Caleb explained in great detail what had happened at HemoSoul, occasionally Cain would add things he had forgotten. Bruxsa paused for what seemed like eternity. Like water rising from her toes to the top of her head, I watched as slowly the anger built up. She began shouting in a language I did not understand. Not that any of it mattered, at that moment I was fixated on Rose, she had made a miraculous recovery. Her skin was not the frail tissue paper it once was and her body had life running through it.
I hadn't realised how beautiful she actually was, the first time I had seen her I had been so high I couldn't process everything. But now as she stood there I could really see her. She had a radiance about her, but I was wondering whose blood paid the price.
I was broken away abruptly from my thoughts, Caleb had started yelling at Bruxsa in what sounded like the same language. I looked over to see Bruxsa glaring at Caleb, she had her hand up with a menacing look in her eyes.
"Bruxsa, we need to terminate the situation before it gets out. If it becomes common knowledge, we will be under serious threat." Caleb's voice softened. He had to watch himself now, there was too much at stake for him. One wrong move and Bruxsa would not tell him where his sister was. I thought about what he said, what would happen? What would be putting everyone under threat? These were questions I was hoping Rose would be willing to answer. Although I wasn't getting my hopes up, I would probably left clueless again.
The decision had been made that we would all go back to HemoSoul. Except for Bruxsa of course, who stayed at home as usual. But I suppose that's what it is like here, the older you are the less you had to do. It was old school, you had to work your way up. I remember hearing a story about how this guy had gone into a company in the 70's as an intern and 2 years later he had taken over the company.
You would never hear that now, you could probably work your way up for a while until you get stopped for qualifications. Qualifications are everything now, it doesn't matter if you can do the job better than anyone else. If you don't have the bullshit piece of paper saying that you have been on whatever course, your skill counts for absolutely nothing. This was one of the reasons I have never had a job, I wanted to do something more stimulating than working in Tesco. But nowhere wanted to take me on, it was "too risky" they said. It was lucky the finding a job plan only lasted a week before I fell back to my old ways. My confidence would have been crushed to a pulp otherwise.
That was how it always was, I was too risky, In every aspect of my life. People wouldn't come up and talk to me, it was "too risky". My friends wouldn't lend me money, it was "took risky". Its hard to dig yourself out of a hole when nobody will take a chance on you.
We walked in the back door of HemoSoul, I hadn't been in this way yet, I was intrigued to find out what was coming next.
"I can give you a tour if you like?" Rose said as we entered a large stock room from the back door. I nodded immediately, this is what I had wanted from the beginning. I could finally find out what was behind each of the doors that said "HemoHunger" and "HemoStrip".
Rose agilely pushed me up against the wall, she smiled at me. Everyone else had walked on, we were alone. I immediately knew what she was doing. She was testing me, to see if I would recoil terrified. I didn't, I just stood there holding my own.
If she had asked me if I was afraid of her, I would have had to think about it for a moment. I felt on edge around the "new" her but I suppose that was to be expected under the circumstances in which we had met. But on the other hand I felt like I knew her, she was my vampire mother. I did feel I could trust her, but I didn't know why. Years being on the streets had done something to my danger scale. I now didn't feel afraid of a woman who had once killed me.
She smiled and grabbed my hand enthusiastically like a child would and skipped away, pulling me with her.
We exited the store room through a big gold door, before she let me see what was behind it she stood and looked at me.
"You ready" She smiled and giggled.
"Yeah." I said hesitantly.
Rose had made such a big deal about what was behind this door I was beginning to get nervous that it would be something I wouldn't like.
When I finally got through the door, I realised this wasn't just something I wouldn't like, it was something that every straight male would appreciate.
The women moved around the poles as if it was another part of their body, occasionally speeding up but mostly going at a slower speed so everyone could really take in their bodies.
One that I was particularly fond of was a cute blonde who had such an dainty face it was surprising she was a vampire. As she moved her body to the music in the background I felt myself being drawn to her.
"Here." Rose said, as she grabbed a glass of blood from the tray that one of the lingerie wearing waitresses was carrying. The waitress looked annoyed that she would have to go and replace it before going over to her customer. It was obvious that Rose had a status here, the waitress did not confront her. I drank the blood Rose gave me and followed her to a booth so we could sit down.
"Everyone likes her." Rose said and smiled, I looked over to see that there was in fact a small crowd around the blonde woman. "Her name is Daisy, she puts blood in her pants and under her hair on her neck. It draws people in, nobody knows though. Don't tell anyone she will get fired if anyone finds out. She makes the most money, if you watch her you will see her go off every now and again, to put more on so it doesn't dry and smell bad." Rose had gestured for a waitress to come over as she spoke.
"How do you know about it?" I asked, Rose ordered our blood then discreetly waited for the waitress to walk away. For a split second I thought she wasn't going to answer me, I feared that I had offended her like I had done to Caleb on many occasions.
"I caught a her once she was in the toilets, I was doing patrol making sure nobody was feeding in the toilets. I smelt blood and I looked over to find her with one of those Pantyliner things that humans have to use."
It was far more detailed explanation than I had needed but I was pleased that Rose was willing to talk to me. I sat there and thought about Daisy using blood, it was actually quite a clever idea. The waitress came and placed two glasses of blood on the table.
I looked over to Daisy again and I saw something behind her that I had not seen before. There was a large cage that had a woman dancing in it, I had not noticed this before but a large crowd was around her, much larger than the crowd around Daisy. I then remembered when Caleb was talking to Max, Max had said "One young'un tried to get in too close with the cage girl" I still had no idea what a cage girl was, but I decided to ask Rose.
"What's with the girl in the cage then?" I said finishing the last drops of my drink, I would never get all of it though without licking it or holding the cup upside down on my face. Blood is thick, it clings to the glass, unlike most liquid drinks, which just gracefully slide off the side of the glass.
"If you noticed her then you definitely need another drink." Rose said smiling and pushed her half full glass over to me. "Drink."
I decided not to question her and downed the blood in one quick and easy shot.
"She is human." Rose said looking over at me with curious eyes, she was waiting to see how I would react. I sat looking at her completely astonished. "It pays exceptionally well."
"That sounds dangerous." Was all I could manage to say.
"Its quite safe, look at the security around her" Rose paused for a moment so that I could look round, I saw 4 security men next to her one being Max. "She gets transported safely home, not a single hair on her head is touched. Only once has a cage girl been hurt."
"What happened?" I automatically spat out.
"She died." Rose said looking away from me, I could tell this was a subject that was no often spoken about in HemoSoul.
"If you listen really carefully you can hear her heart beating. Its beautiful." Rose closed her eyes, smiled and listened.
I followed her lead and closed my eyes, it took me a while to seek out the sound of her heart. The sound of people talking, the music and everything else was too loud. But when I got it, I could hear only the beat. I let out a slightly choked moan, I felt my lips tingle and my fangs come out. I sat for a second just listening to the beat, I then felt my dick getting hard. My eyes flew open and I looked over to Rose, she let out a slight chuckle. She had known exactly what was going to happen to me when I heard the heartbeat.
"First human encounter since the first taste?" She asked, smirking thinking the answer was yes.
"No." I said simply.
Rose's face froze and she stopped laughing, she scanned my face looking for a hint of humour. But my face showed none.
"I saw Ivy, my ex." I decided to keep my sentences short, hoping that whatever Rose was thinking would just fold out in front of me.
"Cal's Ivy?" Rose spoke looking me dead in the eyes, my nose flared as she did. Needless to say my dick wasn't hard anymore and my fangs were no longer out. Ivy did not belong to Caleb.
"Yes." I said through gritted teeth, although it pained me to do so.
"We are leaving." Rose said and she walked away, I followed her seconds later.