After drinking from him, he had no choice but to obey me. Venom from my fangs seeped into his brain as I drank his blood, connecting him to my desires. For a time he was helpless to disobey. His eyes looked at me, now blank and obedient. I was momentarily stunned by memories of looking into those eyes when we were young. He’d been nearly grown when I was born, but we still played and fought, as siblings often do. I hadn’t seen him since shortly after I’d turned. The memory of that night filled me with anger, and that was a much more familiar feeling—much more comfortable. I latched onto it.
“Get up.” My voice was gruff. He stood and looked at me, waiting for his next direction. “Good boy, now put your arm around me and let’s walk out of here.”
With a lopsided smile and droopy eyelids, Falcon did as I’d instructed. He flopped an arm around my shoulder and started walking. “Where are we going?” He slurred.
I put a finger to his lips and whispered in his ear, “no talking.”
“Yes ma’am!”
We made our way down the hallway and into a dressing room set up with lockers along one wall and a row of vanities along the other. It smelled like sweat and soap and there was a layer of glitter covering every surface. I was relieved to see the room was mostly empty.
“Whoa, Falcon, you okay man?” A fairy the color of dark chocolate asked from a chair in front of a lit up mirror. He was wearing a leather kilt and suspenders. His long black hair hung loose around his shoulders and he was wearing a lot of glitter makeup. He didn’t look like a full fairy, I wondered if he was half something else, demon perhaps.
“Just giving me what I paid for!” I said with a toothy grin, and didn’t stop walking. If he was part demon, there was a good chance he would see right through me to the truth of what I was doing. Full demons could see into the deepest corners of your soul if they wanted to. He looked like he was about to get up, but then turned back to the mirror, changing his mind. Maybe Falcon took off with well-paying vampires often… that would be a surprise, he hated vampires. Maybe he’d developed a death wish.
“I charge an arm and a leg.” Falcon laughed deeply, and a little too loud.
“Go easy on him,” the demon fairy said with a laugh, as he applied more glitter to his eyelids.
“Not a chance,” I whispered, as I hurried to the exit door. I knew it led to the employee parking lot, I had staked this place out a few times, both inside and out, so I knew what I was doing. I had parked near this exit door, I wouldn’t have to drag Falcon too far, or risk being seen for long. It helped that the night was very dark, rain was on the way.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To my place.”
“Why?”
“I need to keep you until your father is ready to pay up.”
He snorted. “My father doesn’t give a shit about me.”
Join the club I thought. “I hope that’s not true.” We had reached my car by then, a small red Porsche, and I opened the passenger door for him. He didn’t fit well, being so tall and broad, but after wrestling his stupid fake wings off of him—and with a little pushing—he managed to fold inside. I hurried to the other side, my eyes darting around the parking lot. A few women were making their way to and from their cars, all human and none so much as glanced our way. No sign of security chasing me from the building, I could hardly believe it was working.
I couldn’t help smiling brightly as I got in and started the car. This was all going easier than expected! I glanced at Falcon as I sped out of the parking lot. Of course, I knew there wasn’t much for security here in the parking lot, no supernatural in their right mind would even think of going after one of the Prince’s high output businesses like this. It would end in the persons death, the death of everyone they loved, and possibly start a war. Humans wouldn’t make it far, every bright and frail looking supernatural employee in there was far more capable than they seemed. They’d be dead and disappear faster than anyone could register their absence.
My smile broadened as I headed out of the parking lot and down the street. I didn’t love anyone, I didn’t give a shit if I started a war, and I was particularly hard to kill as a fairy turned vampire. After I’d been reborn into this dark life, I’d discovered some very interesting abilities that other vampires didn’t have. I could handle a fair amount of sun without a problem, I could survive without blood longer than other vamps without going insane, and I’d retained my wings. They were completely sealed within my skin most of the time, like all fairies, but when I wanted, they would burst forth and carry me away. Mine were a shade of grey now, though they’d been translucent and shimmering at one time. They worked the same though, and that had saved my life more than once.
What had I lost? The ability to be a part of the fairy world, the love of my family—and for a few years, my humanity. I also wasn’t quite so shimmery and sparkly as the fairies tended to be. There was an innate glow that they had, even humans could sense it, of course they attributed it to makeup. Most humans assumed all fairy males were gay, they weren’t, although most weren’t picky either. Vampires were pale and dull in comparison. I often put on a little extra makeup to make myself feel more like my old self. Other days I embraced what I’d become, and I went heavy on the black eyeliner and mascara.
Falcon was watching me sleepily as I drove. “Do I know you?”
“You used to.”
“Were we lovers?”
“You date a lot of vamps?”
“Never, so I probably would have remembered you.”
He was quite the womanizer, as I heard it. Apparently, that didn’t include vampires, which didn’t surprise me, our father raised us to hate vampires. My knuckles went white on the steering wheel as I thought about my father, Prince Terrance Trifoli.
I’d been born Vivinity, but that didn’t go well among humans so I’d shortened it to Vivian, sometimes Viv depending on who I was introducing myself to. When I was young, I had embraced everything about my place in the world. I was young, beautiful, and the daughter of two very powerful fairies. I was in line to inherit greatness and power from my mother, and I would rule important parts of the human world. I had been so stupid, living life as if it would never change. I fell in love often and fleetingly, but it felt so good. It told me every day, that I was alive and that life was worth living.
It was all ripped away, suddenly and violently. Then I was betrayed by the only family I had.
I had taken care of myself for almost a thousand years now, and I was prepared to kill to keep living a life that had a semblance of worth. It did not include forced marriage and vampire politics.
Falcon stayed quiet the rest of the way to my building, which was very much appreciated. I wasn’t sure I could have kept from biting his head off if he’d interrupted my brooding memories. I pulled into the underground parking lot and gave a wave to Ben, the night guard, signaling him to lift the gate. He was a portly man in his forties with bright red hair and beard. He was sweet, always showing me pictures of his wife and kids when I wasn’t in a hurry through the gate. Tonight I gave him a hurry up sign and an apologetic smile. “My friend’s sick, gotta get him upstairs!” I yelled out the window.
“Too much to drink, eh?” Ben stuck his head out the little guard shack and tried to see Falcon better. His eyes widened in shock at the sight of a nearly naked man in my front seat. I hadn’t thought of grabbing Falcon clothes. He was currently still only wearing the thong and I was trying not to think about how much I wanted to Lysol my leather seat when he was off of it.
“Yeah, he’ll be spending the night on the bathroom floor for sure!” I laughed, trying to get his attention back to me.
Ben laughed and pushed the button for the gate, waving me through. He was a good guard, never gossiped, didn’t pry, and kept the riff raff out. I’d have to remember to come down and mesmerize him to forget he’d seen Falcon though, just in case anyone came sniffing around. I slipped my car into its usual spot, right next to the elevator. “Time to get out of the car, Falcon.”
“Out of the car?”
“Yep, we’re going for a ride in an elevator.”
“A metal box.” Falcon visibly shuddered. Fairies were not fond of any metal, even though only iron was poisonous to them. All metal seeped their power to a point, it was too far from nature, which is where their powers were drawn from. I hadn’t lost that in the change to vampire. I craved a connection to earth and spent many nights drawing power from soil, plants, trees, even bodies of water—depending on where I was living at the time. It recharged me, and after a night of earthing—as I’d come to refer to it—I always slept better and woke up happier. I usually dreamed of my mother on those nights. She’d been beautiful, her white hair had reached her ankles when it was loose, but she’d often braided it over her shoulder. Her eyes were a deep purple, and when she smiled, I felt like the whole world was looking at me with approval. We’d spent a lot of time together, just the two of us. My father had been very busy with Falcon. He was much older than me, and looking to inherit from our father quite the title and responsibility. Sometimes I had caught her looking at me with a faraway look in her eyes and tears on her cheeks. When I asked her why, she’d just say; You remind me so much of your father. I grew to hate that in the years I’ve been alone. If there was anything I wanted to be like, my father was at the bottom of that list.
“A short but necessary ride,” I said with emotion in my voice. I hadn’t predicted how many memories being around Falcon would spring up, and I wasn’t ready to handle them all. “I don’t think you can make it up the stairwell in your condition.”
He looked offended. “What condition?” Even though his words still slurred, I began to worry he was starting to fight back from my bite induced congeniality.
“Nothing to worry about, let’s go.” I hurried out of the car and opened his door so he could unfold himself from the passenger seat. He stretched and waited, looking at me expectantly. Maybe I didn’t have to bite him again, I really didn’t want to. “Follow me.” I hurried to the elevator and crossed my fingers, hoping we would make it all the way up alone. I pushed the up button and waited while it dinged its descent.
“It’s dark down here,” he whined.
“Yep, it’s a parking garage.”
“Smells bad too.”
“Yep,” I said, a little too sharply. His face fell and I knew I’d hurt his feelings, well the feelings he thought he was having as a result of my control. “Just be quiet, okay. We’ll be in my condo soon. I have lots of plants up there, you’ll like it.”
His face relaxed into a lopsided smile as the door opened. A couple who lived on the second floor stepped out and gave me a smile and polite hello. They gave Falcon a wide birth and the man put a possessive arm around the girl. Falcon gave her a lascivious grin and even licked his lips.
I rolled my eyes and pushed him into the elevator. “No,” I hissed.
I didn’t know the couple’s names, but I had seen them around the building. They were young and in love, usually not noticing anything else around them but each other. I should probably mesmerize them to forget they’d seen us, but mesmerizing two humans was difficult to do without one freaking out while you worked on the first.
I pushed the button for the penthouse, deciding it wasn’t necessary to mesmerize them. It wasn’t likely they’d be questioned about me. The doors slid shut and the girl turned to catch another glimpse of us before they closed. She wasn’t going to forget seeing us.
The elevator started to move and I tried to relax. I had half the top floor to myself and until recently, the other half had been empty. It was a perfect place for me to hunker down and observe the city. In the last twelve months I’d learned all about the goings on of the supernaturals in the area and made a plan to buy my freedom. I wasn’t excited about now having prying human eyes next door.