Dire Stakes

The twins had been eager to tell me about their day. Jesse confided after they’d been sent to bed that they used to do that with their mother and this was a treat for them. I told him I’d try to call often. “How’s a weekly Thursday call at 8 sound?” I asked Jesse.”

“Do you plan everything?” He asked.

I nodded against the phone. “I do. It keeps my sanity. I might have to change it depending on my work detail but until my birthday ish I’m gonna be out on my own doing my thing.”

“8 on Thursday is good. We might need to change it up if and when the boys decide to do after school activities.”

“Just let me know ahead of time.” I said. We shared good-byes and I told him we’d talk next Thursday.

I’d left early the next morning stopped for lunch and went for a run before I got back in the car again. By 6pm I was just outside of Shreveport in a shitty little motel waiting for the sun to fall behind the horizon so I could hunt down the vampires. They weren’t hard to find. There was a club in mock and or true fandom called Fangtasia. True Blood at it’s finest. I was surprised they hadn’t been handed a cease and desists order.

It wasn’t hard to dress the part – tight black jeans, a black t-shirt, really heavy eyeliner, I spiked my hair up with gel. The tips were multicolored. I loved that trick. My nails were painted black. They hadn’t needed it but if I was going to doll up to look like a ‘fang banger’ I might as well do it right. I even had a black choker to go with the ensemble.

In my pocket I fingered the zippo lighter from the box my dream guy had sent me after. I don’t think he expected me to take it, but I had. Everything in it. I don’t know why, but just knowing someone was out there somewhere. It was heartwarming.

But then I looked back on how Jesse and the boys were handling my mother’s death. I wouldn’t want to put someone through that. I sighed as I entered the door to the club. It looked like any other club I’d ever been to. Except I could feel the vampiric energy coursing through the place. I smelled the coppery smell of blood but I saw no one dead or dying. It was just that powerful here.

The moment I walked into the club there was a pause. Nearly ever eye turned in my direction, they looked at me and then it was like a mass exodus, every vampire scattered. The place was filled with more dazed humans that I’d seen, but half the room had cleared.

One man, one vampire, rather sat on the make shift throne that their homage to sat on. He looked at me with red eyes, he hadn’t fed in a while. “Just contacts” he said in response to my thought.

Not good. The man smirked, “No not good at all, a baby Venatori in the middle of a vampire den. Not good at all.”

“I’m looking for Il Cane.”

“Last I heard she was in Florida.” He laughed. “Small town – Danghdburg, I think is the name. Go hunt Il Cane.”

I smiled. “I will. But I think we need to have a chat about this first.”

He laughed again and in a blink of an eye he was on me. I tried to get away but he had my arm and his fangs were sinking in before I could think. I pulled and my strength and his… The ripping sound was more like a sucking sound but it made me shudder as I wrapped the vampire in flames and his body ignited in a bright inferno. Blood gushed from my now gaping wound and I shoved every element in it to stop the bleeding. I could feel the life dripping out of me. I needed to get to an infirmary fast.

Though a vampire had bitten me – the prognosis wasn’t good. Just like therian venom vampire venom was toxic to Venatori. I didn’t expect to make it through the night – what the fuck was I thinking…

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