glowed dull red, the kind of lighting that was most pleasing to vampires’ eyes. This room was smaller than the last and dressed more like a coffee shop than a club. Soft couches filled the room, and a small bar in a dark corner served drinks, but only ones of the type AB variety.
A lot of doors and darkened hallways led out of it, and while I had never been in one of the rooms, I knew exactly what they were for. Some vampires required more privacy when they were with the bloodwhores, while others were camped out on the couch, drinking openly from their human donors.
With one quick scan of the room, I knew Jane wasn’t there. Her heart and her scent were almost as familiar to me as Jack and Milo’s, and they were nowhere in this room. I turned back to M
ilo, and he had come to the same conclusion.
“She was here before,” Milo said.
“She was with a guy,” Bobby added.
Jack walked around to look more closely, in case we missed something. I had taken too long getting ready or staring at the people outside or randomly talking to Violet. I had been wasting time when I should’ve been tracking down Jane. I still had her phone number, but she hadn’t answered my calls since I turned into a vampire.
“Alice! He finally did it!” a voice purred, and a vampire got up off the couch and walked over to me. She left a girl discarded on the couch behind her, a thin trail of blood drying on her neck, and she moaned softly, reaching out in the empty space where Olivia had been.
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With long black hair past her knees, Olivia had ageless beauty, but she had been in her forties when she had turned, which had probably been a very, very long time ago. Her clothing was entirely tight black leather, and I had never understood how she was able to move.
While we weren’t exactly old friends, Olivia had been the vampire who had first rescued me from Lucian and Violet. There seemed to be a wisdom lurking below her hazy grin, and even though she had the slow, slurred movements of an aging junkie, she still had the killer instincts of a vampire.
“What?” I tried to return her smile, but I was too frustrated over not finding Jane.
“He turned you,” Olivia said, and she reached out, caressing my cheeks. Her eyes were glazed, but her voice was low and surprisingly seductive. “And what an exquisite creature you are. ”
“Thanks,” I replied uncertainly, and Jack appeared at my side.
“Maybe you can help. ” Milo walked over to us. Bobby trailed after him, and Olivia looked at him with disdain. Her interest apparently didn’t go past human girls, or probably girls in general. “We’re looking for a girl, a friend of Alice’s. ”
“She’s a bloodwhore, we think,” I said. “She’s tall and thin, and very pretty, like a model. Her hair is short and dark, and she’s always dressed to the nines. Her name is Jane, and I think she’s in trouble. ”
“If she’s the girl I’m thinking of, she definitely is in trouble,” Olivia nodded gravely. She licked her lip and pointed down the hall. “She’s been coming around here a lot more than any one person should, and she went down that hall an hour ago with a vampire. ”
“Thank you,” I smiled and turned down the hall.
The hall was pitch black, but I saw the outlines of the doors. I smelled the blood and heard the erratic heartbeats and happy moans, and I had to concentrate on it without thinking about it. I had to find Jane without giving into my own thirst.