If I had chosen a more subservient human to bond with, I’d be able to keep her with me at all times where I can protect her and watch over her, but that’s not what I did. I chose a human with a stubbornness that is unrivaled. Fiona insists that she needs to go home and do human things that I wouldn’t understand, although I think she forgets that I was human at one point. Albeit a long time ago, I was human nonetheless.

It has been good for Fiona and me to spend the few days that we did together, alone. She started to call it “cooped up,” but I can see she doesn’t completely understand the seriousness of the Sisters visit. In over five hundred years, I’d never met them, and I hope that in the next five hundred I don’t need to again. Once the clouds lifted and the power came back on entirely, my apprehension faded and while not my preference, I let Fiona leave to handle her business.

I’m going to ask her to move in with me soon. I’ve been thinking about it for awhile now, and I love her completely. She belongs to me, where I can protect her and look after her. If I had a human heart, it would have jumped from my chest when she told me she was falling in love with me. She works so hard to protect her feelings, to not be vulnerable, I feared she might never truly love me the way I love her. If I could find a way to spend my eternity with her, I would do it in a second. But I will make her my everything for the time we do have together. Her family situation’s still unresolved, and I neglected to talk to her more in-depth about the conversation she had with her father. When she is with me, I tend to get lost in her.

Since Fiona left, and I have my own business to attend to, I call Melody’s office to arrange a meeting. It’s been far too long since I’ve received an update, and I want to know what’s going on with my license, and the sale of the casino. We haven’t made any progress on the applications, and I’m determined not to have a human partner still, so I’d like to hear in person whether or not we are at a standstill. I’m sure I’m going to get some song and dance about the power outage and such, but this deal is taking far too long, and I do not have a good feeling about it. As much as I know it will upset Fiona, I am prepared to do what needs to be done to finalize this sale, and if that means a meeting with her father myself, I intend to do it. I’m not about to let a fat, aging crook dictate how this is going to go down.

I can’t compel him; he wears a cross, and I’m not about getting beheaded in front of my peers by any of the Sisters, but I don’t think I’d get in trouble if I made a threat. I wouldn’t kill him over this, but I’m not above playing the role of the monster that I can be when provoked, mainly to get what I need. That singular human is not going to be the reason I don’t get what I want, and Fiona will learn to forgive me if things escalate.

Melody gets back to me and indicates that she is at her office but can meet me out for a drink, which I have no use for if I'd like. I have no use for a drink, so I let her know I’ll be coming to her office. Her inability to remember basic common facts about vampires is annoying, especially since she apparently wants to fuck me. You’d think she’d remember some details. If I had nerves to get on, all humans except Fiona would be on them right now. My perception of their inferiority has risen to the surface since the power outage. They scatter like ants, and I have a growing desire to crush them.

Since I have all day to myself, I take the human route to Melody’s office across town. Traffic is a nightmare as it tends to be most of the time in Las Vegas, although sitting in the back of a taxi gives me the opportunity to observe what’s happening on the Strip. After a few days of chaos, an uptick in looting and crime from the outages, it seems that things are back to normal. Families are walking about taking pictures, whores are on the street corners handing out cards, and gamblers are parading in and out of the casinos like normal. The only indication that anything had happened in the last few days is the three bodegas I see that have a broken window boarded up, but it’s hardly noticeable unless you are looking for it. The greed and the gluttony are back at the forefront, just another day in Sin City.

I walk into Melody’s office, which is a storefront in a strip mall. Typically, I would deal with a business that had a more significant office, a more sophisticated longstanding look to it, but her firm has helped other vampires with great success, and that is good enough for me. The receptionist greets me with lust in her eyes.

“Good afternoon, Roman.”

“Good afternoon. I’m here to see Melody.” I have no interest in waiting, and surely she knows this. She doesn’t speak, as if she’s in a trance, staring at me. Weak humans do this. You don’t even have to compel them, they practically compel themselves. Her red hair reminds me of Lachesis and is falling in tendrils around her face which I find disturbing. My eyes scan her neck, where I can see the variety of different bite marks, indicative of being bitten by many vampires, in various stages of healing. Patience thinning, I tap my finger on the counter to snap her back to my needs. “Where is she?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll call Mel.”

“No need.” I walk past the little counter. I’m not going to sit in the waiting area like a commoner while she buzzes Melody, whose heartbeat I can hear from where I stand.

Melody looks up from her desk as if she is surprised to see me, and she immediately begins fidgeting.

“Roman, hi there! Have a seat.” She gestures to the chair across from her desk. I sense something isn’t right, and my patience is growing thin already.

“What is going on with my property?”

“Well, it’s been a crazy couple of days with the power outages and electrical storm--”

I interrupt her. “That has no significance in my business, Melody. What is going on with my property? You are not telling me something.” I lean in, narrowing my eyes at her, compelling her. I’m done being tolerant and accommodating today; something isn’t right, and I want to know what it is now.

Entirely under my control now, her voice is even and serene. “There has been another bid. Someone outbid you on the property.”

I slam my fist down violently on her desk, cracking the fake wood. “Who is it!?” I demand.

The fear evident as her lip trembles, she replies. “I don’t know. The bidder was anonymous. I have no way of finding out who it is. These things are sealed. But we can enter a new bid and go from there if you wish, but this doesn’t solve our issue of… the license.” She’s scared, and it fuels me to an extent. It feels good to be angry, the hate flowing through me like fire.

“I don’t care about this fucking license! Find out who is trying to steal my property from me. I will take care of the license myself. I’m done playing games and waiting around, Melody; do you understand me?”

“Yes Roman, but I don’t know… I don’t have a way to get the information you’re looking for. I’m just a broker…” Her fear is real, and I use it to my advantage.

“You will figure it out. And you will get it fucking handled. Do you understand me? This is not a request any longer. It is a demand, and you will obey me.” The venom flowing from me is potent, and watching her tremble pleases me. I’m furious she allowed this to happen, and if it were three hundred years ago, I’d rip her throat out, feed on her and leave her drained corpse as a lesson to the others.

“I understand,” she whispers.

“I will be back. Get this taken care of.” I need to feed, now. My anger is overwhelming, and my thirst needs to be satiated immediately. I storm from the office, slamming the glass door behind me, which shatters.

I head to Clutch on foot, not even attempting to calm my anger. She had one fucking job, and in typical lazy human fashion, she has failed me. It’s a long walk to the bar, but it gives me time to think of a new plan. It’s time for Mr. Weston to have a one on one with yours truly. I’ll put another bid in, that’s fine I have the money, but I’m done fucking around with human bureaucracy. I don’t want to lose Fiona, so I need to calculate how this will go down, and I’ll do that after I feed.

Storming past Corban, I go directly to Selene with impatience.

“I need to feed. Now.”

Crossing her arms petulantly at me, she grins. “Oh, Fiona out of fuel?”

“Not now, Selene. Get me someone.”

Realizing that I’m not interested in our usual banter, she comes out from behind the bar and stands next to me. “You know how this works, go pick one. They’re all ready and willing participants, Roman,” she whispers, gesturing around the room at the primarily female humans all anxiously awaiting a bite.

“Not a woman. It needs to be a human man.”

“Interesting choice, Roman. You switching teams now?” She smirks at me playfully.

“Enough!” I hiss at her. “I made a promise to Fiona I would not feed on another woman. Find me a man. Now!” I demand again.

Rolling her eyes at my attitude, she huffs. “Fine. Go in the back. Room four. I’ll send someone back to you in a minute. Lose the attitude while you’re back there.”

I don’t respond and storm to the back where feeding rooms are lined up in what’s almost a mini hotel hallway. Each room has a bed, a couch, and a first aid kit in case things get out of hand. I want to bite, my anger bringing out my animal needs.

A knock at the door grabs my attention. “Enter,” I say.

The door opens toward me, and standing before me is a young man, no more than twenty-five. Well dressed and handsome, he has innocence in his eyes as if he’s not done this before. Setting my concerns aside, my eyes scan to his neck and see his jugular pulsing.

“I’m Nicolai. I’m here to feed you,” he says, no reservation in his voice. Still standing in the doorway, he must be waiting for me to say something.

“Come here,” I growl, exposing my fangs. “Shut the door behind you and lock it.”