Chapter 5 #2
She turned to face me, smiling, and grasped my shoulders to shake me gently.
“No way, girl. We just got here,” she said, but in an overly slow way that made me rethink my plan of letting her drink more.
“My sex life is nonexistent. All I’ve done is go to school, get an education, start a business.
Act like a good girl. Tonight is my chance…
” Her eyes glazed over, but then she refocused her attention back on my face.
“No…our chance to let loose and be entertained.”
Tammy gave me that pouty-face expression, and I let out a heavy sigh.
“Don’t talk to me about a non-existent sex life,” I said, and she giggled.
“Maybe we will find vampire boyfriends. We can do role play in the bedroom and have fun for once.”
I faked a gag. “No thank you.”
Real vampires were cruel and dangerous to humans, unlike the fictitious ones from the movies Tammy obsessed over. She released me and rushed to catch up to a guy who opened one of the doors. She waved me over, and I dragged my feet to follow.
At the door, she said, “Get ready for an amazing show.”
I shut the door behind me and stared at the “show” unfolding in front of me. I didn’t think anything could have prepared me for the sight.
The room was larger than I expected and had similar red fabric furniture as the upstairs nooks. The side wall had alcohol bottles lined up on shelves where a bartender stood behind a red-illuminated countertop.
The velvet couches were the modern ones I’d seen in magazines, with short headrests and oval shapes.
In front of the couch, a naked woman was spread across a long wooden table with a fluffy white carpet underneath. Three men took turns sucking her blood from various points on her body.
Goose bumps slipped up the back of my neck, warning me of danger. Although the small crowd here seemed turned on by the sight, I was not. The three men who were not human actors could have compelled the woman to do this.
They were vampires.
The woman had small cuts that seemed to have been made with a knife or something sharp, but not by fangs. Fangs left puncture wounds. The incisions on her boobs and lower abdomen would be covered by her clothes the next day.
Before my hot temper fired off, I told myself not to rush to conclusions. There were humans who volunteered as blood donors to vampires in exchange for money or pleasure.
The woman’s face displayed total ecstasy, and she wasn’t faking the pleasured moans she let out as the men bent their heads over her. She must have given them her consent, right?
Tammy whispered close to me. “Wow. Do you think you can get naked like that in front of people to watch you while guys lick and suck on you?”
I gave her a serious look.
“If you tell me you’re not turned on, then something is wrong with you,” she said.
“Don’t you think it’s a little disgusting that they’re cutting her flesh?” I raised my eyebrows at her.
Maybe thinking through it would sober her up.
“No, it’s acting. It’s like in the movies when the bullets go through people and leave blood stains. It’s food coloring and special effects. Like the raspberry syrup I put on top of the vampire coffee drinks at my cafe.”
I made sure Tammy noticed the exaggerated frown on my face. “Let’s go upstairs, or better yet, let’s leave.”
She paid me no attention. Her eyes were glued to the sexy scene, and so was everyone else’s.
After a moment, Tammy said, “The lifestyle of people who want to be vampires requires them to act like that, Bree.”
She used her hand to fan her face and grinned as she kept staring at the woman, who arched her back while one of the men licked the small opening on her skin at the top of her breasts.
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little turned on, but I also had a preservation instinct stronger than an average human.
“It seems like a cult you don’t want to be a part of, Tammy.”
“It’s just for fun so my life is not so boring,” Tammy said, but her voice was slightly elevated in the silent room, except for the pleasured noises coming from the woman.
The guy who’d walked in with us glared and then shushed us.
At the commotion, one of the so-called actors straightened up, his hands still on top of the woman’s body, and glanced at me. His eyes flashed crimson for a second, and my heartbeat accelerated.
My pulse was off the charts, and I wanted to get the hell out of this room. What if somehow these vampires realized who I was and kidnapped me or hurt me or used me against my royal family?
I’d been so careless, thinking I could be invincible living among humans without consequences to my parents.
I dashed to the door and out into the hallway for a breather. Tammy was right behind me, mouthing “party pooper.” She continued walking, opened another door, and waved me over.
“No… Shit,” I mumbled while she entered the room.
My plan was to grab her and pull her out of the room, but when I stepped inside, I found Tammy standing away from the door.
I almost stopped breathing as I took in this room. Two leather couches lined the opposite wall. A few spectators sat, leaning forward, and stared at the action in front of them.
Others, including Tammy, stood circled around sex swings with leather straps and dangling chains hanging from the ceiling. At the room’s center was a full-size bed where a naked woman was bound by leather cuffs.
Oh, gods.
I was about to get a first-row seat at a sex-feeding session with multiple people. I tiptoed around them to get to Tammy.
Before I could speak, she said, “I'm buying a sex swing for my apartment.”
Her cheery voice made me more uncomfortable.
A second woman was strapped to a swing, legs spread out and arms encased by leather at her sides. A stark-naked man, with his back toward us, faced the woman, penetrating her.
A chill laced down my spine. As he plunged within her, he lowered his head and bit her on the crook of her neck. Would he be able to stop? Hungry vampires couldn’t control their bloodthirst and could drain their food donors.
Another man walked behind his trapped prey on the swing. He faced the crowd, also naked, and grasped the woman’s breasts.
The first man pulled his head away, giving him space. The second man sank his fangs into her shoulder, and one of his hands traveled to her head, pulling it to the side to make more space to feed from her.
Murmurs filled the room. My gasp was lost among many others.
My body surged under an unexpected heat wave. Blood rushed to my head, and I was sure my face looked like beets. But regardless of how entertaining this show was, I couldn’t stop grinding my teeth.
Was the risk this woman took worth the pleasure or money she received? Her life was at stake, and she didn’t seem to care.
I scanned the faces of the audience, but they were all dazed and transfixed by the action.
There was a couple standing close to us who couldn’t keep their hands off each other. They might have come here to spice up their relationship, but I couldn’t help but question that the women donating their blood were doing so without their consent.
“So, don’t you think their fangs look very realistic?” I asked Tammy, extra sarcasm in my tone.
She didn’t answer. I elbowed her to get her out of her trance.
“Yes, good special effects,” she said, and I face-palmed.
“Let’s go, Tammy.”
“But I want to stay.” Her voice was too loud for my liking, drawing a few curious gazes our way.
“I want us to be safe.”
These vampires could compel us to become participants in their feeding sessions.
Tammy opened her mouth, probably to argue some more, but stayed frozen.
I followed her gaze and tensed.
The man behind the woman on the swing stepped around her. His everything was on display, and Tammy grinned and lowered her gaze to check him out while I almost stopped breathing for a second time tonight.
This man was deadly, with bloody fangs pointed in our direction. He took a few additional steps toward us, and I clenched my fists and stood tall.
“People from the audience can join us,” the vampire said in an alluring and sensual voice that raised goose bumps on my arms.
But not the good kind.
Vampires were made to be tempting and everything else their prey would desire them to be.
Tammy, together with a few other women, giggled and kept on gawking at him. His nostrils flared as if he scented the humans in the room. The glimmer in his eyes activated and made every muscle in my body tight with readiness.
I would never let my best friend become vampire food under my watch.
Despite her protests, I grabbed Tammy’s wrist and pulled her toward the door. Out in the hallway, more people were pouring in. With Tammy in tow, I turned right and kept marching, bumping shoulders with people in the narrow corridor.
But the hallway ended with a door, a dead end. I must have made a wrong turn. This door could lead to the emergency staircase.
I’d had enough of these shows Tammy was into. We were leaving right now.
I swung the door wide open, extra adrenaline fueling my resolve, and froze, with Tammy bumping into my back from the abrupt stop.
The two vampires in the black suits, the ones I saw at the back of the building, stood in front of us. Except they didn’t wear their fancy suit jackets. The sleeves of their white dress shirts were rolled up to their elbows, displaying bloody hands.
Tammy gasped behind me while paralysis overtook me.
A painful groan echoed from the room behind them, and my gaze fell on a third man kneeling on the ground. He was chained, covered in blood, and badly beaten. His head lifted slightly to look at me, but the motion seemed to cause him pain. His face twisted in a frown, and he winced.
His eyes flashed yellow, and my breath hitched. I did a double take. He was a werewolf, and the vampires were torturing him.
My stomach knotted.
I had walked into the enemy’s torture room.
Worse—I had marched right in with my best friend in tow.