She glanced to the side where the flame of a candle had warmed her shoulder for the last forty-five minutes. An exhale extinguished the flame. Sulfurous smoke curled upward.
Light. She seared her gaze onto the blackened wick. It was worth a try. Light, light, light!
No such luck.
“I’m a pitiful vampire. Can’t even do simple tricks. But I’ll never find out how unless I read another diary.”
Unfortunately yesterday she had been so unnerved by her meeting with Vince she had completely forgotten about the diaries in his drawer. She picked up the telephone receiver and punched out Vince’s number.
“Yeah?”
“Vince, it’s Scarlet.”
“Forget something?”
“I can’t believe I didn’t bring them with me. My mind must have been a million miles away.” Or else thinking lewd thoughts about a man you had no right thinking of.
Scarlet peeked around the kitchen doorway. A cherub sconce embraced a lit candle. Waving her hand, she tried to douse the flame. She snapped her fingers. Nothing.
“I’ll bring the rest of them to Brandy’s tonight. You’re coming to the homecoming concert, aren’t you?”
The flame did not react to her silly actions. “Of course, I would never miss a chance to see Wild Child perform. This is the last you’ll be giving until the Fury tour, right?”
“Yep. In the meantime, we’ve got a lot of work to do, according to your brother. Not that it matters, Gary doesn’t really give a shit about my opinion lately. Ah…I don’t want to get into this with you. I don’t want you to have to take sides. I’ll see you later.”
“Who was that?”
The receiver slipped off the wall unit and clattered to the floor. Scarlet scrambled to catch and clumsily replace it. She spun around, eyed the diary in a glance, then smoothed a relaxed smile on for Sebastian. “Oh…it was Gary. I just called to check what time Wild Child plays tonight.”
Sebastian’s eyes averted to the diary. “Then I’ll be sure to let Anthony know his chauffeur services will be needed. I’m off, myself. Sunset Studios has sent a limo for me. Are you sure you won’t reconsider tagging along?”
“Sebastian—”
“I know. I’m sorry. You have plans to go see Wild Child.” He pushed his fingers back through his mane of gypsy hair and sighed. “Does that mean you won’t be able to kiss me good-bye?”
Scarlet wrapped her arms over her lover’s shoulders. “Of course not.” She kissed him, finding the intense abandon that had originally come with his kisses was still there. No matter what her mood or her feelings toward Sebastian, at any given moment he need only kiss her to bring her around. Last night was proof enough. “Good luck. I know you’ll make an album that will take your fans’ breath away.”
“I hope not. I prefer my fans breathing. Though…” He pulled her close and kissed her deeply. Her nipples pebbled beneath her clothes, which Sebastian must have instinctually been aware of for he grazed his thumb over each one in slow study. “…I don’t mind stealing your breath away.”
“Mmm, well, you have my soul, that should be enough.”
His kiss pulled the pulse of her heart down into her stomach and with each sweep of his hot tongue across hers she felt the pining urge to fall into his desires. Push him against the wall and tear his shirt open. Let her lips slide down his chest and across the hard muscular ridges on his stomach.
“You’d better be going.” She nudged him gently, her body protesting against her stupid actions. “That sounds like the limo honking outside.”
“Yes, very well.” He bent down and sucked one shrouded nipple into his mouth, biting the fabric with a teasing growl. “Au revoir, chèrie.”
***
Wild Child was the middle act of Brandy’s three performances. Choosing to forgo wrestling with the crowd of headbangers and voracious dancers, Scarlet watched their final set from backstage. She returned a wink from Gary who then proceeded to rip into a lightning-fast solo that had the men pumping their arms to the beat and the women swooning.
It was great to see them perform live, though watching Vince was a bit disturbing. His shy smiles had been replaced by glares and he no longer threw out the uncatchable wink to his many female adorers. Vince’s stage performance had become vile and lecherous as he pranced across the stage, gyrating and seething.
Deciding she’d seen enough, Scarlet followed the narrow hallway to the dressing room and plopped onto on a tattered couch. Someone had written ‘Country sucks’ in lipstick on the cracked mirror. Most likely Vince. He was an extreme country music hater. Scarlet didn’t much care for the twangy stuff herself.
She stretched her arms across the back of the couch, noticing it reeked of beer. The dressing room walls were pasted from floor to ceiling with pictures of bands, singers, and artists who had played at Brandy’s. She was surprised to see amongst the unknowns that many a famous name had played here. There was even a picture of Sebastian. It looked old, being faded and torn on one corner, but he still looked the same. As he would for probably another handful of centuries.
That was one good thing about being a vampire. She would never age, or at least as far as she and Sebastian knew the aging process wouldn’t catch up with them for many centuries.
Scarlet assessed her body. Beneath the short cotton dress were long well-toned legs and thighs, a slender waist, and full C-cup breasts. She was pleased with the way she would be for the next handful of centuries.
“Good thing it happened when I was young,” she muttered, then jumped up to receive a big sweaty hug from Gary.
“Damn good show.” Scott was the next to appear as he tossed his drum sticks into the air.
“I gotta get going right away.” Rob tossed his bass guitar into the case and started threading the thick electrical cord around his arm. “My flight back home leaves in an hour. I’ll catch you guys in a month. Hey, Gary, hot solo tonight. Smashed ‘em into the walls!”
“Thanks, man.” Seeing her disgusted face, Gary wiped a smear of sweat from Scarlet’s cheek and then chucked it with his fist. “It’s just sweat, Scarlet. Geez, I’ve been working hard.”
“Yeah. Working hard,” Vince muttered as he entered the room. He peeled the soaked t-shirt from his body and tossed it on the couch where Scarlet had sat. “So did you save the underwear or did you wipe your sweat all over them and throw ‘em back?”
“Underwear?” Scarlet directed Gary’s chin back her way.
He tried to avoid her by hiding his sheepish grin behind the body of his hot pink electric guitar.
“Gary, did some woman throw her underwear at you?”
“Happens every show,” Scott added and tossed a towel across the room, which Gary expertly caught and swiped across his face.
“He had a collection on the bus.”
“Shut up, Vince, Scarlet does not need to hear that.”
“Oh brother,” she said.
“That’s me.” Gary lifted the lid on his guitar case, nestling his valued Ibanez safely inside. “Oh Scarlet, I hate to tell you this but...”
“What?”
“I don’t know what you were planning to do tonight—if you were gonna hang with me or not—but...well, there’s a slight complication.”
“Really. And just what does this complication look like?”
Vince smothered a grunting laugh in his palm and smacked Gary across the back. “Well, she ain’t wearin’ no underwear, I can tell you that much.”
Scarlet rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to say a thing. I’ve been after you about getting a girlfriend for a long time, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.”
“Don’t worry, I know the lady. She’s safe.” Gary pulled a stick of gum from his pocket and shoved it in his mouth. “Look, I’m sorry, Scarlet,” he said as he ground the stick into chewy submission. “But you don’t mind, do you?”
“No, I didn’t have any plans.” Other than to spend time with you, she thought. “But I do have to hang
around until one. Anthony’s not coming back for me until then.”
“That’s another hour. Are you sure you want to wait around? Why don’t you take a cab?” Gary shoved a hand into his jeans pocket. “I’ll give you some cash.”
“I can give you a ride. If you want.”
Hearing Vince’s offer, Gary perked. “Hey, that’d be cool. Wouldn’t it, Scarlet?”
She caught the repeated wink Gary flashed her way, well out of Vince’s line of sight. Meaning: Yeah, go along with Vince. Then you can talk to him and see if he’s really flipped his lid.
“I guess that would be all right. I’ve had my fill of heavy metal for the year.”
“Great.” Gary gave her another hug. “I hate to leave you but we’ve gotta clear out so the next band can get in here.”
“Go ahead, I wouldn’t want you to keep your woman waiting. God knows she must be getting cold without any underwear.”
“It’s a sultry night,” Gary said with another wink. “I’m sure she’s keeping quite well. I’ll give you a call tomorrow, Scarlet. Thanks Vince.” He grabbed his guitar and gear bag and followed Scott out.
“I gotta grab my mike and jacket and then we can go.” Vince picked up his things. He pulled out a fresh t-shirt he’d stuffed into his jacket pocket and replaced it with his microphone. With a toss and fluff of his sweat-saturated hair, he motioned towards the door. “Did you bring the diary?”
“Oh, yes.” Scarlet dashed to the dressing table and handed it to Vince.
“Great, the rest are in my trunk. If we hang around for a few more minutes then the crowd by the back door will have thinned out. I hate trying to push through the screaming, grabbing fans when all I have in mind is to get the hell out of here.”
“That’s fine.” Scarlet scanned the walls, trying desperately not to meet Vince’s baby blues. At that moment, she was very aware of the small size of the room. The walls closed in with every breath she took. Good thing he wasn’t wearing a towel. “It’ll give us some time to...talk.”
“Oh?” Vince smirked and tossed a spray of sweaty blonde hair over his shoulder with an adroit jerk. “I get it now. Shit, I didn’t even see that one coming.”
“What do you mean?”
He jabbed a finger into his chest. “You want to talk to me? Gary put you up to this, didn’t he? I bet he planned on abandoning you so you could be alone with me. See if old Vince is off his rocker, eh?”
He had guessed almost exactly right. Though it hadn’t been planned.
He shrugged. “It’s cool. Whatever. Gary and I haven’t been on best of terms lately. I think he’s starting to rethink this idea of having a vampire as a friend. Hell, I know I’ve changed, Scarlet, I’ll be the first to admit it. But what did you guys expect? I mean, I’m a vampire now. I stalk mortals and suck their blood to survive. What did you think I was going to do, start wearing zip-up sweaters and sing ‘It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood? Christ!”
“In case you don’t remember, Vince Lyons,” she ground his name through her teeth. “My life has changed, too. We’re in this together. I just want to be your friend. I want to know what’s going on with you. Gary says you’re never around and you’ve withdrawn from him and all your friends.”
“I’ve been withdrawn? What about him? I told you he won’t even look at the songs I’ve written.”
“Gary said they were a little too macabre for Wild Child.”
“Shit.”
“Wild Child is mainstream rock, he says your stuff is closer to death metal. Come on, Vince, Screams From Below?”
Vince tapped the diary against the door jamb. It was obvious to Scarlet he couldn’t see he was headed in a very different direction than Gary and the other guys in the band.
“What have you been doing with yourself lately? Gary told me you’re never around after a concert. Do you drink blood every night?”
“And what if I do?”
“Vince.”
He tucked the diary under his arm and peeked outside the door, closing it quickly upon seeing two girls in short tight skirts walk by.
“I don’t need a lecture, Scarlet,” he hissed. “I’m trying to understand how to live day to day as this fucked up creature the mortals call vampire.”
“But you don’t understand, do you, Vince? My God, I don’t even understand what it’s all about. If I didn’t have Sebastian—”
He smirked, cutting her off abruptly. “Sebastian DelaCourte. Mr. Perfect Vampire. That is one dude I have no desire to be like. He’s not a vampire, Scarlet, he’s a monster in my eyes. A monster who is afraid to be what he really is and he’s making you the same. Can’t you see?” His gaze strolled down her body, blatantly taking in her curves. “Seems like you’re doing well enough, though. Ole Baz must be taking pretty good care of you, huh?”
Scarlet sighed and shrugged, feeling Vince’s eyes radiate a heat of their own as they traveled the length of her body. “Yes, I suppose so.”
“So why the heavy sigh?”
“I don’t know…I just… know there’s more. I know it. There’s more than a monthly withdrawal of blood from a donor chosen by Sebastian. There’s more than sleeping days and living nights. There’s something missing from my life, Vince. I just don’t know what it is.”
“So I take it you’ve never had the thrill of…” Vince paused.
“The kill?” Scarlet finished for him. “You do kill, don’t you, Vince?”
“So what if I do?”
He’d had enough. Vince pushed the door open and strode down the hall, prompting Scarlet to follow. A gush of dry summer air and cigarette smoke filled the hallway as he shoved the back door open and skipped down the steps. There were half a dozen girls outside, some clutching scraps of paper in hopes of an autograph. Each ran to Vince as his boots hit the pavement.
“Fuck off!”
Wide-eyed silent stares watched as Scarlet ran after Vince across the parking lot.
She caught up to him as he lifted the trunk lid and threw the diary and his microphone inside.
“Don’t you feel any guilt or remorse?” she said. “Isn’t knowing that somewhere out there there’s a family mourning the loss of a child because of your selfishness? My God, you have changed, Vince. You used to be so—”
“This is the way I’ve always been…since birth.”
Yes, Scarlet knew he had been a vampire since birth. His father had been a vampire and his mother a mortal. He had never known the debilitating headaches he’d suffered since puberty were signs of the blood hunger. A hunger only realized when Francesco Volierre—a former enemy of Sebastian’s, a vampire who was now, thankfully, dead—had transformed him.
“You have no morals left whatsoever, do you?” She scanned the parking lot to be sure no one could hear. The girls outside the back door huddled in a circle sharing a grit.
“Morals?” He swung around with another leather-bound diary in hand and met her eye to eye, causing Scarlet to falter and step back.
“Yes, m-morals. Just because you’re a vampire doesn’t mean you can toss your human morals out with yesterday’s trash. You know there are certain rules—”
“Sebastian’s rules,” he spoke fiercely. “Which are the rules of one stupid man who thinks he can control a helpless young girl with them. My God, Scarlet, you should be able to see.” He pounded his chest with a fist. “It’s part of our nature. We are vampires.” He grabbed her hand and pressed it to his chest. “Can’t you feel it?”
She tried to pull away but Vince held her tightly. His pulse beat a frantic tattoo against her palm.
“This is not the pounding of Sebastian’s heart—some old vampire who is afraid to live, afraid to be himself—this is the heartbeat of a young, strong, curious man who wants to become the true monster I am.”
Scarlet tried to pull out of his grip but with one quick jerk from Vince she stood eye to eye with him, breathing his breath, and inhaling the bar smoke that lingered in his hair.
“Am I sc
aring you?”
“Vince—”
“Good!” His eyes jetted back and forth between hers. “That’s what vampires are supposed to do. We feed on the blood of mortals. We can’t survive without the blood. Yes, it’s wrong for a mortal to kill, but only because that is not what they need to survive. But us... We need the blood from the kill.”
He released her and Scarlet stumbled back against his car.
“You know as well as I we need very little to survive.”
“So Sebastian says. But take a look at yourself and him, Scarlet.” His hands traced her outline in the air between them. “You’re just acting the role. You’re a facade of what you really are. If you were to plunge headfirst into the vampire lifestyle, like me, then your eyes would be cleared. My God…” His eyes traveled her body. “You would make such a lovely vampire, Scarlet.”
Scarlet’s surprised gasp startled Vince out of his seductive observation. He cleared his throat. “As it is…you are nothing but Sebastian’s slave right now.”
“I am not!” she replied sternly. “And you don’t have to kill. The only reason you do it is to satisfy your fantasies and—and to get off! You’re addicted, aren’t you, Vince? You need to kill to sustain your own level of morbid satisfaction. You’re more demented than I thought.”
“I am not demented! If I was—” He stopped abruptly, turned and shoved his hands in his pockets. A slick-haired black alley cat had joined the two and sat ten paces away, eyeing them curiously with its golden stare. “If I was…I could never fall in love.”
“Love?” Scarlet started after him. “And who is it? Some groupie who serviced your needs for five minutes after one of your shows?”
Vince shrugged and let out a short laugh that was more a snort. “Living with Sebastian has blinded you.”
She barely heard his voice. “What?”
“I’m in love with a girl whose name is Scarlet Rose.” He turned around and for a moment Scarlet thought she saw the lost innocence flicker in his brilliant blue eyes. “But my heart pumps in vain for she is the captive of a droll, boring vampire who never lets her out to feed and to enjoy the vampire experience.”
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