The Vampire’s Claim, The Demon’s Desire

MIKA A year ago… “Social services are on their way, okay? They’ll be here soon,” the cop tells me, pity swimming in his eyes. One of our neighbors called the police on my parents again. Third time this week, and it is only Wednesday. “Is she going to be okay?” I ask through tears. The headache from last night still pounds behind my eyes. I can't remember the last time I ate a proper meal. The police and paramedics move around inside our house, shouting orders as they try to resuscitate my parents. Their last fight before this one had been especially bad. Dad beat the s**t out of Mom. When I saw her on the floor, her right eye was swollen shut, and dark blood gathered beneath the raised skin. “We’re doing everything we can.” The officer touches my shoulder awkwardly before pulling his hand back. “Can you tell me what happened?” I wrap my arms around myself. “They fight all the time. I think this one was about money, so… it got worse.” “And where were you?” “In the living room.” I point weakly behind me. The cop glances back at the house. It is tiny—one bedroom, one living room, peeling walls, broken furniture. “You were there while this happened?” he asks carefully. “And you did nothing?” Emotions swim in his eyes. Pity. Judgment. Curiosity. Maybe disgust too. “It’s easier not to get involved,” I mutter. “They like the attention. I stopped giving it to them a long time ago.” It’s easier to say now that the screaming has stopped. No crashing bottles. No breaking plates. No sound of my mother crying while my father destroys everything he touches including her. Dad brought women home whenever Mom wasn’t looking. We were dirt poor, but apparently even poor men could cheat. Male privilege. “Are you sure that’s what happened?” the officer asks again. I nod. “Step outside for me. I need to check you.” “What?” My hearing isn’t great. Years of my father’s slaps have taken care of that. “I said step outside. How old are you?” He shoves me forward hard enough to make me stumble. Then he kicks the front door wider open and follows after me, towering over my smaller frame. The moment we step outside, he grabs my wrists and slams me against the wall. Pain shoots through my shoulders. “I said, how old are you?” “I turn eighteen in a few days!” I cry. Terror floods me so fast I can barely breathe. Nothing makes sense anymore. The officer begins patting me down, but the longer his hands lingeres, the less it feels like a search. “Sir…” “Keep your hands behind your back and stay quiet.” He forces my legs apart with his knee. Humiliation burns through me so badly my eyes water again. He shoves my head harder against the wall. Another officer standing near the car laughs. “A feisty one, huh?” “Feisty,” the officer holding me agrees, gripping my waist tighter. “But young. Makes them sweeter.” My stomach twists. “Now listen carefully,” he murmurs near my ear. “If you behave, this can be fun for both of us. Better than whatever happens in that house.” Slowly, he loosens his grip, but his hands stay on me. I’m frozen. Fear roots me to the spot while his fingers brush my neck, moving my hair aside. Then I feel him behind me. His breath. His hands. I feel like I will throw up. The officer smacks my ass while the others laugh some more. “Look at that.” At the same moment, paramedics carry my mother’s body out of the house. Three men and one exhausted-looking woman. I look at her desperately. Please help me. “Leave her alone,” the female paramedic snaps. “She’s a kid.” “Exactly,” the officer says with a grin. “She needs a real daddy.” He spins me around roughly. My pulse thunders in my ears. This is my world. Humans are nothing. Poor humans are even less. Nobody cares about the filthy little family in the broken house filled with expired food packs and bruised bodies. We are at the bottom of the food chain, and everybody knows it. “Social services still aren’t answering,” another cop calls out. “Eva said she’ll come, but she’s off duty.” And still, nobody stops the cop harrasing me. The officer traces my face, smiling when I flinch away. His fingers drag across my bottom lip before he grabs my chest. “Got a boyfriend, girl?” I am a child. And every adult around me either laughed or looked away. “Leave me alone,” I whisper. Then I spit in his face. I brace for the slap. Instead, the officer suddenly screams. A horrible, agonizing scream. He stumbles backward, clutching his face like something is burning him alive. Confused, and terrified, I run. “Hey! Get that little tramp!” someone yells. A gunshot cracks through the air. Then another. But I don’t stop running. Not until I reached the other side of town. The side where monsters no longer bothered hiding what they are. LEVI Present day… Vampires learned to master their hunger. Demons learned how to awaken it in others. I get the call the moment Lucien arrives at my club’s entrance. It isn’t hard to spot him. Vampires build their lives on polished lies and fake righteousness, and Lucien walks into my world looking painfully out of place. Some vampires come to the House of Lilith quietly. Hidden. Careful. We offer them a place to be free, to indulge, to have fun, whatever vice they crave. We protect their secrets as long as they protect ours. That is the balance. Lucien clearly does not care for balance. He arrives looking like a man who has never stepped in mud before. Too clean. Too controlled. Like he cannot believe he’s standing outside a demon club at all. But he came because Mika’s blood called to him. And I have been waiting for this day for over a year. “I’ll handle this one,” I tell the guards. They step aside immediately. “Weapons stay outside,” I say to Lucien. He is slightly shorter than me, so I let my gaze linger longer than necessary. He looks exactly like his father. Ten years ago, billionaire tycoon Gavin hunted witches like pests. No billionaire is innocent, but Gavin turned cruelty into an inheritance. His greed helped erase an entire species. Men like Gavin do not raise sons. They replicate themselves. I was barely ten years old when I first saw Lucien’s father. It is a memory I wish I could bury. For now, I shove it to the back of my mind. Lucien says nothing, but something tightens in his expression. Dark strands of hair fall across his face as his jaw hardens with restraint. For a moment, he looks like a man debating whether to leave. Maybe he would have walked away. Maybe he would have spent days pretending to think it through before eventually coming back. But Mika’s pull is stronger than even I expected. With visible reluctance, Lucien hands over his weapons. When he’s done, he lifts his hands slightly and steps forward. “The salt, Chef Lucien?” I block his path. He really thought I wouldn’t notice. Lucien laughs softly while I remain completely still. Annoyed, he reaches into his pocket and hands it over. “What are you here for?” I ask. Lucien folds his arms. Then he tells the oldest lie in existence. “I wanted to see what it’s like,” he says smoothly. “I wanted to experience the other world.” I give him a slow once-over before slipping a hand into my pocket. “You’re free to go in.” “How do I know I’m safe here?” Lucien asks before taking his first step. Safe. I almost smile. “You trust,” I reply, already turning away. *** A year ago, Mika appeared at my doorstep. “I don’t want to go home,” she begged after I finally opened the door. “We have nothing to eat there. I’ll wait tables. I’ll do anything. Please, I just need work.” She was a runaway. Lost. Hungry. Exhausted. At first, I told her to find a hotel but the next morning, I found her still sleeping outside my building. That was the day I let her stay. Her eighteenth birthday. I have watched her carefully ever since. And tonight, I will finally confirm whether she is what I think she is. One of my girls is supposed to be Lucien’s first entertainment tonight. But both Lucien and I know why he really came. Mika brought him here. And sooner or later, he will find her. Olga escorts Lucien to one of the private rooms, making him feel important. That is where Kika will meet him. The listening device beneath the table is already active. Mika has no idea what I’m doing. I don’t want to hurt her but I need answers. When her voice finally comes through the speaker, soft and deliberate, I lean back in my chair. . Mika doesn’t know it’s Lucien from her school. I still don’t know why she insists on attending that school, but she hides her double identities well.. Here, she goes by Angel. At school, she’s Mika. If she knew a customer from school had requested her, she would have rejected the job immediately. Thankfully, both of them are wearing masks. That makes things easier. “You look new,” Mika says lightly, her voice dipped in teasing warmth. I can picture her perfectly without seeing her. The slow approach. The measured distance. The way she draws people in without them realizing it. “I’m not here for conversation,” Lucien replies. Of course, he isn’t. There’s no amusement in his voice. Only control. Even through the static, I catch the pause that follows. Mika wasn’t expecting that response. “Oh?” she says softly, adjusting quickly. “Then what are you here for?” I close the cabinet in my office and start moving. This is happening faster than I anticipated. “I’m looking for someone,” Lucien says quietly. Then after a pause, “And… I don’t feel so good.” There it is. The vervain. “What are you?” Mika asks, still teasing, though quieter now. “What’s your secret?” “What…” Lucien’s voice catches. Good. It’s working. “You…” he tries again, weaker this time. Then Mika gasps. The sound is sharp and real. It’s not part of the act.. Something twists violently in my chest, and suddenly I’m moving faster. “I knew it,” Lucien says slowly. “I want a taste…please…one drop, why do I want it so bad?” I shove the door open. The sight freezes me for half a second. Mika is straddling his lap, her back is to me. Her entire body is tense. I can feel it all the way from the door. Her mask is gone. Lucien lifts his eyes to mine. They are dark and too focused for someone poisoned with vervain. Too aware. A crooked smile spreads across his face. He mocks me. And in the space between one breath and the next, before I can reach them, before I can stop him, Lucien flings his mask and sinks his teeth into Mika’s neck.