Bait

I wasn’t too surprised when the lawyer turned out to be a vampire. I mean I already knew he was a different type of vampire; one who would suck away all your life savings. So when the real fangs came out, I didn’t waste any time in grabbing the nearest lamp and smashing it on his head. They talk about vampires being “allergic” to garlic or sliver depending on who you’re talking to. This one was allergic to fire. Go figure. He was only the second vampire I had ever killed. The first was the reason I had needed a lawyer.

The first two I can say were by accident; all that followed, I assure you were with burning purpose.

I followed the vampire into the subtle alley between the strip club and twenty four hour dinner, already knowing his destination. Sure enough he made his way to what looked like the club’s back door and stalked inside in the fashion of the damned. Couldn’t they pick more creative hang outs? It was the third time I had been to this particular hotspot this week. I trudged along to the concrete door and opened it gently. The warm air of the club hit me with enough force to make a normal person flinch. I slipped off the knee length leather trench and hung it on the rack, before approaching the next door.

I wouldn’t even have considered parting with the trench and its plethora of weapons if my Goth-girl outfit wasn’t stalked with enough firepower for the entire club.

I took a breath and opened the shitty door. To a fly on the wall it looked like just my scene, this was one of the more popular underground Goth clubs in Manhattan. But in truth it wasn’t. I wouldn’t dress like this if I had the choice. I spotted the parasite I had followed here with a girl in a corset and not much else. I guess not much class comes from a prolonged life.

The difficult part would be to get him away from her. This would be especially hard because it looked like he would get luck tonight. I just had to offer a sweeter deal. Then I would kill him.
I sat down at the bar and asked for absinth. I wouldn’t drink it but I had to look like I was blending in. When I ordered it, it came out with some of those dyed cherries. “Thanks” I smiled at Rocky. He knew I loved them. But he didn’t know what I was here for.

“Hey hotstuff,” some guy slid into the seat next to me, “want to dance?”

“Tempting” I told him, flashing that dazzling smile and whipping my hair back flirtatiously “but no.” Icky. Not tempting at all. Repulsive. But I wasn’t going to tell him that. If I was going to get the vampire’s attention, I would have to get half the club’s first. He walked away, but I knew he would watch me later, along with the next guys who I rejected.

I turned my attention back to Rocky, and I knew he could see something was troubling me. But he didn’t ask. He never did.

“How’s the business?” I ask him. And he knows I’m talking about his other job.

“Great. We showed Queen of the Damned and it completely sold out.” Rocky got his nickname from ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ because he showed movies in his old little theatre. Rocky wasn’t too bad, and he never hit on me, I had even gone to a few viewings at his theatre. “Give me a shout if you need more cherries.” He wondered off.

Another boy who looked like he had his face dipped in a cast of iron, asked me to the dance floor. I gave him the same flirt and reject routine as I had the other guy. Two more guys came over. But by the way this were progressing with vamp and corset girl, I didn’t have much time. I resolved to dance with the next guy who asked me; otherwise I would be battling a full vampire over corset girl’s mangled corpse.

I turned around faced the dance floor, scanning the room tossing my hair. The door opened again, and a guy with too much eyeliner and giant boots that reached to his knees. He had the cliché leather pants and red silky top. He looked like he was trying too hard to be Goth. As if in some bad movie, vamp-boy, who had been practically doing corset girl, turned and stared directly at the newcomer. Perfect.

The new guy just looked like he wanted to party. I caught his eye, and gave him a smoldering expression. His expression remained irritatingly neutral for half of the time it took him to get to my seat. The other half of the time he looked predatory, like he thought he knew what I wanted.
“What’s your name?” he asked me. Not very creative, but then he didn’t have to be.

“Riley,” the word rolled off my tongue like a lover’s.

“Cain,” he bent to kiss my hand, like any respectable Goth boy and whispered in my ear, “Would you like to dance?”

If it weren’t for the Goth garb, it might even have been sexy. “Oh yes.” I led him to the dance floor where some upbeat song was moaning, not breaking eye contact. The trick was to pay all my attention on him and trust everyone to be watching. At the critical moment, I would break contact and look directly into the eyes of the vampire. If this worked I would be bringing the unsuspecting vamp “home” with me, where I could kill it without attracting too much attention. In the meantime, I had a show to put on.

I busted out every move that I could and flipped my short hair around enough that it was tasseled enough to bare my neck. All the while, my eyes never left Cain’s and I drank in his arousal, adding it to my dance. He was an excellent dancer, and I mimicked some of his movements. The song was almost over, and I wanted to end dramatically. I felt the presence of the vampire still to my right, it hadn’t moved since the dance began, and arranged myself strategically.

On the last notes of the song, I brushed my lips against Cain’s and pressed into a full on, open mouthed kiss. He was just the perfect height, a few inches taller than me, but not enough that I had strain my neck. On the very last beat of the song, my eyes locked with the vampire, and I could tell that corset-girl was forgotten.

Cain continued to kiss me, just like that, in the middle of the dance floor. Actually it wasn’t all that bad. He was probably the best kisser I had had to kiss, and at this range it was hard to remember that he was Goth. In the end, I had to remind myself that he voluntarily hung out with vampires and Goths.

I pulled away breathlessly; his lips were covered in my blood red lipstick. “I wish we could continue this,” I said in my most regretful voice, “but I have to go now.”

He looked confused, “but don’t you want to continue what we started?” this one was really full of himself wasn’t he?

“I can’t tonight, because I really have to leave.” I looked at him under my lashes, “I guess I’ll just have to see you again.” I plugged my number into his phone, and he promised to call me. He probably would too.

I waved to Rocky and left, grabbing my trench as I went. The abrupt leaving was all part of luring the vamp out of there. With a performance like that, I was his prey now. And he wouldn’t stop until I was dead.

I left my trench open enough that my black mesh skirt and my red bodice were in full view, and rushed into the night. I had to bring him to a place that I hadn’t lured a vamp to in the last month, or he would smell him and get suspicious. Preferably somewhere deserted. I rounded a corner, and spotted a rundown apartment building. Perfect. I hadn’t used this place in about six weeks.
I jumped over the fence, and busted through the door. The vamp wasn’t close enough to see me, but I knew he would be on my trail in minutes. I primed my silencer, the beauty of a prize I had taken form the last guy who had tried to rob me, and attached it to my forty millimeter browning. I came to an apartment that looked abandoned and broke in. this is where the vampire would find me; in my own “home” supposedly at my weakest. This was going to be great.

I could feel a vampire presence in the hallway, so I sat down on a dusty couch and let out a little sigh like I was discontent. A moment later I heard a knock and I knew he was outside the door. He wanted to play with me first. He wanted to watch my expression of violation, as he stepped into “my” home.

I met him at the door with a flirtatious smile. “I wanted you so badly at the club,” I told him. And before he could react, I brought my lips up to meet his. A second after his surprised lips parted, I shot him through the heart with the browning.

He exploded in flames, and was ashes before you could say “look at that guy on fire.” Another parasite rid of the world. Another damned returned to hell. I had done my job.

A second figure stood in the doorway, his face in shadow. “I can see now why you left so abruptly.” Cain stepped into the light, “I just needed to see it for myself.”

“I don’t understand.” I told him. Had he seen me incarcerate the Vampire? If so, why wasn’t he screaming? It just didn’t add up.

“Yes you do.” He inched forward until he was close enough to touch, “you are a hunter. Everything about you is designed oh so carefully in order to lure vampires. Your hair is just long enough to cover the veins in your neck, but when it gets a bit tousled your sweet veins are exposed. Your words are your own; an American accent, with just enough of something else to intrigue those vampires who preceded this country. You hunt with such precision, incapacitating in the only entirely effective way; infatuation. Do you have any idea how sexy this makes you?”

Cain knew about Vampires? Cain knew that I hunted Vampires? Is that why he followed me?

He pulled me in close and whispered into my ear, “I had a tip there was a hunter in the area and when I got to the club, your jacket was filled with Vampire killing devices. Then it was only a matter of following your sent. I didn’t expect to find you so enthralling.”

“Why would it matter to you unless you’re…” I trailed off. “But you aren’t. I mean you can’t be…”

“I am a vampire. The very thing you are trying so desperately to hunt into extinction.”