"You're fired."

Soph barely heard the words. Her mind reeled as she gripped the back of the chair in Bradley's office. She was wired; her heart raced and her eyes darted around the room, taking in the overturned desk and scattered accessories. She'd done that. Bradley looked furious, though his voice was calm.

"You've got to get your shit together, Soph," he told her and her gaze snapped back to his. He looked disturbed by her jerky movements - too quick for a normal human being. "I don't know what drugs you're on, but you need to take a break, have a meal. Sort yourself out, then give me a call."

She nodded, unable to trust herself to speak. In a moment of rage, she'd just lost her job. Surprisingly, she didn't really care. All she could think about was getting out to Gryphook to get her next hit. Bradley sighed and briefly covered his face with his hands.

"Sinners is tonight. This was really a bad day for it, Soph. But I can't have you at the club tonight, not like this."

Friday already, Soph thought. Where had the week gone?

She vaguely heard Bradley dismiss her, and she turned and stalked from his office. At her desk, she started shoving all her personal items into her handbag.

"Finally," she heard Rhonda mutter. Soph jerked up straight.

"What was that?"

"Finally," Rhonda said loudly. "Management is doing something about the under performers in this place."

Before anyone could stop her, Soph vaulted the partition and slammed into Rhonda. Others yelled in alarm and scrambled out of the way as Soph got hold of the other woman's throat and pinned her to the ground.

"You know what?" Soph said through gritted teeth as Rhonda gaped in alarm. "I've never fucking liked you, Rhonda. You're a fucking bitch!"

"Hey! What the fuck is going on out here! What are you idiots all standing around for?" Bradley's hands caught Soph's shoulders and he wrenched her away from Rhonda. "Jesus, Soph! Get out of here!"

Soph staggered back and for one lucid moment was confronted with what she had done; Rhonda, gasping for breath on the floor, her hands on her throat. Bradley, hands up as if he might fight her, a furious look on his face. The rest of her colleagues standing behind him, expressions ranging from shock to disgust. She grasped her handbag, then turned and fled.

***

A bottle of red wine in her hand, Soph paced the space behind her lounge. She marked each turn with swig and she glanced occasionally at the TV which, despite its cracked screen and skewed angle, still worked. It was playing live coverage of the Sinners opening, and the reporter was talking to celebrities as they arrived. Right now they were interviewing Chase Rickon, who was accompanied by no less than five models, and Soph thought that perhaps she should have gone to the premiere, despite being fired only earlier that day. Maybe she could have swindled some blood from Chase.

A commotion drew the reporter's attention, and the camera swung around in time to catch Eli Damiani's black Audi pulling up at the curb. The man himself got out of the car, looking suave in a charcoal grey suit. His stormy eyes smouldered, and he gave the cameras an affable smile as he tucked his hands into his pockets and started along the red carpet. He didn't have a date with him. Soph paused in her pacing to watch as Eli stopped before the reporter of the station she was watching.

"No date tonight, Mr Damiani?" she asked him, proffering her microphone for his response.

"After the way the media dissected the last woman who accompanied me? I couldn't convince anyone to come with me tonight." He said the words with a smile on his face, but his voice held a reprimanding undertone.

"Will Sophia make an appearance tonight?" the reporter continued, oblivious to Eli's snipe. He nodded.

"I believe she'll be accompanying her team from Paxus. Have a good evening." he farewelled the reporter before she could ask any more questions and moved off towards the entrance to the club.

Soph took a swig of her wine as she stared at the TV. The Paxus team was already there. Eli wouldn't know that she'd been sacked only earlier that day. Would He look for her inside the club? Guilt, shame and worry roiled in her stomach and she switched the Predator on. A red hot rage welled within, eating away at her fears. She encouraged it, stoking the angry flame until it was white within her. She didn't care about her job, or the Sinners opening party. She didn't care about Eli or Bradley or Rhonda. Fucking Rhonda. Soph flung her bottle, and it smashed against the wall above the TV, spraying wine and glass across the living room.

She didn't care. She didn't care about anything... except keeping the headaches and weaknesses at bay. That reminded her. Not even bothering to collect her phone or wallet, she headed for the door and out onto the street. With no job to go to, she could focus on staying alive.

***

The days of the week blended together. Night became her daytime, her playtime and her hunting time. She stalked the clubs of Gryphook for unsuspecting vampires. Then she seduced them, drank their blood and, more often than not, leave them dead.

As time wore on it became harder and harder to find a vampire willing to give her blood first. Her reputation was preceding her. The vampires of Gryphook were weary and on edge. She could have cut the tension with a knife. Thankfully, she could still find vampires whose bloodlust outweighed their caution. She only needed one a night, after all.

That the vampires were on a lookout for her, meant that she had to kill her victims and leave their corpses. She'd become desensitised to it, only turning her Predator off when she went into public to hunt. Despite knowing her red eyes turned back to green, she could feel more and more the rage that simmered under the surface, waiting to be unleashed.

She'd been to most of the clubs in Gryphook, but she often returned to one called Drac's. It was a dark and gritty place, with a poorly maintained parlour style bar at street level, and a trance club beneath it. But what Soph really liked about it was the vampires that frequented the place were desperate. Desperate enough to let her drink their blood before she made any sort of payment back to them.

The security guard nodded to her as she stepped past him. She hadn't seen him there before, but the guards here had never questioned her. She went to the bar first and ordered a shot of tequila. She couldn't feel any vestiges of a headache coming on yet - she had time. She tossed the drink back and ordered another. While she waited, she inspected a lock of her hair that had fallen over her shoulder. It was lank and oily. When had she last washed it? She couldn't remember. Her second shot arrived, and she tossed it back too, tapping the empty glass on the countertop to signal for another. With an annoyed look, the bartender slid the whole bottle up the bar.

"Are you planning on sharing that?" a man's voice sounded behind her.

"Wasn't going to," she responded without even looking over her shoulder. He slid up beside her on the bar and gave her a dark smile. He was burly looking and his eyes glowed unashamedly red. Soph had a feeling she'd seen him before.

"You looking for a hit?" he asked. Soph turned her head to look him up and down. She was going to wait a few hours, but if this guy was offering...

"What's the payment?" she replied, though she didn't care. She'd never give him what he wanted. He smiled triumphantly. He thought he had her. Idiot.

"A good time, Baby," he leered. He pointed towards the door. "Come back to my place, it's only a few blocks away." Soph shrugged, poured herself a final shot, tossed a few notes on the bar, then followed the vampire outside.

"Nice night," he said as they walked side by side up the street. Soph looked up at the small scatter of stars above and grunted. The vampire gave her a knowing smile. "Been doing this a while?"

"Doing what?" she retorted, shoving her hands in her pockets despite the heat that crawled constantly beneath her skin.

"Being a bloodbag. I can tell you've lost the will to live, and yet all you're trying to do is stay alive."

"Maybe." she didn't want to admit how uncomfortably close to the truth he was. They turned out of the main club district and onto some darker streets. Soph knew she should have been paying attention to where they were going so she could find her way back. At least he was being gracious enough to lead her out of the main precinct so she didn't have to try to hide his corpse in a bathroom. That was becoming tedious.

He led her into a cul-de-sac and towards a house near the back. No lights were on. Soph stopped dead as she suddenly realised where she'd seen the man before. He, and the house, were from her visions of Bailey.

"Oh fuck," she whispered, then turned to run. Too quickly, he grabbed her arm and yanked her back.

"You've been having too much fun in Gryphook, little witch," he hissed, jerking her towards the house. She turned the Predator on and tried to wrench herself away again. She almost got free of him when she noticed other figures slinking out of the darkness. "Boss wants a word with you," the vampire grunted and shoved her forward again.

As they neared the edge of the gutter, the door of the house opened and a tall man with a ponytail stepped out. He wore a long black cloak with purple satin trimmings and when he saw Soph he smiled, red eyes flashing.

"The black witch!" he seemed delighted. "Finally, you've come to find me!"

She'd done no such thing. "Who are you?" she demanded, and the vampire grinned.

"I'm Alec," he said, his tone suddenly sounding dangerous, "the Vampire King."