Vampire Food

PrologueNoah Caramine hid in the shadows under the old apple tree outside his garden. It hadn’t borne fruit in years. He believed there had been a flower or two in the spring, but nothing had come of it. He didn’t care. He didn’t have anything against apples, though he couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten one, but he liked the tree. It was by the corner of his house, and whenever Gertrude, the leader of their community, called a meeting, people gathered in the square. He could stand underneath the tree and watch out over the people without having to be in the crowd. He hated crowds. He hated people. He hated meetings. But it was a rule to attend. If you wanted to live on their little slice of land where no humans were allowed, you had to follow the rules. It wasn’t all that small. They housed almost a hundred people, and there was a forest where the shifters could run in their animal forms. Noah had lived among humans for a long time. It made feeding easy, but he preferred not having to hide what he was. As a vampire, he could blend in pretty well, and it would take more than one human to cause him harm—unless they caught him off guard—but here he could relax and be himself. Gertrude stepped up on an old oak log so she could be seen by everyone. Noah held in a sigh. He had nothing against Gertrude, no more than he had something against anyone else, at least. She was a good leader, a tigress, which helped a long way to deter uprisings, and she was beautiful, which helped when she needed to charm the humans. But a meeting meant something had happened or was about to happen, and he wasn’t in the mood. “I was in town today and signed a few papers.” She smiled at the inhabitants, her teeth sharpening a little in excitement. She didn’t show sharp teeth when there were humans around. “The Virgin Drop is ours!” Noah allowed a groan to leave him. Luckily, it was drowned out by the cheers from the idiots in front of him. He wasn’t a fan of vampires despite being one. There were one or two he might admit to liking if someone put thumbscrews on him, but for the most part, vampires ended up on the other side of the scale. Anyone setting foot in a place named The Virgin Drop deserved a slow and excruciating death. “There is a problem, though.” Only one? He didn’t know all the twists and turns, he had only half listened during the previous meetings, but the building with the nightclub had gone up for sale, and The Red Thirst, the vampire clan who owned the blood bar, couldn’t afford to buy it right now. They’d struck a deal with the human owning the building to hold off on the sale while they gathered the means. They’d only asked for a month if Noah remembered correctly, but Gertrude had made a better offer and charmed the human into breaking the deal with the vampires. The poor human wouldn’t live for long, but he doubted Gertrude cared. She wanted everyone not human either behind the high walls surrounding their land or gone from town. He feared she wouldn’t succeed in scaring off the vampires, though. Vicious creatures. In this case, he wasn’t sure he blamed them. She’d stolen what he assumed was a lucrative business. Blood bars were rare, illegal in most parts of the world, which meant they were sought after, and by extension, they lured vampires to their town, along with a heap of trouble. He didn’t have the energy for trouble. He glanced at his house. He loved his small stone cottage. The garden was lush and there were vines climbing the house, almost as if nature were trying to swallow it. It fit him perfectly. “The vampires won’t let this rest.” He jumped at Gertrude’s voice, almost having forgotten why he was outside this evening. “So, we’re doubling guard duty.” Noah didn’t have to moan in displeasure. There were plenty of others who did it for him. The price you had to pay to live here was guard duty twice a week. He guessed it meant four times a week now. Food and clothes and unnecessary items were your responsibility, which meant most needed a job, but water, electricity, and everything related to the land and the houses were paid for by the community. Noah worked as a bartender every Saturday in one of the community-owned bars in town. It was enough to cover his Netflix bill and a few other things. It was all he needed. He ate solid food when he was in the mood, but blood was enough to sustain him, and he made sure to feed when he was in town on Saturdays. There was always someone willing to donate a few gulps. He had the ability to make the bite pleasurable. Not all vampires could, and word had spread. He didn’t need to go hungry. “I will be bringing a few of the blood slaves here tonight—” Murmuring spread through the crowd, and Gertrude held her hands up in a shushing manner. “We’ve released the human blood slaves, but not all of them were human.” The murmur grew in volume, and Noah straightened. Blood slaves who weren’t human? His fangs dropped, and he pressed his lips together to make sure they weren’t visible—no one was looking in his direction, so he wouldn’t have to worry—but damn. He hadn’t had anything but human blood in over thirty years, and before it had been because he’d dated Lowell. Lowell was a wolf shifter who was into weird stuff—such as vampires. Noah hadn’t complained. It might not have been love, but damn, he still dreamed about some of their nights together. How he’d bit Lowell while f*****g him, his taste, the noises he made. He cleared his throat and shifted his weight. Wrong place to be remembering. Blood from shifters and magic users was far more potent than human blood and tasted ten times better. He’d never tasted blood from someone with magic, but shifters…Heat washed through him again, and his c**k swelled, but he did his best to push Lowell out of his memory. He’d most likely never have a shifter or anything other than human again. It was a matter of respect. No one fed from another supernatural being—not without consent, and even in interspecies relationships, consent was seldom given. Being fed from put you at the bottom of any hierarchy. It was shameful to allow another being to bite you without a fight, and if a vampire managed to feed from you, it meant you hadn’t struggled enough. For a successful feeding, the donor needed to remain still for some time. Submit. Surrender. It wasn’t something supernatural beings, no matter what species, did willingly. The thought was enough to kill the flaring need. Those blood slaves hadn’t allowed anyone near them willingly, and he could only imagine the horrific scenes they must have been forced to endure. “I need you all to keep your distance.” Gertrude’s gaze met his over the crowd. “Especially the vampires. I ask you not to go near them, not to greet them, not to be friendly, not to reassure them.” Her gaze moved to Asher, who also stood at the back of the crowd but by the opposite corner of the square from Noah. He lived in a stone cottage similar to Noah’s and lived a life much like Noah’s. He was one of the names he might mention if the thumbscrews came on and he had to name likable vampires. They worked their Saturday nights together and were often on the same guard shift. He assumed Gertrude considered them friends. Maybe they were. If he had to talk to anyone in this settlement, he’d pick Asher. Of everyone living here, only Asher had been in his house. “How many are we talking?” It was one of the wolf females speaking from the middle of the crowd. Noah couldn’t tell which one. “Four. A wolf—” growls rose from the crowd, “—a latent cat of some sort, he can shift teeth, claws, and eyes, but nothing more.” The murmur rose again. Latents weren’t always welcome in communities like this, but Gertrude had made it clear from the beginning everyone was welcome here, and if someone had a problem with it, they were free to leave. Noah had heard a rumor about her sister being latent, but he didn’t know if it was true. “Then we have a leopard and a…” She took a breath. “…magic user.” The crowd erupted, but she raised her hands. “Silence, please.” It took some time, but soon the excited questions and calls died down. They didn’t have any magic users living here. They were rare. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up. He’s not powerful.” Of course not. If he’d been powerful, the vampires never would’ve been able to control him. Noah almost snorted. Had he been able to set things on fire or transform people or something, they couldn’t have kept him locked up. “What’s his power?” Zella, not one of the vampires he’d ever say anything good about under any form of torture, stepped into a group of young wolf males who all took a cautious step back, which she responded to with a toothy grin. “I’m not entirely sure, but it has to do with nature. He’s not talking.” “He’s mute?” Zella pranced as everyone looked at her, and Noah refrained from rolling his eyes. She was exhausting and if she ever started a nightclub, he would bet she’d name it something as lame as The Virgin Drop. He shuddered. “PTSD is my guess. Time will tell.” Gertrude looked at the wolves. “But he might never talk.” Zella popped her hip and smiled while Gertrude gave her an annoyed look. “Time will tell.” She focused on the wolves again. “We’ll give them some time to settle in, but I assume, when the wolf feels up to it, he’d like to be around some of his kind.” There were nods and murmurs. Pack animals, they had many faults, but you could never blame them for not looking out for one another. Noah was sure the wolf would be the one who recovered the fastest. “I’ll set the cats up in my cottage in the western parts, though I don’t know how the leopard will fare with a roommate.” She took a deep breath. “And I’ll put our forest sprite in my guest room for now. If you see them outside, please keep your distance. If they want to talk, they’ll come to you, but they’re in rough shape.” Noah glanced at his cottage. Could he go back inside now? The crowd was getting restless, and he wanted to be out of here before anyone stopped to talk to him. He glanced at Asher and noted him edging toward his cottage, as good a sign as any. “You’ll get information about your new shifts! And be on your guard. I fear this will upset the calm we’ve had so far.” Gertrude’s voice rang out, but when she’d spoken, she jumped off the log. Noah moved fast and slipped into his cottage before the crowd dispersed. This had great potential of going to hell.