This one I pounded out Sunday morning - I've always LOVED Lola and would have loved to see her as a recurring character.
Thanks a million to Lucky for beta-ing this and tidying up my English errors. Much appreciated!
Enjoy.
Usual disclaimers apply. I own nothing but my own imagination.
HALF THE WORLD IS NIGHT
She's returned. That pretty little blonde that tried to get into my VIP lounge the other night. I hope she doesn't think she's being surreptitious...I make it my job to keep up on any and every threat to my business or my existence. I know she's a reporter and I know she can be trouble if not handled correctly.
When you've lived as long as I have, you think nothing can surprise you...certainly not the actions of the humans that infest your existence. True, they have their uses; their blood is exquisite and they can be a lovely distraction when boredom strikes. Unfortunately, their fragile bodies break much too easily for my taste. Still...I've found one here who's delightfully adventurous and devious enough to keep me from killing him when he irritates me. Unfortunately, he has a wandering eye and a uncontrollable lust for beautiful women. I tolerated his dalliances with the model named Renee, because it amused me to watch him try to hide it from me - and she spent hundreds of thousands of her salary on my drug. As long as it profitted me, I allowed the two of them to live. That is, until the stupid girl OD'ed - and in front of the blonde reporter that has now returned to my club.
Sadly, there is more of them than there are of us, but in a ironic way, that's the way it should be, shouldn't it? After all, it's a wise species that keeps its food source healthy and abundant. And it's never good to quibble over meals--as civilized as we pretend to be, vampires are animals at heart. The strong turn on each other when the weak are few, so it's best to keep the cattle well-fed, plentiful and blissfully ignorant. As mentally deficient as they tend to be, there are a few among the humans who are dangerously cunning. They are the ones behind the evil in history; the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the French Revolution...the attack on your World Trade Center just a few years ago. As strong as we are, we do have weaknesses and we can be killed. Josef can tell you many tales of vampire persecution; he'll bore you to tears with the story of a torch-bearing mob that chased him two leagues out of Paris before he slipped them in 1745. To listen to him tell it, he single-handedly took on a group of over 50 pitchfork-wielding peasants and destroyed them all. The truth is, he hid like a mole in an underground root cellar until the humans got hungry and gave up looking for him.
Still, I must mind the customs and my manners while I'm in this American city. This is Josef's territory and his power and authority must be maintained in the Community at all costs. He rules supreme here and while it would be child's play to come into his realm and wrest it from him, any upheaval in the vampire Community brings the attention of the Old Ones - and no one wishes to avoid their attention more than I. Besides...the game is so much more fun than the conquest - and playing with Josef is enjoyable to the utmost degree.
I'm fortunate indeed that Josef is easily malleable--a vampire as clever and savvy as he should not be so ruled by his...passions. A girl learns much when she has centuries to hone her craft. I have learned that men are controlled by one thing and one thing only - their base desires. Whether it be a woman, strong drink, drugs, or money, men will give up their lives for the thing they crave. Josef has never been able to conquer me and that failure burns in his belly like the cheap whiskey they sell at the club's bar. He craves my surrender and I hold it out of his reach, just allowing him a bare taste of what it would be like. This time, it was a joy to wheedle the information I needed out of him to start my enterprise here in Los Angeles - when he was beneath me and begging me to let him come, I smiled into those wild, silver eyes and whispered my request. He was only too willing to give me the access codes into one of his myriad Swiss bank accounts and I rewarded him like the good boy he'd been.
Through the vampires I've used to make my drug, I've gleaned many bits of useful information - torturing them is merely a side benefit of my ventures. The last one informed me that Josef is now frantically searching for me, although he did not know the reason. I smiled and blessed him with a quick release from his agony - Josef had done well, keeping the lid down tightly on the fact that I stole from him with so little effort. His reputation is everything and it would be a killing blow for his subordinates to discover he traded a million dollars for an orgasm. The luckless vampire told me Josef has employed a vampire private investigator to track me down - a child, barely 50 years old, and that this boy is Josef's closest friend. I scoffed at this tidbit...Josef has no friends and would never let such a juvenile into his inner sanctum. Still...I do recall the scent that permeated Josef's home while I was a guest there was not that of an elder.
As I recline against Calvin's young and supple body, my doorman hurries to inform me the blonde reporter has gained entrance to the upper echelon of the club and that she has somehow procured Calvin's slut's chip to do so. I control the overwhelming urge to rip Calvin's throat out - after all, there are humans about - and tell the harried man before me that I will handle the problem.
I approach the reporter, inhaling her and forcibly keeping my fangs from descending. This one is special; her blood is rare and precious. What a treat she would be, but my main concern at this moment is to discern what she wants and whether or not she will disrupt my revenue stream. If humans knew how disgusting they smelled, they would never leave their showers. Blood, sex, sweat, urine, smoke...it clings to their skin like a malevolent shroud, coating them with filth. This one smells like the human male she's been fucking for some time; she's had him inside her not two nights ago, yet I sense thoughts of him were not what filled her mind while she was under him. Another scent assaults my nose and surprise strikes me, although I hide it well - she smells of vampire. One of my kind has had their hands on this tasty morsel not long before she entered my club. The smell is familiar and a thin smile stretches my lips; the scent that clings to her is the same scent that floated on the air in Josef's home. Not only does this one know of our existence, she knows a vampire that is close to Josef. I wonder if Josef is aware of this fact and of the extreme danger this slip of a girl presents this Community.
In her sweaty hand, she holds a vial of Black Crystal. As she goes to slip it in her purse, I know I must stop her from leaving this building with the drug at any cost, so I ask her how she got the model's microchip. She's a brave one - she drops her eyes briefly, then looks straight at me and tells me Renee gave her the chip. Renee would have cut off the hand that housed the key to her addiction before giving it up voluntarily, but I let the lie slide. The girl in front of me is frightened and her fear hums through my blood. I know she's not a friend of Renee's as she claims, nor is she interested in trying the drug for herself. I cannot allow her to leave, and I'm about to take care of this problem when a new presence disturbs the air around us.
Ah. Finally I have the privilege of casting my eyes upon the vampire that both Josef and this human hold dear. For truly the blonde does hold this vampire close to her heart, as evidenced by her elevated heart rate and the dewy smell of arousal that begins to sweeten the air. His eyes never leave me, yet I know his only thought is of her and how he will keep her safe from me. I'm amused at this male's devotion to the girl; he fancies himself in love with her. As I delve deeper into both their secrets, the picture becomes clear. This is the one who fills the thoughts of the blonde when she lies with her human; his name is the one her mind whispers when she comes. Something deep inside her, something even she does not realize exists, wants this vampire to claim her, body and soul.
With great care, I dance around his thoughts and learn of him. His innate scent is familiar and regal; I know the sire that Turned him belongs to a bloodline of great importance. For a moment I think it may be Josef, but his bloodline is as familiar to me as my own. When the knowledge comes to me, I smile inwardly--so the rumors were true. Coraline DuVall DID take an inferior lover and Turned him; this would be the reluctant vampire Mick St. John. Stories have flowed thick in the European Community about that unfortunate turn of events; Coraline's family was most displeased at her for bringing what they consider peasant blood into the family - and an AMERICAN, no less. According to the Old Ones, the oldest brother Lance has been dispatched to track down his errant sister and bring her home for punishment. Unfortunately, Coraline has disappeared from sight as if her very existence has been erased. The vampire currently staring at me through narrowed hazel eyes better pray Lance doesn't come to him for information on Coraline - I doubt the young one will survive the experience.
We circle the blonde; both of us realize she is now the prize one of us will win. I taunt them both with my words; the vampire becomes angrier and the girl more fearful. Strangely, her fear has become less for herself and more for the vampire named Mick. How delightful - she not only wants him, she has feelings for him. She trusts him completely to take care of her and see her safe from this place and from me. Foolish girl; one such as she should never trust one of us. This vampire, this Mick St. John, trembles inside from the force of his desire to take her. I find it faintly humorous that he hasn't done so yet; from what I can sense of the reporter, she would put up no fight and would let the vampire possess her body.
She'd better hurry, I warn her. She's young and lovely now, but Mick will lose interest soon enough - probably after he buries himself in her body. If vampires enjoy anything, it's the chase. Once the cat catches the mouse, the fun is gone and the cat usually disposes of the toy by eating it. Besides, there's too much tender meat in this world to waste one's time on something old and tough. I run a lock of that lovely blonde hair through my fingertips and thrill when I feel her shudder at my touch. I know she's thinking about my words, I KNOW she wonders what it's like to be like us. She wants to know the power that runs through our veins, wants to know what it's like to rule the night like royalty. Her arousal kicks up a notch and even I can barely resist tasting this delicate piece of humanity.
The girl's eyes are locked on the vampire before her, silently pleading him to take her from this place. Again, her simple-minded trust in a beast such as him bewilders me, but before I can get to the bottom of her devotion the front door bursts open and police in riot gear boil through the ruined entrance. My doorman is rushing around like a terrified rabbit, screaming at whoever will listen to dispose of the drug. I'm unconcerned; to my knowledge, vampire blood hasn't been labeled an illegal substance as of yet. As I melt into the shadows, a tall dark-haired man comes up the stairs and an instant I know that scent - this is the reporter's human male. His face darkens with his anger and Mick's body lights up with pure aggression. This man is an implied threat to what the vampire considers his; I wonder if the human realizes how much danger he's in at the moment. If he makes a wrong move or touches the blonde, Mick's instincts will override his intellect and he will tear the man to pieces.
I wish I had more time to dip my fingers into this situation - such fun it would be! Josef, of course, would be furious at me for playing with his toys, but I know how to deal with Josef.
To my amazement, Mick lets a police officer manhandle him against a post at the dark-haired man's order. He handles the vampire roughly, apparently looking for weapons Mick might have hidden on his person. Little does the human wearing the badge around his neck know that Mick could level this whole building and kill every person in it before the human could draw his gun.
Before I slip away, I whisper something to the girl. Something I know she will turn over in her mind every time she looks at the vampire before her. Something deep inside her knows she wants to be like us, but hasn't realized it yet. I almost pity St. John when she does come to that realization, as he sees her more than just a pet to be pampered and adored before being cast aside. Her humanity calls to him, makes him long for his own and he will fight to the death to make her keep what he considers a gift of unimaginable worth.
"Remember, darling...half the world is night."
Lola's view is indeed cynical, but she's not wrong - Mick's not your typical vampire. Another WOULD leave Beth behind when she got old.
