Scarlet Lore

Chapter 5

The bulking man at the door didn't scare me himself. He was human after all and the smell of sweet weakness rolled off him. It was Kare's reaction that made me nervous. The buddy style hug he gave the man, typical manly stuff, one arm hung casually across each other's shoulders and the other slapping the small of each other's backs. The human looked over Kare's shoulder at me when they did so and a glob of bile rose in my throat.

It didn't matter that he couldn't hurt me, I wasn't scared. If anything, I was disgusted. I knew what kind of man he was immediately. His ashy hair was slicked back to the point it looked wet and greasy (or perhaps it was just wet and greasy) and he smiled an easy, objectifying grin when he saw me. My eyes rolled on their own accord and I was sure he'd seen it from the dark glare he gave me, though it also seemed likely that his face was just like that.

Pushing past Kare who was talking admirably to the man-and how did the date with Lucy go? Ah, good, eh? And me? The romance department isn't my thing-I scowled, the smell of urine and alcohol ridden spew explaining straightforwardly where we were. Over my long life time I'd developed a taste for the finer things in life. This dank underground club-or whatever similar den of human filth it was-didn't seem to be fine at all.

"Oh, no. She's my younger brother's...mistress, at times anyway. Practically family, aren't we Sine?" I shrugged, my eyes darting down the dirt hallway to where obnoxiously terrible music was thumping and fluorescent lights bounded off walls. It didn't look nice but it was better than standing near the slobbering blob of human that was looking me up and down hungrily. Aw, sweetie you've no idea.

"At times? Now, what's that mean, little lady?" I twirled around to face him as he stepped out from his post at the doorway to stand next to Kare. Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I stepped closer to the man, arms crossed against my chest. He might've been bigger than me, in fact he dwarfed me, but vampirism was still on my side.

An arm wrapped around my shoulder tightly and I had to stop myself from jumping when Kare pinched at my shoulder hard. This one was off limits it seemed. The taste of blood was now fading from my mouth and while this man didn't smell particularly delightful, he didn't seem it either. Kare's little poisoning ensured that I would need to feed again soon and if it was going to be anyone I didn't see why it couldn't be this man.

"Listen, Harry, you might want to mind your own business right now, yeah?" Kare growled over my shoulder, there was a sense of something inhuman in the air and I had to wonder if Harry had consciously noticed it. He stepped back anyway and gestured for Kare and I to make our way into whatever trashy little whorehouse we were entering. As we stepped into the hallway and wave of second hand emotions washed over me. Kare visibly flinched and screwed up his nose. I could understand why.

It felt like happiness, on the surface, the drunken and high kind of whirling happiness that nothing could touch. Even that was just cheap but it was all the dirty feelings under it that had me wanting to leave. It felt like wanting and needing but in the worst way possible. It didn't feel lusty at all it felt like being taken advantage of. The place felt like the kind of happiness someone bought for their last night alive. Even that seemed too good and romantic. It felt cheap and dirty and like hell dressed up as heaven.

A few steps in the hallway and Kare decided that I didn't need to be guided-pushed-away from his stupid bouncer friend. When he moved his arm I noticed the soft silky fabric. It occurred to me then how much, then, we were going to stand out in this dank little place. I tugged on his sleeve and glanced down at the lights bouncing out the opened door. The music was something awful, thumping and unoriginal.

"That's not something to worry about. Only idiots go here so, you see, we don't need to worry." Kare waved me off as he spoke. I wasn't entirely convinced of that we went into the makeshift club. The sweet scent of human blood was completely covered up by the stench of human vomit, sweat and, worst of all, piss. It was assault on the senses and while I'd already gotten a whiff stepping into it nearly had me spewing.