I could admit to a little resentment of Jo, as she pushed through the crowd ahead of me. She was, after all, in trainers and comfy jeans. No one looked twice, and though I had my ass grabbed again and more than a few leering glances, she wasn’t touched.

Though, I was pretty sure that was more to do with her general demeanour than what she was wearing. She moved like a jungle cat. All power, unassailable confidence and lethal grace. One look at her would be enough to know that to touch, would be to lose your hand.

It was a demeanour I could do well with emulating, I decided as we climbed the metal stairs that vibrated unpleasantly with the beat of the music. Didn’t make it any easier to climb the damn things in heels and I was far too conscious that anyone standing below could look up and see straight up my dress through the wide gaps between each step.

The second floor was much like the first. A central dance floor, though smaller than that below and a single bar along one wall with curtained alcoves on the other. Bouncers were placed strategically before several alcoves with closed curtains and I glanced at Patrik to ask if he knew why, but he was scanning the room.

Directly opposite the stairs we had just climbed were another set that led up to a private area, judging by the muscular man standing at the base. From where we stood, we could see up to the people gathered there.

Men and women lounged on comfortable seating as incredibly attractive guys and girls danced and moved amongst them. I gathered that was the VIP area and only those who paid, or those who hadn’t paid but were sufficiently attractive, were allowed up.

“Up there,” Jo said loudly directly into my ear.

“What?”

It was comical. The music was so loud that I had to almost shout to be heard. Hardly the best situation to discuss our plans to kill vampires.

“You need to go up there.”

“What will you do?” I asked.

“We’ll hire an alcove,” she said. “Find a vampire and bring it down to join us.”

“Wait, what? How the hell am I supposed to do that?” I glanced nervously at the crowd around us, but no one had seemed to notice or care what we were saying.

“You look hot,” Jo said as she leaned in close. “Pale skin, red lips, you’ll draw them like flies to honey.”

“I don’t want to draw them to me!”

“Don’t worry, they like to use the alcoves,” she insisted. “Just make sure you steer it towards the one we’re in.”

Great! Not difficult at all! I gave her a look that I hoped conveyed exactly how pissed at her suggestion I was but she just grinned and winked. She grabbed Patrik’s arm to get his attention and nodded to the alcoves.

They pushed through the crowd towards the bar and spoke to the staff there. A few minutes later they crossed to an alcove near the VIP stairs and stepped inside, pulling closed the curtains behind them. Leaving me all alone. Just great!

I ran my fingers through my too short hair and wished, not for the first time, that I could trust myself to grow it out. But, then, if I did grow it out, I’d just end up yanking on it and ripping it out again. Which is why I couldn’t trust myself to grow it.

A final tug on the hem of my dress, a glare at the leering jerk who brushed past me, all the while pushing his crotch firmly against my ass, and I set off. Anything to be done with the stupid nightclub and the constant attention.

The bouncer at the base of the VIP stairs watched me approach. He could have passed as a twin to the guy I’d head-butted. Bald, scarred and over muscled. I readied my spiel in my mind and opened my mouth to speak but he just gestured me up. I blinked and smiled sweetly at him as thanks, then I was past.

Seemed like Jo had been right and those guys knew what their bosses liked. So all I needed to do was find one and make sure I got to the right alcove before he drank my blood. Would be easy.

I paused at the top of the stairs, unsure what to do. A pretty young woman with long blonde hair past her shoulders and a red dress that was, if anything, shorter than mine walked over to me.

“Hi,” she said brightly. “First time here?”

“Ah, yeah. Yes,” I said and she nodded as she slipped one arm through mine.

“Well, let me introduce you to a few people.”

“You work here?” I asked and she grinned.

“Sure do.”

“I’m, ah, not sure what to do.”

“That’s okay.” She patted my arm solicitously and steered me around a group of girls who frowned at me as they glanced my way.

They were one and all, pale and painfully thin. More than one couldn’t hide the dark rings around their eyes with heavy makeup, though they’d tried. My mind went to my time in the nut house. More than one of the ‘guests’ there, had drug problems. These girls looked much like those junkies had.

“Here,” my guide said as we reached a table that was one of several placed around the room. It was loaded with glasses and bottles of expensive looking wines. She reached out and picked up a bottle, pouring a generous portion into a glass flute before passing it to me.

“Thanks,” I said as I took it carefully. As tempting as it was to have a drink, I couldn’t honestly say I trusted what I’d just been given.

“No problem,” she said. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Ah, just… well, what now?”

She flashed another bright smile my way and waved one hand languidly around the open area. “Hang around and enjoy your drink. Before you’re finished, I’m sure someone will choose you.”

“Choose me?”

“Oh, you really are new aren’t you,” she said. Her smile never wavered and it was starting to get on my nerves.

“I guess so.”

“Well, one of our VIP guests will approach you and ask if you’d like to join them,” the girl said. “Depending on their whim, they may get to know you, ask you to dance or request you join them in one of the alcoves for some private time.”

She winked at me as she said it and I didn’t know if that meant they’d want to screw me or drain me of my blood. I wasn’t entirely sure that I wanted to know and suspected in some cases, it might be both.

“Don’t look so worried,” she said. “It will be an incredible experience for you and as you can see, leave you wanting more so badly that you’ll return, again and again.”

I looked over to the girls she indicated, the ones that looked like nothing less than addicts. It wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement though the girl beside me seemed to believe it was. She flashed one last smile and walked away, moving smoothly back to her place beside the top of the stairs.

She’d barely been gone a minute before a man approached me. Tall, with fashionably cut cinnamon coloured hair and brown eyes so dark they were almost black. His smile was charming and seemed designed to put me at ease. He wore his trousers too tight and his lavender shirt covered a slim torso with narrow hips and shoulders. Not exactly my type, but I plastered on a smile anyway.

“Hi,” he said. Simple and straightforward I suppose.

“Hey.”

“You’re new?”

“I guess so,” I agreed.

“Fantastic. Join me?”

It was less a question and more of a command. It irritated me immediately but I nodded, the barest tilt of my head and his smile widened. His eyes never left my face which was at once flattering and deeply insulting. I mean, he could have at least glanced at me since I was forced to wear the stupid dress.

He took my hand in his and pulled me towards the top of the stairs. I set my glass down on the next table we passed and kept pace as best I could in the heels I was wearing.

His hand, felt cold against my skin as though he were leaching away the heat. Much like the ghoul had. As he glanced back, a confident smile on his face, I held my own expression still as I saw the dark lines gathering around his eyes and mouth.

As we reached the bottom of the stairs, he pulled me towards an open alcove and I pulled back. He glanced back, irritation clear even beneath the darkness that clouded his features and I leaned in close, skin crawling at being so close to him.

“I reserved an alcove,” I said and indicated the one that Patrik and Jo had entered.

“Ah, you were confident,” he replied. “I like that.”

His smile, if anything, grew wider and more sure as we crossed to the alcove and pushed through the thick curtains.

Patrik grabbed him as soon as he was through. One hand over his mouth and the other around his neck as he was pushed back against the wall.

The vampire's eyes widened as he reached up to grab Patrik's arms in his hands and squeezed which elicited a grunt from the big man.

“Quick,” he said. “The bastards strong.”

Jo stepped forward, knife in hand. The blade gleamed and panic filled the vampires face. She grinned, showing her teeth as she thrust the knife forward, blade punching through his chest and piercing his heart.

Fire seemed to spread outwards from the wound, beneath the skin, burning and turning it to ash as it moved. Patrik released his hold as the internal fire consumed the body fully, burning hot enough to turn the body and clothes to ash but leaving the surroundings unharmed.

In just a few seconds, there were just a few charred bones sitting atop a pile of ash, where the vampire had stood. A wisp of smoke rose from it and I stared, open mouthed at what I’d just seen.

“It hurt my wrist,” Patrik said as he rubbed at the place he’d been grabbed. “Must have been old to be so strong.”

“Just dust now,” Jo said as she turned to me. “Good job, now go find us another.”