The door swung closed behind me and left me to embrace the cold winter air - with each inhale the choked up feeling in my lungs eased. The warm air that had wrapped around me within the club had slowly been draining me of all energy; like it was curling its fingers around my neck and squeezing.
The pause outside the club allowed me to take stock of my current predicament. Violet hadn't been particularly helpful in finding Thana, and a rather lacklustre conversation with a vampire named Nika before I'd left proved just as unfruitful; if anything they confirmed that my hope was likely wasted and I was leading myself to misery. I had lost my friend and there wasn't a trail to follow.
Even being lost in thought it didn't take me long to notice the eyes that had fallen on me. A limber man was leaning against the wall outside of the door with a cigarette in hand. He was inhaling slowly, taking small and slow draws of the cigarette as his eyes watched me like a hawk. The smell of a cigarette is one I'd rather forget; musky and painful with a dissipating fog making it travel in my direction.
Despite this I peered closer at the man and grasped enough of his features to recognise him; the vampire that had sourly crept away from under me when Violet requested it. I'd been sober when I met him, and completely attracted - if I hadn't seen Violet that night I would've gone along with him without a second doubt.
"Dom," I smiled, taking the cigarette from his hand and keeping a grasp of it. He smiled quizzically as he raised up from the wall.
As the memories of our first encounter come to mind I wonder why I hadn't gone with Dom that night, instead of Violet. Sure she was alluring, but Dom was just as captivating. The kind of man that you'd show off to your friends, hold onto at parties so his attention isn't diverted, and perhaps hide from your parents. The kind of handsome that leaves you staring at them with glazed over eyes because you're lost in their beauty. His short blonde hair, blue eyes and chiselled features were picture-perfect "handsome," as if someone took every stereotype of a good-looking man, stirred them in a pot, poured them into a mould and baked them into this man.
"Viviana," He replied happily, but his smile faded as soon as it appeared. I'd stared at him quizzically as he stared at the club door before asking sternly, "You're back for Violet, aren't you?"
It wasn't something I had expected him to say, but it was certainly something I'd heard a couple of times today. If I thought Violet was this wanted, perhaps I would have sunk my teeth into Dom instead - without the literal sinking of teeth perhaps?
"No," I say honestly, trying not to sound as offended as I had been the previous times I had heard the accusation. A flicker of relief had washed over his face and a smirk had replaced the frown that was once there.
"Then what are you here for sunshine?" He said as he took the cigarette from my hand. I didn't realise the level of relief I'd feel to be rid of the thing - the smell was becoming intoxicatingly awful. I'd regarded smoking as a disgusting habit; the smell alone covering every fibre and slither of exposed skin. That alone I'd learned from my mother, who was an avid smoker; walking around the house with a cigarette in hand making every piece of furniture smell like smoked charcoal; which often left my father coming home cranky and frustrated with her.
"I've lost a friend," I said pointedly, "She was with me at the club the night I met you," I add, despite doubting he'd remember her.
He'd stayed quiet for a moment, taking a long draw in consideration.
"The redhead?" He chuckles, and as thrilled as I was to hear some kind of recognition, there was this deformed doubt that lit up in the back of my mind - I was with her for moments in the club, had he really noticed me from the very start?
Before I can consider that thought any further I am pushed by someone leaving the club and towards Dom, who catches me in his arms and stops me from falling. I pulled myself away, unable to stop the blush from appearing.
"Simply put, yes," I agree, ignoring the lack of descriptions he'd given her, and putting that odd feeling behind. People often disregarded the fact she was literally cut out of a men's magazine, with a plump figure and relatively tall height without any boost from heels - the red hair was a distinguishing factor that flowed down her back, taking constant care to maintain; which was difficult in the world we'd found ourselves in.
"Missing for days, right?" He murmured, but it came off as a brief observation rather than the knowledge he knew beforehand. Maybe the fact I was here to find her in the first place, and my last visit was a few days ago tipped him off. I could only nod as a reply, watching him release a breath.
"After that length of time, darling," He said after he had pondered for a moment; as if debating what he was about to tell me. He took a few moments to compose himself before he continued, gazing at another man who had left the club and grazed my back as he did so, "I think I know where your little friend should be."
"Where?" I had exclaimed in disbelief, I had taken a step towards him and he'd placed his hands on each of my arms, pulling me around to the other side of him and away from the door to the club. He looked around the streets of Ruby before he leaned in towards me.
"If you come with me I can show you," He whispered and gently took a hold of my hand. A grin had taken over his face once again; which had happened so often it was a wonder his cheeks weren't permanently in this position. The grin was followed by a warped, overtly-fake sinister expression that paired with him saying, "But it won't be safe."
The lack of explanation was a little frustrating; Dom was dangling it in front of my face but forcing me to play catch up.
"What won't be safe, Dom?" I said gingerly, willing myself to remove my hand from his. Given how insecure I felt in Eastern, and how little neutraliser I had left, I was hedging my bets on whatever left his mouth is a bad idea.
The vampire had ignored the question, choosing instead to lean forward and take a deep inhale near my face. After a moment he spoke softly, "Still got some neutraliser left, love?"
He smiled while wiggling his eyebrows and tightening the grip on my hand, not waiting for the answer before running off towards the skyscrapers. I knew they could run faster than humans; having faced enough encounters with vampires to realise that, but I'd never been pulled along with one.
I could tell he had slowed down to compensate for my inability to keep up with him - something that clearly annoyed him, as he kept having to slow himself down forcefully by pushing his feet into the concrete. Eventually, he'd chosen to pick me up; not pausing for a moment as he adjusted my body onto his back.
He hadn't said anything as he ran through the zone. Not that I would be able to hear anyway; my ears ringing as they tried to contend with an unfamiliar speed.
As far as I could tell, Dom was taking us to the outskirts of Eastern, near the west, where the remnants of another industrial area of Barewood stood tall. The buildings there weren't inhabited by any of the bloodlines, and for the most part, were considered a 'dead-zone'.
He'd come to a halt outside of one of the smaller skyscrapers, the old white sign lying on the pavement in front identifying it as 'Mustech'. As he looked up at the six-story building, I'd dropped off his back and steadied myself on my feet, making a note never to accept a ride like that again.
Dom had strutted up to the skyscraper and stood outside the door confidently as if he was expecting the door to open as soon as he'd gotten there. After a few moments of nothing happening he'd turned to me and murmured, "This is where they go."
As a statement, it had confused me. It answered no questions and created a few more of its own; where is here, who goes here, and what do they do here. Not that there was any time to question him on any of this, as the doors of the building had swung open to reveal the mystified faces of a few vampires; whose immediate reaction was to look me up and down.
It didn't seem like it was a threat though. More of a curiosity; their hollow eyes conveying sadness rather than hostility. The more we held eye contact, the more differences I'd collected between these three vampires, and the ones I often saw loitering in Ruby.
While Ruby vampires tried their best to exude an energy that attracted people; well-kept appearances and confidence dripping, these three were... well, struggling to stand at all. They were swaying in the breeze and clutching the baggy clothes that were hanging from their forms. What seemed starkly different, however, was the lack of hair on their heads - all three were missing chunks of their hair, and what was left, seemed to barely be hanging on.
I knew vampires could grow hair if they were well fed. Which implied that the vampires that were living here weren't very well fed. Which, if anything, set alarm bells off in my head - I was walking into a building that, for all I knew, housed starved vampires willing to lunge at me without consequence.
That thought didn't seem to cross Dom's mind, and if it did, he'd decided to ignore it, because he'd shrugged at the three vampires and took my hand, walking past their puzzled faces. We'd taken a staircase to the left as soon as we'd stepped into the building. I'd never seen any of the skyscrapers inside, but I had expected the used ones were far more luxurious and clean than this one was.
"Where who go?" I whispered as we both ran up the stairs. "Where is here?"
"The missing turned, love," He replied as we reached the landing of an upper floor. Both staircases that led here stopped at a large opening covered in angel statues placed strategically into a star shape. They were placed in front of a large double door that Dom had taken hold of by the handles. He looked back at me, his face seeming to ask 'ready?'.
"The illegal?" I asked. I was always curious as to where the bitten are taken after it happens; people who make applications to turn are given a specific skyscraper and someone assigned to bite them - but I'd never heard of the process that occurred when an illegal biting took place. I assumed that the biter would be taken to Central and punished, but I'd never seen or heard of someone who'd been bitten being taken to Central or being given a home for that matter.
"Chances are if your little friend went missing in the zone she was probably turned, and if she was probably turned she probably ended up here - as an illegal turn," He had rambled, and as he finished he'd pushed the double doors open and revealed a sight I couldn't grasp completely.
What looked like hundreds of vampires that ranged from newly-turned to months old were strewn around the room in little clusters, laying on furniture, meandering around the room or talking amongst themselves. None of these vampires had looked up at us as we entered the room which made me feel a little more comfortable instead of on edge. The first vampire I'd come eye to eye with was a small child, lonely and starved of warmth, that could only have been around ten; sitting on the floor with her knees in her arms, red ribbons tied around two blonde pigtails.
The room itself was so far from what I knew about Eastern; the bloodlines had spent many of the years rebuilding and decorating buildings to look pristinely within themes, often vying between gold decorations with red and black highlights, and idyllic whites and emeralds. This room was just brown and dying, the furniture tattered, the walls and columns falling apart covered in cracks and holes. It wouldn't be one of my top choices of places to live, I'd fear to say, it wasn't something I could consider even being at the end of the list.
"Don't they have a place in Central to go to?" I questioned. I had tended to assume that Central just handled everything the way they were expected - I'd never really needed to think otherwise. Perhaps the fact human life seemed to be Central's top priority as opposed to the welfare of everyone as a whole was what clouded my judgement. Newly turned vampires that came from illegal biting would suddenly shoot from top priority to further down on the ladder.
"Yes - but what use would we have for them if Central knows that they exist?" Dom had chuckled while we began to walk past the vampires. I tried to keep my cool as we walked down the rug that split the room in two; the newer vampires seem to stick to the right side of the room, whilst the older ones stuck to the left - regardless of this separation both sides made me feel uneasy even though neither side was actually looking at me. I had taken another shot of my neutraliser not long ago, but didn't know when it would expire, and when I would suddenly become prey.
"What are you planning on doing with them?" I questioned, trying to take in every face in the crowd as we passed. I was split between hoping Thana's face would appear in the crowd for the flood of relief that would bring, and hoping that I wouldn't see her. If she was here I was guilty of leading her to the one place she could get hurt, but if she wasn't I had to keep looking for her not knowing whether she was dead or alive.
"Nothing," Dom had said while shrugging, his grip on my hand tightening. He pulled me up another flight of stairs at the end of the room that seemed to lead up to bedrooms and offices; one of which I knew they had no need for, "People send us blood here to give to them and we keep them safe."
"But for what?" I pushed for an answer. The faces I'd seen in the crowd ranged from older men and women down to little children that couldn't be more than eight years old. The idea of another war was what came to mind first, and I could not imagine a small child hurting anyone to the same extent the first war did.
"The whispers around the city indicate they'll probably be needed sometime soon, but maybe it won't come to that," Dom had grumbled with a glimpse of teeth being shown to me. He'd led me outside of an office, but before he opened the door he looked out down towards the crowd of people, "Maybe all of the problems will be solved and all these people can find their place."
"Is this about the blood thing?" I asked, and he seemed taken aback. I had heard a vague story of missing supplies but assumed that the issue was corrected by Central as there didn't seem to be an outbreak of violence from this zone.
"Oh, dear, there's so much you don't know," He sighed, opening the door to the office and letting me enter the room first. The room itself seemed more like a waiting room; a row of couches on the wall, a small black coffee table and a dull red rug underneath; the floor and walls, in contrast, were hospital white - the type that makes you feel queasy if you stare at them too long.
"And you're not going to tell me?" I muttered which was met with a shake of the head. The response had brought one thought to mind that I needed to answer now, rather than later, "Why are you helping me, Dom?"
"You're a good kisser, what can I say? And I bet there are even better gifts to be found," He grinned, puckering his lips for a second before heading over to the desk in the back right corner. I stayed still for a couple of minutes, not sure if I really wanted the information he was planning to get for me. It didn't seem as though Dom was giving me much of a choice; pacing up to the desk with purpose. He'd looked back at me with a look that meant he wanted me beside him, so I sauntered over dejectedly.
"Thana Quill, any records?" Dom had directed towards the vampire sitting behind the desk. The vampire looked bored with heavy lids and pink eyes, his hand was extended across the desk with his head resting on it. He was paler than other vampires; which was surely saying something because most vampires lost the brightness in their skin when they turned. He had taken his other hand and lazily shifted through some documents on his desk.
"Let's see..." He had mumbled lethargically as his fingers split pieces of paper apart until he reached a document seven pages down and pulled it out. His finger ran down the long list of names that were written in red ink on the page. The vampire had rolled his eyes when he reached the bottom of the list, looked up at Dom and said impenitently, "Nope, no entry."
"Well there you go, no Thana means she isn't turned," Dom had turned to grin at me with enthusiasm but I couldn't bring myself to get excited about this news. This was meant to be the lead that brought me to Thana; that told me what happened to her, so I could go home and stop digging my own grave.
"So, she's dead," I said bluntly but tried to refrain from letting any tears flow. I could feel them forming at the corners of my eyes and turned away from the two vampires to avoid their sight.
"Unlikely, they're brought here too - the dead," Dom had replied just as enthusiastically as his previous statement, taking a grasp of my hand and guiding me out of the building. If what he said was true that meant Thana was neither turned nor dead, but also left a question unanswered, where was Thana?