Vampire's Desire

Intro

Katie shut the front door behind her and gratefully kicked off her shoes. It had a been a long and busy Friday night working behind the bar. Her feet ached, and her skin felt like sweat and beer. Outside the short walk home had been blissfully cool compared to the humid, stuffy air behind the bar. Her ears rang from the loud music and her throat hurt from shouting at customers all night. What she needed, was a lovely hot bubble bath! Something to make her muscles relax, her skin clean and to smell good before she crawled into bed. She headed down the hall to her room and flicked on the light, to see Jingles curled up on the foot of the bed. He raised his head and welcomed her home with a meow and a yawn, stretched out a paw and waited for Katie to give him some love. 

"Hi sleepy head. Did you fall asleep on guard duty again?" asked Katie, scratching his black furry head. He purred with pleasure, looking forward to some affection, but it was short lived as Katie headed off to the bathroom to prepare for a good, relaxing soak in the bath. 

Steam rose from the bathtub and a lovely aroma of the strawberry and vanilla bath bomb surrounded her, as she swished cold water into the bath. The perfect temperature for the bath was necessary for the best immersion and stress relief. A few scented candles and the light from her bedroom provided a calming, soft ambience to the room. Dropping her towel, she tested the water with her toe, and it was almost perfect. She turned off the cold tap and settled down into the steamy bath, enjoying the immediate sense of relaxation. As her nervous system slowed down, and the heated water covered her body, her mind replayed the night, as it often did after a busy shift. She remembered some of the songs that played, the groups of semi-clad young ladies hanging onto each other, giggling and dancing together. Shouting for rounds of tequila around midnight, in a bid to get as hammered as possible. The young men laughing and singing to songs their parents knew. And then she remembered, there was a man, different to the others. Yes, that's right. She had noticed him. Well, she had noticed him after Rosie had pointed him out. The guy wearing a long coat (that was weird, it was so hot in the bar) and dark clothes with long dark hair. Katie hadn't paid much attention to be honest, wasn't her type of guy at all. Gothic looking, long hair and pale, much more Rosie's type. But he did have very piercing eyes. She remembered Rosie shouting at her whilst they were pouring the umpteenth tray of shots, how the tall mysterious guy was looking over at them. All Katie remembered in between filling shot glasses, was that he looked alone, sullen and oddly pale. But those eyes. She couldn't recall what colour they were, she just remembered how they felt looking over at her and Rosie. Unwavering and intense. But he was gone as quickly as Rosie had noticed him. Did he buy a drink? Katie had asked at the end of their shift. Not from me, responded Rosie. When the girls left the bar, Katie had the odd sensation that someone was watching them. It was the early hours of Saturday morning, and many people were staggering around the city streets. Rosie and Katie lived close by to each other and the club, so they felt relatively safe walking the short, well- lit distance home. Rosie had been oblivious to feeling followed or watched, but Katie couldn't shake it until she got home and shut the front door behind her. 

Katie snuggled gratefully into bed. The bedding felt heavy and comforting on her now clean body, and Jingles snuggled up to her back and start purring. She flicked off the bedside lamp, and exhaled listening to the sounds of the city outside on the street.  As her eyes grew heavy, she sleepily watched the lights dance outside her window, comforted by the muffled sounds and subdued lighting and the vibration of Jingles purrs. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she was drifting off into a wonderfully sound sleep when Jingles suddenly stopped purring, growled and hissed. Katie's eyes flicked open. Confused, she went to reprimand Jingles when she heard a tap at her window. 

Wait, she thought. Did I just hear a tap? Jingles kept growling. "Jingles, stop!" Katie said, "I thought I heard something." 

Tap, tap, tap from the bedroom window. That wasn't possible, thought Katie. That can't be tapping. I am three floors up. It must be a bird or something. "Shush Jingles! Ok, I will go and look, hang on a minute. What kind of a bird taps into a window at nighttime?" she asked her agitated cat. She slid out of bed, walked to the window and was about to pull up the blind when she saw what Jingles was growling at. The dark silhouette. Of a man. With long hair. And a long coat. Outside her window. Her heart jumped into her throat and beat like a drum in her chest.