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2
Las Noches

We reappeared in a small alley in the middle of the city. Vampires use their minds to move from place to place. It took about a second to get from our tiny room in our apartment to a grimy deserted alley in the center of Las Angeles.
Stephanie sighed. She still had her arm around me. It was a warm night; no wind or clouds. The moon was high and full and it spilled its light into the alley.
“C’mon” she said, and then we turned and started walking down the alley.
Las Noches wasn’t a well know place so it wasn’t hidden through a labyrinth of alleyways like a club in London. We turned left at the end of the way, then right. All I could hear was our heels clicking against the asphalt. There was an abandon apartment building up ahead with all of its windows boarded up. This was Las Noches. If you were new it might seem like a joke, but the fact that this night club was in a rundown building was mostly to disguise it. We walked around the building towards the back. There was graffiti all over the side walls, but in addition to the graffiti in the back there were black roses painted on the building near the door. The door to go in was a big wooden door that had been painted solid black. Right above the handle, in little curly silver letters were the words Las Noches. The tiny silver letters seemed to shimmer in the moonlight. I grabbed the handle and pulled the door open. Almost instantly fog spilled out over the threshold and we could hear the music coming from inside; death metal. We stepped inside and I closed the door behind us.
We were in total darkness, but we had no problem seeing in the dark. The door in lead to a long hallway and at the end of the hallway was the main room. The floor was covered with a thin layer of artificial fog and our feet brushed it up when we walked. It was almost like walking on a cloud. We passed big black doors on the left, they led to separate rooms were people could go into to . . . well . . . be alone. The music became much louder as we got to the end of the hallway and entered the main room. The main room wasn’t much brighter than the hallway although there were a few lights coming from the far right corner where the DJ was. He had the hood of his jacket over his head and was bobbing it to the beat of the music, his long brown hair in his face. He reached his hand up to the electric board and pressed a button. The song that was playing faded out and a new song faded in and I recognized it instantly.
“Oh, perfect timing!” I shouted over the loud music.
“What?” Steph said.
“It’s Lacuna Coil’s ‘Our Truth’. I love this song.
Stephanie didn’t really reply. I looked over at her and she seemed to be staring off into the darkness. I soon realized she was eyeing a sleek looking guy. I put my hand on her shoulder and she turned towards me.
“Do you wana split up tonight?” I asked.
She nodded and I gave her a small shove.
“Don’t get pregnant!” I yelled after her.
Mostly we would stay together at clubs and places because we were each others company. There was usually no one there who we knew. But every once and a while we would split and be by ourselves for the night. We were never worried about date rape drugs, getting drunk, pregnant, or anything like that because vampires are incredibly strong all around; no human is strong enough to force us to do anything, we could throw someone across the room if we were threatened in any way. Also human drinks are not strong enough to buzz a vampire. There are drinks for vampires, but they would easily knock out or even kill regular people.
I looked around the room. It was bigger than what you would have expected from seeing the outside. The club had a vaulted ceiling that was painted black along with all he walls and the floor was made of black tile. The hallway was the only part of the small club that had fog on the floor. To the left was a small bar. Small didn’t mean they only had a few kinds of drinks; there was everything from Light beer to arsenic and in that bar. I had heard that the bartender was a bit of a jerk but that he could make any drink you could ask for. In front of the bar were some tables and seats, the really nice kind with lots of pillows thrown in them so you could just lounge around in them. There was a big open space in the middle for dancing but no one ever danced here; the music wasn’t right for dancing and neither was the atmosphere.
I decided to head for the bar; I had nothing better to do. I plopped down on one of the bar stools but stood right back up to adjust my pants so they didn’t show my lacey underwear, then I reseated myself. The man behind the counter came towards me. His eyes flicked down my body and came back up to my face. He looked into my eyes with his pure black ones. Vampire. A mix of vampires and lucky humans made up the group of people that came to Las Noches. By lucky humans I mean humans that were either liked or loved by vampires, or were fledglings of vampires. You could usually tell the difference between the two by their eye color. Vampire’s eyes are usually black, unless they’ve recently fed. Vampires are also a lot paler than normal people.
“What can I get you?” the bartender asked.
“Ummm. . . A Corona . . . Light.” I replied. I was in the mood for a beer at the moment. He smiled at me and turned away to get the drink. I spun around on the stool and looked around. I was already incredibly bored. I just wanted to go home and go back to sleep. I turned back around to see a bottle of Corona waiting for me, top off and ready to drink. I waved over the bartender and asked if I could have a glass and a dish of lime. He smiled and turned around to fetch the glass. He wiped it off with a cloth and set it down in front of me. He quickly returned with the slices of limes.
“Here you go.” he said
“Thank you.” I took one of the lime slices and carefully squeezed it over the opening of the bottle. Then when there was no more juice to be squeezed from the lime I stuffed it down the neck of the bottle until it fell into the liquid. I learned this lime squeezing thing from my father. He would very rarely drink but when he did he would always use the lime trick. I didn’t know anything of my father now. I hadn’t seen him since I had been changed two years ago. I ran away scarred of what would happen if my parents found out that I was a vampire. I didn’t want them to be scarred of me, their own daughter. So I ran and I stayed with Stephanie and the others.
The bartender had not taken his eyes off me and was now grinning with amusement. I brought the bottle to my lips and drank deeply. I didn’t stop until I had finished the whole bottle. I set the empty bottle back on the counter and asked for another. He brought another out. I took it from him, ripped off the top and again finished the drink with out stopping. I nodded for another and again he brought out another. I opened it and turned around this time to look around at what was going on while I drank. Nothing could have changed much. I decided to sing along quietly to the last chorus of the song. I saw Stephanie talking with the man she had been eyeing a while ago when we first arrived. I wondered what they were talking about, and would I talk to anyone tonight or would I just be my normal shy self. I quickly finished the drink I had in my hand and turned back around having decided that I was going to at least make an attempt to try and talk to someone tonight. Just to make it a little less boring. I set the now third empty bottle on the bar and looked up to see the bartended grinning with amusement.
“What?” I asked.
“I just don’t see women drink three straight beers very often. Rough day?”
“Nope, just boredom.” I replied, smiling.
He turned away for a minute and grabbed a few things off the counter in the back and then came back and set two shot glasses and a large bottle of blood red liquid on the bar. I knew that that bottle had to be blood mixed with some kind of hard liquor in it. He filled the tiny glasses and held one out to me. I shook my head and said
“No thanks.”
“You look parched.”
I looked into the tiny glass and could just make out my reflection. My eyes were as black as night. I was a bit thirsty, so I grabbed the shot glass and quickly swallowed all the liquid. I could taste the blood first, and then I tasted the alcohol. I set the glass down in front of me and the bartender filled up the small cup again. I quickly downed the 2nd shot. I could drink all I wanted; it didn’t affect me at all, being a vampire. I started to think about how much money I was drinking up. The alcohol didn’t affect me near as much as it affected my wallet. I decided to stop; I was only doing it because I was bored so there was no reason to continue. Besides I was going to run out of money if I kept ordering drinks, I might already be out of money. I reached into my pocket to get out the ten dollars I brought but a hand slapped a 20 down on the bar before I could. I whirled around to see who was behind me and found myself staring right into Adam’s red eyes. I jumped back and nearly fell off the stool (people just had to keep scaring me today). Adam straightened and smiled then said
“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to frighten you like that.”
“It’s okay, I just wasn’t expecting you.”
Adam was one of my best friends, and a vampire who I was very fond of. He was in his normal outfit; black shirt, black pants, checkered Vans, and a spike bracelet. As usual his straight brown hair was in front of his face, but it had gotten a lot longer since I had seen him last. It reached the brim of his nose now. I first met Adam here at Las Noches a few years ago. I was instantly attracted to him and we soon became friends. Whenever Stephanie and I would come to Las Noches he always seemed to be there be there. Then, suddenly, I didn’t see him for a long time. I didn’t even hear from him. It was like he had disappeared, and I hadn’t seen him until now, which would be about a year later. I mostly remembered his eyes. Adam could change his eye color at will, which was a special thing because regular vampires can’t do that. And he had an eye color that no other person, human or vampire, had; red. I loved his red eyes. I could get lost in them.
I launched myself forward and threw my arms around him in a hug. He reached his own arms around my back and hugged me tight. I was so happy to see him. When we finally released each other he held my shoulders and said
“I haven’t seen you in so long.”
I shook my red bangs out of my eyes and replied “I know. So how have you been?”
He smiled and sat down on the stool next to me. “I was away on personal reasons.”
“Psycho ex?” I replied.
He smiled back and said “No, worse. Mother.”
“Oh, well let’s not delve into that. I’m glad you’re back. I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed you too. I have been coming back here expecting to see you but you have never been here.”
“Oh yeah, me and Steph haven’t come here in a long time.”
“I feared the worst.”
I felt so happy and tingly because he had thought about me. It was like I was a little girl meeting a hot rock star - ‘he said my name’. He worried about me, no better he feared for me. I could die. Ok pull it together girlie, you’re about to faint in front of him.
“Really, I’m so sorry, don’t worry about me and Steph, we can fend for ourselves.”
He looked out into the room and said “Oh I know that’s true.” He tuned back to me and stared at me for a long time. All I could do was smile. I had missed him so much. He was so nice, easy to talk to, he was ******** hot, fun, laid back . . . and hot. He continued to stare at me. I couldn’t stand his oh so wonderful, penetrating stare. I broke away from his mesmerizing eyes and turned around on my stool just to push all the empty beer bottles away from me. I was such a loser. I stopped looking at the guy who I wanted to be with for eternity to push my shameful boredom away from me? I couldn’t believe he liked me. He turned around in his seat and eyes the 3 empty bottles and the red filled shot glass. He looked at me and raised and eyebrow, hen said
“Drinking are we?”
I looked around nervously. Was he going to lecture me on drinking or something? He’s a vampire like me; he knows regular alcohol doesn’t affect us. Why was he asking me? I struggled for a clam answer.
“Yes, why do you ask? Oh and thank you for paying. That was very nice of you.”
His mouth curled in a grin. He seemed to be very amused
“No problem, anytime. Oh and don’t worry I’m not going to lecture you on drinking.” He said with a smirk.
He must have heard my thoughts. Not surprising.
Whew. I let out a sigh of relief. I shouldn’t have gotten so worked up. Adam was still staring at me and he was still smirking. Why was he looking at me? Did I have something on my face? I couldn’t stand people staring at me because it made me conscious and I’m usually not like that.
“What are you looking at!?” I snapped
“You.” he replied calmly.
“Why?” I couldn’t help the awkward question from spewing out of my lips “Do I have something on my face?” I wiped at my face trying to remove the unknown object. Adam’s hand reached up and pulled my hand away from my cheek and set it on my lap.
“You don’t have anything on your face. I’m just looking at you. You have striking features.”
“Really?” I said uncertainly. “Um . . . thank you?”
“Your welcome.” He leaned towards me. “Your features intrigue me. I could stare at you all day.” He brought his hand up to my face and looked me right into me with those pools of lava that burned through me. “Like your bottom lip, it’s so perfectly sculpted with a bit of a plump pout to it.,” He slid his thumb over my lip. I couldn’t help but smile. “And your cheeks are perfect, not to sharp but not to covered, and so soft.” Adam’s fingers slowly ran down my cheek. His touch was feather light, caressing. I felt blood rushing to my face, making my cheeks flush with color. He continued talking despite my embarrassment. “And your eyes. . .” Somehow his eyes seemed to hypnotize me even more than they already were. How can he do this to me? I have more will power than this! I couldn’t help but think about all the stuff I wanted to do to him and I know he must have heard me because he kept caressing my face and started dragging his lips over the back of my hand. This only escalated the thoughts. I somehow managed to hear the song that was now starting to play above us and used it as my plan of escape.
“Oh my god!”
“What is it? Did I hurt you?” Adam said startled.
“No. I love this song.”
“You know it? Adam said amazed. After all he was like the all knowing metal head guy. He loved metal and every thing about it. He knew all the bands, the lyrics, the guitar riffs. He even knew bands that were made maybe two days ago.
“Of course I know it! Ramrod by Gutted with broken glass. You let me listen to it.”
“Oh of course, I forgot.”
The pre-dialogue part of the song started to play and me and Adam repeated it together.
“I want a goddamn liter of cola!”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“Liter is French for gimme some ********’ cola before I break both your ********’ legs!” The song roared in and punched through me. I laughed. I laughed because I could remember the first time Adam had let me listen to that song; I thought the talking in the beginning was the greatest thing I’ve ever heard. I looked back at Adam and he was smiling again. This was starting to tick me off. What the hell was he staring at me for? I know he thinks I’m pretty but it’s creeping me out. As soon as I thought that he flooded my mind with his thoughts and images. I knew I could break out of his mind if I wanted to but the truth is that I really didn’t want to. While I was getting drunk off his thoughts he picked me up off my stool and set me on his lap. He held his hand up to the back of my neck and pulled me forward to kiss me. His lips met mine so tenderly. I could have melted. He pushed me off of him and I looked at him confused. I could tell that as much as he didn’t want to push me off he had something even better planed and he gave me a mischievous look. I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the hall.
As soon as we were in the darkness of the hallway he pushed me back against he wall and started sucking on my neck. My knees felt like they were going to give out. I grabbed fistfuls of his black shirt and pushed him backwards into one of the big black doors. I kicked it open, thankful there was no one inside, and pushed him backwards into the room. He tripped over the threshold and fell on his back pulling me down on top of him. He looked at me, but this time it seemed like he was the one who was hypnotized by the other person. He put his arm over my back, holding me to him and kissed me again with a passion I never thought he had. He started kissing my neck, my shoulders. I would have stayed in the room with him all night, but I heard screaming coming from the main room. I lifted my head to the sound and scrambled off Adam. I rose to my feet and Adam looked up at me with longing and confusion, then he to snapped out of his lust state and looked toward the door like a dog who hears an intruder.
I ran out of the room to the main area and saw everyone moving away from the seating area. The humans were trying to reach the door but all the vampires were just calmly waiting against the wall. I looked up above all the chairs and saw Stephanie with huge black raven wings hovering in the air. The man I had seen her eyeing earlier was limp in her arms and Stephanie was feeding savagely on his neck. It wasn’t uncommon for a vampire to drain a human of all their blood but to do it in a public place was not a smart, especially in the presence of humans and vampires. Humans would freak out and vampires might be triggered by the blood to attack others. Stephanie’s eyes were light purple, which meant she desperately needed to feed. I remembered her eyes were black when we came in but I didn’t think she needed blood bad enough to attack someone. Adam came out off the room and stopped at my side and looked up at Steph.
“What’s happened to her?” he said nervously.
“She gets like this when she has to feed. She’ll attack anyone.” I said quickly.
Some of the humans were trying to push past us for the door. The vampires were still leaning against the wall talking casually of staring up at Stephanie with interest, clearly not scared. I looked at Adam and said
“I have to get her down. Throw me to her.” then I shifted to my second form, a full grown brown king cobra, and slithered to his feet. He gently picked me up in his hands and hurled me though the air towards Stephanie. My thin body hit her in the shoulder and I quickly wrapped myself around her neck. She did not even notice me in her blood thirsty trance. I saw her mouth over the man’s neck, blood flowing over her lips and spilling over her chin. The smell of fresh blood was almost intoxicating but I had to hold myself together. I started to talk to her with my mind
“Stephanie, it’s me Tess. Don’t do this, let him go, Ill take you home and you can have something there.”
Her eyes went back to black partially because she had already satisfied some of her thirst and partially because I was getting through to her. She released her mouth from the man’s neck and looked straight ahead.
“Come on Steph lets just go home.”
Oh the smell of sweet hot blood pouring from neck would was making me so thirsty. I had to keep focusing on what I was doing so we could get home. She loosened her death grip on him and he slipped out of her arms. His body landed on the floor with a sickening thud. He would live, the lucky b*****d. Even though Stephanie had taken a lot of blood, he would be fine. Stephanie let her arms fall to her sides, but she still looked hypnotized. She slowly started to sink out of the air, like someone was lowering her with a harness. I slithered off her and dropped to the ground then changed to my human form again. I held my arms out to catch her with and she slowly drifted down and settled in my arms like a sleeping child, her wings dissolving into her back between her shoulder blades. She closed her eyes and I heard her voice in my mind say softly
“Take me home.”
I carried her towards the hall where Adam was still standing.
“I’, sorry.”
“I understand.”
“I guess I’ll see you around?”
He nodded and stepped aside to let me pass. I walked down the hallway with Stephanie towards the door and didn’t look back. I had to get her home before she could attack again. I pushed open the door and stepped out into the moonlight. I sat down on the steps outside the door and helped Stephanie sit up. I held her head to my neck and put her mouth to my pulse and she fed.



ya i know its a peice of crap