Chapter 1: Eli

I was sitting in a booth at the bar, looking around at all the patrons there. It was one of my favorite places to spend time—a BDSM bar full of vampires and humans who had similar kinks. I wasn’t there to participate, on the most part, aside from rare nights when my lust for sex was as high as my lust for blood. That was rare these days; I kept to myself, really only people watching and keeping an eye out for someone that I could dine on at the end of the night. I enjoyed this bar because everyone was so involved with themselves, enjoying the pleasure of each other’s company, and didn’t pay me a lot of attention. None of them recognized me as being the vampire king and I was glad. I had been alive for thousands of years and the title hardly held any weight with me anymore. It was just a fact of who I was, rather than a facet of how I behaved. I usually kept it to myself, though there was an occasional use for it when I took women to bed. Women who were more than eager to give themselves to any vampire, but would completely open up for a king. It had its uses, but mostly I liked to keep my mouth shut about it. There could be too much drama surrounding royalty, and that was the last thing I wanted in my life.

I went up to the bar and ordered another drink, preparing to carry it back to my table when I noticed a woman walking around, mingling with other vampires and humans but not really saying much. She looked like she didn’t belong there; she was sweet-looking, more like an angel than a girl who went out looking for vamps to play with. After a moment, I recognized her as Emilia Fox, a reporter for the local paper whose work relied heavily on pieces about human-vampire relations. It was bold of her to be here in the first place; many vampires thought that it wasn’t her place to question us, to put our words down on paper. It could be dangerous for her if anyone else recognized who she was. For the most part, vampires preferred humans to stay out of their business. Those who didn’t got killed or threatened, but from the way Emilia was looking around curiously, I could tell nobody had stopped her yet.

I kept my eyes on her as I went to my table. She was beautiful, short with blonde hair, blue eyes that glowed bright among the dark room. She caught my eye and I beckoned her over, giving her a soft smile. Maybe she’s the one I’d drain tonight, just to get her out of our hair. That, and the idea of putting my mouth to her slender throat made my cock ache just thinking about it. There was something so pure about her, such innocence that stood out when surrounded by the inherent indecency of the bar and its other patrons.

She approached the table warily, staring into my red eyes. My gaze darted to her full, sensuous lips and I thought of how much fun I might be able to have with her before I drained her of her blood. I wondered if she would be the type to respond to my advances in that way. There was something about her that was captivating, and I could imagine the look that would cross her pretty face if I gave her all the pleasure she could handle.

Emilia didn’t say anything for a moment. I gestured for her to take a seat at my table but she hesitated, looking at me with both curiosity and caution.

“You look like you’re looking for something,” I said softly, trying to disarm her with a gentle voice. “Or someone. I was wondering if I could help.”

She peered at me through her long dark lashes, then slid into the booth across from me and beamed, apparently deciding that she was safe for now.

“I just want to talk,” she said. “Vampires are so interesting. And they’re all over this place.”

“So you’re wondering around a BDSM bar,” I pointed out, “looking for, what, friends? Are you not here to play?”

Her cheeks blushed a lovely scarlet and she tore her eyes away from mine.

“I’m just here to meet vampires,” she said, then looked up at me again with a grin. “So what’s your story? What’s your name?”

“I’m Eli,” I said, reaching forward to shake her hand. She took mine, her skin warm against my palm, and shook it.

“Emilia,” she said.

“Do you come here often, Eli?” she asked, leaning back in the booth to make herself comfortable. She really was outrageously beautiful and was bright as a flower in the dim light of the dark, gritty bar. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her, despite the fact that I had decided not to kill her after all. It would be too easy, too much like cold-blooded murder to take someone who was so open to me already. I wasn’t above killing to eat, but I wouldn’t do it to completely innocent people.

“Sometimes,” I told her. “For various reasons.”

“Such as?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. I grinned at her and she blushed even deeper.

“It’s an interesting place,” I told her. “I like to watch people. Sometimes I engage, other times I just hunt.”

Her eyes went wide and she swallowed, running her teeth over her bottom lip. The gesture was more than distracting, and it took me a few seconds to realize that she had asked me another question while I had been lost looking at her lips.

“What’s that?” I asked, meeting her eye again. “I’m sorry.”

“I said, are you hunting right now?”

“Maybe I am,” I said coyly. “I wouldn’t tell you if I was.”

She laughed. “I guess I’ll find out.”

“You might,” I told her. We watched each other for a long moment; her face reflected my interest back to me, letting me know that she was on board with the conversation. She really wanted to learn.

“Do you do this every night?” she asked, scooping her legs up so that she was sitting cross-legged in the booth across from me.

“No,” I told her. “A few nights a week. I frequent other bars as well, but I spend a lot of my time alone.”

“Do most vampires prefer to be alone?”

I chuckled. “Most vampires I’ve met prefer to be in the company of others.”

“So you’re just weird,” she teased. My lips curved into a small smile that I couldn’t control.

“I suppose that’s true,” I told her. We continued to talk. She asked me more questions about the bar, about what I did when I wasn’t here. I didn’t go into all the details but I did answer her questions as honestly as I could. I found I enjoyed her company. I found, too, that I was curious about her as well. Any human woman who could boldly walk into a BDSM vamp bar without participating and let her guard down around a vampire she didn’t really know was one who was braver and bolder than most. She sat with her head held high, even when other vampires and humans walked by our table and gave her distinctly confused and alarmed looks. I noticed Roderick, the bartender, who was several thousand years younger than me but almost as deadly, was staring at her with a hungry look in his eyes. I caught his gaze and gave him a firm shake of the head. He knew who I was, what I was capable of, and quickly shifted his gaze away from the girl.

“Why are you so interested in vampires?” I asked her. She shrugged.

“I just find them fascinating.”

It must have been true. She didn’t demonstrate the awe that most humans who were into vampires did. She wasn’t giving off the vibe that she wanted to be taken and used by one of them like so many human women did when they came in here. She was just interested, her fascination almost clinical and detached. She simply wanted to know about vampires. It was a rare thing, strange to me, who had seen the whole history of humans and vampires coexisting and had hardly come across anybody with the same level of interest in getting to know the other species purely for the sake of knowledge.

We talked as the night passed until it was about an hour away from sunrise and time for me to leave and go home. We had grown comfortable over the course of the night, laughing with each other, answering each other’s questions as earnestly as each of us was willing.

Before she left, she turned to me, gave me a look that was almost shy.

“Would you consider doing this again?” she asked. “More privately?”

I raised my eyebrows. If there was one thing that I was good at with women, it was sensing when they wanted something. Emilia wanted me, I could tell, and I wanted her the same. It might be a bad idea for us to get together again, but I wanted nothing more than to do so.

“I can do that,” I said, then took her hand with mine and kissed the backs of her fingers. She trembled but gave me a little grin as she made to leave. To be careful, I stood up and walked her out to her car. It was still dark outside, and we had just enough time to say goodnight before I had to retire.