The two vampires who had led me to the Oxford building had left, apparently. I walked back up the winding staircase alone, my footsteps echoing against the bare stone walls of the stairwell. The entire building was deserted, it seemed. I walked right out with no one hassling me, and stepped into the cold late autumn air on the quiet Oxford street.

I looked both ways and noticed that there was not a car or person to be seen. The sun was setting, and I must’ve lost track of time. I must’ve been down there longer than I thought. I realized just then that I didn’t have my phone on me, and I patted my jean pockets frantically as I cursed myself for forgetting something so stupid.

I didn’t even have a jacket, and it was beginning to get cold. It’s amazing the kind of normal things you forget when being escorted out of your apartment by two vampires.

I let out a deep sigh and made my way down the road. I would have to find a pay phone and call a cab, which will be extremely expensive to get all the way back to London. I had to find a train, perhaps, and maybe even see if I can swindle my way onto the train to get home. I had virtually no money, and while I managed to get by in my tiny little apartment in Camden by exchanging favours with people, I had a feeling it was getting harder to do the same to get home from Oxford.

I walked down the winding streets, the cold air sending shivers up my arms as I contemplated the events of the day. I just spent the day with the vampire who had bit me, and I survived. Not only did I survive, but we had a seemingly deep conversation about our bond. He seemed just as confused about it as I was, and I didn’t know whether that was comforting or something I should worry about. At least the chatter in my mind seem to have subsided, and I wasn’t even sure that the link remained. Something nagged at the pit of my stomach though, suggesting that it was still there. I had a feeling simply meeting him in person wasn’t going to be enough to break the link. My fingers traced the bite marks on my neck as I walked, and I knew in my heart that the mental bond was going to be forever. At least, until I died.

A shiver went up my spine as I realized I had begged him to kill me. I smacked my palm against my forehead as hard as I could as I walked. Stupid. How stupid had I been? Asking a vampire to kill me. So stupid. After about twenty minutes of walking, I realized just how absolutely angry I was about the whole ordeal. It was all because of this vampire that forced me into a life as a nobody, with no particular identity, with a forever bond with an undead creature. Who could read my thoughts and sense my actions at any given moment. I hardly believed that he knew nothing about how the bond happened, which made me even angrier. The stupid link between us had made me weak. Again, so stupid.

Anger built in the pit of my stomach, and I had to stop walking for fear that I was going to purposefully walk into something or break my wrist as a bash them against the brick walls of the nearby buildings. I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, trying to mentally orient myself in a place of calm. I had listened to enough self hypnosis tapes in my effort to rid my mind of the vampires link, to no avail, but at least it taught me to calm myself when I needed it. They say that self hypnosis calms you, and I did meditation as often as I possibly could, but none of it worked. I guess I’m just too agitated for any of that sort of shit to have any effect on me.

I continued my walk and wondered how the hell I was going to get back to Camden from Oxford. I knew there had to be a budget train, I could even possibly hop on a bus, but realistically I had to find something soon because the sun was setting and it was going to be late, and finding any way back home was that much harder without a cell phone. I then stopped again, and patted the rest of my pockets.

“Shit,” I sweared to myself. I didn’t have any money on me, let alone a credit card. So much for taking the train home.

I then remembered something that made me deliriously happy. The memory of the night before came flooding back, and I remembered that there was a shifter bar in Oxford that was infamous around the UK. Hell, it was even known internationally as people from all over the world came through to visit that place. I knew it was hard to get into, but I think as a human if you are willing to loosen up and be the victim of some exceptional flirtations by local shifters, you’d be allowed in. I looked down at myself and assessed my tight jeans and my loose black sweater. I looked okay, all things considered. I could do with a bit of makeup, but hell, I was young enough that maybe I didn’t need it.

I picked up my pace, thinking hard about where I might have heard this shifter bar was located. It was very cheekily called Meat, and I knew it was near the centre of town. By the sound of the traffic and the lights in the distance, I figured I was already heading in the right direction. After another few minutes of walking, I came upon a couple with their stroller and I asked them directions to the centre of town. I spared them by not asking the direction to the shifter bar, as I wasn’t sure how they would respond. But they pointed down the road and said it was another fifteen-minute walk until I get to where I needed to be. I smiled and thanked them before continuing on my way.

I wrapped my arms tightly around my stomach as I walked, shivering violently in the cool evening breeze. I walked quickly, my heart pumping as the blood flowed through my freezing veins.

When I got to the centre of town, I was pleased that they were a lot more people around. I saw a pub across the street and went over to approach the people waiting outside. There was a good-looking younger guy smoking a cigarette on the sidewalk, and I walked straight up to him.

“I hear there’s a weird shifter bar around here,” I said casually to him as I approached him. He looked at me and raised his eyebrow. “Not that I’m into that sort of shit. But, do you have any idea where it is? I’m curious to check it out.”

The guy blew out smoke from a cigarette and smiled at me, knowing full well that I had intended to check it out myself. “Yeah, had two blocks down that way. It’s hidden in the back of the two-story brick building. There’s a sign on the front that says Meat. Just go around back and you’ll see it.”

I smiled at him and coughed through the cigarette smoke that he blew out at me, and turned to make my way back down the street towards where he had pointed.

Anger bubbled up in my stomach after what I’d been forced to experience today, and even though the link in my head seemed to have subsided some, I would do everything in my power to piss the vampire off. If I got him angry enough, maybe he would break the connection between the two of us, and I could get my life back. The idea made me smile deliriously, and I hoped to God that my plan would work.

If anything, I’d at least have a good night with some hot men. God knows I needed a distraction.

I came to the building that the guy described with the sign that read Meat. I wiped my hands on my jeans, and pulled my sweater off one shoulder so that it at least looked like I was trying to be appealing. And I adjusted my bra as much as I could to show cleavage, and tussled my hair to give it a sexy, unkempt look.

Taking a deep breath, I walked confidently down around to the back of the building, and was shocked when I saw the line of at least fifty people waiting in the back to go inside. Most were men awaiting to get in, and I guessed they were all hoping to go and hook up with some shifter women. I walked up to the bouncer, hoping that maybe if I flirted enough he would let me in without having to wait in line. Fortunately, I didn’t even have to say anything to him as he reached and unclipped the red velvet rope that barred the door, and motioned for me to go through.

He winked at me as I walked through, and I wasn’t exactly sure who or what he thought I was, but I was thankful for my luck. Inside, there was a young woman, probably about nineteen years old who sat at a small table near the top of a narrow staircase. I approached her and smiled warmly. “Gimme your hand,” she said lazily to me as she chewed her gum loudly. She was looking at her phone in one hand, and as I extended my right arm towards her, she stamped it with her left and didn’t even bother looking up at me. She waved her free hand down towards the staircase, all the while focusing intently on the screen of her phone.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, but I was grateful for the atmosphere. I had a mission tonight and it didn’t involve getting caught up in any sort of conversation. I steadied myself as a put one foot in front of the other and walked down the stairs towards the basement of the building and the rumble of music.

* * *

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t a hopping club with music blaring loudly. A heavy beat echoed through the room and pounded up through my legs. I could feel it in my chest as I made my way through the sweaty crowd of grinding bodies. I spotted the bar on the far end of the room. I immediately walked up and approached the bartender.

“What would you like, babe?” the bartender asked me. He looked me up and down and winked, and I smiled back at him prettily.

I then instantly remembered I had no money on me. “Sorry,” I said back to him as I turned back towards the crowd of dancing bodies and leaned my back against the bar. I had to go without drinking, I suppose, which should make the whole night a little bliss less. But a girl had to do what a girl had to do.

As I scouted the bar for good-looking men, the link in my mind flared alive again. I swore to myself, and rubbed my eyes in exhaustion. I could hear Erik growing in my mind, and anger welled up inside me. I could tell he was pissed, but there was nothing he could do about it now. I was here, and there was no way he could stop me.

I supposed that perhaps he could show up and put a stop to the whole thing, and I figured there must be some sort of vampire-shifter truce going on. Some sort of weird line in the proverbial sand like there was in the Twilight movies. I laughed to myself at that thought, but figured it wasn’t probably too far from the truth.

A minute had gone by when a good-looking, young blond guy walked up to me and asked to buy me a drink. I graciously accepted and turned towards the bar. The bartender turned back towards me and winked again and asked me this time what I wanted. “I’ll have a whiskey and lemon, please.”

The clubber next to me nudged me and smiled. “Whiskey? That’s hard-core.”

I smiled back at him and accept the drink from the bartender. The guy was drinking some sort of fruity-looking drink, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I looked him over, taking a quick sip of the whiskey. It burnt as it went down but it felt good in my mind. When the guy continued to stare at me, I took another few quick sips and let the effect of the whiskey take over.

“So are you from around here?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No, from out of town. Chicago, actually. You?”

He chuckled at me and shook his head. “Oh, so you’re not one of the local shifters?”

I raised my eyebrow at him and wondered what would happen next. “No, purely human. Sorry. You?”

He shook his head and turned and walked away without saying another word. I sighed as I watched him go. “Well, nice meeting you,” I called out sarcastically to the back of his head. He disappeared into the crowd, and I turned back towards the bar.

It might be harder to pick up a shifter after all. The raging emotion in my head subsided, and I knew that my failure to meet a shifter pleased the vampire, wherever he was. I sighed and downed the rest of my drink and stared forward. I was alone at the bar as I so often was. “Another one?” the bartender asked as he came back to me. “This one’s on the house.”

I smiled at him and nodded. “Yes, thank you. It’s going to be that kind of a night, I think.”