“No. He is at Club Suque. And according to one of our faithful, he is engaged in a passionate dance at this very moment with Balthazar.”
Christiano felt the blood rise from his heart to his neck and face. “No.”
“I’m afraid yes,” the old vampire said as he caressed his knuckles and stared directly ahead at Christiano.
Christiano shuffled his feet and looked at Emiliano. “May I?” he asked.
“Go.”
Christiano turned and ran out the door without looking back.
The pounding beat of the music and the blinding laser lights that blinked across the dance floor worked their magic on Chance. And the four drinks he’d had didn’t hurt, either. When Balthazar pulled him closer to dance, Chance smelled the sweet aroma of his cologne, mixed with his natural musky scent, and allowed himself to melt into Balthazar’s embrace. He’d tried looking into the handsome stranger’s eyes but found he felt helpless and vulnerable when he did, and quickly looked away. Now he was feeling that way again as he felt Balthazar’s hands caress his ass and grind his hard cock against Chance’s upper thigh. His own cock was quickly responding to the feel of Balthazar’s throbbing dick.
When Balthazar leaned down to kiss his ear, Chance did not turn away or discourage him from continuing. He didn’t know why or how he was reacting this way, and he couldn’t get Christiano’s image out of his mind even as Balthazar nibbled on his ear. He felt horrible about allowing this to happen, but was powerless in stopping it.
“What are you thinking about?” Balthazar whispered into Chance’s ear as he sucked on the lobe and licked lightly around the inside.
“My boyfriend,” Chance moaned loudly. “I don’t think we should be doing this.”
“Of course we should.”
“Okay,” Chance said automatically, and then tried to shake his head to clear it from all the muddle that seemed to congregate there.
“Do you love Christiano?”
“Yes,” Chance said, and then realized he hadn’t told Balthazar Christiano’s name. “How did you know…”
“Do you trust him implicitly?”
“Yes.”
“Do you believe he is honest with you?” Balthazar asked as he licked his way down Chance’s ear and to his neck.
“Yes, of course,” Chance said as he moved his neck to the right to give Balthazar’s hot, wet tongue easier access. Was it his imagination, or did the fluorescent strobe lights suddenly stop scanning the dance floor, and the few overhead lights suddenly dim almost to nonexistence? Was the music louder and the bass thumping even harder, or was that the alcohol playing tricks on his mind? Were the people around him really moving away from them and forming a circle around them, or…?
“Did he tell you he is a vampire?”
Chance laughed. “Well, he certainly has an unquenchable thirst, but it’s not for blood. Believe me.”
“Yes, it is,” Balthazar whispered as he kissed Chance’s neck. “He’s a vampire, and so am I.”
“What the—” Chance started to question, but was cut short by the sharp pain of Balthazar’s fangs as they bit into his neck and pierced the skin. “Hey…stop…”
Balthazar sank his canines deep into Chance’s neck and sucked sharply on the warm, sweaty skin until he was rewarded with the thick, coppery nectar that slid across his tongue and down his throat. It was sweeter than just about any blood he’d tasted, and knowing that it rightfully belonged to Christiano made it even sweeter. He sucked harder on the warm neck.
“Oh…my…God…” Chance tried to scream, but only squeaked out as he felt the strength in his legs fail him and he swayed unsteadily on them. As Balthazar’s teeth sank deeper into his neck and his mouth sucked hungrily at the steady flow of blood, Chance marveled at how wonderful the whole thing felt even as the pain coursed down his neck and across his chest and farther down his legs.
Balthazar sucked maniacally on the warm, supple neck of his enemy’s lover and held Chance in such a strong grip that he could move little more than an inch in either direction. It didn’t take long before Chance slumped to the floor and his eyes rolled back in his head.
The last thing Chance saw before losing consciousness was the crowd moving in around him in a circle, and the movement of their lips as they chanted.
“Chris…” he moaned as he felt the last draft of consciousness sway through his veins and away from his body.
The guards outside saw him coming from almost a mile away. The air around him was glowing red and was blistered with a cloud of fog that surrounded his body. He was moving at an astounding speed, and they barely had time to grab the money box and make a hasty retreat. When he was still a couple of blocks away, the ton of wood and steel that was the sliding door into the club exploded from its steel track and blew several feet into the air, above the treetops, and landed a hundred feet from the building.
Inside the club, chaos was rampant. Most of the mortals in the club that night were knowledgeable and could be counted on to keep the truth underground. The few who were not knowledgeable were known to the vampires and were quickly pounced upon. Some of the vampires fed on them, sucking their blood and draining them only to the point of conversion. But others, fueled by the drugs and the energy of the moment, bit into the necks of the mortals and ripped their necks apart viciously, gnawing at the flesh and spitting huge chunks of it onto the floor. Their eyes burned bright red, and they growled like animals.
When the doors blew apart and flew across the air, everyone, mortal and vampire alike, turned their gaze toward the door. Through the now empty frame, moonlight spilled into the club and illuminated a tall and shadowy figure advancing quickly toward them. Everyone moved as close to the back wall as possible, leaving the dead mortals to be trampled on by the man surrounded by red fog.
“Hello, Christiano,” Balthazar said as he smiled and wiped the blood from his lips onto his arm.
“Chance,” Christiano moaned as he stopped directly in front of his dead lover.
“Oh, he’ll be okay,” Balthazar said as he kicked Chance’s limp leg. “He’s in a better place now. He was very tasty, let me assure you. You don’t know what you missed by not indulging with this one.”
Christiano dropped to his knees on the floor and cradled Chance’s head in his arms. “Nooooo,” he cried out.
“Yes,” Balthazar said, and tried unsuccessfully to hold back a laugh.
Christiano raised his head suddenly and glared at Balthazar. Balthazar flew backward with astonishing speed and slammed, back first, into the far wall. Everyone scattered to get away from him as quickly as possible.
Balthazar stood up and shook himself off as he walked back closer to Christiano. He waved one hand in front of himself and watched as Christiano, with Chance cradled in his arms, rose a couple of feet into the air and spun around weakly in a circle. He concentrated harder, causing the large vein on his forehead to pop out, but still only succeeded in spinning Christiano and Chance around at a pitifully slow revolution.
“Don’t fuck with me, Christiano,” he said, trying to sound more threatening than he actually felt at the moment. “You can’t win.”
Christiano floated back to the floor and laid Chance down carefully on the dance floor. He stood up and faced Balthazar, then extended his arm out in front of him quickly. Balthazar went flying backward through the air again, slamming against the railing to the stairs.
“Help me!” Balthazar screamed at the other vampires and members of his council who were standing close to him. “You said you’d help me. Go get him.”
No one moved, and as Balthazar got up and shook himself off, he growled at the vampires around him. “Don’t just stand there. Get him!”
“You’re finished, Balthazar,” Christiano said between clenched teeth.
Balthazar tried once again to use his powers to blow Christiano across the room and away from him, but Christiano didn’t budge.
“This is the last evening you will live to see,” C
hristiano said as he moved closer to Balthazar.
“You can’t kill me, you idiot. The elders would never tolerate it.”
“I’m sorry,” the voice said from behind Christiano. A second later Emiliano emerged, waving his hands in front of him to clear the red fog that surrounded Christiano still. “But I’m afraid you have been misinformed.”
“What…? Balthazar stammered.
“Gentlemen,” the elder vampire said as he motioned for members of Balthazar’s own council to restrain him.
Several council members stumbled forward and grabbed Balthazar by the arms, twisting them behind his back.
“What are you doing?” he asked his former friends as he looked them in the eyes. “You can’t do this.”
“Oh, but they can,” Emiliano said. “And they will, because I tell them to. You’ve abused your powers here long enough, Balthazar. We are tired of cleaning up your messes and monitoring your every move.”
“You can’t be serious,” Balthazar cried out as he struggled uselessly against the strength of his council members.
“We are dead serious,” Emiliano said as he removed a large wooden stake from a green velvet bag and handed it to Christiano. “Do it.”
Christiano took the stake from the elder vampire and walked slowly toward Balthazar.
“No…please…,” Balthazar begged as giant tears rolled down his face.
“You shouldn’t have fucked with me,” Christiano said as he leaned to within an inch of Balthazar’s face.
“I didn’t…”
“And you really shouldn’t have fucked with my boyfriend,” Christiano said through gritted teeth as he pressed the blunt end of the stake against his own chest and leaned forward, stabbing the sharp end of the stake through Balthazar’s chest. He heard it pop as it pierced the skin and slid effortlessly through Balthazar’s body and out the back side. He kept pushing with the weight of his own body until his lips were touching Balthazar’s. He kissed Balthazar on the lips and then spit onto the floor.
Balthazar let out a loud scream and then went limp as his body slumped out of the arms of his council members and to the floor.
Emiliano allowed the slightest curl at the corner of his lips as he watched Balthazar take his last breath. Then he scanned the room, taking note of the looks on the faces of all the humans in the room. Most seemed to be ecstatic at the way the evening turned out, and some were even visibly physically excited at the death and mayhem that had ensued. A few, though, seemed to be catatonic, staring straight ahead with blank expressions in their eyes, their skin as white as that of the vampires around them. They obviously were the unknowledgeable, and had had no idea what they were getting into when they’d entered the club that evening.
“All right, everyone,” he said as he made direct eye contact with several of the key members of the vampire community, “we know what needs to be done now. We cannot have news of this evening’s events getting out to the press and public. Get busy,” he said as he turned and walked over to Christiano. “You can go home, Christiano. We’ll talk later.”
The club came alive with noise as vampires closed in on the unknowledgeable humans and began feeding on them. The knowledgeable humans and other vampires cheered and whistled as the unknowledgeable humans screamed in horror at the massacre in which they were the main course.
Christiano lifted Chance’s lifeless body into his arms and carried him out the doorless front entrance, tears streaming down his face.
Chapter Nine
Christiano laid several blankets on the ground and then laid Chance down on top of them. He filled a copper bowl with cool water and dropped a washcloth into it, and set it beside the makeshift bed. It would come in handy in a couple of hours, he knew, and he wanted to be ready. Then he lay down next to his lover, curled up beside him, and waited. There was no way he could even remotely entertain the possibility of sleep, but he wanted Chance to wake up to find himself wrapped in the arms of his lover.
It didn’t take long. A couple of hours after coming home to the cathedral, Chance began to stir and moan. A few minutes after that, he tried to open his eyes but screamed out in pain as he attempted to blink away the sleep.
“Oh, God,” he cried out as he threw his arms across his eyes. “Turn off the lights. They’re killing my eyes.”
“There are no lights in here, babe,” Christiano whispered into Chance’s ears. He reached into the copper bowl and wrung the water out of the washcloth, then gently blotted it across Chance’s warm face. “Only a couple of candles.”
“Blow them out. It feels like my eyes are on fire.”
Christiano stood up and blew out the candles, then returned to Chance’s side. “Okay, honey, they’re out. But it won’t make any difference to you. Your eyes will burn like that for several hours. They’re a little sensitive right now. Keep them closed for now. It’ll be less painful tomorrow night.”
“What happened? Where am I?”
“There was an…accident tonight at the club. You’re at my place.”
“An accident?” Chance asked as he tried to prop himself up on his elbows.
“Well, not really an accident. More like an incident. With Balthazar.”
Chance was quiet for a moment, squinting his eyes in the darkness of the cellar. Then his face went slack, and Christiano knew that his lover had just remembered.
“No, no, no,” Chance cried out as he flailed his arms around him, trying to grasp something familiar.
“I’m so sorry, Chance,” Christiano said as he pulled Chance to his chest and began to rock him.
“This can’t be true. It can’t be happening. He said you are a vampire.”
“Yes,” Christiano whispered.
“Yes?” Chance cried out as he struggled to pull away from Christiano’s chest. “What do you mean, yes?”
“I am a vampire.”
“No you aren’t.”
“I am.”
“Vampires aren’t real. There is no such thing as a vampire. It’s all fiction.”
“No, it is not. I am a vampire.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s true, Chance. I would not lie to you.”
“You wouldn’t lie to me? You son of a bitch. You never told me you are a vampire. What part of that doesn’t sound like a lie to you?”
“I’m sorry, Chance.”
“Sorry? You stupid motherfucker. You are a vampire and you never told me?”
“I was afraid I’d lose you. People aren’t usually very open to accepting us.”
“Yeah, well, I wonder why. You freaking flesh-eating monster!” Chance spit out as he shoved himself away from Christiano.
“Chance, I love you. Please try to understand.”
Chance reached up with one hand and felt the wound on his neck. “Oh, my God. He bit me. That bastard bit me.”
“Yes.”
“Does that mean I’m a vampire now?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Not yet? What the fuck do you mean, ‘not yet’?”
“It’ll take three or four days. You’re starting to change now; that’s why your eyes are so sensitive to even the slightest bit of light. That will get better in a few hours. But I’d still stay away from too much light for a few days. And whatever you do, do not get caught in the sunlight. You can be awake during the day, but you must make sure you are very well protected against the sunlight. It will kill you.”
“Dear God, I don’t believe this is happening,” Chance said as he rubbed his forehead.
“Your fangs will begin to push through your gums in three or four days.”
“What?”
“I’m sorry, Chance, there just isn’t any easy or painless way to say it. When they push through your gums, it is very painful. Especially the first few times. After that it gets less painful.”
“Please tell me this is all a dream.”
“It’s no dream, baby. It’s all real.”
“And so when my fangs co
me out,” Chance said and shuddered at the word “fangs,” “then I’m a vampire?”
“Yes.”
“And then I will have to drink people’s blood and kill them.”
“You will have to feed on human blood, yes. But you don’t have to kill them.”
“What?”
“It’s optional. Most of the killings are done out of self-preservation. If we kill the person we feed on, they can never tell anyone else that we exist. It just makes it easier.”
“I can’t believe I’m hearing this.”
“But it doesn’t have to be that way. There are many humans who know about us and are sympathetic toward us and support our existence. They allow us to feed on them willingly. In fact, they desire it. There were many such people at the club tonight.”
“If that’s true, then why do you kill anyone at all?”
“I don’t know. We get carried away. Sometimes in the passion of the moment…”
“Passion?” Chance nearly screamed.
“Yes, it is very intimate. It’s not only feeding to fill hunger. But it is also, most of the time, very sexual as well.”
“I’m going to be sick.”
“I’m so sorry, Chance. I should have protected you better.”
“I cannot drink someone’s blood. I faint at the sight of it. And I certainly can’t kill someone.”
“You won’t have to kill anyone, Chance. Many vampires don’t.”
“So, I’m a vampire. I’m going to be a vampire.”
“Yes.”
“And there’s nothing I can do about it? Nothing I can do to stop it from happening?”
Christiano leaned up against the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest so that he could wrap his arms around them. He said nothing.
“Chris?”
“Do you love me, Chance?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“And I won’t until you answer mine. Do you love me?”
Chance was quiet for a couple of minutes. Then he scooted toward the sound of Christiano’s voice until he found him, and sat next to him. “Yes.”
“And I love you, too. I already lost one lover, Chance. He was the first true love of my life. And that was a very long time ago. I never thought I’d have another chance at love again. But I love you desperately. I can’t imagine losing you, too.”