by Jen Pretty
I peeked behind me to find I had been dancing with a delicious looking human. He fell comfortably into the cute boy category. His flopsy hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat and his bare, chiseled chest glistened and rippled with muscle. Instead of wandering off to find my dinner, I chose him. I smiled at him and he tipped his head. I slid my arms around his sweat-slicked back and ran the tip of my nose from his collarbone to his ear. I wanted to take him out of here, but I wasn’t sure if there was a back door. I took his hand and walked him out the front door instead.
I winked at the bouncer as I led my dinner outside. The bouncer chuckled. The night felt cold compared to the heat inside and my yummy snack shivered as I pushed him up against the side of the building once we rounded the corner in the alley.
“I’m Tim,” he said.
Pressing my nose into his collarbone, I replied, “I don’t care.” My teeth slid through skin and muscle and vein. His whole body tensed and then loosened like a rag doll as his head tipped back against the brick and lolled to the side. His blood was like heavy silk, pouring down my throat and soothing all my cares away. I pressed into him to keep him upright against the wall. He would probably have scrapes on his back; I didn’t care about that either. I felt my heart beat in my chest and I reluctantly licked his neck wound closed.
My heart continued to beat as I steadied Tim and then pulled him away from the wall and towards a waiting taxi. I stuffed him in the back seat and then reached back in and pulled out his wallet. He had a condom and a stick of gum. Well, that’s not going to cut it.
“I’ve got it.” Matthew handed the cabbie some money and then stepped back from the car. I stuffed Tim’s wallet back in his pocket and shut the door.
“Thanks,” I said.
“Your heart is still beating,” he said.
I took Matthew’s hand and pulled him back inside the club. In hindsight it was stupid, but at that moment, I would have killed anyone who got between me and him. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and danced with him to the beat of my heart. It pounded in my ears like the bass to the music. It moved my body against Matthew’s, demanding I don’t let him go, lest I shatter into a million pieces. I felt alive.
But I wasn’t alive. I was still dead. Eventually, my heart stopped beating and my brain took over the thinking. I let Matthew go. The crowd swallowed me up until I lost sight of him completely and I danced with the humans who didn’t notice the bloody tear that fell from my cheek. I wiped the evidence away, and it was like it had never been there in the first place.
It wasn’t much later when I left the club. The walk to the casino was a blur of lights and people. I found myself on the couch in my suite, in my baggy Texas t-shirt, watching reruns of The Young and the Restless.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sunday I spent waiting for my little hacker. I sat at the bar in the casino, positioned so I could see the doorway to the coffee shop. Carson made his rounds, and I watched as armed men came and picked up the deposit. They were led by Thor, who scanned the room constantly, his hand on the gun he kept in a holster beneath his jacket. I doubted he needed a weapon, considering how big he was. Add in his vampire strength and he could probably do a lot of damage to a would-be robber.
Finally, I saw Ben walk into the coffee shop and set up his laptop. I casually got up and wove my way past the card tables and slot machines.
“Oof,” I bumped right into a solid chest. I looked up into Matthew’s startling green eyes.
“Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going,” he said, but he also didn’t move out of my way. I raised an eyebrow at him and he stepped to the side.
“See you later,” I said as I walked past him and out of the casino. I looked over my shoulder and he was still watching me, so I walked around the corner towards the elevators.
When I was out of sight I stopped and waited. After a moment I peeked back into the casino. Carson and Matthew were standing where I had left him, discussing something. He needed to move along. I didn’t want either of them to notice me walk into the coffee shop and come snooping around. I waited a few more minutes, admiring the painting that decorated the lobby wall, then peeked in. They had disappeared, so I turned to go to the coffee shop.
“What are you doing?” Matthew asked, startling me. God, he was a freaking ninja.
“Nothing, what are you doing? Following me?”
“No, I was just going up to my suite.” He pointed towards the elevators.
“Ok, see ya later,” I said walking out towards the front doors.
I peeked back as I walked through the revolving door and watched him get on the elevator. The door closed behind him, so I just kept revolving until I was back inside the casino, then walked briskly to the coffee shop before I was spotted by any other nosey person.
Inside I found Ben in a corner, hunched over his laptop. I slid in beside him and he jumped. His heart rate shot up before he realized it was me and he blew out a puff of air. He was like a deer: slim, leggy and nervous as all heck.
“Hi, got my download?”
He spun the laptop towards me and hit a key, bringing up my software package. Glorious, beautiful revenge in the form of code.
I sighed and grabbed a newspaper someone had helpfully left on one of the other tables in the coffee shop.
I flipped through until I found what I was looking for. A man named Andrew Linton was accused of embezzling funds from the Sick Kids Hospital Foundation. I wondered how he would like his funds siphoned off. I began the process of tracking him down. He was on social media, had dating profiles, as well as a public profile and contact information on the hospital Foundation’s page.
Ben watched as I typed. His eyes danced like he was trying to memorize every keystroke. He was sharp, and I was willing to bet he had the general idea of everything I was doing and could probably do some mean social hacking by the time I was finished demonstrating.
“You don’t do this on your own,” I said to him.
He nodded.
I was pretty sure he was going to try it. I just hoped he didn’t ruin my program. I had paid a lot for it on the dark web.
Soon I had everything sent out, and then it was just a waiting game, so I logged out and turned the laptop back to Ben.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said. I stood and turned, but Ben slapped the table and I turned back to him. He held up a finger to me in the universal signal to wait. He typed quickly and spun his laptop for me to read.
It read, “I need money.”
“What do you need money for?” I asked.
He spun the laptop back again, and typed something else. I walked back to look over his shoulder. “Rent.”
“You just stole from someone the other day.” He was lying, but his big light blue eyes blinked at me with innocence. Yeah, he was good at that look. I bet it worked for him often and if not yet, it would soon. When he started to fill out, he was going to be a heartbreaker.
“Fine, I’ll transfer you some tomorrow when we get that guy.” I walked out and returned to my suite, hoping to nap until I had to get back to work on Monday, but as I lay on the couch, the bathroom tap dripping broke my peaceful quiet. Like Chinese water torture. I couldn’t stand it.
Finally, I called down to the front desk, and they assured me someone would be up right away to fix it.
I waited by the door, with the lights off in the suite and curtains shut. The elevator doors opened with a soft ding, then the jingle of tools that counted out a rhythm in time with heavy foot-steps and laboured breathing moved towards my door.
The sounds stopped and a man’s voice whispered 1204, which was my suite number. Knuckles rapped on the door twice.
I stood out of sight and slowly opened the door like a classic scary movie. The door obliged my theatrics by making a drawn-out, squeaky sound.
Once the door was fully open, I could see the large man standing in the hall through the crack between the hinges. He hadn’t moved and had a look on his face
like he was having a heart attack. I waited to see what he would do.
After another moment he said “H..hello?”
I had to cover my mouth to keep the laughter at bay.
He took a step forward. Then another. “Hello?” he called again.
“Shit,” he whispered. “What are you doing, Henry? It’s just like every other room.”
He took two more steps in and reached for the light. I threw the door shut, slamming it hard. The loud noise made Henry drop his tools and spin around much faster than I imagined his large frame capable of.
I flicked on the lights and stood in a regal pose, like the vampires in old black and white movies. Classic. Henry’s heart was apparently better than I thought.
He laughed uncomfortably at himself and picked up his tools, keeping his eyes on me like I might still jump on him or produce some weapon.
“You scared me there,” he chuckled.
“Apologies.” I smiled, making sure my teeth were fully visible.
“Uhm, you have a leaky tap?” He shifted from foot to foot, still completely uncomfortable.
“Yes, in the bathroom,” I said pointing towards the bedroom.
“Ok, I’ll get that fixed right up for you.” He shuffled off quickly, and I covered my mouth so my laughter wouldn’t spill out. Then went to the couch and sat down.
Henry was not a quiet man. There was a surprising amount of banging and swearing for what I assumed was just a quick fix. But the bathroom sink seemed to be putting up quite a fight. I was just amusing myself with counting the number of times he dropped the f-bomb when there was another knock at my door.
I got up and peeked out the peephole to find Matthew standing there. I opened the door.
“Hey, how’s it going?” I asked to the soundtrack of Henry swearing and banging.
Matthew gave me a questioning look. “What is going on in there?”
“Just my lover. He’s really into some kinky stuff.”
“You better not have him here against his will,” Matthew said just as Henry must have got the tap off because he let out a resounding “Yes!”
I bit my lip to keep a straight face.
Matthew’s face contorted into a mask of disgust. “Is there someone else in there with him?”
I channeled my inner Zen before I opened my mouth again. “No.”
“There you go, how do you like that?” Henry asked, I assumed, the sink. “That’s better, isn’t it?” The sound of tools being put away and the water running on and off came from his direction before Henry came walking back out of my bedroom.
“That should keep you,” he said. “Oh, Hello Mr. Merewin.” Henry walked past us both and out to the elevators.
I burst out laughing. I couldn’t hold it back anymore. God, Matthew’s face had been priceless.
Matthew pushed me back into the suite and shut the door.
“Why are you like this?” he asked. I was laughing too hard to answer. Not that I had an answer for him. It was funny. That was enough.
He shook his head. “Anyway, I have to go check on one of my businesses out of town and wondered if you would join me.”
“You afraid I’ll get into trouble if you leave me here by myself?” I asked, wiping the tears of laughter from my eyes.
“My presence doesn’t seem to have any effect on your behavior. I would like to have some company.”
I sobered at that. “Why would you want my company?” I asked.
“Why wouldn’t I want your company?”
“You can’t lie to a liar,” I replied.
“Fine, I’m having some issues with the local vampires. I would like you to come as a show of force. If they think I’m paired, they will stop pushing my claim.”
I snorted. Typical. “Fine, whatever,” I said. At least he wasn’t trying to convince me it was because of my winning personality.
Matthew drove a red Corolla. I mean, it was a new one, still had the new car smell, but it was a Corolla.
“Why don’t you have a nicer car?” I asked. I didn’t know how to judge Matthew based on this choice of a reliable, smooth-driving mid-size car.
“This is a perfectly fine car. It’s well rated.”
My eyes rolled of their own volition. I missed Priscilla and wondered if Brian had finished fixing the front end. Probably. Maybe I could find his account information and send him some money.
The freeway’s traffic was fairly light today, but the Corolla cruised along at the speed limit.
“How far is this place?” I asked after an extended silence that Matthew didn’t seem interested in filling.
“Not much farther,” he said cryptically.
I sighed and went back to looking out the window.
“How did you get your own city without being paired?” I asked.
He smiled. “I’m pretty old.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “How old?”
“Pushing a millennium.”
“Yeah, you’re pretty old.” My father was at least 3 times that. The only vampire older than my father lived and ruled in Europe.
“Thanks,” he said as he flicked on his turn indicator and moved to the off ramp. I was distracted by the small town we drove into. There was a street of old houses, a corner store and a church. I could see clear across the town, even in the low evening light.
Matthew parked the car and got out. I followed him to the front door of an older house. A few moments after he knocked, the door opened and a little old woman stood hunched in the doorway.
“Ah, Matthew, dear. Come in, come in.”
“Hello, Margret. Thank you.” We walked into a parlour with antique furniture I was willing to bet was original to the house. “Allow me to introduce you to Ren.”
“Oh, my, aren’t you beautiful,” the woman said as she adjusted her glasses on her nose with shaking hands and peered at me. She looked back at Matthew and smiled.
“How have you been?” Matthew asked.
“Oh, I’m fine,” she waved him off and looked at me. “Our Matthew is always so considerate, isn’t he? I suppose I don’t have to tell you that.” She giggled like a school girl.
“No, I guess not,” I said, turning my eyes to Matthew and raising an eyebrow. He sat stone-faced like there was nothing weird about this situation.
“You know, since my Arnie died, I have been rambling around in this old house all alone. I love it when Matthew comes to visit.” She smiled at me and in the silence, her heart skipped a beat and another before it settled into a rhythm again. The old woman was dying. She had to be in her nineties. I had no idea who this human woman was to Matthew, but she wasn’t going to be here long.
I sat back in my chair and the old woman droned on about her husband. He was a carpenter and worked every day from the time they were married at sixteen until the day he died.
I would never die. Probably.
After an hour or so of stories from the old woman’s life, Matthew told her we had to get back to the city but thanked her for letting us visit. The woman gushed some more about Matthew and then pinched my cheek.
“I hope you will be as happy with Matthew as I was with Arnie,” she whispered conspiratorially. When she looked back at Matthew, he winked at her.
We walked out to the car, and a tear fell from my eye. I wiped it away quickly, got in the car and slammed the door. Rage blew through me like fire in a hayloft. Hot and fast and fierce. It replaced the sadness, and I didn't try to temper it. Being angry was easy.
Matthew didn’t say anything, he just got in and steered the car out of town towards the freeway.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked through gritted teeth. “What kind of game are you playing?” I was shouting now. My voice hoarse from my efforts to control my anger.
“Why are you angry?” he asked in an even tone.
“Why am I angry? Are you kidding? You lied to me!”
“No, Ren, I told you the truth, but you didn’t believe me. So, I told you a version of the
truth that you expected.”
I smashed my hand on the dashboard, then crossed my arms and turned to look out the window.
“It’s ok Ren.”
I didn’t reply. He was making everything worse.
“It’s ok.”
“Shut up,” I growled.
“It’s ok to be sad.”
“You shut your mouth, Matthew! You have no idea what you are talking about.”
I was cold all of a sudden. I pulled my feet up onto the seat and wrapped my arms around my knees. Then buried my face in them and locked out the world.
When the car rolled to a stop, I looked up and found I was in the parking garage beside the casino. I opened the door and marched back to my suite. Left Matthew in my dust and wrote the whole day off as a waste.
I had a few hours before my shift so got into my swimsuit and marched down to the sauna. There were a couple people mulling about inside but I hissed at them and they promptly left.
The air was damp already but hot, so I sat in the corner and leaned back, resting my head on the wood-paneled wall.
A sneaky tear slipped out and made a trail down my face. I wiped it with my hand and then studied the bloody smear on my palm. I watched as it slowly dried. Leaving just a stain of pink where it had been.
The lifeblood.
The only thing that held my existence.
My corpse.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
That night I finished my shift, changed into street clothes and walked out the front door of the casino.
I marched down the crowded strip. When they said the city never sleeps, they weren’t exaggerating. We were made for each other, Las Vegas and I.
I turned into the little white church and pushed through the doors. Music played, it sounded nice, but not like at the church services I had been to.
I walked toward the pulpit where a couple stood. The priest stopped talking, the man and woman turned to look at me.
“I need to talk to you, Father Elvis.”
“Can you wait ‘til I’m done here, little lady? I’ll only be a minute.” His accent was more pronounced this time.
