Beating Hearts

by Lucretia Stanhope

  Her brows furrowed and she felt chills giving her goosebumps. “I don't understand.”

  “Don't you? Didn't I explain?” He smiled at her, smiled at her fear, and her naivety.

  “I don't think we are on the same page,” she said. “Just tell Bruno at the door that I am not yours and to let me out for five minutes.”

  “I'm not a patient man, so I am going to explain this only once more. You can walk around all you want in the club, stay away from the doors, all of the doors. Be nice to the patrons, smile, have fun, and if at the end of the night I have no bidders, you will get to see behind the scenes. Is that more clear?”

  She considered arguing, or running, but realized he was serious. He was serious, and she needed to stay calm to figure a way out of there. She nodded, not finding the will to speak, and backed away from Warren, trying not to trip as she did so.

  She looked over the crowd. Maybe she could find the vampire she danced with earlier. He was harmless enough, perhaps he could bid on her and smuggle her out. She could pay him back, with some extra for saving her.

  The club had really filled up, and she couldn't find his face amid the hundred others that had the same gothic look. She wondered if the same man would always be at the door. Surely he would need a break, she could just take off the medallion and leave then. She looked back to where Warren was, he was still there, he was watching her. Smiling at her, it was not a friendly smile.

  Bastard, she thought, and pushed deeper into the crowd. It was hard not to panic, each minute that slipped by without a plan made her feel more helpless. Her phone was in her purse; she had put her things behind the bar before the crowd arrived. As she started to make her way to the other end of the bar, she was stopped by another vampire.

  “Not so fast, let's look at you. You are new tonight,” he said.

  She didn't take him in, other than to note he was pale, gothic, typical, she wanted to get to the bar and see if her purse was still there.

  He spun her around to face him and looked her over. “Well now you are a pretty one, worth the price of a first bite, maybe even worth the price of a last.”

  She shuddered, this place was disgusting. “I, I need to get a drink,” she said, and tried to pull away.

  He took her hand. “I'd like to dance, feel you against me, decide.”

  She tried again to pull away, but he had a firm grip on her hand so she relented. The dance seemed to last forever, yet somehow the night was ticking away so fast.

  Once out of his grasp, she made her way to the bar, again, this time without being accosted, and peered around the corner. Her purse was there. She smiled and grabbed it, fishing around for her phone.

  “I imagine you were planning on making a call? Very unimaginative, Kate,” Warren said, startling her as he sat in the next seat. He twirled her phone in his hand, and slid it in his pocket. “This doesn't have to be unpleasant. If you play nice you might attract the right sort, who will take you home.”

  She looked at him, careful not to stare into his eyes. He didn't look as cold or evil as he was. He looked far too normal to be the mastermind behind this place. “Why don't I bid on myself. Let me talk with whomever is in charge.”

  “I like you more each time we talk. I am whomever is in charge, and you couldn't afford even a taste of yourself.”

  Would Nick, help? she wondered. After hundreds of years, maybe he had the resources to get her out of this. “Could I call a friend, one who could afford a taste?”

  “No, I have my own patrons. If your friend was so inclined, we would already know each other.”

  She suddenly had a new wave of goosebumps. They did know each other. Was Nick so inclined? He couldn't be, she had been there days, even been entranced by him, and he never once made her feel unsafe, not even when he tried.

  “Warren, who is the new girl?” a man said, walking up behind them.

  He had kind eyes and Kate wondered if she should smile, flirt, try to get him to take her out of there. Could she trust any of these monsters?

  “Oh she is a feisty one John, trying my patience, just your type. Not damaged, no saliva or drug contamination.”

  “Really,” he said, drawing out the word and looking closer at her.

  Warren turned her head toward him and looked in her eyes.

  She felt what was happening, she tried to lift her feet but they stayed planted on the ground.

  “Go on then, have a closer look,” Warren said.

  She could feel the man touching her skin, running his finger across her neck and shoulder. He picked up each of her hands and looked at her wrists.

  “Do you have a pin?” John asked. “I would bid, but you know I need to have proof.”

  “Of course, no sucking, you know the rules.” Warren took one of her hands by the forefinger.

  She felt the pin go in deep, very deep. If she could move she was sure she would have yanked her hand away and screamed. She watched in horror as Warren squeezed her finger until blood pooled. He then held it up and let it drip into John's mouth.

  “Oh that is special, very pure. Have you tasted that?” John asked.

  “No, I don't mix business with pleasure,” Warren said in an ice-cold tone.

  “You should, you really should.”

  They laughed and she wanted to cry, wanted to, but couldn't.

  “Why don't you take her out for a spin? I have another bid on her, but I am sure you will be more generous.” Warren winked at her before he looked away.

  She turned away from him as fast as she could, and went with John. Once they were out of earshot, she wrapped her arms around him and whispered in his ear. “You have to get me out of here. I am not supposed to be here.”

  “You are feisty, I don't usually pay for more than a feeding, love.”

  “I can pay you back, I will pay you back. You can't leave me here.”

  “I can, I will. Even if I do feed on you, I don't take in slaves.” He dragged her back over to Warren.

  Warren smiled as she struggled uselessly, trying to get her hand free of John's grasp.

  “You were right; she has a fire that demands to be squashed.” John reached out, taking a paper and pen from Warren.

  Warren laughed when he opened the paper. “Not even close.”

  “I would only like a bite.”

  “I wouldn't even let you have sex with her for that. Try again and don't be ridiculous.”

  John's grip tightened on her wrist. She yanked again with no payback.

  Warren looked over to her and arched an eyebrow as he took the paper back. He opened it and shook his head, no. “Why don't you keep looking. I am sure there is something else in your price range.” Warren reached out, taking her arm from John.

  She would have been grateful to be away from the monster if the hand now on her didn't belong to an even scarier one. She watched as John walked away looking irritated.

  Once they were alone, she yanked her arm and found his grip was like a vise.

  He let her go and she rubbed where his hand had been. It was instantly sore.

  “Go on then, dear, you are running out of time.” He gave her a little push toward the crowd.

  She hurried away, preferring to be anywhere but near him. Once she was alone on the dance floor, she fought hard not to cry as the helplessness of her situation caved in on her. The night wore on, and she danced with and was looked over by more vampires than she could count. A few more dragged her over to Warren, but from what she gathered, he demanded too steep a price.

  As the club started to empty, she didn't know if she should feel relieved or not. She could feel Warren watching her, and she wondered if there were bids. Was she going to be bitten, killed or kidnapped? She was already kidnapped, sold?

  She watched as the doorman let out vampires, and humans who didn't have on medallions. All of the remaining people were herded in the back, all but her. She thought for a minute that it was going to end, Warren was going to say he had been screwing wit
h her, so that she could get a good story, and she was free to go. She allowed that thought for a moment, but the look on his face said otherwise.

  “Come now, Kate, don't frown, didn't I ask you to smile?” he said, walking over. “It appears you get to stay another night with me.”

  “People know I am here. They will miss me.”

  “Will they now? I think we both know that no one will miss you,” he said, very matter of fact, and watched as what he said sunk in.

  “You don't know that.”

  “Don't I? I haven't run a successful club for so many years by behaving recklessly.”

  This guy was really a son of a bitch, she thought. “There are people that know I am here. They will come looking for me.”

  “I'm sure they will, sweetheart. Come with me, let's find you a room.” Warren led her through the backdoor and down a long, dark hallway. “As promised, I will show you what is back here. Down this hall is where I sleep, and beyond that, deeper still is where you and the others sleep. You will get your own private room; no view I am sorry to say. My day-man, not the one who you met, will see to your feeding and other needs. Do try to behave, he isn't as kind as ‘Bruno,’ and rather likes disciplining when need be,” he said and then chuckled.

  They walked a fair way down the hall before he opened a door. She looked inside the dark room to see it had a mattress on the floor and nothing else. She didn't want to go in, wished some idea would come to her. When she turned to him, she saw nothing in his eyes that could be considered friendly. In a panic she took a swing at him, hitting him square in the jaw.

  He laughed. “Oh dear, if I had known you were going to be so much fun, I would have made more time for you tonight.” He shoved her inside the room.

  The force of his shove caused her to stumble. She shot him a hate-filled look before he slammed the door closed, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

  Chapter Twelve

  N ick woke to an empty house, again. He never noticed how quiet his house was, not until the last night when Kate wasn't there. He didn't think he would have grown to like her so much, so soon, or ever for that matter, but he had.

  He spent the prior night trying to keep himself busy, and trying not to worry about her, but he was worried about her. He used all of the tension he felt to get every chore he needed to done, and was still restless. As the night neared an end, he grew angry with himself. He should have stopped her, or at least bitten her, that would have made her value less to Warren.

  Warren.

  The day he met him was a black day indeed. Warren seemed as lost as Nick had been himself, but really he wasn't. Later, Nick realized that Warren didn't struggle with his humanity, he wasn't bothered that a monster lived inside of him. Warren was happy to be what he was, so happy that Nick had come to understand even as a man, Warren was probably a monster too.

  He couldn't blame him for his own part in the club though. Nick willingly hunted down and took payment for helpless humans. There was no way around that. He reached a low, where he no longer viewed them as things that mattered. He hated them back then, hated them because they reminded him of what he lost.

  It was easy to detach until he spent a night at the club, and watched what really happened. They were not humanely treated, they were not fed on quickly, they were paraded around all night, touched, prodded, and even made love to, before being sold. Sold to either be fed on, killed, or taken away to do god knows what at the buyer's leisure.

  When he expressed his concern to Warren, things quickly became ugly. Being pretty equally matched, it ended with both of them a bloody mess. Nick left, left the city, and had been alone since. He hadn't taken blood from an unwilling human since, either. He only drank donated, cold, dead, nasty blood. Hell, he tried not to see humans at all, unless needed for shopping and deliveries.

  Then came Kate. Kate, who waltzed into his home and his head, smelling like life, smelling like everything he avoided. Kate, who's kiss was burned into his memory and who he liked more than he wanted to admit even alone to himself. Kate, who was gone, gone to see Warren. That was a cruel twist.

  He couldn't just walk in there, confront Warren, and take her away. Warren was never alone, and Kate would never be alone either. He knew he would be stopped at the door.

  She should be back. Knowing her just the short amount of time he did, he figured she would have been polite and called if she were late, if she were able to. She could have been sold, been bitten, some worthless dead thing, with enough money, could have drained the life from her last night. He needed to know. He needed to get her out of there, if she was still there.

  It was time to call in a favor. He wanted to play it smart. If Warren knew he wanted her, or worse cared about her, he was spiteful enough that it would mean she was as good as dead, but not before she was tortured. He made a call, and got in his car, it was going to be a long night.

  K ate heard footsteps shuffling, she wanted to back away, fade into the shadows of the corner, but it wouldn't help. She had survived last night. Hell, in her life she had survived a lot, she would get out of there. The door to her room opened, and Bruno walked in, grabbed her, and tugged her out.

  “I would have come; you didn't have to...”

  “Shut up,” he said, and pushed her forward toward a group of people that were all huddled together. None of them said a word or looked at each other, they just stood there waiting for what was next.

  She stood with them in silence, still trying to think of a plan. She knew it was going to take a vampire to get her out of there, but all the ones who came to the club were there without good intentions.

  The man brushed by the group and opened the door, then started not so gently nudging them through.

  She was glad to be in the open club floor and away from him. She looked around, there were not many patrons there yet.

  Warren was at the bar, the same corner he pretty much stayed in the last night.

  His eyes met hers and he smiled his nasty smile.

  She looked away, she didn't want to deliberately push his buttons, but she would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear.

  The night went similar to the last, the place started to fill, and the music blared on in an unpleasant techno beat, while she felt eyes examining her.

  Occasionally she looked over to Warren, a few times he was busy showing off his wares, and a few times he sneered at her with his fangs showing. She reacted to neither.

  She got the feeling he really disliked her, maybe even as much as she disliked him, and she knew she needed to get out of there that night. She was going to have to take her chances with a different monster, because she was pretty sure Warren wasn't going to relent.

  Now it was she who looked over the crowd, trying to see if anyone stood out. What did one look for in a gentle monster? Not that a gentle monster would be there. She just needed to find the gentlest, or most gullible. It wasn't going to be easy, because they all looked the same to her.

  She sucked in a breath as a tall sleek man with short blonde hair walked toward her. As a blonde, he did stand out, but that didn't mean much and was probably no gauge of kindness.

  “Hello, my lovely,” he said and pulled her too him.

  You can do this, she told herself, but still didn't hear herself spout out a greeting.

  “What might your name be?” he asked.

  Answer, say anything. “I'm Kate.” She heard herself say in a small shaken voice.

  “Kate,” he said and wrapped one arm around her. “You smell delightful.”

  Her mind responded with a sarcastic, so I've been told, but thankfully her mouth simply uttered, “Thank you.”

  He whirled her around, looked her over from head to toe, pulled back her collar, looked at her wrists, all things that happened so often the last night it didn't bother her anymore.

  She could feel her heart race, but that was more because she felt like he might be serious, might be a way out of there. Over his shoulder she co
uld see Warren watch them and smile at the exchange. She hated him, and wanted to get out of there so she could come in the daylight and burn the place down with him inside.

  “I understood you were a fiery one, you sure seem mousy to me.” He looked in her eyes.

  She watched his face, studied his eyes, and got no indication of what he was thinking. She hated when they tried to scare her. “Would it make you happy to know that standing here surrounded by your kind is making me ill? Your touch is repulsive and I can think of nothing I would like to do more than burn this place down with every one of you trapped inside. Is that the fire you want?”

  He laughed, what sounded to her like a genuinely amused laugh, and pulled her closer, pressing against her. “My kind?”

  “Monsters, disgusting monsters,” she whispered in his ear, and tried to push away. His grip was tight and she found she couldn't.

  “I think I might need to have a little nip and see just how much I can make you squirm.”

  Dear god, he was going to bite her and leave her there. Her mind raced, that was not what she needed to happen. “Why stop there? Is that the best your evil little mind can come up with? Just a nip?”

  He let her free from the embrace and grabbed her arm, walking quickly to the bar, almost dragging her behind. The look of smug satisfaction on Warren's face made her want to punch him. He had probably enjoyed watching the whole struggle.

  “Leave it to you to find my most feisty one,” Warren said. “It has been far too long. I trust you have been well.”

  “Very well, thank you. The last human I walked out of here with provided years of fun, I expect no less than the liveliest from you, but can't recall ever finding one so sassy.”

  Kate felt herself trembling. She wanted out of there and knew this was the only way, but it sounded like this creep might even be on par with Warren as far as his view of humans was concerned.

  “Did you want a sample? You will find in addition to being full of spirit she is pure, delicious from what I am told, in fact,” Warren said.

  Kate imagined she saw hesitation on the part of blonde, but it was wishful thinking.