April 2nd, 2019 at 06:26am
Brian sat in the back of the bar, swirling a wine glass that was halfway filled with a viscous red liquid. He hadn’t even taken one sip of the sweet drink, he was to deep in thought, his mind racing. He had just recently woken up, crawling out of a coffin deep in a mausoleum that resided in a cemetery about thirty minutes from where he sat now. The last thing he remembered before he entered, what he thought would be, his eternal sleep, was a deep sadness, one that had completely consumed him. He had hoped that by confining himself in that place of rest that he was sealing his fate, but here he was now. Awoken three-hundred years later by the only friend he had left.
He didn’t know when Matt had woken up, but it must’ve been a nice chunk of time before he had. His friend had enough time to take into his possession this little pub in a dark corner of New Orleans and all of the patrons here were just like they were; cursed to walk this gloomy world alone, forced to feed on whatever poor souls were misfortunate enough to cross their paths in the shadows.
Bringing the glass up to his lips, finally, Brian took a small sip, surprised to find the blood was still warm. His eyes glanced around the bar as he drank, feeling weird to just be sitting here in a room full of his kind, enjoying a fresh glass of blood like it was just an ordinary occurrence. He didn’t find peace or comfort here, it terrified him to think there were this many others who shared the same fate as he did. And here they were, enjoying themselves in this little safe haven where they could feel free to be who they were, but Brian couldn’t believe it. This was to good to be true. He was from a time where he remembered having to hide in the shadows for fear of being staked through the heart, having to search the sewers for rats to sustain him. But here, just a couple of centuries later and vampires weren’t afraid of humans anymore. They prowled the streets during the night and even though they weren’t proven to exist, they were the focal point of fantasy. People fantasized about them, wanted to be them… And that was only proven here in this bar, because all around him, his own kind held starstruck boys and girls on their hips, feeding off of them here in the open.
Brian was having a horrible time trying to wrap his mind around all of this, trying to become comfortable with it. He couldn’t believe Matt was able to wake up and pull all of this together, creating a secret bar that catered specifically to the damned…. He did have to admit to himself that it was a nice change of pace. When he awoke because he heard Matt calling to him, he had been devastated that he was still alive. Terrified that once he crawled out of that stone encasement that he would be going back to the way he had lived during the 18th century.
“You look so somber, sir...” Brian was pulled out of his thoughts by a young blonde boy, who looked sickly pale, but it wasn’t because he was a cursed one. This poor kid was something else, something that completely confused Brian. The boy was a volunteer, opting to be used and fed on by the vampires that took refuge here. There were many humans here that did just that job, where Matt was able to find them, Brian had no idea. He couldn’t believe humans in this day and age would actually offer themselves up like this. “Would you like a taste? It would be fresher than what you have in that glass.” The boy smirked, before tilted his head to one side, revealing the many bite marks that littered his neck, his pale skin bruised purple and red.
“No.” Brian shooed the boy away, feeling sick to his stomach. The idea completely sickened him. The young boy frowned, but listened to him and moved on to the next vampire he could offer himself up to.
Brian returned his attention to his drink, until a new scent captured his attention. He glanced up, looking in the direction of the aroma, which was at the entrance of the bar. Two young women had just entered the pub, looking a little perplexed, maybe even lost. They were both pale, but one had long pale blonde hair and the other girl’s face was framed by raven colored locks. One of them smelled absolutely captivating. Rising to his feet, Brian began to snake across the room, moving closer and closer to the pair of ladies. The closer he got, the more familiar they began to look and then instantly, it hit him. Nova and Emilia.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Brian turned away immediately and began to search the bar for Matt, he would never believe him. Out of all the loved ones and friends they had lost, those girls were the ones that broke Brian’s heart the most, especially his love, Nova. He had never forgiven himself for leaving her behind, but he knew it had been for the best. Staying with her would only have put her in danger, either he would’ve ended up hurting her, or other vampires would’ve. Could it truly be them? But how?
Brian found Matt behind the bar, dusting off bottles of bourbon and vodka, whistling to himself as he worked. He looked happy, like he had a spring in his step. Perhaps he had just indulged himself in one of the girls offering their blood for free. “Matt?” Brian grabbed his friend by the shoulder, his face paler than what was normal, and his eyes were wide, like he had just seen ghosts. He felt like he had. “Look over there.” He forced his friend to turn around and he pointed towards the entrance where the girls still stood.
Emilia had heard of this place from a flier she had seen posted downtown and it had seemed like a pretty cool, dark and edgy place to check out. The bar was called Last Drop and was hidden in a dark alley between old abandoned warehouses. Even though the bar was full of people, outside the bar had seemed like a ghost town and that had given Emilia a weird pit in her stomach and now that they were inside, well, let’s just say the pit was growing.
Every person in the bar seemed odd, most being paler than snow, some even a little gray, with deep, dark eyes. Waiters and waitresses that walked around with trays of drinks all looked sickly, like they were about to drop at any moment and now she was wondering why the bodyguard at the door had been looking at her and her friend like they were a fancy steak dinner.
“This place is weird...” Emilia whispered to her friend, Nova, as they stepped further into the bar. She knew the place marketed itself as a goth hangout, but this place had a very unsettling, eerie ambiance to it. And it seemed like all eyes were on them, every person they passed were looking at them like they weren’t supposed to be here. “Do you think we should go…?”
Emilia led the pair through the bar with an incredible ease, it seemed like the crowd was parting to let them through. Goosebumps popped up along Emilia’s arms and the hairs on the back of her neck started to stand up, she couldn’t help but think like maybe they might be in a little bit of danger here. Emilia grabbed Nova’s hand so she wouldn’t lose her, but also to help calm herself down a little bit as they walked up to the bar. She was already regretting coming here.