by D. D. Syrdal
Over the coming days he thought back to the incident in New York, which rankled more and more. He became impatient to know who had been able to find out who and, more importantly, what he was. The cartels pushing the Shine out would have contacts in other places, so he’d have to be on his guard. He’d been laying low for a week, not bothering to pick up any women but he was starting to feel hungry again and that night he started making the rounds of the clubs, in spite of the risk.
The first one he entered was pumping out loud techno music. By midnight it was full of club kids dancing, drinking, and smoking. It wasn’t a goth hangout, making the possibility of the Shine pushers being there slim. A couple of kids were all but unconscious in their booths. He walked past them, scanning the dance floor and the room for any sign of Kiril. In the state he’d been in the night Andrej met him it was hard to predict where he might turn up.
He went to the bar and ordered a scotch, attracting a few stares in his leather coat as he usually did. He knew he didn’t blend in with the median age of twenty in this club, but he didn’t care. He didn’t look that much older than the others; he had been converted and quit aging when he was thirty-two. A young thirty-two, he liked to think. As he stood there sipping his drink, he became aware of someone watching him. Another vampire. He could hear her thoughts even from where he was, which meant she was relatively recently converted and didn’t have full control yet. He looked over the room again, and at the other end of the bar he saw her: a slender, beautiful woman, with long dark hair combed straight back, hanging down to the middle of her back. She was wearing a tight sky-blue dress with cut-outs that exposed most of her body. He wasn’t going to wait for her to approach him. He took his drink and sauntered down to where she sat and climbed onto the barstool next to her.
“Aren’t you being a bit flashy?” he said.
“You’re in leather, you think that doesn’t get noticed?” she answered without turning to look at him.
At least she could recognize another vampire when she saw one. “It’s old, most people don’t even know what it is.”
“Exactly, it’s hardly common these days.”
“Hasn’t caused me any trouble yet. You, on the other hand,” he said, “are going to cause me a bit of trouble, I think.”
“Oh? Why would I do that?” she said with a sneer.
“Carelessness. If it was you who converted a kid I met the other night, you’re going to cause yourself a lot of trouble, too.”
She bristled. “I can’t help what they do after.”
He looked at her, hard. “You’re new at this, aren’t you?” He could see she was becoming angry.
“What do you want?” she said, clenching her jaw.
“I want you to be more careful. You’ve been messy, and I don’t want to go back to looking over my shoulder all the time, or to continue to clean up after you.” He swirled the scotch in his glass. “Just a friendly warning: If your habits start causing me problems, I’ll kill you myself.”
Her head snapped around to look at him. He could see the rage in her about to boil over.
“Control yourself, darling, this isn’t the time or the place,” he said in a low voice. She would be no match for him, and he wasn’t about to let this upstart threaten him and his lifestyle. He swallowed what was left of his scotch and set the glass down, shot one last look at the woman and walked out of the club. He didn’t want to make enemies, but this was his town and he wasn’t going to let someone like her ruin things. He half expected her to come after him, challenge him, but she didn’t. He realized he hadn’t gotten her name, but he could find that out easily enough. Women like that attracted a lot of attention, and word would travel fast with someone like her around. But he still needed to find his evening meal.
Back outside, he decided to head into the older section of the city to one of the clubs more favored by the fringe-dwellers, which weren’t hard to find. He entered an ancient building, following the stairs down into the basement where the club was located. The atmosphere was a world away from the modern, flashy techno club he had just left. Here it was dark with lighting that simulated the soft, dim light of candles, blank stone walls, and a wooden bar at the far end. It had the aura of a tomb that these kids enjoyed. There was no dance floor to speak of, just a small open patch in the center with no tables. Most of the kids there had the trademark black hair. He didn’t see Kiril, but he noticed a cute blond in the corner looking at him. As he met her gaze her she shyly looked away. She had to be new to the scene with her soft gentle features, lacking the hardened look most of the girls there had. He might have to look for her another time, he thought.
Tonight, however, he was looking for his usual diet, and it wasn’t long before he spotted one who had just entered the club. He preferred getting to them before they’d had too much to drink or taken any kind of drugs. As Andrej looked at her, she caught his eye, and he had her. She walked away from the group she’d just entered with, pushing through the crowd to get to him. Her head was still clear, meaning she and her friends hadn’t started their evening yet. Perfect. He took her by the elbow and led her toward the back door. Once in the alley he looked around to see if they were alone, and decided this would do for a quick feeding. He stroked the girl’s face, looking into her eyes. He ran his hands over her body, pulling her closer to him. She made no attempt to resist, her mind already overpowered by his. He planted little kisses on her face, then down her neck, massaging up and down her back with his hands. She moaned slightly, aroused by him. If anyone came into the alley and saw them, they would think they were just a drunken couple hooking up. He looked into her face again making sure she was completely entranced by him so she would have no memory of what came next. He nuzzled gently into her neck, and then bit down, teeth cutting into her flesh until he felt the blood begin to seep out of her neck into his mouth. The girl was still relaxed as if enjoying it. She ran her hands through his hair while he continued sucking on her neck, and Andrej held her tightly against himself. His own excitement increased as the blood entered his veins, and he began sucking a little harder. He had to force himself to stop after a few minutes before he lost control. As he finished, he made sure the punctures in her neck closed up. As he let go, he gave her a moment to catch her breath and make sure she was steady on her feet, then straightened her clothes and led her back inside to find the people she had arrived with. He watched her as the daze started to wear off while her friends handed her a drink, and they disappeared into the crowd. He idly considered how quickly that liquor would hit her now. Ah well, no real harm done. She’d be fine in a day or so.
The little blond was still sitting in the booth next to the bar. It was unusual to see someone like her sitting alone in a place like this. He decided to walk over and pass some time talking with her after all. She was pretty enough, and he was able to tell as he walked up to her table her eyes were blue. Not quite a jackpot, he thought. She had a slim, almost tomboyish figure, like a young teen, rather than the voluptuous curves he preferred, but she was attractive all the same. Surely she wasn’t as old she was trying to appear, he thought, sliding into the other side of booth, startling her a little. He smiled in that charming way he knew he had before she had a chance to get up and leave.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” he said, the smooth baritone of his voice almost too low for her to hear over the din of the music.
Trying hard to look relaxed she met his wide green eyes that were so disarming in the apparent innocence that he no longer deserved. Her discomfort visibly crept away, and she settled back on her seat.
“It’s all right,” she said. “I was waiting for some friends but it doesn’t look like they’re going to make it. I was getting ready to leave.”
“Please don’t leave because of me, I’ll go if you wish,” Andrej said, starting to get up.
“No, please stay,” she said, then looked surprised at herself.
Andrej kept his eyes on her face, knowing she wasn’t as calm
as she was trying to appear. Without having put out any real effort, he realized she was smitten. He suppressed a smile. This was new. He’d become so accustomed to using his techniques of mind control to draw women to him he’d almost forgotten what it was like to have someone spontaneously attracted to him, and realized this pleased him, whatever the risk. He couldn’t afford anyone forming any sort of attachment to him, and he’d had a close enough call with Anne-Marie earlier that week.
“You’re Czech?” she asked.
“Yes, but I was living in New York for a few years. I just returned this week.”
“What brought you back?”
“Family,” he said without elaborating. “I’m Andrej, may I know your name?”
“Elizabet.”
“I’m pleased to meet you, Elizabet. You have beautiful eyes,” he said, causing her to blush and look down at the table. Oh yes, definitely smitten, he thought. It would be best if he cut this short and moved on, but he was enjoying the moment. He told himself a harmless flirtation would lead to nothing, and she would soon forget him. He could read women pretty well after all these years, knowing almost instantly how each one would respond and the best way to get their attention, but this had been so natural that he was himself charmed by the situation. He studied her face, the way she kept trying to conceal her smile. It was easy to see she was far more innocent than she wanted to appear. He would leave her in peace since he’d already fed that evening.
“I’m sorry,” she was saying, interrupting his reverie, “I suppose I should go. Perhaps I will see you again?”
He gave her a look that left no doubt in her mind that he still had a different kind of hunger, and said, “Yes, perhaps.”
She gathered her things and stood up. He rose as she did, a nearly forgotten gentlemanly gesture. As he watched her leave the club, she turned around once before going up the stairs to the street. She saw he was still watching her, and she blushed and smiled again, then turned and hurried up the stairs.
He gave up on finding Kiril in any of the clubs and started walking around town. It was getting late, nearly four o’clock in the morning, and the crowds had thinned to a handful of people on the streets. With the police surveillance net in operation there was very little crime anymore, although some areas were less watched than others. And of course there were still dirty cops. As long as humanity was involved no system would ever be perfect. He walked past a particularly dark alley, but with his ability to see in the dark he could tell there were people in the shadows, watching him. He kept walking, paying no attention. If they were involved in some sort of criminal activity it was of no concern to him. He lit a cigarette as he walked, looking into the darkened shop windows. A few more feet down the street, and he became aware of a group following him, likely the people he had just passed in the alley. He maintained his pace, waiting to see what they would do. He felt them getting closer behind him, and turned on his heel to face them.
There were three of them, and they nearly piled into one another as he made the abrupt about-face. One remained standing where they’d stopped, while the other two started circling around on either side as if trying to surround him.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” Andrej said. “Is there something I can do for you?”
“You’re Andrej Vojacek.” It was a statement, not a question.
“Am I,” Andrej said in a quiet tone. The evening was becoming more exciting. It looked like he was going to get to work off some excess energy after all. His feedings always left him feeling a little over-stimulated and this would be a good way to fix that. He grinned at them and took another drag on his cigarette before throwing it into the face of the man on his left. As the other two rushed him, he turned just enough to catch one on either arm, throwing each one back twenty feet. The first guy recovered after pulling the cigarette out of his skin and pulled a knife, a large one. Andrej waited for the guy to lunge. He wasn’t quite as cocky now after seeing him fling the other two simultaneously like wet towels.
“You sure you want to try?” Andrej said. He sniffed the air, catching the scent of fear flowing towards him like an avalanche.
The guy held his stance, dancing a little in place, ready to dodge either way if Andrej made the first move.
“What the hell are you?” he asked in a deep gravelly voice. He sounded like he’d taken a couple hits to the throat over the years.
“My my, and here I thought my reputation preceded me. How disappointing.”
The man came at him, but Andrej caught his arm, catching the knife in the folds of his coat and covering the blade, and held him with a vise-like grip. The thug was on his knees in seconds with Andrej leaning over, his face millimeters from the man’s neck, fangs exposed. He sniffed his neck, thinking about just killing him, but instead of biting in he let go of the man’s arm and quickly grabbed his head. With a quick twist he snapped his neck. The body fell over on top of the knife which sank into the man’s chest. Andrej looked around for the other two, but they were gone. They must have run off while he had been struggling with the third. He picked his coat up off the ground where it had fallen, noticing a gash in the sleeve. That was going to be hard to have mended; there weren’t too many places left that could repair leather. He looked at the body in the street one last time then looked around to see if there were any witnesses. In the dark and quiet he didn’t sense anyone. If it came to it he could claim self-defense, and it had been self-defense right up to the part when he’d broken the man’s neck. Ah well, the police didn’t have much to do these days anyway, he thought. This would liven things up a bit for them. He smirked at the irony.
With a quick glance up and down the street he walked off in the direction of the apartment with more questions now of who these guys were and how they knew who he was. The idea that he may have been followed from New York was more than a little discomfiting, but he told himself he should have expected it, as Anne-Marie had warned. Worse yet was the possibility that they were unrelated incidents, that more than one group was on to him. But after all these years he was not given to worrying much and so he shrugged it off. Things would reveal themselves in time.
Chapter 4