Chapter One
It was time.
The last light of dusk was slipping into inky black and high overhead, through the canopy of clouds and pollution, the heavens have come alive with all the magnificence of the celestial sphere. Thousands of sights no human eye could ever see.
The hour of the wolf, the time of the vampire, had come. The time to hunt, to feed...
I inhaled the backstreet in a breath and a shiver slithered down my spine at the heavy perfume of things that didn’t bear contemplating. Needless to say, it was rank. Human cities often carried a certain pungency about them, so much waste and body odour, pressed together in such tight quarters, left its mark. They had gotten used to the stink and given enough time, even a vampire could adjust. But that place…
Its particular ripeness was absolutely foul.
I pressed on regardless. Lured by that single overpowering aroma that clung to this place. Beneath the stink of shit. Blood. It leads me like a carrot dangling in front of a donkey, teasing my fangs, my mouth watering.
Sooner or later, the thirst always won. And I’d left it too long.
The way was dark but up above and all around, the city burned bright. False light. Humanity’s instinctive terror of the dark and all that lurked within, cloaked by darkness, had driven them to harness the power of the sun and turn night into day. Edison’s great folly. The old man had sought to create a warm light for all mankind, warmth and safety for every home. Instead, his invention had made them arrogant. Naive.
Humanity had grown careless, wrapped in their protective cocoon. So they’d forgotten the perils of the night, the hunters in the shadows and all the things that fed on them when the sun went down.
And had allowed darkness to creep back into their world.
I paused mid-stride. The trail swung off the beaten path and down the mouth of an alley a few meters ahead and I felt the instinctive thrill. I was getting close.
Men. Four of them. All in leather and denim. Huddled so close together that to any passers-by, they looked just like any other bunch of dudes out smoking, drinking, and whiling away a night on the town. But the smell was on them. Blood and fear. It was old, maybe weeks dry, but they were rank with it. And their eyes were all fixed on the mouth of the alley, waiting.
They’d do. A small smirk tugged irresistibly at the corner of my mouth. It would be so easy.
Though they gave no outward sign of noticing me, their hearts quickened as I walked into the open, the palpitations pulsing through their clothes. Then they all turned and the biggest of the group, a brute of a man with a face like a bulldog and a spider web tattoo etched across his shaved pate, stepped forward. “Hey man!”
Spinning around, I did my best to look surprised as he pushed himself forward and walked towards me. The others fell into step, spreading to his left and right. “H-hi, can I help you?” I said, my voice shaky.
“Yeah,” Spider Web’s stride quickened, moving in for the kill. “Gotta light?” His hand was in his jean’s pocket. No doubt a ploy to make me think he was reaching for his cigarettes. Idiot. He had something there. Its outline was clearly defined against the denim, but it was too long and thin to be anything like a carton of smokes. A flick knife probably. Knife crimes had been on the rise over the last couple of years. Easier to conceal than a firearm, with a considerably lower criminal sentence for carrying one if caught.
They were out of the alley and encircling me, closing in. I pivoted right then left, making a show of trying to watch them all at once, of being afraid to have my back to even one of them. “E-excuse me?”
Just a few steps closer.
“Hey, he asked you a question,” the one to my right asked, a lanky black, all smiles and teeth and-
My eyes narrowed on him. Something was wrong. He smelled wrong, like meat just starting to rot. Corruption. Disease.
I shifted my focus back to Spider Web. Dogs followed the alpha, the biggest and strongest of their pack. Bullies and cowards followed the same logic. He would give them orders. And the corruption was heaviest in him. And that could only mean one thing.
My hunger promptly dried up. I’m not the fussiest vampire, but I do have some standards. Feeding off of scum was all well and good, however, killers and rapists riddled with venereal diseases were about as appetising as mouldy bread.
Promptly dropping the farce, I turned on my heel and moved on.
“Hey! I asked if you ‘ave a light!” Spider Web shouted, and I half expected him to come after me. “Fucker, I’m talking to you!”
The pair on my left barred my way. One dark, short, and squat with arms corded in muscle. The other tall and doughy with lank blonde hair. They looked a right comical sight with their arms crossed, standing the sort of straight-backed posture a bouncer might adopt to look tough barring a club door. They were more Del and Rodney Trotter than Ronnie and Reggie Kray and as I closed the distance, Del Boy made to grab my arm.
“Touch me, and I’ll take your arm and beat you to death with it,” I promised, my voice low and deadly serious, but loud enough for all the group to catch every word.
The Trotter brothers promptly stepped back.
“What are you doin’, no- stop, fucker, come back here…” Impotent, Spider Web could do little more than hurl obscenities at my back, like a child whose mother had just taken his favourite toy away. Eventually, they’re swallowed by the night, and I went on, all the more famished but with nothing to show for the experience.
Then I heard it. Low and far away, but unmistakable.
Unsure of what else I might find lurking amidst the warren of ‘abandoned’ warehouses, I followed it cautiously. At first, it was little more than a thrumming beat in the air, but it grew with every step, leading me down to an old, dilapidated structure sitting just on the river. With its windows bricked over, parts of the roof missing or stolen, and red brick walls well decorated with layers of graffiti, it would have almost certainly been condemned long ago. No doubt, whatever developer had secured the plot would be chomping at the bit to tear it down and turn it into an extension of the outlet megastore across the water. Demolition notices already adorned most of the surrounding buildings.
The booming music emanating from within indicated that it was not entirely deserted. Walking around the perimeter, I found the entrance to an old subterranean coal bunker near the edge of the water. A padlock dangled off one rusted handle, unlocked and undoubtedly the entrance to whatever party raged inside.
The door opened smoothly, despite the rust, onto a gentle slope of the bunker’s coal chute. Thick layers of black coal dust lined the walls so I’m careful not to touch anything as I edged down the slope. It’s a tight fit, just barely wide enough for me to shuffle through. In its day, this would have been filled by river steamers or bargemen selling and shipping coal up and down the water to power the warehouse’s great machines. With the passing of fossil fuels however, it had obviously been converted into a dumping ground and squatter site.
Rubbish bags. Shopping trolleys. Drugs and other such paraphernalia. You name it, it had it.
The only door leading to and from the bunker was all the easier to see by the slivers of light between it and the frame.
I knocked, and a doorman answered, slowly pulling it open but barring my entry with his impressive bulk. More than six feet of muscle, he had to outweigh me by more than five stone, a mass that his black and white striped top struggled to contain.
He sneered down at me. “Members only.”
“So I see.” I glanced at the nearest pile of rubbish bags. “Discerning clientele?”
His sneer twisted. “Very.”
“And if I want to become a member?”
“Not accepting new members.” He seemed to be having difficulty keeping the smugness from his voice. “But if you give me thirty quid, I’ll let you in with a guest pass.”
“Ah, and if I happen to of left my wallet at home?”
“Then I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave, sir. Where would you like to land.”
“Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary.” It certainly would have been fun watching this brute try to strong-arm me out, but time was of the essence and that sort of struggle would have drawn too much attention from the denizens within. Instead, I simply looked him in the eye.
It took all of a few seconds. All brawn and no brains, the doorman refused to look away, yet was no match in a battle of wills and visibly quelled, until all defiance had fled him. “Of course, sir.” He conceded, shuffling back like a whipped dog with his tail between his legs “Welcome.”
I walked past without sparing the weak-minded fool a second glance, into the warehouse’s interior. It was massive, three stories tall with catwalks running along the second and third that had been converted into frames for the speakers and lighting. Amidst the gaggle of perilously thin bodies dancing around a performing DJ, a mass of dusty old crates and plywood lengths had been fitted together to serve as a makeshift bar. Old and well-used tables and chairs were haphazardly scattered around, the sort you might find at a cheap DIY store sale and were likely to collapse the moment you started to get comfortable.
The atmosphere practically buzzed with energy and sexual tension.
I circled the floor twice, weaving in and out amongst the bodies, taking the time to admire some of the choicer morsels as I went, their tight young bodies writhing to whatever beat pulsed through the sound system, adorned in as few garments as possible, hearts racing, blood pulsing. It had me practically salivating at the thought of plunging my fangs into their milky-
Then I forget all the rest, my eyes locked on a stark and desolate beauty, seated on the edge of the crowd. Detached and alone in a sea of life.
The first glimpse of her had me at first doubting my own eyes. She certainly didn’t have the look of someone you’d usually find frequenting a shithole like this.
Dressed in jeans and a red long-sleeved turtleneck, there was nothing showy or made up about her. The beauty was all her own. And she was beautiful, with soft, delicate features and diamond blue eyes framed by long flowing curls, dark and lustrous as ravens’ wings. But there was more. Behind that girl next door exterior. An edge. A stiffness. A haunted tension that never should belong in one so young.
Hmm… interesting. Resisting the impulse to walk straight over to her, I detoured over to the bar and ordered a drink. All the while keeping one eye fixed on the girl at the table.
At its heart, the hunt was nothing more than a game. It could be played with subtlety or like a bull in a china shop. The latter was easier, but far less satisfying, or fun. And where would we be without a little fun now and then?
“That’ll be a tenner, mate.”
I glanced back. The bartender, a greasy guy with enough oil in his hair for it to shimmer and dance with colour beneath the laser lights, stood over me, an impatient look on his face and a clear drink in a dirty plastic cup waited on the bar.
I looked from him to the drink, then back to him. “It’s half empty.”
“Too bad, that’s all we have.” He makes no effort to hide the kegs and bottles stacked behind the bar. “Don’t like it? Fine, piss off. But you still gotta pay.”
“Really?”
“Yea, really-” I looked him in the eye and the words die in his throat. “Well, um… of course, I can set up a slate for you. Yes, I’ll get a slate put in your name, Mr… oh it doesn’t matter, I’ll just put down my name, no problem…”. He turned and scurried off out of my sight.
“Pathetic.”
Not bothering to watch his retreat, I reached into my jacket and took the hip flask out of the inside pocket. Careful to ensure no one was watching, I unscrewed the lid and poured a measure of the crimson contents into the cup.
Shoving the flask back into its hideaway, I turned back to watch the girl, a small grin tugging at the corner of my mouth, revealing the hint of an ivory fang.
She was very, very lovely…
“Is this seat taken?”
She whirled around, eyes widening at the sight of me looming over her. I had to force back my toothy grin. She looked like a scared little rabbit. A rabbit with the most beautiful eyes I’d ever seen.
“Um, I suppose so.” Her voice trembled but I’d already pulled the seat back and had made myself comfortable. She looked away quickly, her heart already racing, those big blue eyes flitting back and forth, desperate for something, anything to look at other than me. Good, I’m already affecting her. This may just be easier than I thought. A few more little pushes and this delicate little rabbit will be all mine.
And she would be mine.
“I’m Lucian,” I said, taking a sip of my drink, just slow enough for her eyes to focus on my mouth.
I could practically feel her heart fluttering as her eyes lingered just that moment too long. Then she pulled herself together and hurriedly looked away. “Kate.”
“Beautiful.” I smiled. “Such a beautiful name for such a beautiful girl. But a beauty by any other name would be no less exquisite.” I extended my hand.
Uncertain, her eyes moved from my hand to my face, back down to my hand, then back to the sea of bodies rippling around us.
“Would you prefer come here often?” I dropped my hand. “How about what’s a nice girl like you doing in a dive like this?”
“Is that the best you’ve got?” She said it without looking, but the tension in her voice betrayed her. She was interested, and she was overcompensating to try and resist my charms.
“Oh, my dear girl, you have no idea.” This was going to be easier than I thought. “You’re not waiting for anyone, by any chance, are you? I’d hate to interrupt.”
Her head whipped around; eyes suddenly bright. “What makes you think I’m-”
“Such beauty should never be unaccompanied,” I smirked across my drink at her before making a show of looking past her. “And by the way you keep watching all these people, I’d say you’re looking for someone.”
Kate visibly relaxed. “What sharp little eyes you’ve got.”
“I have my talents, just wait till you get to my teeth.” She blushed and dropped her eyes to the table. “So,” I pressed, “who’s the lucky fellow?”
“It’s just a friend.”
“A friend?”
“Yes,” She sipped her otherwise untouched drink. A Henry, judging by the strong smell of citrus. “She’s been badgering me all week to come to this party and barely ten minutes after we get through the door, she disappears.”
She was lying.
She had a talent for deception for sure. Her story was simple and plausible, her delivery perfect. If I had been anyone else, she might very well have pulled the wool over my eyes. But she could not lie to me. I could tell, I could always tell.
Nevertheless, I played along. “Good friends are hard to come by. Would you care for some company till she gets back?”
“N-no, it’s fine.” She drained her drink. “I saw her going off with some guy a little while ago. No doubt she’ll have him balls deep by now and will have completely forgotten about me. So, I’ll be leaving soon.”
“For home?”
“Yes.”
“Is it far?”
“Far Enough.”
“Do you drive?”
She scowled. “I don’t think that’s any of your business.”
Her anger only inflamed my amusement and desire. There was some fire in my little rabbit after all. “The city’s no safe place for a girl all alone. If you’re not driving, I wouldn’t dream of letting you walk home all alone. Anything could happen.”
At my words, Kate sucked in a breath. Suddenly she was as white as a sheet.
“No, thank you. I’ll be fine.” She pushed back from the table, grabbing her clutch as she got to her feet. “Nice to meet you, Mr Lucian.” Then she was gone into the crowd.
I watched her go, unable to resist admiring the way her jeans hugged the curves of her buttocks as she sashayed through the bodies. I couldn’t wait to sink my fangs into that luscious derrière. “The pleasure, I’m sure, will be all mine.”