Chapter 1 - Bloodlust
It was official… Brooke Summers was finally turning twenty-one and her best friend Kristen Wayward wanted to take her out to the most exclusive nightclub in New York City as a birthday gift; a gift that she would unknowingly never forget.
One that would ultimately change Brooke’s life forever.
“Bloodlust?” Brooke sounded unimpressed as she sat there staring at the screen of her phone with her left brow lifted slightly.
“Why on earth would they name it that?”
Kirsten knew exactly why the infamous nightclub was called Bloodlust, but if she were to ever divulge such information to her bestie, Brooke would no doubt be running for the hills within seconds!
Bloodlust was the most notorious nightclub and hangout for actual vampires who lived there in the city of New York.
Rumoured to be owned by a vampire Mafia Don and frequented by vampires and humans alike, the place was a hot spot if anything else.
“Trust me, Brooke. The drinks there are out of this world and people always rave about the music. It’s one hell of a night out, one you’ve more than earned. Plus, it’s totally tradition to go out and get completely smashed on your twenty-first birthday. I did when mine came and I’m telling you, I don’t regret a thing about that night.” Kirsten admitted with confidence.
Brooke gave her a quizzical look.
“Kirsten, you hooked up with five guys in one night!” Brooke pointed out in stunned disbelief.
“Hey, one guy, five guys… you kinda lose count after the first ten drinks.” Kirsten boasted with a big, playful smile.
“Besides, tonight isn’t about me. It’s all about you, girl. You’re the one turning the big two-one. You can legally drink now and we have to take advantage of that! We’re going, and that’s that.”
“Yeah… I dunno. I’m not convinced clubbing is what I want to do for my birthday this year, Kirsten.” Brooke protested with a frown.
“But aren’t you always telling me you need to get out there and find some interesting guys? How else are you gonna do that if we don’t go out? And clubs are where the hottest guys hang. Especially this one.” Kirsten declared.
“Trust me, for once in your life. Please. I want you to have a good time, and I know you will if we go to Bloodlust.”
Brooke continued frowning, though she held Kirsten’s gaze in silence for almost an entire minute, not making a single movement or sound.
Unwilling to back down… until she did back down.
“Alright, alright… fine. I’ll go.” Brooke proclaimed in annoyance, huffing as she continued scrolling through her phone at the webpage information of the notorious nightclub they would soon visit.
“But it had better be as good as you’re promising. I mean it, I won’t forgive you otherwise.”
Kirsten’s smile only grew in size in response.
“Just you wait. Tonight’s gonna be a night you never forget.” she declared.
“What about Sasha? Why don’t we invite her as well? The more the merrier.”
Sasha Peters was Brooke’s close work colleague at the receptionist job Brooke had and often joined the two besties on their misadventures.
“Sure. If she’s willing to be dragged out too.” Brooke agreed nonchalantly.
“I’ll give her a call. Be back in a sec.” Kirsten announced, then standing from her chair in the café they were sitting in and venturing off outside to take her call.
Why she couldn’t just take her call there beside her, Brooke had no clue.
When she was alone, Brooke continued reading up on the nightclub in question, finding out anything she could about this place and why her friend was so eager to visit it.
From the fancy looking webpage, the place looked pretty legit, with everything a notable nightclub might have.
Drinking… dancing… debauchery.
The usual.
Shortly afterwards Kirsten returned to the table where Brooke sat waiting, sitting opposite her and taking another drink of her Vanilla Latte before she spoke.
“So?” Brooke enquired, looking to her friend in question.
“She’s in. Of course.” Kirsten admitted happily.
“Sasha said she’d meet us at my place at 6:30pm. We’ll get ready there together.”
“What about something to wear? I’m not going in there dressed like this!” Brooke protested.
“Relax girl, I’ve got you. I’ve got a shit tonne of dresses for you to peruse.” Kirsten reassured her.
“Trust me, we’ll have you looking totally smoking hot for your big night out tonight. You have my word. But we’ve only got about an hour until she arrives, so we need to head home now. You just about done there?”
Brooke nodded her head as she replied, “Yeah. Let’s cruise.”
With that both women stood from their seats and headed out of the local café, headed to Kirsten’s apartment to get ready for their big night out.
Later on that evening, across the city down by the docks, inside one of the countless warehouses in that area that their Don owned, a figure was being dragged across the floor by two burling henchmen with exceedingly inhuman-like powers as he grunted and struggled pointlessly against their hold.
“Argh! Get your fucking hands off me! Where the hell am I?” the obvious captive barked defiantly at his oppressors as they brought him towards a well-dressed gentleman smoking a cigarette and standing right in the centre of the shadowed warehouse.
Dropping the prisoner roughly onto his side, with his hands still cuffed in behind his back, the captive grunted again in discomfort before he struggled to free himself from his cuffs.
To no avail.
Six more figures stood nearby dressed in tailored matching black suits and in silence as they watched on from their positions surrounding the interior of the warehouse.
Every one of them was armed just in case.
The handcuffs wrapped around the prisoner’s wrists shone in the filtered evening moonlight with every pointless movement he made.
They weren’t just any ordinary cuffs; they were made of pure silver; usually unbreakable and one of the only materials known in existence that could either wound or kill their kind.
As it would turn out, these men were not human.
No…
They were vampires… all ten of them.
The vampire underboss standing in the centre was an Italian man named Santino Greco, and he stood at just over six-foot-one with an athletic build, though hidden away beneath his expensive designer black suit and tie.
He exhaled a long breath of silver smoke out into the cool evening air as he loomed over the vampire struggling beside his well-polished black shoes.
“È lui?” (Is this him?) Santino enquired in his native language, Italian while looking to his men in question.
“Sure is, boss.” Rayson, the larger of the two henchmen before him declared in English, having understood Italian.
Everyone who worked for Don Lombardi understood Italian, due to how frequently the language would be used by both the Mob Boss and his Underboss in conversation.
“Benny Larson. Previous familiar and newly turned vamp known to work for Don Blackwood. We caught him sniffing in the wrong places, if you get my meaning. We think he was looking for intel to feed to his boss.” Peter, the smaller henchman added from where he stood to Benny’s left.
“That’s bullshit and you know it!” Benny argued angrily from where he pathetically lay on his side at Santino’s feet.
“You’ve got no proof I work for Blackwood.”
“Mettetelo in ginocchio.” (Get him on his knees.) the underboss commanded in Italian, inhaling another long drag from his cigarette.
He watched both his henchmen bend down and grab Benny by his underarms, pulling him up onto his bent knees as instructed.
Benny continued to pointlessly struggle, trying to use his inhuman strength to break free from his cuffs.
But the poor newly turned vampire had no clue that silver was his newest weakness.
Clearly he hadn’t been a vampire for long enough to find out about that important little fact.
“You’re wasting your time here with me. I don’t know nothing about Blackwood or his dealings.” Benny declared, looking from the henchmen standing either side of him to Santino standing in front of him.
“I was just turned by an associate of mine and that’s all I know, I swear.”
Santino held an intimidating expression upon his face as he exhaled smoke again.
“That’s not what I hear, Benny.” Santino proclaimed, tapping the end of his cigarette with his clawed finger.
“I hear you were one of Blackwood’s familiars. One of his regulars.”
Benny smiled, “Someone’s been feeding you lies. I have no connection to Blackwood. I’m a nobody to someone like him.”
“Maybe…” Santino spoke snidely, then crouching down to Benny’s level as he looked the newly turned vampire in the eye with a sinister expression, exhaling a mouthful of smoke directly into Benny’s face.
“But you see, I happen to know that a lot of Blackwood’s familiars have been turned recently, and that they’re making a move around our turf. Then what do you know, we find you smack bang right in the middle of our business at around the same time this all goes down… seems awfully suspicious, if you ask me.”
Benny unknowingly swallowed a lump in his throat before replying.
He wasn’t sure if he believed his own lies now.
“You’ve got it all wrong.” Benny insisted, shaking his head.
“Like I said, I was just turned by an associate. The timing’s all a coincidence, I swear!”
Santino grinned sadistically.
“You see, Benny… I don’t believe in coincidences.” he admitted, holding the cigarette between his thumb and finger as he reached it out and pressed it to burn into Benny’s cheek.
“ARGH!!!” Benny cried out in pain, contorting his face.
“Fuck!”
“And there is of course one way I can know for certain if you’re telling the truth or not.” Santino declared coldly, still with his sinister grin.
Benny’s brows furrowed in fear upon realising what the underboss was referring to.
Or rather… whom.
“No, come on. It doesn’t need to go that far.” Benny insisted, shaking his head.
“Oh, but I disagree.” Santino mused sinisterly.
“I think we should have ourselves a little drive into Bloodlust to visit the Capo (Boss). How does that sound?”
“No, please. Please, we can chat about this right here. Just between us.” Benny pleaded.
“We don’t need to involve Don Lombardi in this. Please!”
Ignoring his protests, Santino stood himself back up and gave his two men a simple nod to proceed as he then dropped the finished cigarette to the floor, stomping onto it with his expensive shoe to put it out.
“Please, I’ve already told you I’m a nobody.” Benny continued to plead his innocence.
“You’ll only be wasting his time.”
Peter pulled out a long black piece of cloth and proceeded to gag Benny as Rayson held him while he desperately struggled.
Both Rayson and Peter then bent down and grabbed the newly gagged Benny by his upper arms, hoisting him up onto his feet before then forcefully dragging him off headed in the direction of the main entrance to the warehouse.
They were heading towards the parked SUVs outside and on their way into the nightclub to see their boss, Don Lombardi.
By the time it was 10:15pm, all three women were dressed in their sexiest clubbing dresses, with their hair styled and makeup done.
Brooke, having long wavy dark blonde hair and green eyes went with a simple black strapless dress with matching black six-inch heels and long dangly diamond earrings that just touched against the colour bone on either side of her neck.
She always wore her golden heart locket around her neck and the matching golden bracelet around her left wrist; a gift given to her from her mother when she was only a baby.
Kirsten who had long brown hair and chocolate brown eyes went with a stunning sapphire dress covered in sequins and chunky blue heels as she stood staring at Brooke fiddling with her bracelet in the mirror.
“Hey, who gave that to you?” she asked her bestie.
“You always wear it everywhere you go like it means something special to you.”
“I was told my mother gave it to me when I was born.” Brooke explained as she looked to her friend in the reflection of the mirror.
“I’ve always worn it since I can remember. Never take it off.”
“Cute.” Sasha chimed in as she eyed the bracelet too.
Sasha had her long straight black hair reaching down to just above her buttocks and her bright blue eyes shimmered.
She had chosen a shimmery silver dress with black diamante high heels to match.
After with their usual splash of perfume while grabbing their clutch purses for the evening, all three women were finally ready to head out to the club for their night of fun.
“Alright, I’ve called us an Uber. It’ll be here in like five.” Sasha declared.
“You guys ready for a night out?”
“HELL YEAH!” both Kirsten and Brooke cheered together as they ‘clinked’ their shot glasses in against one another in cheers, before shotting them back.
They had already enjoyed several pre-clubbing drinks just to warm themselves up.
Brooke’s face was screwed up after shotting hers as she looked to her friends and smiled.
“Seriously, both of you need to promise me you will get me home in one piece tonight.” she insisted.
“No matter what happens. Make sure I get home safely.”
“Deal.” Sasha agreed with a nod.
“But remember, if you just so happen to hook up with some hot guy who takes you to his place and fucks your brains out, we won’t be held accountable for getting you home safely.” Kirsten pointed out, grinning.
“Like hell I would do something like that!” Brooke protested.
“I’m not a slut.”
“Having a one-night-stand isn’t being a slut, Brooke.” Sasha explained.
“It’s called exploring your horizons.”
“Sure it is.” Brooke spoke, grinning back at her friend and colleague.
“Hey, we’re all about hooking you up with someone hot.” Kirsten added.
“After all, what’s a good friend for, if not helping out with your non-existent sex life?”
“Fuck you, Kirsten!” Brooke sneered.
“I have a sex life… I just… keep it under wraps. That’s all.”
“Sure you do.” Sasha spoke sarcastically.
“Hey, but promise me that if I do somehow manage to find a guy out there tonight, you won’t leave me with some random ugly creep. You guys have to promise me that he’s at least an eight… if not a nine. Ten’s don’t exist, I know that.” Brooke explained.
“We’ll find you a ten. Don’t worry.” Kirsten reassured her bestie, wrapping her arm around her shoulders and smiling.
“Tonight’s gonna be the night of your life. Trust us.”
“Ooh! Uber’s here!” Sasha proclaimed, looking down at her phone.
All three women gathered their purses and ventured towards the apartment doorway to head downstairs.
“Let’s get this party started!” Kirsten called out in cheer.
