“A-ah, wait, not so rough..”

“You’re enjoying it though, aren’t you.”

“..Y-yeah..”

“Do you like when I do this?”

Booker’s sharp senses made him suddenly aware of someone approaching and he glanced over to see Lisette sauntering towards them. His eyes lit up as they met hers, and he held her gaze as he continued to scrape his teeth teasingly against the whimpering girl’s neck.

”Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?”

Booker gave Lisette a sly wink as he ran his tongue over the girl’s taut skin. “I’d offer you some, but it looks like you’ve already had your appetizer,” he replied, pausing as his companion touched the girl’s hair. He watched as his prey turned her head to look at the female vampire in wide-eyed fascination. His eyebrows quirked in amusement and he put his lips to her ear as she continued to stare. “You’re attracted to her?” he teased. Booker made a clicking sound with his tongue in mock irritation and redirected her attention back to himself with a finger under her chin. “I’m jealous.” He went back to work on her neck as he listened to Lisette complain about the recent lack of challenge.

"Let's do something fun."

He had to agree; their evenings had become too predictable lately. All his recent meals had quite literally fallen into his lap. And they both knew that easy pickings were not nearly as satisfying. They needed that little extra zest – the thrill of capture.

“Well, I’d be up for an old-fashioned street hunt, if you are,” he murmured against skin. Prowling the streets at night was sometimes a welcome change of pace to the nightclub scene. There was more risk involved, more energy exerted, more actual chasing. More skill too, like finding creative ways to approach their victims or lure them to a more secluded area. Sometimes they made it a game to see who could get the most in a single night. Other times they went in on one target together and laughed to see the poor soul struggle between the two of them.

That thought made Booker suddenly ravenous. He opened his mouth to finally sink his teeth in…when something distracted him for the second time. It was a figure, out of the corner of his eye. A tall, slender woman with dark hair was lurking in the shadows of another table not too far away. He suddenly realized that she’d probably been there longer than he’d noticed…which was impossible… And then he became very still.

“Lisette,” he drawled smoothly, shushing the girl on his lap who wanted to know why he’d stopped. “You wanted excitement.” He tilted his head in the direction of the mysterious woman. “I think we might have our hands full tonight.”

---

Three days. She still hadn’t eaten.

And it wasn’t for lack of food; She was surrounded by morsels who practically fell at her feet whenever she walked through the door. So far she’d played with a few, but had eventually left every one of them high and dry, without so much as a scratch.

Mila crossed and re-crossed her legs again as she continued to scan the crowd with an uninterested look on her face. She’d wanted a distraction, but when it came down to it, she had no desire for any of these easy souls. The ache to feed was as strong as ever, but it was like she was looking at a buffet and was seeing nothing that appealed to her. As usual, her features had become increasingly striking the longer she waited. She could beckon someone over to her with just a look – she’d done it twice already that night before sending them away. Her eyes were almost frighteningly dark. She would have looked hungry even to the human eye, if any had been brave enough to linger on her without nervously glancing away.

Even as she studied the mass of bodies swaying together on the dance floor, her thoughts were some place far away. She thought about another kind of dance hall in another day and age, when the men wore waistcoats and buckles on their shoes and the women wore dresses that ballooned out from their hips. She remembered sitting in the shadows as she did now, looking across the sea of powdered wigs and catching the eye of some pretty girl. She’d made her blush with her unblinking stare. Suddenly the girl had Charlie’s face.

A colored light flashed over the vampire and she snapped out of her reverie. With a distracted sigh, she ran a hand through her hair and closed her eyes. This wasn’t where she wanted to be right now. She just wasn’t in the mood.

“I’d offer you some, but it looks like you’ve already had your appetizer.”

Lisette flipped her hair behind her shoulder, a pleased look crossing her face. “That I have, my dear, and oh wasn't he beautiful.” She leaned back languidly into the comfortable soa, her eyes closing slightly as she revelled in the memory of the young man's blood against her tongue. “Although it wasn't nearly enough, I'm still ravenous.” The last word was almost a snarl as her eyes snapped open, twinkling darkly in the dim light. She watched with growing amusement as the young human sitting on her companions lap swooned closer towards Booker. “You’re attracted to her?” She chuckled slightly, shaking her head in mock disappointment. “Can one not admire fine delicacies these days without such accusations?” Her equally teasing voice cantered. “Anyways, if the girl had any sense in her at all she would be flocking towards me, of course.” She winked tauntingly.

“Well, I’d be up for an old-fashioned street hunt, if you are.”

Lisette clapped her hands in a way that could have been childlike if the grin on her face hadn't of been so sinister. Her eyes darkened a shade as she imagined the dim streets and lonely humans just begging for her bite. They'd cry, scream, cower away but to her every shriek of fear was just another invitation to inflict her worst. “Oh, yes!” She exclaimed happily, her hands fluttering to her sides. “Please, can we.” It wasn't exactly a question, more like a dazed comment as her body sunk euphorically into the couch. Lisette had a subtle languorous way about her. Her movements, no matter how awkward or odd they may have seemed on another, were slow and lethargic with an air of self confidence that only came from years of self-assured power. She was lost in her own world as she waited anxiously for Booker to finish with the girl so that they could move onto more amusing things.

”Lisette."

She looked up sharply, not trying to hide the acute reflex as Booker drawled out her name. Lisette followed his gaze, lips parted slightly with curiosity, and laid her eyes on the dark haired, svelte woman seated silently at a table close enough to them that she could almost smell the desperation on her. Although, even if the distance between them had been incredibly surmountable, Lisette would have still been able to tell that this intruder was absolutely famished. “You wanted excitement.” Her pupils flickered momentarily towards Booker, the look in those gleaming eyes told of her near morbid expectancy. “I think we might have our hands full tonight.” Her head bobbed slightly, almost distracted, and she gazed towards the table. Her features flashed bemusement as she slowly moved to stand. “Oh, tell me that's not who I think it is...” She murmured, one corner of her mouth curling upwards slowly.

She leaned a hand against the couch, one knee propping herself up, and dipped her head towards Booker. The motion made her curly brown hair fall into her eyes slightly. “Let's go have ourselves some fun.” Her voice was almost a purr of anticipation, her gut twisted with a sick humour that was her trade mark and she pushed herself away from the couch with a graceful ease. Her mind raced ardently as she patted the young human on her head, like someone who didn't like animals might pat the head of a friend's dog, and smirked balefully. “Ooh this night just got ten times better.” She gave a small wave, more like a wiggle of her slender fingers, and slowly meandered away. “Finnish up with that, I don't think you'll want to miss this.”

Her hips swayed as she elbowed her way through the crowd, once again, and neared the distant looking woman seated alone at her own table. Lisette was eerily silent as she languidly leaned against the the table peering around Mila with a look of pleasure. “Well I'll be.” Her lighthearted tone was coated with a sinister underbelly as she slowly eyed the woman up and down. Her fingers drummed the table gently as her well kempt eyebrows rose in a look of curiosity, a leering grin was plastered on her face. To any unsuspecting human eye the greeting could have been that of two long lost friends seeing each other unexpectedly, it would take a special kind of perception to notice the territorial glint in Lisette's keen visage as her sharpened incisors pressed dimples into her thick bottom lip. “Look at what the cat dragged in.”

“Oh, tell me that's not who I think it is...”

“Who?” Booker demanded, his dark eyes fixed on the woman with such frightening intensity that the girl in his arms tried to shrink away from him. “I can’t quite-..” But then recognition broke over his features and his lips split into a wicked grin.

"I’ll be damned.”

“Finish up with that, I don't think you'll want to miss this.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“What the hell does she mean, finish up?” The girl piped loudly, looking irritated at the way the older woman had patted her head. She began to inch away from Booker. “And what the fuck is wrong with your teeth?? This is getting weird, I’m just gonna-..”

“Oh hold on, love, I can’t let you go just yet,” he cooed, his grip like steel and his voice like honey. He gave her another intimate squeeze and sneered at the conflicted look that passed over her face as she simultaneously turned her head away but also melted against his chest. “That’s right..” he hummed with his deep voice, tilting her chin up high, “I’ll make you feel good..”

---

There was really no point in staying any longer. Mila took one last look around the club as she tucked her cell phone away and made to stand up.

An approaching figure made her stop dead in her tracks. No, make that two. A woman with a feral look on her face and a man who was just getting up from a table. It looked like he’d left a third person slumped sideways on the seat…

And then she recognized them. How could she not? They were two old companions she’d spent years and years with, only a few several decades ago. Booker and Lisette. Mila felt an unpleasant chill down her spine. Their three-way alliance had never been entirely comfortable. The two American Southerners had already been very close by the time she’d stumbled across them. Mila had the feeling that their loyalty to each other was stronger than anything they might have ever felt towards her. She’d left them easily enough, with some made-up excuse about tracking down an old mate. She wasn’t eager to see them again, and they probably knew it.

"Well I’ll be."

Lisette had arrived first and was raking her eyes over Mila in a way that set her teeth on edge. She remembered her as being viciously playful. Mila caught the territorial edge in her voice and was well aware of her sharpened teeth. Her own had also become like daggers in reaction.

“Look at what the cat dragged in.”

“Lisette, you look just as stunning as the day I left,” Mila replied with a stiff smile, her body tense. She looked back at the other vampire with just as much intensity. Booker had arrived at this point and was leaning against the table on her other side, making it difficult for her to stand up now without having to ask one of them to move. The tension in the air was palpable.

“What about me?” Booker asked pretending to look hurt. He was licking blood off his fingertips as he spoke, a mischievous glint in his eye as he raised his eyebrows suggestively. Mila had never liked his slimy charm.

“You missed a spot there,” she said flatly, pointing to her own lip.

Booker laughed heartily and wiped his mouth clean, his teeth flashing…which wasn’t an accident. “I’ve missed you, you know. I really have. Hasn’t been the same since you left us, has it, Lisette?”

They looked strong. Radiant. They probably never went more than 24 hours without having their fill. They stood in such stark contrast to Mila at the moment, who was very clearly famished. It wounded her pride a little to be caught hungry like this. It was a sign of weakness; made it look like she had trouble catching her meals. She knew these two would know differently, that she wasn’t someone to trifle with. Still, Mila was suddenly self-conscious of her black pupils and strained expression. She lifted her chin a little higher, as if to dare them to make a comment about it. Of course, she knew that wouldn’t stop them.

"I'd love to stay to chat.." she said carefully, leaving the end of her sentence hanging. "..I'm sure you two have plans tonight.."

Lisette's eyes lazily glanced towards Booker as he joined the two at the table. The pathetic girl from before was left discarded in a heap and if Lisette had any shred of human empathy left in her at all she would of felt a sort of pity for the young girl for being used and dumped like a plaything. Luckily enough, she had discarded most of those thoughts years ago. “My oh my, I wasn't expecting this at all.” She grinned and let her finger drag lazily along the table top. She really was surprised, it had been years since they'd parted paths and the terms on which they had were not entirely friendly. Something about Mila had always threatened Lisette, perhaps it was because she was older, prettier, more practised when it came to ensnaring her prey.

Perhaps not recently, though. She thought meanly to herself taking in the desperate aura that surrounded the woman, a natural survival instinct that hunger provoked, not that Lisette would know much about hunger these days.

She ran her tongue slowly over her teeth and grinned as Mila's own canines sharpened in response. “Lisette, you look just as stunning as the day I left.” She didn't miss the stiff, defensive way her old 'friend' said this. “Ah, and you look...” She paused for effect, taunting as she searched for the right word to use. “Pleasant.” Her thick voice made the word into a purr and she easily hoisted herself into the seat next to Mila, scooting the chair so that they were uncomfortably close. She propped her elbow onto the table and leaned into her hand, a stance that could of been casual if the air about the three vampires hadn't been so thick with hostility. Her gaze swept to and from Booker and Mila as the two bantered tensely.

“I’ve missed you, you know. I really have. Hasn't been the same since you left us, has it, Lisette?” She shook her head slowly. “It really hasn't, love.” Her smooth voice was a murmur directed at Mila, but she caught eyes with Booker for a fleeting second. “What have you been doing lately?” She continued in that same sickly sweet tone. "It's just been so long and you never kept in touch like you promised. Pity." The sarcasm dripped from her voice like blood from an open wound. Her gaze swept over the woman's gaunt features critically, taking in the obvious hunger in her entire demeanour. “You seem like you could use a good meal.” Her face lightened then, a cheerful expression that made her radiant features intensify as she gasped slightly.

“Oh!” She playfully, although playful may have been a loose term to describe Lisette ever, grabbed Mila's frail arm and smiled. “I have the most delightful idea, loves.” Her constant use of pet names in such a tonality was a trifle demeaning. She continued grasping Mila's arm, the strength she exerted was a little more then necessary, and nearly bounced in her seat like a child on Christmas morning. "Booker and I, we were planning no going hunting." The noise she made was like a squeal of delight, the idea of a slaughter would have made her cheeks heat with a blush had she been able to do so. "Why don't you join us? For old times sake." Her dark eyes pleaded with Mila to say yes. "It can be like the good old days, doll, remember? When they ran in fear from us?" She giggled at the memory her eyelids fluttering.

She let go of the other woman's arm and leaned back into her chair, the room around them was growing louder as the night wore on and the room full of sweating, lustful humans made Lisette's throat ache and her mind sharpen. She was very much aware, like she always was, of how easy it would be to reach over and grab one of these blood bags, sink her teeth into their neck and suck every last drop from their body. She shivered. “Please, say yes. C'mon Booker, make her say yes!" She grinned, a slow smile that stretched over her sharpened canines, she chewed her lip slowly and deliberately daring Mila with her eyes to say something other then Lisette's desired answer. "You know you want to."

’I’ll show you just how pleasant I can be,’ Mila thought irritably to herself, her lip twitching in response to Lisette’s snide “compliment.” She stiffened as the younger vampire moved to sit next to her at such close, suffocating proximity. Still, she refused to flinch or move away in the slightest – despite the fact that she had always hated giving in to Lisette’s petty power plays. Mila had an excuse not to meet her eyes right away as she spoke to Booker, but now she made it a point not to deign a glance in her direction as she listened to her speak. The older vampire inspected her own nails instead as if she were already bored with the two of them. The tightness in her jaw said otherwise.

“What have you been doing lately? It's just been so long and you never kept in touch like you promised. Pity."

Mila could feel Lisette’s eyes pouring over her features, probably sneering at the telltale signs of her hunger. It was very difficult not to turn and glare at her.

“I’m sure you both found plenty to keep yourselves occupied in the meantime,” she replied with another brief smile, faintly imitating Lisette’s falsely sweet tone. “I’ve been…roaming…for a while now. Nothing too noteworthy.”

“You seem like you could use a good meal.”

Mila’s eyes flashed and now she did slowly turn to give her a withering look. “…Do I?” she asked in a soft, dangerous voice. The aching desire to quench her thirst was making her feel impulsive and quarrelsome. Lisette was really testing her now, and she must have known it. ‘But what does she care?’ Mila thought to herself in annoyance, ’She has all the power, and she knows it, the little wench,’ And Lisette had Booker by her side, who had put his hand on the back of Mila’s chair the second she had turned her head. His other hand rested warningly on the table in front of her. They were both too close to her now. It was stifling.

"Oh!"

Mila nearly flinched as Lisette suddenly grabbed ahold of her arm. She had to hold back a wince as the other vampire squeezed it painfully hard on purpose, knowing the lack of food made her a little weaker. She masked her grimace behind the unamused look on her face.

"Booker and I, we were planning on going hunting. Why don't you join us? For old times sake."

A hunt. Some instinct deep inside leapt with excitement at the idea. But she stared back at Lisette’s pleading eyes with a steely gaze.

“Please, say yes. C'mon Booker, make her say yes!"

Booker chuckled softly and flexed the hand on the table. “I won’t have to. She wants to come with us, don’t you Mila?” He leaned down a little closer, his slow southern accent suddenly more pronounced. She could smell the blood on his breath and despised the way it made her lips part. “Don’t you, darlin’?” he repeated.

Mila glanced from one vampire to the other and realized with a horrible sinking feeling that she was not really in a position to refuse their request. Worse still, some part of her very much wanted to hunt with them. They were good. She was good. Between the three of them, there was no chance they’d go empty handed tonight. She’d be able to drink her fill. And maybe… maybe a good chase was exactly what she needed to get herself back into her old habits.

She looked away from both of them, pretending to deliberate a little more.

"You know you want to."

“…Fine. Let’s see if you two have gotten lazy since I left,” she said finally, sitting a little straighter.

“That’s my girl,” Booker drawled, clapping his hands together. He made a show of offering his arm, which Mila ignored. She did take the opportunity to stand up and place herself at a comfortable distance away from them.

“Come on. If it gets too late, there won’t be anyone out for us to catch anyway.”

Lisette's blithe eyes bounced back and forth between her two companions, a sparkle of mischief accompanied the look of glee. She leaned more heavily into her hand, the action causing her to move even closer towards Mila which, to Lisette's ultimate pleasure, caused the woman some obvious discomfort that she hid quite expertly. She was dully impressed with how well Mila kept her emotions in control when she was obviously so voracious. Lisette herself was a monster, quite literally, without eating. “I won’t have to. She wants to come with us, don’t you Mila?” She glanced towards Booker briefly before trailing her gaze back to Mila in eager anticipation. Her gut twisted with the emotion as she widened her eyes in a silent question.

“…Fine. Let’s see if you two have gotten lazy since I left.”

“Yes!” Lisette's bewildered exclamation rung loudly through the room as her face lit up like a Christmas tree. “And I promise, sweetie,” her voice was a drawl as she leaned forward and winked. “We won't disappoint.”

She stood then, hopping up gleefully with agility and grace that was almost eerie. Her dark legs were elongated by the tight, black party dress that swathed her body and had ridden up so far that most of her shapely thighs peeked out from underneath. Not that she cared all that much. The rest of the dress hugged Lisette's slender figure tightly, every curve was expertly displayed with what seemed like, and what was, no effort from her at all. The collar of the gown dipped low, exposing her robust chest behind thin lace that wrapped itself around her neck holding up what little fabric there was. The rest of her back was completely bare, her ebony skin, that was cool to touch, exposed to the world. The ensemble was tied together with a pair of dangerous heels that clicked excitedly on the floor as she nearly vibrated with eagerness.

“Lets go.” She was over enthusiastic and almost pranced around her two companions, drawing the eye of one hapless young man who grinned at her appreciatively. “Ooh, this is going to be so fun.” She eagerly grabbed the hands of both Booker and Mila in her own, dragging them through the crowd, which parted unconsciously before them, and towards a back door that led into a dank alleyway outside.

Lisette steadied herself on the grimy brick wall. She reached down quickly and with graceful ease to unclasped the shoes from around her ankles and slipped one over her heel followed swiftly by the other. She tossed the shoes apathetically into the darkened corner of the alley, they thudded against something noisily. A clatter from the shadows that Lissete shrugged off passively as she stepped her bare feet onto the dirty ground. The cold night air filled her body giving her a feeling of winded exhilaration as she gave a calamitous smile to her peers. “This is going to be a good night.” Her thick voice was like a growl as her teeth sharpened to a point and her eyes grew dark in blood lust. “I can smell it in the air.” As if to prove her point, Lisette breathed in deeply letting her lungs be filled with the tangy city air that smelled of smoke and grit and people.

She playfully pranced towards Mila, her movements just slightly faster then that of a mere human, and tagged the other woman on the shoulder, not gently. “Race you.” Her voice was low and lurid in Mila's ear. Inviting a sense of competition into the evening that caused the tension in the air, already thick enough to be cut with a knife, to grow denser. She didn't wait for an answer before bounding off into the dark night, her hair whipping backwards as she picked up speed and deftly wove her way through the streets. It was late and it was dark yet she could still pinpoint the warm, blood filled bodies that stumbled drunkenly out of clubs and bars. Unsuspecting of any sort of danger such as that of the three monstrous villains that stalked the night with a grace that could not be human. Lisette stopped, her eyes, which had closed unconsciously to revel in the freedom the night supplied her, flew open suddenly. Now that feeling of freedom was far from her mind as her gaze fluttered towards a woman leaning heavily against a brick wall and tucking a small cell phone into her bra.

They were standing in an alleyway a good distance away from the club where they'd started. The young woman was obviously distressed and very alone, easy enough for the first target of the night. Lisette stopped in the middle of the alley, her head cocked to one side as she thirstily peered towards the young girl. “Well, well, well.” She grinned and looked towards her two companions with raised eyebrows. The woman had once again dug the metallic object from the depth of her dress and hit the green phone button aggressively. “Dammit, Felix. I don't care anymore! You're such an ass, don't call me again.” Her high pitched voice wafted through the darkness towards them. Lisette could almost taste the disparity that leaked off of her as she tossed the phone to the ground and leaned against the wall, her hands grabbing fistfuls of her blonde hair as tears ran slowly down her cheeks. It was mouth watering. And if she, who had just eaten not that long ago, felt this kind of draw she couldn't imagine the appeal this girl's vulnerability held for Mila.

She glanced over, waggly her eyebrows ad giggling softly. “Doesn't she seem tasty.” There was no waiting for Lisette as she walked, this time at a more normal pace, towards the victim. “Oh honey, are you alright?” It wasn't hard to notice the mock in her slight accent. “Rough night?”

“W-who are you?” The girl looked up at the vampire with an expression that attempted to be cold in response of the cruel murmur but failed miserably in her state. “No one you'll ever remember.” Lisette teased, a hand snaking towards the girls throat slyly. “What the hell... hey!” The young casualty tried to pull away in humane response as Lisette's hand pressed her firmly back against the wall and she leaned towards her at a painstakingly slow rate. “Stop get off! Get away...” It was easy enough to hold down the thrashing child as Lisette playfully kissed the pounding pulse in her neck. Her sharp teeth pressed against that spot, gouging small scrapes in the pale skin of the fair haired girl. “Oh my, you are tasty.” The sinister giggle that rose in the air fell quiet as Lisette pulled back, not before licking away the small bead of blood that her teeth had produced. “Oh but where are my manors!” She silently shook her head at herself and looked back towards Booker and Mila.

“She seems like your type, Mila.” The murmur, was thick with blood lust and, despite her throaty voice being incredibly low, it bounced off the walls in the narrow alleyway. “I recall you having a thing for young damsels in distress.” She suddenly let the squirming human go with one sudden release of her hand that had clamped the girl painfully to the wall. She ran, of course, but her stumbling, drunken legs could only take her so fast. Lisette found herself smirking as she looked towards Mila, a sinister hint in her eyes. “Go get her.”

Although she did not appreciate being pulled through the crowd by her arm, Mila had to admit, reluctantly, that Lisette’s enthusiasm for hunting was utterly infectious. She felt a thrill of her own run its course down her spine, through her fingertips, intensifying the ache in her throat until it was almost unbearable. The sounds and smells of the open city air only made the excitement more palpable. It held all the promise of emptying bars and lonely souls wandering the streets, just waiting to be caught unaware. Whatever feelings had prevented Mila from eating thus far were quickly melting away as the three of them prepared to head out. She was practically shaking with anticipation – a far cry from her usually cool demeanor.

She was in the middle of tearing off her heels when she felt a hand shove her shoulder with unpleasant force. Lisette’s sensuous voice was suddenly in her ear, low and provocative.

“Race you.”

The effect was immediate. It was like striking a match to Mila’s already volatile state, igniting some animalistic desire to assert her dominance. She flashed her teeth in a vicious snarl at Lisette’s retreating form and then bounded after her with inhuman speed and agility. She was only too aware that she was allowing Lisette to pull her strings like some kind of perverse puppet master. The thought was infuriating but she raced after her nonetheless, her bare feet hardly making a sound as they struck the pavement. She caught up with Lisette and kept pace with her, flashing her a challenging look and inching just a little ahead. Booker was close behind them and she could hear him laughing in his deep voice. Whether it was from the rush of the hunt or at the way Lisette had provoked her into some childish show of speed, she couldn’t tell. She didn’t care. With the wind whipping through her hair and the throb of adrenaline coursing through her veins, all her focus was suddenly on this wonderfully invigorating rush.

A familiar scent made her come to a complete stop. Lisette had paused too and was already leering at a young blonde woman standing all alone in the dark alleyway. The girl was in some sort of distress. She was sobbing at some guy on the phone and now she was leaning heavily against the brick wall, clutching miserably at her hair. Mila couldn’t tear her gaze away if she tried. She stood inhumanly still, staring intensely at her with dark, unblinking eyes, silently relishing the vulnerability that emanated from the poor girl. Her canines were now razor sharp. Her mouth was open. She was panting.

“Doesn't she seem tasty.”

Lisette was smirking back at them with wicked delight as she moved toward the girl and began toying with her. Mila was too preoccupied with keeping herself from springing forward to say or do anything but watch desirously. She flinched when Lisette pricked a bead of blood from the skin. ’Don’t let it drop, don’t let it-…’ she thought, her own tongue running along her lower lip as she watched the other vampire lick it away. It was torturous. But she couldn’t just let herself loose right away. Control was another point of pride among their kind. Only a fledgling pounced without thinking. No matter how painful it was to just stand there and watch Lisette scrape her teeth against the girl’s neck, she had to do it.

“Oh but where are my manners!”

Mila let out a shuddering breath and closed her eyes, knowing what was coming next and knowing that she wouldn’t be able to control herself when it came.

“She seems like your type, Mila. I recall you having a thing for young damsels in distress.”

She opened her eyes to glare chillingly at Lisette. She was aware of the sinister glint in the other vampire’s eyes, of the way she was taunting her. But Mila could only hold her gaze for a second before her attention flickered hungrily back to the girl. She was being played with but she was too ravenous to make herself angry about it. It didn’t matter now, because Lisette had finally released her hold on the girl, who was now tripping over her own feet to get away.

“Go get her.”

The pull to obey those words was so irresistible that she hardly needed to be told. Even though she hated giving in to Lisette’s manipulation, Mila went after the girl on pure instinct, too starved to defy the urge. The desire to feed always brought with it a dreadful desire to tease and torture her food before sinking her teeth in. She did just that as she caught up effortlessly to the poor girl and moved in front of her to make her change direction again and again until the girl was stumbling frantically back and forth with no place to go. One of the girl’s heels had slipped off, making her look ridiculous as she tried to move away from the advancing vampire. She took a painful stumble, but Mila caught her before she could hit the ground, holding her like she might a lover she had just dipped to kiss.

“P-Please, I-..a-ah!”

“Mila’s going to feel a lot better in a moment,” Booker murmured to Lisette, glancing away from the entertainment to give her a look. He’d been watching the entire exchange play out with the utmost interest. “You might want to be careful…” There was amusement in his voice, despite the warning comment, as if he were challenging her to do otherwise.

Mila was gulping at an alarming rate. The girl’s cries had become soft, whimpering moans and she hung limply in the vampire’s arms. Booker smirked and approached them. It was dangerous to interrupt one their kind while they were feeding but he touched Mila’s shoulder lightly anyway. She pulled back and barred her teeth at him with such vehemence, it looked as if she might tear out his throat. Booker only laughed and raised his hands in mock surrender.

“Saving some room for more, I hope?” he asked, with a raise of his eyebrows. Mila looked conflicted for a moment and then she let the girl slump gently to the ground, straightening her posture as if from a daze. She licked distractedly at her blood soaked lips, missing the line down her chin. She hadn’t taken enough to completely sooth the ache and looked hungrily down at the unconscious girl for a moment before walking away. Although she’d reacted savagely to Booker’s interruption, she understood why he and his companion wouldn’t want to leave a string of corpses in their territory and risk giving it up. A hunt was all about sampling as many victims as possible anyway, not devouring one or two.

Despite the insufficient amount, Mila was feeling much stronger now. The desperate aura she had carried before was replaced with her usual aristocratic air, one that seemed to demand subservience. She no longer avoided looking at Lisette directly. In fact, she looked like she was ready to toy with her herself. She sauntered up to her without slowing her pace until she was uncomfortably close, standing just a few inches taller than the younger vampire.

“You know I can’t let you get away with that little stunt,” she cooed, her voice too carefree to match the intensity in her eyes. She looked past her suddenly at a young man down the street who was strolling in the opposite direction. “I’ll let you take that one. It’s your turn,” she said with mock graciousness. She knocked shoulders with Lisette as she casually moved past her. “Unless I get to him first.”

Lisette took the glare that was thrown her way with a toothy grin that was more to show off her bloodied teeth then display any kind of tenderness. Her eyes followed Mila, assessing her, watching her as she tried to remain collected. Lisette's stance was supercilious as she pursed her lips, her face a continuous mask of cruel glee. Her eyes stuck to Mila, chillingly dark and eerily unblinking as the other vampire finally bounded after the human girl, startlingly fast. “Oh, my my.” Lisette giggled, crossing her arms over her chest as her ashen face lit up in delight. She enjoyed this too much for it to actually be sane, but that was one thing people learnt quite quickly about Lisette. She was rather maniacal when it came to her extracurricular activities. “See how she runs.”

“Mila’s going to feel a lot better in a moment,” she glanced towards Booker who was standing beside her also watching the gruesome yet enjoyable scene unfold. “I know that.” And she also knew that when Mila was feeling better taunting the older vampire would be a bit more dangerous then it already was. Something in Lisette knew to be fearful, but that something was overridden completely with her foolish desire to tease a probe at Mila, seeing how far she could push the woman until she snapped. “You might want to be careful…” Lisette nodded slightly, looking over to Booker with a deranged look of pleasure. She knew what he meant, she knew that her actions were dancing unsteadily on the edge of a cliff, but at the moment she could only feel the rush of adrenaline as she starred down at her eminent death. “Careful is my middle name.”

She patted Booker gently on the chest, an affectionate gesture for a man she saw as a younger brother. “I know exactly what I'm doing.” Lisette crossed her arms languidly over her chest and watched as her acquaintance sucked the life out of the innocent human that had been so unlucky to have chosen this night above all others. Well, unlucky for her yet rather opportune for Mila. She tapped her bare foot against the ground and watched bemusedly as Booker attempted to interrupt the little love fest. "Hurry it up, deary, we're not getting any younger." Her voice echoed off the walls, giggling again at her own joke. Her chortle was cut short by an elated gasp and Lisette clapped as Mila snarled viciously towards Booker. "Woah there!"

As the other vampire recomposed herself, leaving the limp, yet still breathing, human on the ground, Lisette took her a moment to prepare herself for the backlash from her sardonic behaviour. She could feel the change in Mila's persona, even from the distance, and shivered in response. The reaction was a mix of unease and excitement as she coyly smiled towards Mila and waggled her fingers. “Looks like someone's feeling better.” She murmured rhetorically as she suppressed the urge to stiffen at Mila's cold glare that only intensified the closer she got. Lisette raised her eyebrows, an expression that made her look curiously feral as she tilted her head slightly upwards and continued to hold the stony gaze. She reached forward to wipe the small line of blood from Mila's chin and chuckle more sinisterly.

“You know I can’t let you get away with that little stunt.”

“What kind of fun would it be if you did?” Lisette's lurid voice was a whisper as she licked the blood from the tips of her fingers and winked.

“I’ll let you take that one. It’s your turn.”

Her head whipped around, dark curls shrouding her even darker face as she did so. She saw the man that Mila was referring to. He was walking casually, unaware of the threat just paces away from him. “How generous.” Lisette's voice was flat as she started to back away from Mila. Her eyes sparkled meanly as she felt a bump against her shoulder, causing Lisette to shift out of the way. “Unless I get to him first.” Lisette gaped, a smile snaking itself across her face. “I see...”

Her sly murmur was cut off as she dashed past Mila at a ghostly speed, not as fast as she was capable of but fast enough. She restlessly teased Mila, picking up speed and stopping mid run, making her way towards the man who stood beneath a street lamp, still oblivious to the witty game going on in the shadows. Lisette reached the circle of light emitted from the ghastly street lamp first. “I win.” She murmured, the man standing amidst the spotlight looked up at the sound of the breathy whisper, his lips parted ready to call out into the darkness.

She stepped in front of him as he looked over confusedly. “Wh- oh!” His eyes widened as he regarded the dishevelled woman before him. “Hey, a-are you okay? You seem a little...” Lisette shook her head slowly. “I'm just hungry, that's all.” The man gazed at her, eyebrows knitted together in worry as he noticed her bare feet and tousled hair. Despite the slight mess she still held an alluring quality that made the human lean towards her unconsciously. “Oh, well if you need a drive somewhere... I-I'm the designated-” Lisette cut him off by reaching out to ensnare his wrist in her hand. “That won't be necessary.” Her sharp voice caught with a laugh as she gripped his arm tighter. “Ow, what the hell... holy shit you're cold as the dead!” He had reached out to push her away in pure humane reaction. “Cold as the dead! Hah!” Lisette turned around and caught sight of her two companions in the shadows. “Did you guys hear that? Oh my, this one's smart.”

She pulled the man closer to her, running a sharpen fingernail against his cheek, leaving a red line that beaded with blood. “I like smart ones.” This was murmured sinisterly as the human tried his hardest to pull from her grasp. “I think not, smartie pants.” She twisted her hand so that the thin skin of his entrapped wrist was exposed to the heavy night. “Wh- stop it! Oh my god... what the hell...” His effort to try and pull away from her was mute and as soon as her sharp canines pieced the skin of his wrist the wriggling stopped and the man became very still. “Oh..” Lisette's grip on his hand, possessive and firm, kept him on his feet as she gingerly drank. There was nothing feral about the way she fed, it was oddly beautiful and eerily immaculate. She only pulled away when his body went limp and she was forced to catch the tumbling human before he fell to the ground. “Opps.” She murmured, slowly checking the man's faint pulse. “We'll let him sleep it off.”

Shrugging Lisette stepped away from her victim who was slumped lifelessly on the ground. She turned back to Mila and Booker, her smirk was cavalier as she fixed her hair and stepped back into the shadows feeling sedated and calm. She had wiped off her mouth and was licking the blood away from her fingers while sauntering forward. Her shoulder bumped Mila's mockingly and she grinned towards her while addressing Booker. “Your turn, love.”

Mila forced her expression to remain cold and unflinching as Lisette reached up to wipe the last bit of blood from her chin. She knew it was just another attempt to ruffle her. The two of them were standing so threateningly close to each other, it might have looked like they were about to start exchanging blows, if it weren’t for their unnatural stillness.

“What kind of fun would it be if you did?”

There was just the slightest flutter of Mila’s eyelids as Lisette licked her fingertips and winked at her. She was suddenly reliving all the unpleasant sensations that had made her realize how toxic it was to be around these two. Lisette had an insidious aura that was a strange mixture of something loathsome and something erotically attractive that got under Mila’s skin like nothing else could. It made her do childish things like challenge a second half-hearted race, even when she knew that sort of thing played right into Lisette’s hand.

”I win.”

“I let you,” came her instant reply in the same soft whisper, after she and the other vampire had finished their bizarre dance of weaving around each other to get to the street lamp. Mila stayed in the shadows as Lisette approached the unfortunate man and began taunting him.

“Cold as the dead! Hah!”

Mila made a show of rolling her eyes as Lisette looked gleefully in their direction. She glanced at Booker who was lurking close by, watching the show with that eerily intense look of his. His eyes were all lit up and his lips were slightly parted, creating an absolutely vulgar expression on his face. Despite the fact that he looked miles and miles away, he spoke to her suddenly in a husky voice, without lifting his eyes from the scene.

“You might not like it, sweetheart, but you belong with the two of us.” Mila looked away from him with obvious annoyance and turned her attention back on Lisette, just as she was sinking her teeth into the man’s wrist. Booker continued talking softly. “Lisette’s been positively reenergized by your surprise appearance. And you, well you were magnificent just now.”

Mila scoffed at his remark. “I was hungry,” she replied, disinterestedly. “It was hunger, not some sort of weird chemistry from you two.”

Booker gave a slow, almost imperceptible shrug of his shoulders, never once looking in her direction as he continued to watch the gruesome seen. “All I know is I can tell you haven’t hunted in a while. I mean really hunted. You enjoyed that; it was obvious. Been keepin’ some pets instead? You always did like the slow burn.”

Mila shot him a look, but he was still too preoccupied to meet her gaze. “She’s surprisingly clean when she does, don’t you think?” he said. Mila caught the hint of fascination in his voice as he nodded toward his companion and was surprised herself at what almost sounded like a genuine compliment from him. And as she watched Lisette drink, she found herself silently agreeing. There was certainly something captivating about it, more so because it was such a contrast to her vicious personality. Mila made it a point to look away before Lisette had finished. The last thing she needed was to be caught staring.

She was suddenly very hungry again. But it was Booker’s turn, of course, and he mockingly pretended to tip an imaginary hat when Lisette told him so. Now he was grinning at the irritated way Mila was watching Lisette saunter away, after she’d just returned the favor of bumping her shoulder. She looked like she was trying hard not to run up and shove her or something equally as immature.

“Looks like I’d better hurry, too, so Mila can get another fix before she gets cranky again. Guess she didn’t get quite enough to become her high and mighty self after all. Lisette, I was just telling her that she really should feel at home with us. We could have this much fun all the time.”

He strolled alongside them with his hands in his pockets, looking strikingly handsome in the light of the moon. It wasn’t long before he cocked his head to one side to listen to the sound of two voices bouncing off the cold city streets as it made its way to the three of them.

“Hm, sounds like an unhappy couple,” Booker sighed with false concern. “Think I should try to mediate?”

Only a few blocks over they came across two young men shoving each other angrily. One them was wiping hot tears from his eyes.

“Just shut up already, I saw you with him!”

“It was nothing, how many times do we have to go through this?? You’re always turning everything I do into some kind of personal attack, you know that??”

Before either man could register what was happening, Booker had his arm around one of them, and was peering sadly at the other.

“I’m afraid it’s finally time to tell him,” he said sorrowfully, before turning his head and kissing the cheek of the stunned human next to him. It was slow and sensuous and the man looked half terrified, half mesmerized. He peered up at Booker with half-lidded eyes when the vampire finally pulled back and made no attempt to resist as Booker leaned in again.

“W-Wha-..! I was right!” the other one stuttered, looking speechless. But he blinked and fell quiet as the vampire reached out and hooked him by the collar. With his arm still wrapped around the first, he pulled the second toward him until his lips were pressed roughly to his. “Two for one special,” he growled with an unpleasant sneer on his face as he broke the kiss and pulled both dazed humans to his side. Then he turned and bit the neck of one and then the other, getting just a small sample of each before they slipped limply to the ground. For all his smooth moves, Booker was a messy eater. His nose and chin glistened and when he grinned at Mila, she could see that his teeth were stained red too. She turned away from him.

“We’re hot tonight. And you’re our lucky charm.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Aw, are you angry I didn’t give one to you? Finders keepers. It’s your turn, so cheer up.”

Mila was ahead of them now, moving briskly down the street, feeling impatient to find herself someone, to satisfy herself as much as she could and then make her escape from the two unbalanced creatures behind her. They were vile, twisted, unpredictable. She could feel herself becoming less human just by being around them… not that she could ever be human…but that didn’t mean her only option was to be a monster. Booker and Lisette were monsters. She wasn’t like them. As if to contradict her, the image of the girl she’d left unconscious on the street flashed through her mind. She clenched her fists. She wasn’t.

That mantra was replaying itself over and over in her mind when she turned the street corner and saw someone who made her stop dead in her tracks. She staggered back in horror after a moment and did a swift about-face, moving swiftly in the opposite direction, as if she’d intended to go that direction all along. She was suddenly cool and calm and she glanced lazily at her companions as if nothing had happened.

“I think I heard something over this way,” she said, intentionally leading them another way. “Come on.”

“You were great tonight, Charlotte,” suppressing a grimace at the sound of her full name, Charlie smiled and picked up her guitar case from the ground. The spiky haired man, who was standing on the top steps that led into the hole in the wall bar, was looking down at her with sparkling green eyes. The smile on his lips was the same cocky grin that he had worn the day Char had met him, when she had been just seventeen. “Thank you, Mitch.” The tone of her voice was cautioning, yet light hearted as she waved a hand slightly towards him backing away without a second thought. Being around him spurred to many old memories that she figured were best left buried deep under the shed. “Hey, wait!” His voice, and the hand that snaked gently around her forearm, stopped her as she moved to leave. Charlie sighed, a sound that was completely exhausted and almost a little sad. “Mitch, I have to go...”

“Yeah, I know. Just, Char...” He let go of her and crossed his arms over his chest. He could have been defiant had it not been for the soft, almost caring, expression written all over his features. “I just wanted to say that I-I’m sorry for... well y’know.” Yeah, she knew. He was sorry for cheating, sorry for being an ass their entire relationship, sorry for screwing everything up. “Just, lemme make it up to you.” He was pulling a small black object from his pocket, the iphone screen lit up to a picture of him holding a beer can and grinning goofily at the camera. It had been taken at the bar, she could tell. The rack of old liquors in the background was one of the many small charms that made people return to this dump every week. “Here’s my personal number.” He rattled off a bunch of random numbers that Charlie didn’t even bother trying to remember. “We should go out for coffee, why don’t you call me tomorrow and we can set up a time?” Charlie pursed her lips. “I, oh...” She couldn’t help but smile a little.

There had been a time in her life when Charlie would have killed for a date with Mitch Warton, a time when she had thrown herself at the smart, handsome bar owner just like every young girl trying to make it in her business did. But that time in her life had past, quite disastrously, and as she stared at that cocky smile with that confident build she just felt sorry for him. Mitch would be standing on this stoop for the rest of his life, trying to pick up on the newest, prettiest young girl. He would never settle down, never have any kind of stable family. He was doomed to this bar, to this night, she as much as she was... just as much as Mila was.

Charlie shivered. “Not this time.” Her hoarse voice was barely a whisper as she backed away. “I’m sorry.” But really, she wasn’t.

She gripped the guitar case tightly in her hand and briskly walked through the darkened streets. Knowing what she did, Charlie should have been scared of this never ending black that threatened to swallow her like the throat of some unholy monster. But Char had faced monsters, both the real and fictional kinds, and despite the fact that she should have been absolutely terrified she could hardly muster a small cautiousness as she slowly sauntered towards home. Home. She loathed her apartment, despite the fact that there was no longer any monsters lurking in the corners there. It was only her, alone with her thoughts that were worse than any beast that life could throw her way. A fierce wind caused her to shudder violently and she reached up to rub her arms that were full of gooseflesh. Her head was down and she watched her feet beat against the gritty pavement.

Charlie’s downcast eyes flickered suddenly when something caught her attention. Something familiar, something startling enough to make her stop dead in her tracks. “Mi-” She stopped herself, clenching her teeth painfully shut and tightening her grip on the guitar case. ‘You’re just seeing things again, shut up.’ Her inner thoughts warned her. It wasn’t implausible to think that she was seeing that woman when she wasn’t really there. Too many times in the past couple of days she had to double take on someone with pale skin and dark hair, and each time that person was not who she was subconsciously looking for, a hole in the pit of Charlie’s stomach would widen and grow denser with unease. She would tell herself that this hole was from fear, from an undeniable terror that Mila would come back into her life again but the truth was much more bleak than that humane response. The truth was that Charlie missed her... and that was the real terror here.

She blinked her eyes tightly, trying to clear her muddled thoughts, and continued towards her empty home, humming a soft song under her breath.

---

Lisette was standing casually, a little ways away from Mila and Booker. Her impartial eyes snapped up when Booker’s voice interrupted the night. “Looks like I’d better hurry, too, so Mila can get another fix before she gets cranky again. Guess she didn’t get quite enough to become her high and mighty self after all.” Lisette grinned towards him. “Oh look at you, Booker!” She giggled and shook her head. “Looking out for a friend, how generous you are. You’re such a good person.” Her gaze flickered to watch Mila.

”Lisette, I was just telling her that she really should feel at home with us. We could have this much fun all the time.”

“Now wouldn’t that just be wonderful.” Her voice raised in mock excitement and her hands clapped together once as the trio walked with unearthly silence through the streets. The night was almost completely dead now, but if you knew where to look you could still find the unlucky fools who dared to grace the streets at this hour. Lisette watched Booker carefully, seeing the tell tale signs that he had found his prey even before he spoke. “Hm, sounds like an unhappy couple, think I should try to mediate?” Lisette didn’t say anything as her curious gaze snapped in the direction of the arguing voices.

The young couple seemed to be in a heated argument that looked to be going nowhere pleasant as Booker slyly intervened. There was fascination in Lisette’s grim eyes. Where she toyed a little, Booker toyed a lot and it was always amusing to watch his little games before he frenzied like a wild animal. Her lips curled into a devious smirk and she looked towards Mila standing just a few paces away from her. It was easy enough to close the distance between them so that Lisette was once again evading the concept of personal space. “So did I hear Booker mention pets? Mila that is so five decades ago!” She scoffed and clucked her tongue with disappointment. “No wonder you’re so weak, poor thing. I guess you really did need us.” She patted the other woman’s stony shoulder softly, withdrawing her hand when Booker turned around with a bloodied muzzle.

“Now what would your mother think!” She called giddily watching his toothy, blood filled grin with delight. “Clean yourself off before I’m forced to do it for you and let’s go. Poor Mi over here is still starved.” She lowered her voice from a shout and eyed Mila dangerously. “And don’t be afraid to go for it all this time, honey. We can clean up the mess.”

The sordid smile that had formed on her face only grew wider as she observed the tense banter between Mila and Booker ending with their acquaintance walking hastily through the night. Lisette watched her going and finally glanced towards Booker with a lazy salute. “Oh, Bookie.” Her voice was still taunting when she addressed him, but there was a certain underlying affection that made her jeers seem less cruel. “You have a little something right there.” She murmured, wiping at the blood on his chin. Her eyes studied his face for a moment, dark and glistening malevolently. “Do you think she’ll stay?” Lisette asked with a thick voice as she scrutinized Mila walking a little ways in front of them.

“I think I heard something over this way. Come on.”

Lisette turned her head, ears peaked towards the direction Mila had said. “I don’t hear anyone...” She murmured, straining to hear. “Are you sure, Mila? I mean let’s get real you are a little off game tonight, l-love.” Her voice stuttered when the sound of soft singing wafted towards them. “Oh. Well...” An unpleasant smirk, that held none of her usual exuberant dolefulness, grew on her lips as both her eyebrows raised curiously. It wasn’t lost to her sharp, yet devastatingly morbid, mind that the singing was coming from the direction Mila had just abandoned. She glanced upward at Booker with a smug expression. “Mila, sweetheart, are you sure it wasn’t that way you meant?” Her hand slowly raised in the direction of the voice.

“Let’s go see who it is...”

“So did I hear Booker mention pets?”

Mila didn’t look at Lisette as the other vampire moved in close again. She gazed past her instead, trying to appear disinterested. But her body was tense. She’d felt better right after that last snack, but it hadn’t been nearly enough and the hunger was quickly creeping up again. The ache did nothing to help her ignore Lisette’s taunts. If anything, Mila felt more belligerent than usual.

“Mila that is so five decades ago! No wonder you’re so weak, poor thing. I guess you really did need us.”

She looked sharply at the hand that was condescendingly patting her shoulder and then flicked her eyes dangerously at Lisette, as if to ask if she wanted to keep that hand. Booker had finished at this point and Lisette withdrew before Mila felt the need to remove it for her. But before long, the younger vampire’s soft voice was purring in her ear again.

“And don’t be afraid to go for it all this time, honey. We can clean up the mess.”

She had to admit…that sounded good to her. She hated how good that sounded. Lisette had always been aware of Mila’s subtle resistance to these kinds of barbaric feeding frenzies and was deliberately coaxing her to give in to the temptation anyway. Even if it felt like she was being manipulated, it also felt exhilarating and wildly pleasurable to imagine giving in and abandoning the last traces of humanity she had left. No guilt or uneasiness necessary. No damaged pride, no having to endure sneers from her comrades for her pathetic sympathy. Just the sensation of having her fill, and having it any which way she wanted. Even as she walked briskly ahead of her companions and told herself over and over that she wasn’t a monster, there was still that lingering temptation in the back of her mind. It would probably always be there, both repulsive and alluring, taking the shape of Lisette licking her fingers and winking.

“Oh, Bookie.”

Booker had a smug look on his face as he watched Mila turn away. He met Lisette’s gaze and sauntered over to her, still licking at his lips and hands with obvious satisfaction.

”You have a little something right there.”

He paused to let her wipe at his scruffy chin, and felt her calculating eyes search his features. His own gaze was on her bloody fingers as they pulled away from him.

“Do you think she’ll stay?”

“It’s hard to tell,” he replied thoughtfully, taking her hand and lifting it to his mouth as if to kiss it. He pursed his lips to the spot of blood on the backs of her fingertips and licked it clean. There was something casual and routine in the way he did it, rather than sensual. “If she knows what’s good for her, she will. Something’s happened to her though. I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s not just us that’s got in her in a mood. She’s distracted.” He finished with her hand and then let it go. “If we could figure out what it is, we might be able to get her to see reason.”

When Mila addressed the two of them about hearing a new target, Booker strained his ears along with Lisette in the direction that the eldest vampire had indicated. …There was nothing. He looked quizzically at her.

“I don’t hear anyone...”

“I don’t either,” he chimed in.

And then he did hear a voice, sweet and clear, and coming from the opposite direction. He turned to look at Lisette in surprised amusement, just as she turned to grin smugly at him.

”Oh. Well…”

“Indeed.”

“Mila, sweetheart, are you sure it wasn’t that way you meant?”

Mila had stopped walking, but still stood with her back to them, so they couldn’t see her expression. It was shock. She was wide-eyed, like a deer in headlights, her gaze frozen on a single spot in the distance as she frantically tried to calculate her next move. She had to turn around. She had to say something before-..

“Let’s go see who it is...”

“Lisette,” Mila said suddenly, whirling around. She couldn’t believe this was happening. In the distance she could still see Charlie’s slender form walking down the street away from them, completely oblivious to the impending danger. Mila felt another painful ache, but instead of it being in her throat in was in her chest. It felt like an icy grip was forcing all the air out of her lungs. Her head was spinning.

“Hold on, I-…I hear it too,” she began again, grasping for the right words. It took everything to keep the desperation out of her voice, though her expression was a little strained. She was moving slowly, trying to place herself between Charlie and the two other vampires. Her eyes were glued to them, keenly aware of their slightest movements, their shifting, smirking faces. She heard the girl’s singing voice start up again and felt another dreadful sinking sensation in her gut. The singing wasn’t loud, but it was just loud enough for their unnaturally sharp senses to pick it up.

“…I’ll take this one. It’s my turn, after all.” She was still inching between them. “I did hear something over that other direction though. It must have moved out of range. Why don’t you check it out? There’s no need for us to go one by one. You don’t have to wait for me. I’ll finish with this one and meet you over there.”

Why had she let them come this way. Why hadn’t she changed their course earlier in the night to some other part of the city. She hadn’t known Charlie would even be in this part of town, but still she might have, she c-could have…

They would kill her. Booker and Lisette weren’t stupid. They would recognize that there had been some kind of connection between she and Charlie, however damaged it was now, and they would make sure this little game ended with the girl dead – if not to just to mess with her, then to squash the faint glow of human feeling that Charlie had coaxed out of her again. Mila would have trembled if she weren’t so entirely focused on keeping her composure. She felt like she was going to be sick. Still she tried to reason with her two companions and to keep up the pretense of not recognizing the girl as convincingly as she could muster.

“If I’m going to join you two,” she added suddenly and looking pointedly at them, knowing it was something they wanted, “I’ll want to know you can give me the luxury of feeding alone sometimes. It’s a…a habit of mine. From being on my own for so long.” She would do it too, join them if it meant they would turn around and walk away from this. It would mean at least a few decades of being harassed by the both of them, dealing with whatever weird tension there was between she and Lisette, and probably being changed for the worse, but at that moment she would have done anything to keep the two wretched demons from getting anywhere near Charlie.

“You can grant me that at least, can’t you?” She hated that it almost sounded like begging, but she said it anyway.

With her face upturned and lips parted slightly, Lisette looked at Booker with interest. “It’s hard to tell,” her gaze was congenial as she let her hand be lifted to his mouth lethargically. She hardly even noticed his lips, soft against the spot of blood on the back of her hand. It was a wonted motion and she didn't think much of it. There was nothing in her that was attracted to Booker, though he was a very striking man. Her intrigue with him was purely from the blood lust that the two shared, she was enticed by his chaotic mind that was so uncannily like her own. They were the perfect balance to each others madness.

“If she knows what’s good for her, she will. Something’s happened to her though. I can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s not just us that’s got in her in a mood. She’s distracted.”

“Well she's never been normal, love.” Lisette's murmur was impartial as her eyebrows furrowed and she pulled her arm back gently. “Yet, I do understand. Something is off with her, she has never needed this much coaxing to kill.” Her gaze flickered towards the slender figure in front of them, her face a complicated mask of admiration and loathing. She'd known Mila for a long time, had hated her most for most of it, yet despite her vehement dislike she had always secretly enjoyed Mila's company. She was a threat and she kept Lisette keen.

“If we could figure out what it is, we might be able to get her to see reason.”

With an imperceptibly bob of her head, Lisette agreed. “I like that idea, I want her to stay.” Her razor sharp voice hissed. “We could use a couple decades of fun.”

Her eyes snapped upwards at the sound of Mila urging them away from the source of the mellifluous voice. A small exchange ended with Lisette starting towards a young human girl who was oblivious to her impending doom.

“Lisette.”

There was something in that voice that made her stop mid-step, despite the fact that Lisette would have normally ignored any interruptions and gone straight ahead with the macabre ideas that swam around her mind like fish in a bowl. It was the disparity, that she tried to hold back, that had Lisette's mouth twisted into a grim line as she slowly moved her gaze away from the dim figure ahead. “Hold on, I-…I hear it too,” Lisette sneered coolly at the older vampire. “Oh, now you hear it?” She muttered quite childishly under her breath. She stopped with a hand on her hip, eyeing Mila with contempt. “So..?”

“…I’ll take this one. It’s my turn, after all.”

With a passive rise and fall of her shoulders, Lisette motioned with her hand for the woman to go ahead. “Okay, fine then,” she began, her mouth opened to say something sarcastic about Mila getting old and her hearing going bad when she was interrupted. “I did hear something over in that other direction though. It must have moved out of range. Why don’t you check it out? There’s no need for us to go one by one. You don’t have to wait for me. I’ll finish with this one and meet you over there.” Lisette's eyebrow raised. “Oh? I was looking forward to this one...” There was real disappointment in her voice as she looked back at Booker with the expression of a spoiled child not getting what she wanted.

“If I’m going to join you two, I’ll want to know you can give me the luxury of feeding alone sometimes. It’s a…a habit of mine. From being on my own for so long.”

“Alone?” The idea was a little exorbitant to her, she didn't hunt alone ever. She found a thrill in having a audience to observe her art in action. “That's... different.” She wanted to press further, she knew that she could probably find some reason that they should go with her if only for Lisette's own sick amusement. Yet she complacently backed off, something that made her teeth grit together. If she let this chance go, there would be a million others for her to silently bedevil Mila until she was molded into the perfect little blood thirsty toy that Lisette knew she would be. That was the only thing that allowed her to swallow her pride and step down.

“You can grant me that at least, can’t you?”

Her grim eyes stared at Mila for several long and very tense seconds until she finally sighed heavily and threw her hands in the air with mock defeat. She remained poised and languid as she waved Mila along like a parent ushering their child into the first day of school. “I say we let her go, Bookie.” She murmured, looking over at Booker with a placid shrug. “Poor girl wants her alone time. We can go find some fun ourselves.” She turned away from Mila, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes like some modern day teenage girl, and looked towards Booker quizzically. “Do you want to go halfsies?”

“We are the young we are the wild youth...” The song was murmured from Charlie's lips as her sandals slapped noisily against the ground and her thin hair, which had fallen free from the clips she had been using to pull it back, was blowing gently around her face. It obscured her view slightly, when a piece was caught in her heavily mascaraed eyelash. “Oh... pfft... dammit.” She muttered silently, the song interrupted as she reach her hand to delicately pull the hair from her eyes. Licking her lips she flipped the soft locks over and pulled them into a sloppy bun that sat precisely on the top of her head. “Ther-.” Her satisfied whisper was cut off when her breath caught in her throat and her guitar case slipped from her grasp to fall onto the pavement with a loud clatter. She didn't immediately reach to retrieve her precious instrument because her bulging eyes and heavy mind were too focused on the figure standing a ways down the sidewalk.

She had her back facing Charlie, two other slender figures that walked with the same almost glide, an inhuman finesse that chilled her already icy body, stood behind her. Char's hands cupped her mouth and she shook her head slightly back and forth refusing to believe what was right in front of her eyes. She didn't notice her legs taking her backwards subliminally until the back of her heels hit against the discarded guitar case, only causing her to jump forward a little and yelp. The tears in her eyes weren't from any kind of physical pain, however, as she watched with her mouth languorously agape and tears trickling onto her cheeks in shock. Relief mixed with an unpleasant feeling of unease washed over her like a wave.

“Mila...?”

Lisette had turned to leave, an annoyed expression on her hidden face as she gently started to pull Booker behind her. “Don't forget to give us the gritty details. Oh and remember,” her face grew taut with a lurid grin that she shared with Booker. “We'll help you clean up afterwards...” Her voice trailed off as a sound, barely a whisper, came from the direction that their playmates prey was coming from. It was a whimpered sob so full of emotion that it even touched the dormant human that lived inside of Lisette. It was a name, simple an sweet, but it made her grin falter and the whimsical look that had embedded itself in her irises completely fade away. Her dark complexion grew grim and her lips set in a hard line. Lisette loved to toy, loved to play around and almost religiously worshipped a good diversion, really who wouldn't when you are bound to walk the earth for all eternity, but she couldn't stand being deceived, and the name was proof enough that this casualty wasn't just some random citizen like they had been led to believe.

She turned around sharply with inhuman speed, her hair whipping her face painfully. “It knows your name.” It wasn't a question as she violently pushed past Mila and stared at the dumbstruck human whose large, Bambi eyes stared right back at her. “Mila, Mila, Mila.” She clucked her tongue adversely as she slowly sauntered in a tight circle around her superior. “Why would a little human know your name?” She didn't wait for an answer as her sharp, calculating eyes stared at Mila darkly. “I think this night is about to get much more interesting.” Her fingers brushed Mila's hair away from the side of her face as she stood behind her and whispered coyly in her ear. “Care for one more race?” She pulled away slowly, her hand caressing Mila's jaw.

“Winner takes all.”

‘Be calm, be calm…’

Mila met Lisette’s questioning stare with a mask of absolute composure. She looked perfectly at ease, as if she were confident that there was no reason why she shouldn’t have her way on such an insignificant matter. But inwardly, her thoughts were racing to come up with her next move, in case the other vampire spotted the trace of tension in her jaw or the subtle hint of desperation in her eyes. She could feel Lisette’s eyes boring into her own, trying to find any excuse to be suspicious. They stared at each other like two territorial animals, waiting for the other to step down. The tension was almost unbearable. ’Maybe she knows. She’s playing with me. She's-..

All of a sudden Lisette threw up her hands.

“I say we let her go, Bookie.”

And just like that, the tension was gone. Mila released an inaudible sigh of relief, her features relaxing completely now. She straightened her posture a little, drawing herself up to her full height, and gave a slow, appreciative nod – though, there was a suggestion of triumph in the way she lifted her chin a little higher and looked at Lisette with satisfaction.

“Good,” she replied easily, as if the younger vampire had pleased her by answering correctly, rather than actually granting her anything.

“Poor girl wants her alone time. We can go find some fun ourselves.”

“Undoubtedly. Go on, I’ll find you when I’m finished.” Her words were almost imperious, and it might have been as if she were the one dismissing them. If she was going to subject herself to the company of these two, she had better start off on a better foot by asserting some level of authority from this point on. If Lisette thought she would be allowing the older vampire to do anything, she was sorely mistaken.

Booker had a curious look on his handsome face as he gazed from Mila to the girl and back again. But he eventually met Lisette’s gaze with a shrug of his own. “Whatever suits her, I don’t care. I could go for another round right now anyway.”

“Do you want to go halfsies?”

“Do you half to ask?” he drawled, a lethargic smirk on his face as he let her tug him along.

“Don't forget to give us the gritty details,” Lisette was saying, as Mila stood and watched them head down the street, wanting to make sure they were out of sight and earshot before-..

”Mila…?”

The relief that she had finally let ease into her expression slowly vanished, just as Lisette’s words gradually faded away. There was a beat of silence and then all of the dread that Mila had thought she had overcome came rushing back suddenly, loud and horrific and paralyzing. She saw Lisette whip her head around and knew she could see the dead giveaway shock on her face. Mila gave an anguished cry as the other vampire pushed past her and she turned to grab at her, thinking she was about to throw herself at Charlie. But Lisette was only staring at the girl with a grim expression, looking not too pleased to have had the wool almost pulled over her eyes.

”It knows your name.”

Now she was circling slowly and dangerously around Mila, like some sort of predatory cat, while the older vampire stared down the street at Charlie with a pained look on her face. The girl’s hands were over her mouth. She had dropped her guitar case. Mila knew with an awful pang of guilt that she didn’t even know the half of it. She must have recognized her old roommate’s silhouette and had obviously reacted with unpleasant shock. She didn’t know to fear Booker and Lisette. Not yet. Mila squeezed her eyes shut, no longer concerned with hiding the agonized look on her face. She’d killed her as soon as she’d entered her life, and it hadn’t mattered that she’d tried to leave.

Her eyes flew open as Lisette’s voice came purring into her ear, soft and deadly.

“Mila, Mila, Mila.”

‘Powerless’ was not a word to describe the immaculate, aristocratic vampire, who had seen more than three hundred years in her lifetime, had devoured more souls than she could count, had the ability to ensnare her prey with just a look. But now as she stared at Charlie and felt Lisette’s fingers on her cheek, her cool breath on her neck, Mila felt an unpleasant shiver down her spine and realized that she had backed herself into a corner.

“Care for one more race?”

“No, w-wait-…” she whispered in a small voice, suppressing another shudder as Lisette caressed her jaw. “Charlie!” She called her name suddenly, loud enough for the girl to hear.

”Winner takes all.”

Mila didn’t wait for the other vampire to pull her hand away before she was off like shot at an astounding speed. She was by Charlie’s side in the blink of an eye, one hand on her shoulder, the other clutching her arm. “Charlie…!” she said again, looking at her with uncharacteristically wide, melancholy eyes. “Oh, Char…” But then she suddenly let go of her again as if she’d touched something hot. “I-I’m sorry, I-…” There wasn’t time to explain everything. Mila grabbed her arm with her vice-like grip and swiftly pulled her to one side of the alley, placing her so that her back was against the wall. She stood just a few feet in front of her in a protective stance, her teeth sharp and glistening threateningly in the direction of her former companions.

She suspected that the time for reasoning was over, but she said anyway, “Not this one.” Her voice was low and intimidating. “She’s… I’ve already claimed her.” She winced at the words as soon as she’d said them, knowing how vile they would sound to the girl. They sounded awful to her, herself. But she had to use the kind of language that Booker and Lisette could understand. ‘I have an emotional connection to her,’ was not going to cut it. In fact, it was laughable.

Booker was already laughing. He sauntered over slowly to stand at a healthy distance from Mila and the human, his face lit up with curiosity and amusement. “You’re kidding me…” he laughed again, running a hand through his dark, tousled hair and grinning at the pair of them as if they’d just finished a comedy skit. “You know, I told Lisette that you were acting funny, but I never could have guessed… But Mila,” he chuckled, appealing to her almost good naturedly, “Can you be serious? Then again, you always were on the possessive side, weren’t you. A little too fond of pets, are we?”

She glared at him with narrowed eyes that shifted between he and Lisette, watching both of them carefully. “Nothing’s changed. I’ll go with you, but you have to leave her to me.”

“No, w-wait-…”

Mila's soft voice was like music to Lisette's ears as her hand gliding along the other woman's jawline. She hated Mila, hated her with everything that she was because Mila personified what Lisette use to be. Powerful, beautiful, dangerous, and not a monster.

Which Lisette was.

She knew she was a beast, knew that the body count she had left behind her was surmountable, and she was okay with that. Yet, there had been a point, so long ago now it was like the memory of it belonged to someone else, when she hadn't been a monster. A point when she would never have harmed a soul, a point when she had been hopelessly human. Lisette had been able to love. She'd enjoyed the simple things, like the sun's warm light against her dark face, the way the moon reflected in a pool of water or the feeling of a hand interlocked with her own. She had been able to cry, to feel heartbreak and fear so intense that sometimes that dead part inside of her still quaked at the sound of a sharp voice or lethal weapon. Back then, she hadn't been the boogeyman cowering under someone's bed waiting to strike and kill without a second thought. She had been powerless, because humanity was weak.

Which Lisette wasn't.

Mila wasn't a monster, but Lisette would stop at nothing until she tainted that innocent part of her and left her with the same dead feeling she felt, that was only filled by a bloodthirsty desire to kill.

She flinched when the older woman's shout resounded through the air, piercing in contrast to her quiet whisper just moments before.

“Charlie!”

Char blinked at the sound of her name and unclasped her hands from around her mouth, she took a small step forward before freezing in place. She wasn't sure what she was planning on doing, running forward? Running towards the cause of so much pain and confusion and into a situation that could only breed more of those same feelings. She stopped herself and stood there, gaping like an idiot because her second option, the one to turn away and run in the opposite direction, wasn't enticing to her either. She watched as Mila ripped away from a woman, whose rigid, defensive stance was obvious even from the distance, and run towards Charlie at an inhumane speed. She'd never seen someone move so fast. Her gut twisted and she regretted not taking the second option while she had the chance.

The vice like grip on her arm sent a violent shiver through Charlie's body as she instinctively tried to pull away. “Oh, Char...” Mila's thick voice wasn't at all like the sultry tone that Char remembered, or even the remorseful tone that still made her feel ill when she thought about it. “What are you doing...” She felt the cold grip release her forearm just as quickly as it had grasped her. “I-I’m sorry, I-…” The apology made Charlie flinch. Yeah, everyone's sorry about something tonight. She was too stunned to do anything but gape for several seconds. “Mila, I-I thought..” Her wide-eyed stare was teary as she took a small step backwards. She felt a sudden sick sense of anguish as all her feelings came rushing back with a flash of this other worldly woman's dark eyes. “You said you were leav- Oh!”

She was pushed back against the wall of a nearby building. The brick bit against the flesh on her back uncomfortably and she looked at Mila with an expression of pure exasperation. “Don't touch me!” She scowled and attempted to push away from the wall. Her hands were up, ready to shove her former roommate away, when Mila took a protective stance in front of her. In her moment of regard, Char had nearly forgotten about the two other ghostly figures until she peeked around Mila. With her lips parted slightly she formed a question that was cut short: “What is going...” As she saw them approaching, Charlie wondered how she ever could have let these two people, no these two things, slip her mind. Her voice broke mid sentence and her eyes widened. Where there was some underlying good about Mila, although that word was a bit of a stretch, the blatant animosity in the eyes of these two made the human shrink back against the wall.

“Not this one.”

Charlie briefly glanced towards Mila when she spoke, her eyes flickering back to pair just in time to see the curious cock to the woman's head and the sinister grin that lit the man's face with malice. “She’s… I’ve already claimed her.” Claimed her. Those words made Charlie's breath draw in as she tried to press herself farther into the wall, the motion only causing her more pain as a piece of sharp brick cut into her back. “Nobody has claimed me.” She hissed, her voice cracking and making the words seem more pathetic then she meant them to be. “It speaks! Haha!” Charlie snapped her head to the source of the darkly sanguine voice. The young looking woman, whose tousled black hair and startling eyes made her seem like some sort of feral animal, was almost dancing in her spot.

“You’re kidding me…”

The man wasn't looking at Charlie as his gross laughter floated around them. He was talking to Mila, and Char was having a difficult time listening to what he said. She was distracted by his dark hair in contrast to the pallor of his skin and the viciously amused gleam in his eyes which gave her a sense of unease. She shut her eyes tightly and took a deep breath, trying to calculate how in the hell she would get herself out of this situation.

“Can you be serious? Then again, you always were on the possessive side, weren’t you. A little too fond of pets, are we?”

“I'm not a pet.” Charlie spat instinctively, glowering towards the man. “I have nothing to do with this, just let me go home.” She ignored the grating, childlike laugh that could have been beautiful if not for the sinister twist. “You have everything to do with this, love.” Charlie's stomach knotted as she let herself look over at the dark skinned woman who was edging slightly closer towards them. Her eyes were malicious as they stared right at Charlie, she felt as if this malevolent woman could see right into her soul, and suppressed the urge to shut her eyes. A grin danced across her face, showing off the razor sharp incisors that pressed against her bottom lip dangerously. Char exhaled deeply, she didn't want either of these two any closer to her then they already were. They were dangerous, even more dangerous then Mila perhaps, and Charlie would have given anything to be out of that alley and back in her silent apartment. Safe.

“Nothing’s changed. I’ll go with you, but you have to leave her to me.”

Lisette, who had been staring at the human girl that coward behind Mila's protective stance, turned slowly to face her old 'friend'. “Mila, you should have just told us, there really is no need for all of this... unpleasantness.” She took a small, yet deliberate step forward raising one eyebrow as if to ask what Mila was going to do about it. “We would have understood, you've never really taken to our way of life like you should. We could help you,” she paused, the smile growing so that her sharp teeth were in full view to both women. “And you can even keep that one for awhile, it really would be a shame to loose something so beautiful so quickly.” She breathed in deeply, keeping her eyes leveled on Mila, testing her limits. “She smells delectable, no wonder you're so smitten.” Sending a quick wink over to Charlie, she took another step forward.

‘There has to be a way out of this...’

Mila’s eyes flickered back and forth between Booker and Lisette, her hands partially raised, her muscles tense, her teeth sharp and glistening. The initial anguish in her expression was replaced now with cold calculation as she thought of every possible move, trying to figure out how she was going to get Charlie some place safe. Meanwhile, the two lecherous villains in front of her were slowly inching their way closer and closer by the second. She noticed that Booker hung back a little, gleefully surveying the entire situation with that revolting grin of his. Both of them looked like they’d hit the jackpot at some perverse game. The eagerness in their eyes made Mila’s stomach turn.

She could sense that Char had pressed herself up against the brick wall, trying to put as much distance as possible between herself and the two vampires. Three vampires. Don’t touch me! Mila had winced at the girl’s words and the scowl she had given her, despite knowing they were both well deserved. She hadn’t been stupid enough to think Charlie would be at all pleased to see her would-be-killer again, and yet, the way she’d flinched at her touch, the way she instinctively shrunk away still cut at the vampire, even if it was to be expected. Some small part of Mila secretly rejoiced to see Char again, even now, even as she wished the girl was some place far away from this horrific mess. Mila had spent the last few days coping with the thought of never seeing her again, as well as more profound misgivings about her unearthly existence. She wished with all her being that she hadn’t brought more wretchedness into Char’s life, but she still couldn’t help the flutter in her chest at seeing her again…

“Nobody has claimed me,” she heard Charlie say in disgust.

’…Good thing I know just how to break the ice again, Mila thought bitterly to herself, inwardly groaning at her own words. Worse still, they hadn’t seemed to have any effect on Booker or Lisette, who still leered at her no matter how she tried to appeal to their sick sense of propriety. Lisette seemed to be too wrapped up in staring at Charlie to even pay attention. Mila felt a sudden stab of revulsion as she watched the other vampire lock eyes with Char. She hated the way Lisette was looking at Charlie. She hated it with an intensity that almost startled herself.

“Lisette,” she snarled, wanting her attention just to break the eye contact.

“Mila, you should have just told us, there really is no need for all of this... unpleasantness.”

Mila blinked at her falsely reassuring tone, immediately on guard.

“We would have understood, you've never really taken to our way of life like you should. We could help you.”

“Help me,” she repeated contemptuously, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “Right.”

“And you can even keep that one for awhile, it really would be a shame to loose something so beautiful so quickly.”

Mila clenched her jaw as the other vampire inhaled deeply, and matched her steady gaze with an unflinching glare.

“She smells delectable, no wonder you're so smitten.”

“Don’t do that,” Mila snapped, as Lisette winked at Charlie, feeling a sudden flare of irritation. She narrowed her eyes at her. “And I’m not-.. that’s not why I-.. She isn’t a meal to me,” she added, becoming slightly flustered as she stumbled to find the right words. She felt another flash of aggression as Lisette stepped forward again, seemingly unperturbed by the older vampire’s warning growl. She was too close now, and Mila had turned to face her directly, ready to tear her apart if she made just one wrong move. She was so focused on the other woman, that she didn’t realize she’d left too big of a gap on one side as she’d turned. Not until it was too late. Booker, who had been pretending to stand idly in the background, took advantage of the opening immediately. He snatched Charlie by her arm and pulled her into a tight embrace so that her back was pressed uncomfortably close to his chest.

“Look what I got~!” he sang maliciously, swaying a little as he adjusted his grip on the girl. “Ah, ah, Mila. Take care,” he added suddenly, staggering backward with his prize as Mila leapt at him. He nuzzled the side of his face against Charlie’s cheek and opened his mouth with a smile, revealing two sharp teeth that were ready to pierce her skin at any moment. “Relaaax, I’m not going to take her if she belongs to you. I’m not an animal,” he said, laughing at his own joke. His voice dropped to a low, husky murmur and his lips brushed across Charlie’s ear and into her hair. “I just…” he inhaled rapturously, “…want to play with her a little, that’s all.”

He had one arm around her shoulders and the other around her middle, pinning her arms to her sides. One of his large hands found the soft spot above her hip and he gave her playful squeeze, just as his teeth scraped the shell of her ear.

“Booker,” Mila wheezed desperately, staggering forward.

“Did I hear you say you’re not a pet?” he whispered to Charlie, smirking against her skin, and stepping backward with her again out of Mila’s reach. “Not like any pet I’ve had, anyway. You haven’t fallen in love with the bite yet, have you? No, not yet. Otherwise you’d be begging for it right now.” He touched his teeth to her skin again.

“Booker, I’m begging you, please don’t-..!”

“Ugh, will you stop,” he interrupted with an exasperated sigh. “It’s unseemly to see you beg.” He released Charlie, giving her a slight shove in Mila’s direction.

“Like Lisette said, you can keep her, I don’t care. She won’t last long. She’s so small, isn’t she.” He grinned wickedly and shared a look with Lisette. “We still haven’t finished hunting yet, and I have at least one more round in me. How about we take her along with us?” Booker was staring at Charlie with a lazy, sinister smile. “It’s her turn, you know.” He gestured to Mila. “She might not be ‘in the mood’ as she puts it, but she’s hungry, you can tell. Maybe we’ll find one for her,” he said with feigned generosity.

"Don't do that."

The sharp voice made the vampire's head snap towards it's source. "Oh, calm down Mi!" She giggled, sending Charlie a wave and laughing harder when the human leaned away in disgust. "I'm just having a little fun." Although, Lisete's definition of 'fun' wasn't really all that enjoyable for anyone other then herself. Lisette was good at twisting people into her own little toys with which she could control. She was a malicious puppeteer who found pleasure in the pain of her marionettes. This was no different. She leaned forward a tad and inhaled again, her eyes playfully taunting Mila.

"And I'm not-.. that's not why I-.. She isn't a meal to me."

Lisette blanched and looked towards the elder vampire curiously. "I think you'd do best not to go there, Mila." Her voice lost the playful edge momentarily as she straightened out and stared at Mila with contemptuous eyes. "She is human, you are not. Remember that." Her voice was husky and low, low enough so that the small girl pinned against the wall would of had to strain her ears to hear what she whispered. She kept her face levelled with Mila, a warning cast deep within her glare.

She isn't a meal to me. Char was nearly oblivious to the tense exchange between the two immortals. She herself was caught up on that simple phrase. Not a meal? Her heart thudded painfully in her chest as she stared blindly into the darkness, not letting herself look at Mila or the sinister Lisette as she mused over this. If she wasn't a meal, then what was she? She supposed she shouldn't be very surprised that she didn't know where she stood in yet another person's book. Charlie's mind whirled in a chaotic storm of unpleasant thoughts that made her want to shrink far into a hole. She was so preoccupied with them that she didn't notice the man either, until his python like arms wrapped themselves around her body and his sing song voice rose viciously in the air.

"Look at what I got~!"

She felt herself be jerked back unsteadily as he pulled her back, away from Mila who had leapt forward protectively. Charlie made a small yipping noise as the breath was nearly knocked out of her. "Ah, ah, Mila. Take care," His voice was playful as he buried his face in the crease of Charlie's neck, softly tickling her and making the girl squirm uncomfortably. The scene was almost cartoon like, the way she wriggled trying to get away from him. "Relaaax, I'm not going to take her if she belongs to you. I'm not an animal," Charlie felt sick, she didn't belong to anyone, she wanted to scream it at the top of her lungs. She wasn't a possession, or a pet, or anyone's god damn meal.

"I just... want to play with her a little, that's all." A shudder ran through her body as he inhaled her scent deeply. And she also certainly was not a plaything. Charlie just wanted to go home and go to bed and wake up ten-years-younger to the sound of her older sister's heavy breathing, the pounding footsteps of the twins outside her door and the smell of bacon and pancakes wafting from the kitchen. She wanted normalcy. And normalcy certainly wasn't this.

“Did I hear you say you’re not a pet?”

Charlie gritted her teeth, her entire body rigid as he pulled her closer to him keeping her arms pinned by her sides. “I'm not a pet...” She repeated, her voice guttural as she tried futilely to pull herself out of his iron-like grip. She knew that her efforts to get away were hopeless, he probably couldn't even feel the slight tug against his arms as she tried with all her force to propel herself forward. She could feel his smile against the fine thin on her neck and it made her shudder with fear and angst and something else, a little less sinister.

“Not like any pet I’ve had, anyway. You haven’t fallen in love with the bite yet, have you? No, not yet. Otherwise you’d be begging for it right now.”

No, she hadn't fallen in love with the 'bite' as he put it, but she could still remember the euphoric sense that she had happily let herself fall into. That evening felt as if it were years ago despite the fact that it had really only been the other night. She could remember that blissful sensation so well that her body did want to sink into him as his sharp canines pressed lightly against her skin. The memory of it all was so sharp that she gasped suddenly, eyes wide as she fought herself, common sense against some internal lust that was becoming more and more solid the longer she was ensnared in his rancorous embrace.

“Booker, I’m begging you, please don’t-..!”

Mila's voice sounded distressed as she begged the man, Booker, to stop.

"Ugh, will you stop, it's unseemly to see you beg."

Charlie felt herself pushed forward, she tumbled like a rag doll, her limbs feeling weak as she fell heavily into Mila's stony body. "Ouf." She murmured slightly, landing in the woman's arms feeling sick with her self. As soon as his arms had released her, she'd realized what she would have let him do had she been in his snare much longer. She shivered and shut her eyes tightly, leaning into Mila instinctively to try and get away from that disgusting sense of vulnerability. She was powerless, there was no way she would be able to get out of this unharmed, if alive at all. Her heavy breaths came faster as she tilted her head upwards and she finally let herself admit the fact that she really was going to die tonight.

A single tear ran down her cheek as she gazed up at Mila. There was fear in her expression, real fear that made her cheeks pale and her crystal eyes gleam as they bore into the face of her once roommate and almost killer. She opened her mouth slightly as if to say something but no words came out, only a breathy sigh, almost like shudder. Yet, her eyes said all that she couldn't form into words. 'Help me.' The begged, almost screamed as another tear slipped down her cheek. 'Get me out of this.' And there was the blame, as hard as Charlie tried to keep that to herself, remembering all too well the anguished expression on this beautiful woman's face. She tried to keep herself from giving Mila the fault for this unfortunate situation, yet she couldn't help but let some of that awful emotion leak into her expression. "I'm sorry..." She murmured, not really sure what she was apologizing for.

"Like Lisette said, you can keep her, I don't care. She won't last that long. She's so small, isn't she."

Lisette smiled as she watched the small human shrink farther away from Booker with a noise that was a cross between a whine and a sob. Her own eyes were gleaming as well, only it wasn't with fear that they glistened dangerously in the dark night. "She really is." Lisette drawled, shaking her head in pity, as if she were capable of the emotion. "We still haven't finished hunting yet, and I have at least one more round in me. How about we take her with us?" Lisette giggled slightly as the human started to violently shake her head, her lips forming a silent 'No'. "Come on, darling. Chin up." Lisette smiled, slowly walking over. Her steps were cautious as if she were approaching a wild animal and despite the fact that she kept her gaze firmly on the cowering human she was hyper aware of every subtle movement Mila made.

The impending threat didn't stop Lisette, however, as she stepped forward and grabbed hold of Charlie's shoulder and arm. Her touch wasn't gentle as she pulled the small girl into a standing position. Her thumb ran possessively over Char's jawline before she patted her cheek like a piece of meat. "Charlie, is it?" Lisette's voice was almost personable. However any type of kindness was lost when Mila showed off her sharp canines. "So nice to meet you, darling. My name is Lisette, and that," she pointed lazily towards Booker. "Is Booker. We're... old friends of Mila's." She smiled at her own joke as she let her hand slide down Charlie's arm and fall to her own side.

Charlie tried not to meet Lisette's sinister, yet oddly captivating, gaze as the woman stared at her intently. Despite the cold, calculating eyes on her face, Char knew she wasn't the object of Lisette's real fascination. She could have blinked and missed the small flutter of her eyes towards Mila and the small micro-expression that passed over her face afterwards. It was a brief look of unfiltered blood lust and pure enjoyment that momentarily brightened the woman's face and exposed the monster within her. It was unsettling.

"It's her turn, you know."

Whipping her head around, Charlie looked up at the Booker and shuddered to see his carelessly malice gaze on her. Char felt her stomach knot, she wasn't entirely sure what he meant by "turn" but she had an idea and either way she'd find out very soon. She didn't want that, not at all.

“She might not be ‘in the mood’ as she puts it, but she’s hungry, you can tell. Maybe we’ll find one for her.”
She hoped not, she hoped that the streets would be complete devoid of any person and that they would have to call it a night and let her go home. Although, Charlie wasn't that naive, she knew full well that these two bestial entities would come after her given even the slightest of chances and she would be powerless to do anything about it. That sense of vulnerability made her feel physical weak, never in her entire life had Charlie felt so out of control and never had she felt such a fear as she did at that moment, making her skin tingle with the emotion and her eyes bead with more glistening tears.

Lisette, on the other hand, was elated at the idea. "Marvelous! Simply marvelous! Let's get going then, the night won't last forever, darlings. Or at least it won't for some of us." She giggled again and went to usher Charlie and Mila along when she stopped dead in her tracks. Her head was upraised and her nostrils flared slightly, her eerily dilated pupils sparkled in the moonlight.

A whistling sound, low and distant, made Lisette's ears perk up like a dogs. Her head snapped in the direction of the noise briefly before slowly turning to look past Charlie and straight at Mila. "Hear that?" It wasn't any kind of real question, she knew that Mila could hear the sound just as well as either of them could hear the quickened heart beat of the human girl standing right in front of them. "I-I don't hear anything..." Lisette raised her eyebrow and looked at the tentative girl who was standing with her arms crossed and looking as if she wanted to cave in on herself. "You wouldn't." Lisette's haughty voice replied. "You're human." The quiet words were said as an insult as Lisette turned away in disgust. "Let's go, and Mila! Don't let her slow us down."

She started at a slightly faster then normal pace, nearly glided along the sidewalk with Charlie stumbling close beside Mila. It was deathly silent except for the shallow breaths of the terrified human who knew that her life was balanced precariously on the edge of this dangerous game she currently played; with all the odds stacked up against her. "Wait... I hear it." Charlie blurted suddenly in a hushed whisper, earning herself a sharp glare from Mila. "Congratulations." Mila's cocky tone answered, not taking her eyes off the misty figure that was slowly solidifying itself, taking shape of a broad man whose spiky hair bobbed in the pale moonlight. "Why hello, handsome." Lisette winked towards Mila and Charlie and at unearthly speed closed the distance between herself and him.

Charlie watched in mute horror as Lisette disappeared towards the man in the distance. "Oh my god..." She exhaled, stumbling backwards with a look of consternation written over her delicate features as her tumbling feet threw her backwards, right into Booker. Yet she hardly even noticed as she watched the grizzly scene unfold.

It was like what she was watching a role of gory pictures playing on repeat. A snap shot of Lisette, grabbing the man and tilting his head backwards, her sinister grin directed towards the group who were idly standing by. Another of her Teeth gleaming brightly just before the sharp canines pierced the man's neck. It was more violent then Char could have imagined, more awful now that she was a witness and not the hapless victim. Her face contorted into a mask of misery as she clasped her hands over her mouth and shook her head, tears distorted her view. She could make out the blurry shape of Lisette, pulling away from the man, immediately and shoving him forward towards Mila. The smell of blood was in the air, and even Charlie was overwhelmed by it. "There you go, Mi." Lisette's sultry voice was merely background noise to the rushing in Charlie's ears as she ran her hands over her face and into her hair, an action that was full of disparity.

"No, oh my god no." Charlie's voice was a sob as she continued to furiously shake her head in disbelief. "Mitch..."

He was doing it again, using that filthy talent of his to seduce his prey, to make them stop struggling and actually anticipate what he wanted to do with them.. Mila could see the subtle look that passed over Charlie’s face and she could hear the girl shudder with something more complicated than just fear. It made Mila sick to think that his tactics were no worse than what she herself had used on Charlie not too long ago. Stroke the natural, fearful response until it became quiet and pliable and just wanted to melt on command. It was like Mila was looking at a mirror and seeing her own self working her sinister charm on the girl – only now she felt the horror of it.

It has to stop. Oh god, make it stop! She’d been reduced to begging, but she didn’t care because it had worked. Booker released the girl with a contemptuous remark that had fallen on deaf ears. She was too preoccupied to pay him any attention as he pushed Charlie and sent her stumbling forward. Mila caught Char in her arms as the slender girl fell heavily into her, still shivering from her encounter with Booker. Charlie was clinging to her as if to get herself as far away from him as possible. Mila felt a sudden swell of emotion as the human leaned instinctively closer to her. Her own arms wrapped around her more securely and she held her close.

Then Charlie looked up at her. The expression on her face managed to reach inside and wrench that human part of Mila until the vampire’s own beautiful features were contorted with guilt and anguish. Mila blinked down at her, her eyes wider than usual, studying Charlie’s face as if she were trying to find the right words to say. The girl’s eyes were wet and wretched, her had lips parted with an awful shudder and she seemed to be silently pleading with the older woman to help her, to do something. There was a hint of blame too, and Mila knew she deserved every bit of it. She could see that Charlie thought she was going to die. It made her want to cry, but of course that was something she couldn’t do anymore. Instead she shook her head ever so slightly, unable to look away from the girl’s imploring eyes if she’d tried, her throat feeling painfully constricted. You’re not, you’re not going to die, I won’t let you. Mila touched the side of her face carefully, hesitantly, as if she might break. She swept her thumb ever so gently over her cheek to wipe away the last tear that had spilled over her pale skin.

”I’m sorry…’ she heard Charlie murmur.

“Sorry?” Mila choked softly, swallowing the ache as she looked down at her in disbelief. “Don't, please, don’t apologize, I’m the one who-..”

Lisette was pulling her out of her arms, up into a standing position. The act so infuriated Mila that she nearly lashed out at her but she had to check herself instead because really, they had all the power and if she took a swing at one of them now they would be on her and Charlie before either of them could blink. So she stood there and trembled with fury as Lisette ran her hands all over Charlie and appraised her like she was some kind of material good. The look Mila gave Lisette was murder.

They were talking about hunting. They wanted Charlie to tag along. The girl was shaking her head emphatically no, but that had only made both Booker and Lisette laugh.

“Let's get going then,” Lisette was saying. “The night won't last forever, darlings. Or at least it won't for some of us."

“I’m done. I’m not hungry,” Mila lied. In fact, she could feel her own thirst betraying her. She’d only had a taste earlier that night and she was still feeling famished. Up until then, she’d been able to ignore the wickedly tantalizing vulnerability in Charlie and the memory of the times she’d fed from her…but she was scared to think about how long she’d be able to keep the temptation at bay, especially with the scent blood in the air. She told herself she would think of the look that Charlie had just given her, she would recall the tug of human sentiment, and that would be enough to banish her monstrous craving. But she knew it wouldn’t, and she felt ashamed.

Before she could continue to argue, she heard a sound and snapped her eyes to Lisette, knowing she’d heard it too.

"Hear that?"

Mila’s stiffened posture was enough to confirm, though she knew Lisette wasn’t really asking.

"I-I don't hear anything..."

"You wouldn't. You're human."

The vampire said it like it was an insult. Mila gave Lisette a contemptuous look and then glanced at Charlie as if to say ignore her. The girl looked like she was crumbling.

"Let's go, and Mila! Don't let her slow us down."

Booker was behind both of them immediately, giving them little choice but to follow Lisette’s swiftly disappearing form. Mila moved to Charlie’s side and nudged her crossed arms. She reached and took one the girl’s hands in her own and held it tight. There wasn’t anything she could say with Booker so close behind them and both vampire’s ability to overhear them anyway, so she gave Char’s hand a squeeze and tried to communicate even just a fraction of what she couldn’t say out loud. I’ll protect you, I swear it.

They weren’t moving very fast, for their capabilities anyways, but Charlie was stumbling alongside Mila to keep pace. It didn’t take long to reach the unfortunate man and as soon as he came into sight, Lisette skipped off to have her way with him. When Mila felt the impulse to make Charlie look away from the grizzly sight, a nasty voice in her head reminded her that the girl had already experienced it first hand. Still she turned to her anyway to distract her somehow and saw that her face was ashen.

"Charlie...?"

"There you go, Mi."

Mila shuddered as the scent of the man’s blood suddenly flooded her senses, deliciously intoxicating. Lisette was in front of them already, grinning and shoving the unconscious man into Mila’s arms. She caught his body and held him half upright, her only concern now being the overwhelmingly enticing blood on his neck where Lisette had already had a taste. Mila’s canines were immediately sharp. She wanted nothing else in that moment than to press her lips to the same spot and finish the job. She was practically salivating over him, hesitating only because in the back of her mind she knew there some reason why she didn’t want to lean down and lap up Lisette’s leftovers…

"No, oh my god no."

She heard Charlie’s desperate voice and was suddenly conscious of the fact that her mouth was open and quivering over the man’s neck.

"Mitch..."

Mila wrenched her head back and gave a maddened sort of groan, as if it was nearly too much to ask herself not to bite down. She physically needed it.

“You know him?” she rasped, gritting her teeth and looking up, away from the scarlet temptation. “He’s your…your…” she was too distracted to find the right word. She needed to get away from this tormenting scent. She swallowed and half dragged him to a doorstep in the alley, propping him up in sitting position so that he was leaning against the brick. She turned away from him sharply and paced and took deep breaths of the city air and tried to calm herself.

“I don’t want him,” she said finally, her eyes still black with bloodlust as she glared at Lisette and then at Booker.

Booker had chuckled with delight when Charlie backed into him unknowingly. He had put his hands on her thin shoulders and had leaned down to speak to her in a soothing voice. “Watch,” he whispered, his face lighting up as he realized that the human was already fixed on the scene. She was trembling and running her hands over her face in distress. “Relax,” Booker exhaled, smirking as he began kneading her shoulders, making the muscle soft and loose. “A friend of yours? It’s alright, he feels good right now. He loves it even. You like it too, deep down.”

Mila had finally caught her breath when she noticed what Booker was doing to her. Before he could register her movement, she had shoved him violently away from the girl, sending him sprawling backward until his back hit the brick wall on the opposite side of the alley street. The force of it looked painful but when Booker raised his head, there was grin on his handsome face.

“You’re too easy to get to, Mila,” he sneered, hiding a wince as he straightened up.

Mila was walking toward him like she was going to kill him. He backed away from her, still smiling sinisterly, his hands up as if to say ok, ok, enough already. It didn’t seem to deter her. “You really do get cranky when you’re hungry,” he teased, as the two of them circled around each other tensely. Mila was being impulsive and she knew it but the need to satiate her hunger was making her feel feral. She lashed out at Booker who narrowly dodged her, the smile gone from his face.

“Lisette,” he said, not daring to take his eyes off his opponent as he dodged another attack. “Mila doesn’t take very good care of her pets does she?” Mila saw where this was going too late and before she could get to her, Booker had Charlie by the arm again. “Why don’t you let me have her?” he snarled, his grip tight enough to bruise Char’s arm. Now he did glance at Lisette and he jerked his head at her. “I’ll be at the usual place,” he said, giving her a pointed look. “You two play nice for a while. I know we will.” He grinned and slung Charlie over his shoulder in one fluid motion. Then he was off down the street at an incredible speed.

Mila leapt to chase after him.

The feeling of Mila’s cold hand inside her own, reassuring despite the fact that Charlie knew exactly what those hands were capable of, was the only thing that kept her from turning and running in the opposite direction. Of course the looming presence of Booker behind them did aid in stopping her, as she half walked-half stumbled alongside Mila. Her insides felt like mush and she had a hard time believing that what was happening was reality, even when the smell of blood filled the sharp, night air and recognition sparked deep inside of her. Lisette nudged the lackadaisical man towards them and Charlie had to stop herself, once again from running. Only this time she wouldn’t have been running backwards but forwards, towards Mitch whose limp body was now held in Mila’s arms.

Charlie tried not to notice, she tried to remain oblivious to the way Mila’s teeth sharpened, how her body went rigid as her eyes grew darker and more dangerous. But she couldn’t help but gape at the feral stance the other woman had taken over the body. Hunched over with her jaw slack, so totally focused on the man’s bleeding neck that it seemed like she was in an entirely different world. Is this what it was like with me? The thought only proved to make Charlie feel even more nauseous than before. “Watch,” Booker’s sultry voice in her ear didn’t have to tell her to observe the gruesome display. Charlie wasn’t sure if she would be able to look away now, she was so sickly transfixed as hysteria bubbled through her body causing her to cry out quietly. “Relax,” She suppressed another tremor as his icy hands began to slightly massage her shoulder muscles. Tears sparkled in her eyes as she watched Mila lean closer and closer into her prey until Char could barely take the anxiety of the moment and she exhaled Mitch’s name loudly.

It seemed to work, Mila wrenched her head away from his neck with a noise that chilled Charlie to the bone. Despite that, she still felt the blanket of fear that had wrapped itself around her heart loosen just a bit at the sound of Mila’s thick voice, distant and confused.

“You know him?”

Charlie’s head bobbed furiously as she struggled to find words. “Yes, I know him! Please, Mila, don’t hurt him...” Charlie couldn’t look at the slack face of her off and on employer and once lover so she focused solely on Mila’s torn features.

“He’s your... your...”

“Friend!” Charlie exhaled, a sound that was completely exasperated as her disheveled features tried to propel forward as Mila dragged Mitch’s body towards a dark doorway and propped him gently against the wall; she was held back by the firm hands on her shoulders. “He’s my friend...” She tried hard to keep the emotion out of her voice and not show that once she had held deep feelings for this man, that she would have done anything for him. “You can’t hurt Mitch, just let him go.” She wasn’t sure if any of them actually cared, she was certain that Lisette and Booker didn’t but she couldn’t quite read the complicated look of hunger and conflict that had grown on Mila’s face.

“A friend of yours? It’s alright, he feels good right now. He loves it even. You like it too, deep down.”

She stood, frozen in spot as the lurid voice tickled her ear tenderly. He wasn’t lying. “You’re wrong...” But she was. Despite the fear and confusion and hurt, she could remember the euphoric sense that Mila’s bite had given her. She could recall in startling detail how willing she had been to die right then and there, because it had felt so rapturous. Her lips parted as she searched for the words to deny something that she knew so well to be true. “I-I don’t like it at all.” She was so focused on trying not to be discovered in her lie, that Charlie didn’t notice Mila’s dark shape rocketing towards them.

With a terrified shriek the human jump back, away from Booker as Mila shoved him violently, and closer to the third vampire who stood like a stone statue in the darkness. Lisette, who had been uncharacteristically quiet during the whole encounter, giggled sinisterly. “Mila!” Her voice was mockingly like that of a disappointed parent. “How rude of you!” She completely ignored the small whimper that came from Charlie as she backed away slowly. She had no interest in the human, not alive at least, and was much more concerned with the scuffle between her two ‘friends’. “Uh, oh Bookie! You might want to be careful, Mila looks like she might eat you!” She clucked her tongue as she watched Booker slowly pull himself up from the ground where he had landed.

“You’re too easy to get to, Mila.”

Lisette raised her eyebrows as Mila circled Booker predatorily. She looked as if she were ready to go in for the kill and Lisette didn’t doubt that she would. It made her stand straighter and become more aware of every single move, no matter how minimal, the other woman made. She knew what Mila was capable of, and she was very hungry. Lisette was prepared for anything as Booker lazily made a gesture of surrender. “You really do get cranky when you’re hungry,” He was testing her, seeing how far she could be pressed until the final thread snapped. Not too much farther... Lisette thought snidely as she watched Mila throw herself at Booker. Lisette’s mouth was set in a grim line. She moved to intervene then, this couldn’t go anywhere good and she would prefer not to have a dead vampire on their hands, when Booker’s voice interrupted her.

“Lisette,”

She made a noise of inquiry as she stopped in her tracks, keeping herself fully aware of the entire situation. “What?”

“Mila doesn’t take very good care of her pets does she?”

A grin spread over her face, then, and she laughed ferally, more like the sound of a rabid dog than anything truly human. “No, you’re right she doesn’t.” She glanced over towards Charlie who had resulted to cowering against a wall and watching with those pathetic bambi eyes. She looked completely perplexed. “How irresponsible of her.” Lisette’s absent comment was lost as Booker reacted quickly, rushing towards the human girl before Mila could do anything about it.

“Why don’t you let me have her?”

The grip on her arm made Charlie cry out in pain. “Stop!” She breathed as she tried pulling away, to no avail. Yet she still continued to thrash in his grip, hoping that maybe it would make a difference and knowing that it really wouldn’t. “I’ll be at the usual place.” Charlie’s blood ran cold when he still didn’t let go and slowly it dawned on her that he was planning on taking her to wherever this ‘usual place’ was.

“You two play nice for awhile, I know we will.”

Lisette answered with a lazy salute as Booker hoisted the girl, who really couldn’t have weighed all that much not that he would have noticed anyways, and disappeared down the road at an abnormal rate. “Oh we will...” Lisette snarled viciously, yet she was talking to Booker at all when she said it. She was looking at Mila who had started off Booker and Charlie. “No you don’t!” Her voice was a strained growl as she bounded forward and grabbed hold of Mila’s arm, pulling the woman to a halting stop and shoving her back against the alley wall. The violent actions would have nearly killed a normal person, but it just left both women looking a little disheveled. “That isn’t a good idea, love.” Lisette’s face was dangerously close to Mila’s and a sultry grin was spreading across her face. “Let them have their alone time,” she murmured, not taking her eyes off of Mila’s porcelain features. “Don’t worry... he’ll play gently.”

She tucked a piece of Mila’s hair behind her ear. “You do look so starved, darling, and so weak. It’s... tantalizing. Almost human.” She slowly ran her tongue over her sharp incisors. “Maybe you should do something about that...”

Charlie clamped down her mouth to keep from screaming as the world became a blur around her. Never in her life had she experience such a rush of adrenaline as that moment, rocketing down the road, through alleyways, the streets becoming a maze as she tried to keep track of where she was. But that was futile, and soon enough she realized it and resorted to closing her eyes and burying her face into Booker’s soft shirt. Although she couldn’t see it, her body was still painfully aware of how fast she was going, it made her feel light headed and weak. Charlie couldn’t tell how long they’d been travelling but it had felt like an eternity before her body was shocked by a sudden halt.

“Where the hell are we...” Her voice was dazed as she slowly let her eyes pry open to take in her surroundings. It was a house, nothing fancy. Just a small place squished between several other small houses that all has darkened windows and vacant porches. She’d never been in this part of the city before, but from what she could tell it was for, the most part, deserted. There was no sound, not even the distant noise of a stray animal or drunken people finally stumbling home after a night on the town. Just her shallow breathing and the quiet whistle of the wind. “P-please... put me down.” Her trembling voice pleaded. “I want to go home. Let me go home...”

Mila barely had time to process the horror of what was happening as Booker disappeared down the street with Charlie in his grasp. Taking, he’s taking her, he’s-… “Charlie!” The anguished cry was caught up in her throat and came out almost as a sob. Immediately though, her features became like stone again as she threw herself after them with more energy than she should have had without a proper meal, ready to tear Booker apart, limb from limb with her hands and teeth and burn his body into crumbling, white ashes until-..

She let a vicious snarl as something caught her by the arm and yanked her backward, slamming her into the wall of the alley with enough force to crumble the brick. The wind was knocked out of her and her vision spun, and for a moment she felt completely dazed. A groan forced its way from her lips as the air came rushing back and when the bright spots finally faded, she found her eyes focusing on Lisette’s malicious grin. It was much too close.

“That isn’t a good idea, love.”

Mila hissed and made to push herself forward off the wall but the shock of the impact and the weariness of needing to feed made her first attempt fall short. She remained pinned against the brick.

“Let them have their alone time,” came the sickly sweet voice again. “Don’t worry... he’ll play gently.”

“If he does anything to her at all, I’ll kill both of you. I think I’ll kill him anyway.” Inwardly, she was shuddering at the thought of Charlie at Booker’s mercy. He wouldn’t just kill her. He’d make sure he’d squeezed everything out of her first. He would make her into one of his bite junkies, make her want to beg to be bitten by him, by any vampire. Mila grit her teeth and pushed forward again, ignoring the discomforting way Lisette was studying her features. She let out a furious growl when she was unsuccessful again and slumped back against the wall in frustration, panting and looking at the other vampire with venomous eyes. Her lip curled threateningly as Lisette touched her hair to stroke it behind her ear.

“You do look so starved, darling, and so weak. It’s... tantalizing.”

Tantalizing. Mila’s hostile gaze faltered just a little. She unconsciously let her eyes flutter down to Lisette’s mouth, to the tongue running along her teeth that probably still tasted like Mitch’s blood. Her eyes snapped back up almost immediately, even darker now with hunger, and she looked at her with a cool, detached glare.

”Almost human.”

“Don’t you wish,” she sneered softly. Her chin raised a fraction of an inch and her expression changed from cold fury to malevolent curiosity. She appraised Lisette’s features with a look of superiority, her hands snaking up the other vampire’s sides in one long, slow caress, groping up over her ample chest to grip the shoulder straps of her dress. “You’d have me right now if I were human, is that it?” She wet her lips and stared openly at Lisette’s now, eyelids heavy, voice soft and sensual. “Does my weakness make you hungry?”

”Maybe you should do something about that...”

Mila parted her lips and leaned forward just enough to let them brush once against the other vampire’s, a smirk on her face and she murmured her reply.

“How about I do this..?”

Her grip on Lisette’s dress tightened suddenly as she gave a violent tug to the side, reversing their positions so that the younger vampire was the one shoved up roughly against the wall. “How about I make you tell me where Booker took Charlie,” she whispered, her voice a savage hiss, “So I can devour him, and then maybe I’ll be too satisfied to come looking for you.” Both hands had slipped around her throat and squeezed painfully with each emphasized word. Her mouth was close to Lisette’s ear, and she was all too aware of the provocative smell of blood on the other vampire’s breath.

“Tell me where he took her this instant.”

---

“Where the hell are we...”

“Home sweet home, love.”

Booker had stopped abruptly in front of a line of old, abandoned city houses, all of which had seen better days. The house he was referring to specifically was slightly less decrepit than the others, though its roof still sagged and the paint was blotchy and peeling. The street was quiet; there wasn’t anyone wandering this part of town at this time of night. But it wasn’t exactly silent. Booker could hear voices from the inhabitants inside the house, even over the sound of the girl’s panting which was obnoxiously loud in his ear.

“P-please... put me down. I want to go home. Let me go home...”

Booker dropped her before she could finish.

“Come on, let’s go say hi,” he said nonchalantly, bending to grab the back of her collar and hoist her to her feet. He did carelessly, like gabbing a dog by the scruff of it neck. “Go on.” He kept a fistful of the material and steered her up the steps and through the decaying doorway.

“Bookie! Is that you, darling? I’ve been waiting so long..”

“Come to me first Books, I barely got anything last time.”

“Who’s that you got with you?”

They had entered the main floor of the house, which had been completely gutted and was comprised of one very large room. Despite the bare, dirty floor and crumbling plaster walls, the space was filled with expensive looking leather furniture and a large mahogany table. Five or six people occupied the room, lounging on various chairs and sofas. A man lay dozing on a bed in the corner. A woman was draped haphazardly over the back of a couch, staring at them with lazy, unblinking eyes. All of them were unusually thin and pale, and they had a pinched look, as if they were unhealthy. The ones that noticed Booker come in gazed at him with hungry, craving eyes, and yet they seemed too meek to get up from their seats. One or two of them seemed to shrink away, even as they stared longingly.

“Have a seat,” Booker said with feigned hospitality, shoving Charlie into an empty spot on a couch. The woman on the other end of it looked at her disdainfully. “How come you keep bringing more,” she whined, narrowing her eyes at the girl. She was somewhere in her early thirties and she looked like she had once been very beautiful. Her blonde hair had lost some of its luster and she looked uncomfortably thin. She pouted at Booker. “The more you bring, the less I get. Six of us showed up tonight, are you gonna get to all six? And now seven?”

Booker smirked and took her chin his hand to lift her face up to his. “When did you get so greedy?” he replied, sneering at the way her eyes batted lustfully at him. He began to lift her chin up higher to expose her neck and she moaned quietly, her eyes rolling back and closing.

“Please do it,” she whimpered. “Please, I need to feel it again.”

“Should I?” Booker asked with a wicked smile, turning and addressing his question to Charlie. “Or would you like the honor of going first?”

He let go of the woman’s chin and she made a pitiful noise of frustration. His eyes were locked on Charlie now as if he were marveling at how much more appetizing she looked to him.

“I-I don’t like it at all,” he quoted in a mocking tone, repeating the girl’s earlier words. He stood in front of her now looking down at her. The other woman on the couch stared at her too, glaring as if it were Charlie’s fault she hadn’t gotten her fix. Booker reached down and stroked Char’s cheek with his thumb, up and down a few times before dragging it over her lip.

“You were lying. You enjoy it so much. You’d like me to bite you right now, wouldn’t you.” He slipped his fingers into her hair roughly and tugged her face upward. “Wouldn’t you?” he repeated.

She knew very well that Booker would most probably make the feeble human into one of his little toys. She was exactly his type, and Lisette could see in Mila’s eyes that she knew this too. Something inside of her should have felt badly, the girl had her entire life ahead of her. A bright future filled with endless possibilities that had been taken away from her just because she had mingled with the wrong people. It was sad really, and so very unfortunate. Well, unfortunate for Charlie, yet quite amusing for Lisette.

“If he does anything to her at all, I’ll kill both of you. I think I’ll kill him anyway.”

The threat made her grin widen even more, despite the fact that she couldn’t understand what Mila’s infatuation with this human was. Lisette had a feeling that it was nothing at all like Booker’s sick enjoyment with the creatures, which would have been at least a little acceptable. The girl was human, she was weak and powerless. She was food, and Lisette couldn’t understand what about this inept child would tempt Mila so very much. Not when she could easily have someone who was just as potent, dangerous and immortal as she was. “I don’t think you’ll do that, hun.” Lisette murmured. “I don’t think you’re stupid enough to.” Although, she had been wrong before.

Lisette shoved Mila domineeringly then, as if trying to reinforce her preeminence in the situation, and kept her dark eyes levelled on her acquaintance. For the entire time she had known Mila, Lisette had felt this oddly compelling appeal towards her. She herself had never been able to control her impulses, she had to feed, the desire she had for it was just as bad as one of Booker’s bite junkie’s addictions. So, she’d admired Mila’s self control, there may have once been a point where she had idolized it in some way. Now, however, she realized that it just made Mila weak... and that appealed to Lisette in an entirely whole new way. The hungry eyes and the way Mila glared at her was strikingly lustful. And just so human.

“Don’t you wish,” the sardonic voice paired with curious eyes made Lisette’s grin falter just a little bit. She felt Mila’s hands along her sides, over her chest, gripping the thin straps of her dress, and laughed aloud. “Oh, my! Mila! You could at least buy me dinner first.. Although, really, what is it that we’ve been doing all night.” Her voice was a borderline ramble as her hand reached up to grip one of Mila’s that held tight to her strap. The pair could have looked like lovers, but the tight squeeze she gave Mila’s fingers wasn’t completely romantic. “You’d have me right now if I were human, is that it?” Lisette laughed. A small, almost breathy sound that was so different from her usual caustic manner. She raised one eyebrow trying to remain composed. I probably still would, she thought sarcastically, licking her bottom lip slowly and tasting the leftovers of the pathetic man’s blood.

“Does my weakness make you hungry?”

“Oh yes, it really does.” She wasn’t about to deny the fact as she tilted her head closer to Mila. “Maybe you should do something about that...”

“How about I do this..?”

Her eyes widened at the light brush of Mila’s lips against her own, not exactly pulling back from the kiss. Lisette played dirty. She lied, seduced and manipulated, and wasn’t usually the one on the receiving end of these activities. So, she didn’t expect the forceful exchange of positions, and a small gasp of surprise escaped her parted lips. How was it that Mila still had so much strength even when she was so obviously hungry? A low growl rumbled in Lisette’s chest as she glared grimly at Mila, letting a small bit of humour leak into her mean gaze. “You really know how to treat a girl, don’t you, lovie. Tell me, is this the type of charm you used on Charlie?”

“How about I make you tell me where Booker took Charlie,” Lisette could hear the savage disparity in the woman’s voice and shook her head slightly. An action that was mockingly pitiful towards her chaotic opponent. “So I can devour him, and then maybe I’ll be too satisfied to come looking for you.” Lisette giggled loudly, resuming her former maniacal self. “But baby! I thought we had something good here... you don’t need to throw him into the mix.”

“Tell me where he took her this instant.”

It was a harsh whisper in her ear that made Lisette want to laugh aloud, even though the situation wasn’t really a laughing matter. The hands around her throat made it quite uncomfortable for her as she stayed pinned to the wall. Her nose pinched as her eyes looked up, appearing thoughtful for a moment before she started. “And miss this lovely chance with you? I don’t think so.” Lisette’s voice came out rasping but for some reason that didn’t make the words any less playful or sinister. “Besides, you’re too weak to do anything to me.” As if to prove her point, Lisette reached up to pry the stony fingers from her neck. It took more effort than it should have to free herself from the suffocating grasp but when she finally did she let out a relieved sigh, staying pressed up against the brick wall. “That’s better..”

She slowly, almost mockingly, placed her hands on Mila’s shoulders and gave the other woman a small shove backwards, keeping her hands where they were, even after she had effectively moved her just a few short paces back. Lisette’s thumbs gently caressed her luminescent skin. “I really don’t think you want to know where he took her anyways.” Her voice was casual, as if their talk was just normal banter and not about some pathetic human girl who had been taken hostage to a savage vampire. “You know how Bookie is, he likes his toys. I bet your precious Charlie would be a perfect fit in his collection.” She had reached up to idly play with a piece of Mila’s dark hair, sending the woman a wink. “I doubt he’ll kill her, really I do, but I don’t know if I can say the same for his savage dogs... oh my they must be so jealous of his pretty new plaything.”

She thought of the pathetically weak humans that draped themselves over Booker, addicted to him just as much as he was to them. Lisette had never really seen the appeal of it, they got so sickly and lost all of their glowing allure. They ended up looking diseased, they ended up addicts. And like all addicts, they would do anything to get their next fix. “Yes, those pathetic things could be quite dangerous, if they aren’t too weak to stand up.” She’d seen some who were very close to death, with the life nearly drained completely from their frail bodies, still willing to do anything for the bite. “But enough of that talk, it’s just so dismal! Let’s go get you something real to eat and then we can... chat.”

---

Charlie fell to the ground with a loud ‘Ouf’. Looking up at Booker her mouth was open to sneer something rude, but she was cut off when his nimble hands grabbed a fistful of the back of her shirt and hoisted her upwards. “Come on, let’s go say hi,” His voice was casual as he started to push her forwards. “Say Hi..? To who- Ow! Would you stop...” She hissed angrily. Her eyebrows had furrowed as she tried to turn around and look him in the face, rage burned deep in her cheeks as she gritted her teeth tightly and resulted to standing firmly in her spot when she wasn’t able to twist out of his grasp.

“Go on,”

She really had no choice as he firmly shoved her forwards and into the small, beat down house that looked as if it had seen better years. She resisted the urge to shut her eyes as if she were entering a haunted house. “I-I want to go...” She couldn’t finish the thought as they stepped into the expanse living room. From the exterior this place looked like a complete dump, and she had expected the same inside. But the expensive sofas and large table in the center of the room took her by surprise. With a little tidying up and maybe some paintings this place really wouldn’t be so bad... She cringed at herself for thinking that, this wasn’t the time to be pondering decorating ideas.

“Bookie! Is that you, darling? I’ve been waiting so long..”

“Come to me first Books, I barely got anything last time.”

“Who’s that you got with you?”

Charlie’s head whipped around as it dawned on her suddenly that they weren’t alone in the room. Draped over furniture and meandering feebly were several very sick looking people. Their hair was matted and their faces glowing an ill colour that made Charlie want to look away. In each of their eyes she could see a lust that wasn’t quite normal as their attentive gazes snapped towards the vampire. “What are they...” Her throat become thick, and her voice came out a mangled whisper. She didn’t really need the question answered, she had already put two and two together. “You did this to them..?” The question was accusing at the same time bewildered and scared.

She felt his hands on her shoulders shoving her down onto a nearby couch with a false hospitality as he invited her to take a seat. “I don’t... what the...” She fumbled for words but came up empty handed with just several garbled murmurs. This couldn’t be real.

“How come you keep bringing more,”

With her mouth slightly agape, Charlie looked to the other end of the sofa where a woman, older than she was, sat. She hadn’t noticed the ailing lady until just then. Her stern eyes on Char were disquieting and the young musician pressed herself deeper into the couch as she tried to avoid them. “The more you bring, the less I get. Six of us showed up tonight, are you gonna get to all six? And now seven?” Charlie was shaking her head furiously as she listened to the woman’s words which only validated what she had already known about this place. “I don’t want.. You’re sick!” Her voice was sharp and she wasn’t sure whether it was directed towards Booker or his little toy who was nearly melting into his touch as he caressed her face. It didn’t matter who she had been talking to anyways because neither of them seemed to notice her.

“When did you get so greedy?” Charlie watched with morbid fascination as he forcefully tilted the girls head upwards, the look on her face made Char feel ill. It was one of pure rapture as she begged with him to bite her. “Please do it. Please, I need to feel it again.”

“Should I?”

Charlie had been too preoccupied with watching the expression on the woman’s face that she hadn’t noticed that Booker was now staring at her. She glanced up at him dazedly, not quite sure what to say or how to react. So much had happened to her in such a short amount of time and it seemed like all of it was just now crashing down on her. It made her feel light-headed and whimsical, as if her body had detached itself from her mind in some kind of primal attempt to save her. “Or would you like the honour of going first?” Char slowly shook her head, the action was lethargic as she stared into his dark, hungry eyes.. “Please don’t...” It wasn’t very convincing, she knew, but maybe there was a part of her that didn’t want to be convincing, a part that knew just how good it would feel and that would understand these peoples complete lust for it. “Please...” She blinked her eyes forcefully, letting her mind clear for a second and swallowing the lump that had formed in her throat.

“I-I don’t like it at all,”

She shuddered at how the words sounded when he mockingly said them. Weak and pathetic. Charlie clenched her jaw tightly and watched with steady eyes as he came towards her, gazing down like she was a piece of his favourite candy. His hand caught her face, and despite the temptation to pull away she didn’t, she sat there and endured the icy caress as he stroked her cheek and ran his thumb over her lips. She narrowed her gaze.

“You were lying. You enjoy it so much. You’d like me to bite you right now, wouldn’t you.”

His voice was lurid and even a little angry as he grabbed a handful of her hair and forced her face within inches of his own. A surprised gasp escaped Charlie’s lips as her hands reached up to grab his shoulders in an attempt to push him away. She didn’t immediately answer him, her mind spun in a million different directions as she tried to find some solid emotion to cling to. His voice pulled her out of her confusion, however, when it barked again.

“Wouldn't you?”

“There’s a lot of things I’d like right now... but that isn’t one of them.” Her voice was strained as she spoke through her clenched teeth. Her frozen eyes glared at Booker contemptuously. “I’m not anyone’s pet... you can’t have me.” Despite the fact that she knew tough words wouldn’t stop him from getting what he wanted, Charlie continued to sneer at him. “You’re sick, this is sick, I want to go back home.” She pulled herself off the sofa, using his shoulders as a mean of support as she stood within kissing, or perhaps biting, distance from him. “Let me go, now.” The words sounded meek even to her, like she was a child trying to get out of nap time. Whiny, pathetic, angry. She shuddered when she realized that really, she was all of those things.

She tried to hold his gaze and not look over towards the subdued people who watched Booker with eager eyes. There was no way out of this, she knew that all too well, but her mind still searched for some kind of exit strategy. That all too familiar fight or flight reaction twisted in her gut as her gaze flicked quickly towards the door on the other side of the room and back towards her captor. There was no way she could do it, no way that she could outrun him or hide from him. There was nothing left for her to do but sit still and be a good, compliant little girl.

But she had done that her entire life, with her parents, her siblings, her lovers and her own self. She’d always done the right thing, the sane thing. From wearing pretty dresses, to sitting cross legged in the Sunday school classroom and listening to the teacher preach things that she didn’t even believe. From watching her teenage years slip away, to being the meek, perfect child who played her guitar and did her homework and never spoke out of turn. She wasn’t that meek, perfect child anymore. She’d burst free of that, become her own person. She’d already outrun most of her demons, so why should this one be any different?

Because he isn’t in your mind, this time it’s real and this time it could mean your life.

Yet, there was no point if she didn’t try. Taking in a deep breath, Charlie used all her strength to shove Booker away from her, the element of surprise must have been on her side and she managed to move him back just a couple paces. Enough so that she was able to slip past him and bolt for the door. She wouldn’t let herself succumb to his whim just because she didn’t think she would ever get away. Either way, he was going to kill her (or worse) and she wasn’t going down without a fight.