Chapter 6: Dinner

The saloon I was expecting was not the saloon I saw. From the outside, the saloon looked much in the same way any of the other buildings did. Except bright glowing pink and blue, and green lights spelled out the saloon’s name and spilled across the street, illuminating a theater that was equally packed with people waiting for the latest show.

I stood far and away in the shadows watching from under a wide brimmed hat, eyes drifting from one side of the street to the other. Cigarette smoke wafted around us as I exhaled a small cloud of the stuff. Caleb had parked a few blocks away like I asked and we walked the rest of the way. He kept looking back toward his wagon as if he were worried about it. The man fidgeted with his fingers, pacing back and forth like a fledgling on their first assignment. His chest rose and fell in an unnatural way, telling me that he was wasting blood.

“Stop,” I ordered.

He wheeled around to face me and nodded. “Sorry. It's just…” he took a deep breath, and then let it out. “I’ve never done this before.”

“Don't waste your energy breathing. It’ll only make you hungry.”

Caleb held his thumb out in acknowledgement, nodding. “Which place is it?”

Both of them had lines to get into and different groups of people wanting to go inside them. From families and couples to the theater, to drunks barely hanging onto consciousness by a thread. It was obvious to me. I threw the cigarette on the ground and squashed it into the concrete, having lit it a few minutes ago to make it look like Caleb and I were just talking if any passerby happened to look our way.

“Our benefactor said saloon, not theatre, so I am going to defer the decision to you.”

He blinked his red eyes. “Um. You tell me.”

I shook my head and waved a hand in the direction of the buildings. “This is about you, Caleb. All I am here to do is observe and save your corpse if you get into trouble.”

He turned toward them, wringing his hands together. Caleb tapped a foot on the ground as if he were nervous, his chest moving ever so slightly while he whispered nonsense to himself. Then glanced to the side at nothing and whispered, “What do you think?” His voice was quiet enough I barely heard it.

I acted as if I didn't and kept watch for anyone approaching. it was good I did, because I saw an automobile shift from one side of the road all the way across to ours. It was a truly old automobile with boat-like styling and a mouth for a grill. The machine rumbled towards us like the its was alive. Sticking right out from the center of the hood was something akin to a flattened bucket with a flap on it. A belt and pulley attached to the bucket were being spun by the engine underneath the hood. I couldn't see through the windows thanks to them looking like someone had painted them black all the way around.

Caleb didn't notice the vehicle’s approach because he was muttering a one-sided conversation with someone I couldn't hear, flipping his fingers from one building to the next.

The automobile's flat grey paint absorbed the light on its approach, making it look like a cloud of fog on the ground. It stopped right next to us when the driver's door came close. All I saw was my distorted reflection staring back at me just before the window rolled down and a soft red glow illuminated the oval face of a woman I didn't recognize. She wore some type of drab green military jacket with basic, round glasses over her nose. Her grin showed off near perfect human teeth, yet it felt like the cold gaze of someone thinking they had caught prey in their sights.

Caleb spun around to face the automobile once he heard the engine grumbling like a horse trotting down the road with each gasping breath. I thought perhaps the thing would die on the spot until the driver gave it a light tap of the throttle, shaking the beast with a twitch.

“Oh! Hello,” Caleb said flatly.

The woman’s short cut hair looked quite odd to me, as if she were trying to look like a man. “Little tip,” she began, her voice light, yet slightly deep, blue eyes looking right at me through her glasses. “If you're trying to blend in, don't dress like you're going to a steampunk convention.”

I cocked my head at her reply, fingers tapping against my hip as I hummed. “Steampunk...?”

She chuckled to herself. “You must be C Company. I was told you’d be around tonight.”

I didn't know what she meant at first, and then it hit me. The fact that she came over and didn't ask what we were doing meant she knew more than she let on, which meant that my sire likely told her about us. Unless, she deduced it from me just standing there. Which could be just as bad. My clothes stood out far more than I anticipated. I looked down at my mourning dress before looking at the woman. “I take it you, being the fine upstanding citizen you are, know who I am and who my associate is?”

The woman nodded, her heart steadily thumping away as if it were an everyday occurrence to speak with a vampire. Which meant she was a vampire’s retainer. A mortal servant much like Amelia was.

Caleb blinked and opened his mouth to speak, but I held my hand out for silence, which he thankfully obliged.

“Then may I humbly request a ride?” I asked.

“You may, but I have to decline on account of only having one seat.” She threw a thumb to her right where the interior of the automobile looked like part of a tiny bedroom, complete with drapes to cover the windows, and even a fridge behind the driver’s seat. It wasn't hard to imagine the machine as the woman’s home and brought back memories of living on the trail with my sire and Amelia until we decided to found Encinar with the mortals. The woman pointed down the road toward the brightly illuminated saloon, adding, “Head into the alley before you reach the club. I’ll be waiting in the garage.”

The woman rolled her window up without waiting for a reply and drove off, her car’s engine gurgling deep as it accelerated away from us.

I turned to Caleb, waving for him to take the lead. He walked ahead while I followed close behind, my boots clacking against the concrete with each step while his were silent. I didn't mind, because I was used to drawing attention with my appearance. We followed her directions and turned where she turned. I watched her rumble down the narrow alley that was barely big enough to fit her boat in. Then she turned into an open barn door on the side of the building and it swallowed the vehicle.

Caleb and I walked toward the door without exchanging glances, but I could tell by his gaze on the ground that he wasn't sure what to do. Yet, his steps were firm and pulled him forward at a pace I struggled to keep up with without turning it into a jog. I kept my mouth shut, wanting to see how he performed without my input on a job. I would fade into the background if necessary unless like the retainer said, I’d stick out in the crowd.

Then why did my sire tell me to dress sharp?

I shook my head, following Caleb into the garage where the mortal was already waiting. She pressed a button and a heavy door began unrolling itself to seal us in. Her garage had enough lighting to feel like I just stepped into the sun and squinted my eyes to see her waiting at another door further in.

She opened it, waving for us to follow and walked into a narrow corridor where loud music thumped through the walls, sending a shockwave throughout my body with each reverberating slam. Once, twice, thrice in slow motion and then it sped up, followed again by slowing down for five or six beats and then speeding up again. An odd choice to do. And one I wanted to stay and listen to, because I never imagined music could sound so strange as if it weren't coming from instruments.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

With Caleb and the mortal walking ahead and not paying attention to me, I slipped into the shadows and my heart thumped once to let them engulf me in a protective embrace. My footsteps were silent as I followed the thunderous thumping to a stage where a mortal with headphones stood over a table, one hand waving in the air like he was twirling a lasso, and the other fiddling with the strange table. He dressed in an open button down shirt exposing his glistening chest in the dim light as colored beams swept over the stage and crowd in a fog filled hunting ground.

It certainly looked like city cowboys to me as the writhing crowd cheered and jumped around with glowing sticks to the beat. Some mortals sang to the lyrics of a man asking how it feels to treat them in a certain way.

Almost like a mortal wrote a song asking a vampire what it was like for the vampire to treat them like the blood sacks they were. The mortal crowd sounded like a sloshed chorus as they cheered with the lyrics. All of their hearts pounded in their chests and pulled harder and harder against the hunger aching in my fangs.

I stepped forward into the shadows leading toward the crowd, but a nagging feeling gnawed at the back of my mind. My sire entrusted me with a task to root out unruly patrons at the establishment and yet, I didn't see any in the crowd of oddly dressed people.

My fangs ached like daggers to my skull as I looked out over the crowd, listening to the thumping and the singer wanting to know what happened to the mortals who came before.

Dead. That's what. They either died or didn't resist and were let go.

The hunger pulled me away from the wall and into the writhing mass of mortals where their warm bodies pressed against my cold, dead from. I let myself reappear and followed the sea of people. They pushed me one way, then another as I slipped from an outsider’s sight. The crowd’s cheering and chanting drowned out my thoughts as I walked by mortals wearing glowing bracelets and necklaces in all colors of the rainbow. A man bumped his hip into me, shoving my body away from him to a group of mortal women with their arms around each other. Their dance couldn't really be called a dance, but more of a shuffle as one mortal glided across the floor with strange steps. None of them were dressed like I was, and neither did they have much covering them.

I found no suitable target to slake my thirst from within that group. Movement caught my eye as one elf fed another elf some type of oddly colored pill. Two of the other mortals were quite hands on with each other as their bodies bumped and ground with their movements in ways that would make feelings tingle in my groin if I was mortal. But nothing came of it beyond a yearning to hold Amelia close.

Their pulsing hearts sent blood coursing through their mortal forms with each step. Laughter filled the air before the music overpowered it. A brunette human woman leaned in and kissed a dark-green haired half-elf’s neck in a sensual way as if she was going for a bite, but there were no fangs coming from either of the two mortals.

I looked away to give them space.

Amelia and I were never allowed such a public display, and neither could I ever see myself doing it. At least before the other day. If those two women could play bite in public, then no one would mind if I grabbed a mortal and took a sip to slake my hunger.

I reached for the nearest mortal: a thin half-elf man with trousers too large for his legs. A shirt that barely covered his chest, completely exposing his neck and arms. Even his stomach.

I licked my fangs in anticipation as my hand grabbed his shoulder and spun the half-elf to face me. His drunken smile was all I needed to know as his short hair flailed around along with long glowing earrings. He’d do perfect, because he won't remember once I was done. I pulled the hat off and moved in for the bite.

He pushed his hand against my chest, stopping me before I got too close. “Are you lost?” he asked in a heavy voice compared to his lanky, near skeletal frame, heart pounding in his chest.

“I’m right where I want to be,” I replied. My voice barely carried over the music. The man turned his head a bit, holding his ear in a gesture that said he didn't hear it. I repeated it.

The half-elf blinked at me.

My eyes drifted to his chest where a pair of breasts stood out underneath his short shirt. “Wait, are you a man or a woman?” I asked right as another mortal fell in between us, got up, and wandered back into the crowd.

My would be dinner shrugged, his drunken smile turning into a grin. “Yes!”

“Huh?” I stepped back from the person.

“It doesn't matter what you call me, because I’m neither, but also both.”

That makes absolutely no sense, but whatever. I need food.

They twirled a set of multi-colored lights around their hands, pulling them close before grabbing them. The person looked around for a moment, chuckling nervously, their turquoise eyes right on my open mouth where the hunger caused my fangs to show themselves without prompting. Any mortal foolish enough to look my way would see them.

"You're a vampire, right? Like an actual one?” they asked.

I nodded, as it was obvious to anyone who looked at me.

“Cool!” The half-elf looked at their string lights, then me, and back to the lights. “Wanna see a trick?” They let the lights drop and swung them side to side slightly. They didn’t wait and pulled the lights even closer to their hands, twirling them around in an awkward pattern at first until the bulbs became a rainbow butterfly trailing around in the dark.

There was an easy target right there just begging to be bitten, but I fought the urge to rip into their neck. My hands shook as I let out a soft whine more akin to a hiss than a dignified vampire. A sound which would be embarrassing if there were any vampires around, but the mortals didn’t notice it over the music.

“I… I’m hungry,” I said, hand reaching for the drunk half-elf again. “And your neck looks tasty.”

The blood sack’s turquoise eyes widened when they realized what I meant. The fancy lights clattered to the ground, so they picked them up and glanced around for a few moments while people danced around us. I expected the half-elf to run and prepared myself to give chase by digging my shoes into the floor. They brought their hands close to their chest instead and laughed nervously again, rubbing their neck.

“Y-you think so?” Dinner asked.

“Excruciatingly so. My fangs ache in anticipation of such fine cuisine. My head throbs with a burning hunger I cannot escape, telling me to grab your shoulders and pull you into an embrace you'll never forget.”

The mortal’s cheeks flushed red as they looked off to the side for a moment, reminding me of how Amelia looked when I first told her what I thought of her blood. Dinner took a deep breath, let it out, then took another one and nodded faintly. “Okay… Wanna, like. Talk first?” they asked. Dinner's eyes had an odd look to them as they scanned the room. I couldn't tell if it was sadness that crossed their face, or recognition about something, because they looked up at the dark ceiling and then at me again.

“We could.” I inclined my head to one side, blinking at the mortal. “But I cannot guarantee how long I will last with this hunger. There's so many mortals, so many hearts thundering in my head. I cannot think of anything, but the beast and she cannot come out here. Mortals. Will. Die. However, with but a taste of your blood... you'll save them.”

Dinner’s warm hand grabbed mine and pulled me through the throng of warm bodies. I followed, letting them lead the way toward a bar filled with people and tables spread out across the main floor. Mortals conversed amongst themselves as the music became bearable, having changed to another song entirely that was nothing but drums and noises with no true lyrics. The half-elf led me to a dark corner away from the bulk where they pulled me onto a squeaky, plush seat feeling like it was made of a strange material that was decidedly not leather. Dinner shuffled away, set their lights on the table and then looked into my eyes.

“What do you want to talk about?” I asked, shuffling around until my dress wasn't pulled in all directions.

“Well, first. Why me? There’s, like, hella people here and you coulda picked anyone!”

To be honest, I didn’t have an answer for Dinner, and I said as much. Out of everyone there, they looked alone and appeared to be having a blast by themself. A perfect snack to take the edge off.

This made Dinner nod slowly and look at their hands for a moment. They giggled to themself before shaking their head. “I thought it was a dream, but it feels like things are going the way I saw.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve seen this in a dream. This very room, you, the song, and it ends with me dying.”

“I haven’t... killed anyone through feeding in a long, long time.” I tried to reassure Dinner by showing them the rosary beads I kept on my person. The hunger ached to drain them dry and leave not a single drop within the lanky half-elf and then find the nearest vampire for the main course. Mortals were tasty and filling, but she wanted vampire blood.

Dinner likely picked up on what I meant, because they sighed and shook their head. They shuffled closer to me as if we were partners and brushed their hip against mine. Dinner’s veins were visible just below the surface and their rapidly beating heart pumped piping hot blood throughout their body.

“Are you starving? You’re looking at me funny.”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s get this over with.” Dinner sighed heavily, nodding to themself as their fear was almost overpowering their heart. And yet, they remained as calm as a corpse on the outside.

“I’m going to just take a sip, understand? Enough to slake my hunger, but nothing more.”

“It was fun while it lasted, I suppose.” Dinner nodded once more.

I leaned in, opening my mouth wide as I pulled Dinner’s neck close.

They covered their mouth with a hand and closed their eyes, breathing finally matching their heart rate.

My fangs yearned for Dinner to the point my hands trembled in anticipation once again. Just a simple move and I’d be sated for the rest of the night and content. I would be filled with joy while they lay passed out. Even though I wanted to bite down, my mind screamed at me to look around, because something didn’t feel right about the situation. Dinner was all too calm about the prospect of dying.

I stole a glance over my shoulder and didn’t see anyone standing there with a camera, but again, it felt like I was being watched by someone hidden. Someone in the crowd perhaps, but the people at the bar weren’t looking my way, nor was anyone at the tables. However, as the barkeep scooped up an empty tumbler, they lifted it in a way that let their eyes linger in my direction.

The barkeep acting like that meant they spotted me. Likely because I was dressed in a style that stuck out like a rusty nail.

As much as it pained my beast to do so, I focused on the moment and myself. A short breath here, closing my eyes there. My sire would not like it if I killed a mortal so soon in such a public place, and I had to make sure I didn't look like a fledgling when I took over the council again. Losing control of my hunger that fast, even after so long in torpor, would make me look like a fool to the others. I reluctantly pushed Dinner from my grasp and turned away from them.

“Go home, Dinner. Live another day.”

“Are you sure?” Dinner asked in confusion.

I stared at the dark table so I wasn’t tempted to drain them dry. My beast wanted to. She was hungry, she was sulking there close to my fangs waiting for the opportune moment to take over and kill every last mortal in the room until she found a vampire to latch onto, and drain them dry, too. I had to find another way to appease her. She shouldn't be at the point she was.

Dinner didn’t need any further words to leave me wasting away on the bench like a beggar. I saved their life at the cost of looking like a complete buffoon in front of an entire saloon. What a way to awaken the beast.