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The two young vampires, Jin and Michael, carefully carried AJ back to his hotel. Passers-by just assumed that AJ was merely a Mardi Gras participant who had gotten a little too drunk. No one questioned the group, no one looked twice. No one had any suspisions until they reached AJ’s hotel room.

Jin, a Japanese-American who had only been a vampire for 22 years (making him 39 with the form of a 17-year-old) knocked on the door while Michael, an outcast from California who had been a vampire for 45 years (making him 61 with the body of a 16-year-old) held AJ up.

Howie opened the door, and a look of utter shock formed on his face. He opened the door wider and allowed the boys to bring AJ in. Brian stood when he saw them carrying his unconscious friend. The boys, not acknowledging anyone else in the room, carried AJ’s limp body to the first bedroom they saw and placed him on the bed. Only then did they turn and look at Brian and Howie. Kevin was standing directly behind them, Kristen and Lee on either side of him. The others had already left, which was good because Brian didn’t want anyone else to see AJ this way and worry.

“He passed out by the back door of a club.” Jin said, in a calm voice.

“We searched his pockets for ID and found his hotel key card, so we brought him back here.” Michael added.

“Clerk downstairs said this was his room.” Jin chimed in.

“Our guess is he’s probably wasted. A lot of people are. Typical Fat Tuesday.” Michael then looked at Jin and they both smirked at each other.

“You two must be mistaken! He doesn’t drink. He hasn’t for some time now. And even when he did, he never passed out like this! Where did you find him?” Brian insisted, finding their story a little too fabricated to believe.

“No buddy, we’re not mistaken. He passed out in back of The Forsaken. We were there when he did.” Michael explained.

“Aren’t you two a little too young to be at that place? Further more, I’ve been there, it’s a goth club. AJ wouldn’t go to a place like that.” Howie intervened. He brought up two very good points. Michael and Jin did have the faces of teenagers. And The Forsaken was a major goth hangout. AJ had a few goth friends, but their clubs weren’t usually of interest to him.

Michael and Jin said nothing. They just rolled their eyes in unison, as if they were fraternal twins. Then they made their way through AJ’s friends.

Kristen, Lee, and Kevin went to AJ’s side and tried to revive him. He moaned a little, but remained unconscious. Brian and Howie, in the meantime, followed Jin and Michael to the door.

“There is something you two aren’t telling us!” Brian shouted, just as the two boys opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. He went into the hallway with them, but he turned to look into the room for a moment to tell Howie to call the police on the two. When he turned back to look in the hallway, they had vanished. He didn’t hear them run away, and the hallway was too long for them to have reached the end in the short time he had turned away.

Brian, now confused, shut the door and went to go see how AJ was doing. Kevin informed him that indeed, there was no alcohol on AJ’s breath. He had not been drinking, as they had guessed. AJ was sober, and made a promise to himself to stay that way. That only created one problem though, they had no idea what was wrong with him.

“Do you still want me to call the police?” Howie asked. Brian held AJ’s hand and thought about it for a moment.

“The press will tear it apart and shit all over the truth. Give him a couple hours to come around, and if he’s still sick, then we’ll take him to the hospital.” Brian announced. The others complied with his request. Kristen felt his head and it was hot and clammy. She motioned for her husband to open and window, and Kevin did just that.

All the while, none of them noticed the black cloth tied around his wrist. AJ was always wearing weird little bracelets and things, so they all just assumed it was one of his many fashion statements.

An hour passed, it was a little after 1 am. All of them had fallen asleep. All except for AJ. His eyes finally opened and the first thing he noticed was the open window. The curtains dancing in the slight breeze. All at once, all six of the vampires he encountered before stood at his bedside. Brian, who was asleep in the chair next to AJ’s bed didn’t move at all. They were too silent for any sleeping human to detect them.

AJ tried to wake Brian by moaning, but Daniella put her soft, cold hand over his lips. Gray sat down next to him, and AJ’s eyes drifted over to her, so that he looked directly into her eyes. Her cold, gray eyes. Her vampiric eyes.

“Are you in pain?” She asked, barely above a whisper. AJ only blinked once, he didn’t have the strength to nod. Then he began to cry, tears welling up in his eyes then pouring down the sides of his face. He looked at Nick then, and Nick stared back. He hoped that Nick would help him, but Nick only smiled.

“It’s ok, man. Everything’s gonna be fine.” Nick whispered. AJ hadn’t the slightest idea what that meant, but he took comfort in it. Nick never lied to him before, so he trusted his words now. Anne stepped forward and sat on the other side of the bed, opposite Gray. She wiped the sweat from AJ’s forehead. Then she kissed his eyelid. She took his arm, the wounded one, in her hands and caressed his skin.

“We can end that pain, Alex.” She said. Her accent reminded him of his silly Johnny No Name alter-ego.

“You can join us. Live forever. And never feel pain again. And best of all... you’ll have more strength and power than you could ever imagine.” Daniella said, approaching the bed and standing by Gray’s side. She ran her fingers through Gray’s long braids and licked her lips, exposing her pearly white fangs. AJ saw them, and it made him look at the mouths of everyone else. Gray was smiling, and her teeth were the same. As well as Anne’s, Jin’s, and Michael’s. He finally looked at Nick, and Nick nodded. He opened his mouth and ran his tongue over his teeth. There were equally as sharp and white as everyone else’s.

AJ couldn’t believe his eyes. It had to have been a practical joke. Vampires? No possible way! No way in hell were they vampires! He figured that Nick just got caught up in some extreme, gothic, satanic cult in which they all got their teeth sharpened and went around biting people for some kind of weird, sadistic pleasure. He felt Anne prick his finger with her teeth and she gently licked the blood away, savoring the taste as if it were sweet honey or the most expensive wine.

He turned away, so he didn’t have to look at her, and he saw Jin and Michael jump out of the window. But they didn’t free fall. They seemed to zoom away, in a haze. It was then that AJ convinced himself that he was slipped a drug some way or another and all of this was a hallucination.

Next, Gray got up and took Nick’s hand. She kissed him deeply, and Nick slipped his arms around her waist tightly. He did this to hold on to her, being that he was not strong enough yet to take flight on his own. Gray had more than enough strength to hold him in the air as they flew through the dark night, almost as fast as the speed of light. Definitely faster than the speed of sound.

“Come Alex.” Daniella whispered. The two beautiful women helped him onto his feet and led him toward the window. They helped him up onto the window sill, and as AJ looked down, he saw the city of New Orleans from 12 stories above. He felt himself grow faint again. But he kept his eyes open, too afraid to close them. All at once, he felt as though he and the two women were shot from a canon, for they jetted into the air with incredible speed. It was so fast that the city seemed one big blur of lights. He could hear nothing but their laughter, which seemed to be an echo to him.

Only a few seconds had passed, and suddenly, he was standing again, on solid ground, and his knees felt weak. Nick was there, as well as the others. They were in an alley, and at the end of the alley AJ could see one of the passing parades. Drunken men were on the floats. And they were shaking bottles of champagne and letting the sudsy liquid spill over into the crowds of drunken women. Wet t-shirts, women flashing their breasts, tossing of gold beads, tossing of purple beads, tossing of green beads... all of these things were what AJ saw in his quick glance of the street at the end of the alley.

“Do you want what we have?” Gray asked.

“To be a creature of the night?” Daniella added.

“It would be so much fun, Alex. Join us, please.” Anne cooed just before she kissed AJ’s lips, pressing her body against his. AJ lost all sense of mind and kissed her back, despite how weak he felt. He figured that he had better have fun in this dream before he woke up.

Nick sat back and watched as Anne groped away at AJ’s body. She kissed him hard, squeezed his crotch, and moaned in his ear. Nick knew that this was AJ’s weakness. Sex was his weakness. And if Anne continued, AJ wouldn’t be able to resist for long.

“Is this what you girls did to them? Seduce them into your dark world?” Nick asked, looking at Gray and referring to the process by which they passed their gifts to Jin and Michael.

“Not always. But we cannot help it if many men can be weakened to reason with sex appeal.” Gray opened Nick’s shirt and kissed his chest. She tore his flesh with her nails and licked the bleeding wound. Nick squinched his eyes closed at the pain, but the lacerations almost immediately healed once she tasted him.

For some reason, one which Nick couldn’t explain, he enjoyed it. The slight pain of her scratch. And then he realized, it wasn’t painful at all. It was more blissful than anything he’d ever felt. He looked over at AJ and began to have doubts. He had accepted the animal he had become, but did he really want AJ to have to go through what he did?

“No, wait!” He shouted, Gray backed away as well as Anne from AJ.

“I can’t let you do this to him. Just let him live, he won’t tell anyone about us! We can trust him.” Nick protested. Anne’s eyes went from a pale green to a fierce gold, almost like fire.

“NO! We cannot let him go! Either he dies, or he joins us! There is no other way!” She shouted. Gray pulled Nick back to explain to him the reasons why AJ only had two options.

“We are of Arius’ coven. He is our leader, our father. And he abides by the rules. And one of those rules is that we do not reveal our true natures to mortals unless we plan to feed on them, make them our permanent servants, or make them one of us! Those are the rules. Unless you want to see him dead, or unless you want him to live the rest of his life as a weak zombie-like servant to us... than you must step aside and let them change him! Do not interfere!” Gray demanded. Nick saw the sincerity in her eyes, and he stepped back.

Jin and Michael stood on either side of AJ, holding him in place. And Anne, she ripped his shirt open and explored his torso. She kissed her way down to his navel, then back up to his neck. The visible throbbing of his carotid artery turned her on, and the thundering sound of his heart pounding aroused her. She tilted his head to one side and sank her teeth into his soft flesh.

AJ gasped, and his face contorted. Jin and Michael smiled, laughing at his reaction. Suddenly, AJ felt his life slipping away from him. He couldn’t feel his limbs, and his head felt lighter than air. He felt nauseated. And their laughter made his temples ache. Daniella, being the oldest and most powerful there, approached AJ and looked him in the eye. His vision of her was blurred, but he could tell by her perfume who she was.

She held her arm out and Jin took a bite from her wrist, but he didn’t drink. A few drops of her blood hit the street before she brought it to AJ’s lips.

AJ felt the warm fluid in his mouth, but he was too close to death to distinguish what it was. As it filled his mouth, he was forced to swallow. He hadn’t the strength to spit it out. With the first swallow, he found that he felt better. And he continued to drink. Jin and Michael let him go, and with his hands free he was able to grasp Daniella’s wrist and suck the blood from the open gash in her wrist.

It felt like heaven. He felt himself regain strength. He stood up tall, and he gripped her arm tighter. Daniella felt herself grow weak with every bit AJ consumed. And when she felt that she could offer him no more, she called for Michael and he snatched her arm out of AJ’s clutches, being that he was 100 times stronger than AJ.

AJ smiled and looked around. He felt fantastic. Youthful. Full of energy. He walked around, not able to believe how great he felt. He went up to Nick and patted his friend’s shoulder.

“This is crazy, dude.” AJ said, blood still staining his lips. And just when he felt as though life couldn’t get much better, the most excrutiating pain jolted within his chest. It felt as though someone had put a match to Nitro inside his heart. He fell down on the cold alley street. And as the pain spread throughout his body, he let out a scream that made Nick turn away.

“What’s happening to him?” Gray held Nick’s hand.

“Don’t you remember? He’s dying. It happened to you on the bed at the old plantation, it will pass.” She said. Nick squeezed her hand tightly, his long glassy nails digging into her skin. He felt her blood fill their hands, but Gray didn’t flinch. She only squeezed back, which conforted him.

The people on the street couldn’t hear his screams. Their shouting and the music was far louder. But for Nick’s ears, AJ’s cries were the only sound audible. Soon, he stopped writhing around on the ground, and he was still. He closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them again they were different. Just as Nick’s were. A light brown, hazel even. And bright, brilliant. He stood up and looked around at his six companions.

“Alex...” Anne said, “...come.” She took his hand and led him toward the crowd of people at the end of the alley. AJ looked around at everyone laughing and partying and drinking as if he had never seen a party before. As if he never knew what the Mardi Gras was until that moment.

“Take her, my love.” Anne whispered. She pointed to a young girl dancing and kissing a stranger. Her t-shirt was soaked as well as her hair. And her skin was blotchy and red from being cold. She was a red-hed, petite, and slightly chubby for her height. She bumped into AJ, and he held her. She turned to him and kissed him, assuming that was what he wanted. After she kissed him, she flashed her breasts and started to laugh heartily. AJ merely smiled and gave her a hug. She continued to laugh until she felt him bite her on her neck. He took her so quickly that she didn’t have time to scream out for help. Once he finished, he let her go and she dropped to the street. There her lifeless body remained, amongst the spilled liquor, vomit, and empty cups. No one noticed her right away, and by the time they did, the six vampires had already fled.

~*~*~*~*~*~


Lee opened her eyes and saw that everyone around was sleeping soundly. She looked at the television screen, they had all been watching The Mexican. She turned the volume down with the remote that was sitting on top of Kevin’s stomach, but she kept the television on.

She got up and went into AJ’s room. When she saw that his bed was empty, she wandered into the bathroom to make sure he was alright. But he wasn’t there. She stepped back into the bedroom and nudged her husband. Brian opened his eyes and the first thing he saw was the empty bed. He looked up, thinking it was AJ who touched him, but when he saw Lee’s concerned face, he knew something was wrong.

“He’s gone.” She said. Brian jumped up and went storming through the suite as if he had to check for himself. When he came to the conclusion that AJ was really gone, he began waking everyone.

“Did any of you hear anything? Where did he go? He was so sick!” Brian exclaimed. But the others hadn’t seen or heard anything. No one had any idea where he was. And they were more scared than anything. First Nick brought a strange girl there and told everyone he was leaving. Then AJ disappears after he seemed so sick and weak. Something wasn’t right.

“Someone dial his cell phone.” Kevin suggested. Howie did just that. The phone just rang, and rang, and rang.

AJ was lying in a large bed covered in satin sheets when he heard his phone ring. Anne and Daniella were both covering him in kisses, both were nude, and both showing their new vampire the time of his life. Anne reached the phone first which was in his pocket, for she was unzipping his jeans when it began to ring.

“Yes?” She breathed into the small cell phone. Her voice melting into Howie’s ears.

“Who is this? Where’s AJ?” Anne looked at AJ, who was kissing Daniella too deeply to care about who was on the phone.

“He’s quite occupied at the present time.” She took a moment to moan, AJ was cupping her breasts and she lost her train of thought. Howie heard her moan and wondered what exactly was going on.

“Put AJ on the phone! Now!” Howie insisted. His shouting brought Anne’s attention back and she put the phone back to her ear.

“Oh, I’m sorry. We’re all rather occupied right now. Don’t bother to call back anytime soon.” With that, she turned the phone completely off and tossed it across the room.

“I know I heard him in the background.” Howie said as he dialed the phone number again. However, a recorded message told him that the phone itself wasn’t turned on and that Howie should leave a voice message. He didn’t, and he hung up the phone.

“What did he say?” Brian asked.

“I couldn’t understand it. He was talking to someone. And there was a lot of moaning and stuff. I hate to say it, but it sounded like they were having sex or something. And I swear I heard a third voice. The girl on the phone was English, and the third voice sounded different. Another accent I can’t really identify.” Howie informed them. Brian sighed and flopped down on the couch.

“Well, we’ll call Nick!” Howie said. Kevin picked up the phone this time and dialed Nick’s cell phone number.

Nick was in the hot tub with Gray when his phone rang. His clothes were tangled up near the edge, and within that pile was his phone. He found it, and he automatically knew who it was.

“Hello?” Nick answered.

“Nick! Shit man, where are you! We need your help. AJ’s missing, and he was seriously sick. These two kids brought him back here to the hotel, and he was out of it. Now he’s gone and we don’t know the first place to look. Has he called you? Have you heard anything?” Kevin asked. Gray heard everything and she mouthed the words for Nick to say to Kevin.

“AJ’s with me, he’s safe.” Nick said, under Gray’s instruction.

“He’s with you? Well, how’d he get there? How is he? He was so sick...” Kevin ranted.

“He’s fine now. How he got here doesn’t matter. Just know that he’s perfectly fine.” Nick assured him. Brian took the phone from Kevin.

“Nick, what the hell is going on here? You both are scaring us all shitless. We need some serious explanations!” Brian shouted.

“Don’t worry about us.” Nick stated plainly.

“What do you mean? How can we not worry? Look, would you just come back to the hotel? Now!”

“We can’t come back, Brian. We can never come back.”

“Nick, stop playing around!” Before Brian could say another word, Nick hung up the phone. Gray took the cell from Nick’s hand and crushed it in her palm as if it were as frail as a potato chip. Nick smiled at her display of strength, then he brought her close to him. And they made love as vampires, not as humans.

Though Nick found pleasure in simple penetration, he found far more pleasure in tasting the sweet, rich blood of his love. He would only learn later that feeding from another vampire is like an adrenaline rush. A miniature rebirth. An orgasm of a calibur than no human would be able to sustain.

They made love until they could both sense sunrise approaching. They could smell it. They could feel the sun’s warmth before it even showed itself. They climbed out of the water and ran down into the cellar of the mansion as fast as they could. They crawled into the same coffin, and they held each other in the complete darkness of their confines.

Meanwhile, AJ was being introduced to his new sleeping quarters. He had spent so much time reveling in the passion and lust that Daniella and Anne were showing him that he totally forgot that being a vampire entailed avoiding the deadly light of the sun.

Anne opened the coffin and Daniella helped him climb in. AJ was shocked at himself, because he wasn’t afraid. In fact, it felt comfortable. He saw a woman, who looked like she was maybe 35, come down the long stairwell with a candle. She approached AJ’s coffin and looked down at him.

“Arius will be pleased. You’ve given him a son, Daniella. A handsome one. Very passionate and sensual, he is. Arius will love him. I already love him.” She said. Then she leaned in and kissed AJ, with a maternal tenderness and a lover’s intensity. As she left, Daniella touched AJ’s hand.

“Her name is Maia, she is Arius’ lover. She is like our mother. You will meet Arius when you awake. For now, you must sleep. Dawn approaches.” She kissed her forefinger, then touched his lips. Soon there was darkness, and AJ fell into a deep slumber, a trance. Something all vampires do while the sun dominates the sky.



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