When Alex finally woke up the next morning, she was full of hope that the other night was just a bad dream. To make sure, she opened her phone to check for a Grant in her contacts list. Sure enough, he was there. She sighed in defeat and got ready for the day. When her shift finally rolled around, Alex headed for work like any other day, trying to play things cool. At first, Alex’s anxiety was through the roof. She was afraid that Grant’s plan wouldn’t work, or something would go wrong, but sure enough, Leon and the other two goons walked into the bar. Leon made direct eye contact with Alex then made a signal to the other two. However, they didn’t approach her at the bar table. Instead, they started causing a commotion in the crowd. Keith caught on just as Alex did and he nodded at her to go take care of it. She walked over to Leon and tried her best to appear unfazed and unafraid.

Up close she could really see how tall he was; her eyes came level with his shoulders. Alex hated having to look up at him to make eye contact, but she needed him to know she meant business.

“What do you want?” Alex said in a surprisingly clear and unshaken voice. Leon smiled that evil grin of his.

“Jus’ meet us quietly oytside whean yer shift is over an’ we’ll leave everyone in ‘ere alone,” he said. Alex’s heartbeat was all over the place, something about Leon was unsettling. She couldn’t figure out if it was his smile or the fact that she seemed to always freeze in fear when their eyes met.

“Fine,” she agreed. Slowly, Leon shook his head in disapproval.

“No runnin’ off, oi will know an’ we will ‘unt you down,” he said. “We jus’ need to talk aboyt yesterday then ye can go aboyt yer way”. Alex nodded and they walked outside. She knew the truth though; they weren’t planning on letting her go. They needed her for something… but what?

After her shift, Alex did what she was told and walked out the front door. She rounded the corner and they were there, patiently waiting for her. Leon opened his mouth to say something when a car pulled up behind Alex and a strange man in a sleek black suit dragged her in the car. She screamed and tried to fight him off but he was so much stronger. Meanwhile, Grant jumped off from a fire escape hidden in the shadows. He landed on the younger thug, Xavier with a kick and used the momentum to launch a punch towards the other older one, Jonathan. Leon jumped into the car, leaving his goons to fight off Grant. He slammed the door as the man in a suit pinned Alex in the seat and began tying her hands behind her back. “Jus’ come quietly,” Leon said “We aren’t goin’ to ‘urt ye, jus’ need to brin’ ye to the boss,” he said stuffing a gag into her mouth and covered her eyes with a blindfold.

Suddenly Alex was struggling to breathe, her breaths became short and she felt as if she was suffocating. Her body began trembling against her control. She felt like she was drowning, being held underwater by some unknown force. “Not again,” is the only thought that would form clearly in her head. When the car finally stopped the feeling had passed. The man in the suit untied her hands, took off her gag and blindfold and together they wrestled her out of the car. The first thing Alex saw was a sign in bright red neon lights that read, Red Velvet. It was a club a couple miles out of Meadow Lakes. The man in the black suit opened a side door and two other men in black suits held Alex’s shoulders and followed behind Leon as he walked in.

As soon as they walked in, there was a burst of sounds and smells. The bass of the music gave the room a heartbeat that Alex could feel in her own chest. The large room was lit up in different flashing colors, as crowds of people danced all packed up in the room like sardines. A lot of people in the crowd seemed to be couples, rubbing up against each other, and making out. In the way back of the club was a gated off section, where a fairly tall man dressed in a white suit with dark hair that came to his shoulders, was surrounded by women. They were dancing and tending to the young man, but something was off about the whole scene. Before Alex could make anything else out, she was shoved into the sweaty crowd. The two men in black suits guided her through the mass horde of moving bodies, still following Leon. The crowd began to clear the closer they get to the VIP section. This is when Alex realized what was off about the dancing women; they were where wearing silver chains on their hands and feet.

What am I getting myself into… she thought to herself. In front of the entrance, there was a big buff guard.

“VIP only,” he said nodding toward the sign. Leon sighed and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a tattoo. It was very similar to the symbol of the Egyptian goddess Isis, except the cross arms had been turned into bat wings, and the bottom of the cross was the end of a sword. Seeing the tattoo the guard stepped aside to let Alex and Leon in. The young man shooed away the doting girls, got up from his seat opened his arms and said,

“Welcome my friends!” while eyeing Alex. Then he pointed at her and did that come here thing with his hand. Leon pushed Alex forward and she turned around to give him a glare before she cautiously walked toward the young man, with his hand outstretched toward her. He put his arm around Alex and guided her back to the couch he was at.

“I’m sorry if they were rough with you,” he said apologetically. He took her hand in his, with her palm up and he asked: “Do you mind?” Before she could give an answer, he used his nail and pricked her pointer finger. Blood sprang free but before it could fall to the floor he brought her finger to his lips and sucked the blood from it. Alex’s stomach turned in disgust as she sat there with her mouth agape in shock.

“Mmmm,” he said with his eyes closed and Alex’s finger still in his mouth. She tried to pull her hand away but he had a grip on her wrist. When he let go of her hand, she examined her finger and there was no sign of where he pricked it, just like before. She gaped at him in amazement and he grinned, showing his teeth. He now had a pair of finely pointed fangs. She gasped and backed up to the other end of the couch. He laughed evilly at her reaction.

“Your blood is sweet, just as Vampirian’s blood should be, however it’s not the same as a Vampirian” he informed them, before retracting his fangs. “She is human, but a valuable human,” he said looking at Leon. “It would be easy to mistake her blood for a Vampirian” he finished looking back at her. Alex could feel her face turn white. 

“Y-you’re a vampire,” Alex said hesitantly. She felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner. Of course as far as she knew vampires were a fairy tale, but it explained everything that was going on around her. He smiled at her again.

“Correct,” he said scooting himself closer to her. She tried to back up but was already at the very edge of the couch, her back against the armrest.

“What do you want from me?” She said glaring at the vampire, her voice commanding and unwavering. He laughed

“How much do you even know about vampires?” he asked mockingly, putting his legs on either side of hers to get closer. As he reached for her, she went to slap him when just like before with Leon; the young man caught her by the wrist. Now he was straddling her, using his weight to pin her to the couch. With his other hand, he moved her face around examining her from different angles. She tried to move her face in the opposite direction just to spite the vampire, but he was too strong. Again his mouth curled into a smile before he let her face go. “I like her,” he said to Leon while looking at Alex. She looked back at him with the best glare she could summon at the time. “What’s your name?” he asked her, leaning so close that there was barely a sliver of air left between them.

Before she even had the chance to answer, the buff guard walked up to them.

“Sir, a guardian has crashed the party and is making a scene out front.” The young man sighed and got up from on top of Alex to go tend to the situation. Just before he left he turned around and said,

“Don’t go anywhere,” with a wink. He grabbed his white fedora from a chair, set it on his head, turned back around and with the two others, walked back into the crowd. Alex was frozen from head to toe, not from fear but from shock. Suddenly she got up and was about to run off to find an exit when she heard a soft Psssssst! Alex looked up to see Grant hanging from a rafter. He hopped down to the ground, grabbed Alex’s hand and dragged her towards the entrance.