“What’ll you have?” The bartender looked me up and down with one eyebrow cocked.

The many silver rings threaded through his brow caught the light.

I wondered if it ever hurt to have that many piercings there. I’d probably roll on my face in the middle of the night and permanently embed metal in my face.

“Vodka tonic,” I ordered with a smile. But not too bright a smile. That would make me stand out.

The general mood was one of darkness. Extreme darkness. Dark, thudding music, heavy on percussion and bass. The floors, walls, ceiling, and all furnishings were black. Lack of imagination? Possibly.

I leaned more on the side of theming. Whoever decorated the club didn’t believe in subtlety, that was for sure. I guessed blood red would’ve been a little too obvious, even cartoonish.

It was busy, even for relatively early in the night.

I scanned the dance floor as I sipped my drink.

The usual mix of people in the usual clothing—black, tight, short, shiny in most cases. Leather, vinyl, latex. People who got off on pretending they were outside the norm. I wondered what had to happen to a person for them to develop that particular kink—acting like a vampire.

But God, the material.

There was so much beauty, cat-like grace. Men and women moving together, flowing like water as they reacted to the music. They didn’t say a word. Their bodies did the talking.

I wished I had my sketchpad with me. There was only so much my memory could recall after the fact. Besides, I’d never be good enough to recreate what I was looking at. Something would always be missing, some vital thing I couldn’t quite touch with my pencil or charcoal. I couldn’t even name it.

It was like that all over the place, people moving around each other, eyeing each other up. They reminded me of panthers in the jungle. Only where was the prey? Was that how they saw each other?

Or how they saw me?

No, that couldn’t be it. None of them even approached me. I was fine with that, since vampirism wasn’t my kink, and I wasn’t into black latex.

One-night stands might be fun, but I didn’t trust any of these people to not pass along some weird disease. The least I would get was a bite on the neck, and I didn’t love that idea, either. It was better to go alone, stay alone and go home alone. I wasn’t there to socialize.

Sometimes—not always, but sometimes—I asked myself what my mother would think if she knew what I did with my nights. I would save that revelation for the perfect moment. Sometime when it would really blow her mind. When she was being a Super Bitch, busting my balls for being an artist or for living in Brooklyn. Or for quitting a job where I felt threatened.

I’d wait until she was into her third or fourth martini and drop it on her. She’d fall over and crush one of those stupid, useless dogs of hers.

I smiled to myself and tossed back the rest of my drink before signaling for another.

It wasn’t lost on me that my drinks would come out of the money Mom had transferred to my bank account.

The vodka seemed to sour on my tongue. There I was, thinking about how much I’d like to give her a heart attack, but she was still taking care of me.

Oh, just one or two big sales, just one major commission… I could cut ties once and for all, forget the bullshit that was my life as her daughter, as Dad’s daughter, as Jimmy’s sister. And I could disappear. Somewhere they’d never find me, if they even bothered to look.

A single tear spilled over onto my cheek, and I reached up to wipe it away without thinking about the thick eyeliner I had put on before leaving the apartment.

“Shit,” I whispered to myself when the side of my hand came back smeared with black. Just like when I was working. Would my hands ever be clean?

I took my drink to the ladies’ room with me.

It was just as dark in there as it was out at the bar, on the dance floor.

I wondered how anybody was supposed to see a thing in there—I could smell that wonderful mix of piss, shit, and menstrual blood and wanted to stay away from it. No, probably not menstrual blood. After all, I was in a club with vampires.

I rolled my eyes at my reflection as I wiped under my eye with a wad of damp paper towels.

Soft moaning came from the end stall. Otherwise, I was the only person in the room. I averted my eyes to keep from looking over there in the mirror, but it was almost impossible to fight off my curiosity.

What was going on?

The sliding of hands on cloth, on skin. Heavy breathing. Sighing.

I was starting to feel a little jealous.

A single hand curled over the top of the closed door, fingers spreading and clutching at the wood. Then, a second hand which looked nothing like the first.

Both female.

Then, a third hand.

Male.

And a forth.

Female.

Jesus Christ.

I tiptoed out of the room just as the moaning reached its peak.

How the hell were so many of them in there together?

My heart was racing as I walked down the narrow hall which led to the dance floor, and if my dress had a collar, I’d be hot under it.

I hadn’t gotten any in way too long if all it took was the suggestion of sex to get me worked up.

Unless it wasn’t sex. Unless they were…

Nah. That sort of thing didn’t really happen, the whole “feeding” rumor. Just something the club’s owners had spread around to keep things dangerous and sexy for people who were into that sort of thing.

As long as they thought activities like that went on, it was enough to keep the patrons interested.

Wasn’t it?

There weren’t any seats left at the bar. The dance floor was more crowded by the second, with white and purple lights swirling around from the ceiling. A fog machine spread mist over the space and added to the dreamy feeling.

I could feel the bass vibrating through the heels of my boots, all the way up my legs.

Writhing bodies disappeared in the mist, then reappearing. Arms moving, draping over bodies, wrapping around shoulders and necks and waists. It was spellbinding.

I couldn’t take my eyes off them, even though I wanted to. I did want to. Watching them felt dirty, like I was a Peeping Tom breaking into their intimacy. Even though they were in public, all around me, rubbing their bodies together for all to see.

But it was impossible to look away. Something about the pure, raw intensity in front of me glued my eyes and set my heart racing faster than ever.

One of the men, whose bare back was to me, took his partner by her hips and pulled her close until they were grinding together. The girl, whose hair was a shade of purple that obviously came from a bottle, threw her head back and laced her fingers behind his neck. He buried his face between her breasts as their hips swayed back and forth, dipping and grinding, and one of his hands gripped her butt tight enough that I was sure it had to hurt. She didn’t seem to mind.

Her eyes opened and locked on mine, like she felt me watching and wanted me to know she did.

A chill ran up my spine.

As her partner groped and ground against her, she stared at me. His lips ran up her throat, but she never broke eye contact.

Her tongue ran across her top lip before she smiled, and her teeth shone brightly. That smile was an invitation.

And a challenge.

I backed away, into the shadows which I hoped covered me. I shouldn’t have watched. What was I thinking? What would happen if she challenged me, freaked out because I was looking at her boyfriend or whoever he was? Or thought I was watching because I was into her?

My eyes darted around the room. I had backed myself into a corner, literally, and I could see the entire dance floor and bar area where I stood. I could also see the metal staircase leading up to a second level which I had never seen.

In the dozen or so times I’d been there, I had only watched a handful of people climb those stairs. Usually, half-naked women led by men in black leather pants.

Did I ever see them come back? I searched my memory as hard as I could for those girls. I had never even seen them on any other night, either. What happened…?

I had to get out of there. What was I thinking? It wasn’t fun anymore.

I elbowed my way through the crowd.

All of a sudden, it was impossible to breathe. All I saw around me was dark eyes, bright eyes, eyes that bore holes into me as I tried to slip through and get outside where the air might have been just plain old Manhattan smog, but was cleaner than what I was struggling to breathe in just then.

Why wouldn’t they let me through?

My heart was about to burst through my chest and sweat ran down my chest, between my breasts. Blood rushed in my ears and drowned out the pounding, driving music. I would never get out of there. I would die there, crushed in between all those bodies. It was like a nightmare. I would never wake up.

When I burst outside, gasping for air, it was like getting my life back again. That feeling after waking up from the worst nightmare imaginable and knowing it was all just a dream.

I was never so relieved. And, just like that feeling of knowing the fear came from something playing inside the mind and nowhere else, I questioned myself right away.

I must’ve had an anxiety attack. That was all. I had imagined all of it. I was such an idiot, freaking myself out like that.

“Janna.”

I looked up at the tall, muscular man standing in front of me. That was the only way to describe him, at least at the first glance. Somebody who lived at the gym. But not overly bulky, just really muscular.

The surprise of him dissolved when I realized he’d just called me by my first name.

“Do I know you?” My right hand slipped inside my satchel so my fingers could close around the can of mace I kept near the top.

“No. But you will.”

I blinked rapidly. My brain couldn’t make sense of what he’d just say.

“I… what?” I looked around, hoping to find help.

Why the hell did I ever leave home? Was it a full moon? Was that why there was so much insanity everywhere I went?

“I said, you will.” He looked toward the door I had just stumbled through. “What happened to you in there?”

“N—nothing. Nothing happened. What is this?” I was starting to feel more like myself and less like I was on some hidden camera reality show.

I backed away from him as I pulled out the mace—I didn’t hold it up, but kept it at my side. Just in case.

“I can tell you everything, but I need you to come with me.” He held out one impossibly large hand.

I looked down at it and laughed in disbelief.

“You think I’m going to come with you? Yeah. Right.” I turned and ran.

I didn’t know why I was running. I only knew that I needed to get away from him, by any means necessary. It wasn’t easy, moving that way in the clunky boots I wore, but panic went a long way toward helping.

I heard his heavy footfalls inside my head as I turned the corner and ducked between two buildings. Fell between them was more like it, really, since I had intended to lean against the wall but fell through empty space, instead.

I caught myself before falling on the dirty, littered concrete, which was a relief—I didn’t love the thought of landing on broken glass, even if it sparkled like diamonds in the light from the bulb mounted on one of the brick walls.

I pressed myself against that wall, cursing the light but, hoping he’d run past without noticing me. It was a narrow alley, easy to miss.

He never passed by.

I held my breath as I waited and prayed as I had never prayed before. What if he was waiting for me? What if he never stopped waiting until I came out? How did he know who I was?

My heart stopped when I heard footsteps—but from the other direction, further into the alley. I almost melted into the bricks, I plastered myself so tight to them.

It was a matter of either waiting to see who or what came out, or running back to the sidewalk and finding out what waited for me there.

Terror kept me frozen instead, panting like a trapped animal.

“Well, well, well. You thought you could just run out on me like that, huh?” A female voice.

It didn’t make me feel any less threatened, especially since it sounded so menacing. Light, but with an undercurrent of nastiness.

She came closer, and I recognized her eyes right off. The girl from the dance floor. Who could forget ice-blue eyes, ringed in red?

I had seen so many eyes like those over the weeks I had spent at the vampire clubs and wondered where the contacts came from. They seemed popular.

I kept my mace hand tucked down by my side and put the other hand on my chest. “You scared me.”

“You look scared. Why? What are you doing here in this alleyway?” She came a little too close for comfort, and I took a step to the side.

She followed.

Like we were dancing.

She didn’t look so tall in the club—her partner must’ve been built like a skyscraper if he made her look short. Purple hair shone in the light from that lone bulb, and pale skin. Didn’t she ever go outside in the day?

“A guy was following me,” I whispered. “But I think he’s gone now.”

“A creep?” She shook her head. “This city is a cesspool. Absolutely disgusting what men think they can get away with, isn’t it?”

“It is.” I couldn’t help but think of that office, and the hand up my skirt.

“Wouldn’t it be great if we could punish all those men? Those predators?” She leaned in a little, and there was a scent hanging around her that I couldn’t put my finger on. Not perfume, not sweat. Maybe a little bit of both mixed with a lot of something else.

I couldn’t focus on figuring it out when her eyes seemed to glow the way they did.

“Yeah. That would be great. They need…”

“To know they can’t get away with being the way they are,” she finished, nodding slowly. “And you know what?”

“What?” I breathed.

It was so easy to listen to her. Her voice was like music.

She smiled, and her teeth almost glowed, too. “I know how to do it. To punish them, I mean. To be strong enough.”

“How?” I could barely hear my voice, it was so small.

She was so close. And that was all right. She was smart. She knew what she was talking about. She wanted to help me… with something. I didn’t know what, but she’d make it all clear…

Only she never got the chance.

A tall, dark blur burst in from my right, knocking me back against the bricks and tackling her to the ground.

I shook my head, dazed, and looked over in time to see her fly through the air like a rag doll and hit a dumpster with a sickening crash.

A scream fought its way to my mouth, but I couldn’t draw in enough breath to let it out. Nobody could survive something like that.

She did.

But she didn’t just survive.

In the blink of an eye, she was on her feet and throwing herself against the stranger.

They tussled, gripping each other’s throats, snarling like a couple of animals.

No, I had to be imagining that. My brain was completely fried by then. I wasn’t processing anything. I was wrong when both of them looked like they grew fangs and snapped at each other with them. I covered my mouth with both hands and almost forgot to breathe when she slammed her attacker into the wall and sent bricks showering down on both of them.

“Enough!” he roared before taking the top of the girl’s head in one hand and jerking it roughly to the side.

I watched in horror as he bit her—no, as he sank his teeth into her throat and pulled back, tearing half of it away all at once.

She let out a breathless shriek before going stiff all over.

The attacker flung her body to the ground, where she landed in a heap.

When he turned to face me, I saw her head dangling from his clenched fist, hanging by the hair.

My mouth fell open in a scream, but nothing came out. I was going to die.

It was all over.

My mind would break, and he would kill me, and that would be it.

I looked up and recognized him from earlier, the one I had run away from.

He tossed the head aside, and I struggled against a rush of bile in my throat. Why couldn’t I move? Why couldn’t I scream? Shock froze me solid.

“We have to get back to your apartment, and fast.” He was peeling off his bloody shirt and rolling it into a ball, stuffing it into a backpack before putting on a clean shirt.

“Hurry. Come on.” He grabbed my arm with one bloody hand.

“No!” I gasped, slapping at him with both hands, jumping to my feet.

All it took was his touch to snap me out of it. I tried to pull away, tried to get away, but he was too strong.

“Listen to me!” he snarled, pulling me close enough to feel his hot breath on my face. “I have to take you someplace safe, and fast. They’re going to come looking for her, and you can’t be here when they do.”

“Who? The police?” I looked down at the body and couldn’t believe what I saw.

It had turned to something that looked like stone—pale gray, with white eyes.

“No.” He pulled me behind him.

His hand was so tight and strong, I thought it might break my wrist. I wanted to fight him, to kick and scream, but it was all happening so fast.

He hailed a cab and threw me inside before I knew what was happening. He barked my address at the driver as I pressed myself against the door, fumbling around for the handle.

“How do you know my address?” I asked.

He stared coldly. “I know everything about you, Janna. And now you’re in more danger than ever.”