Party Monster

As the door opened, Dora’s smile was whisked off her face with the force of Hunter pulling her into his home and pinning her against the door. She took a moment to catch her breath before her smile reappeared. “Euphadora.” Merlin, her name on his lips was like heaven. She melted every time he said it, and when he was angry with her like he seemed to be right now it reminded her even more of when her father used to scold her. His hand moved to her throat, and she smiled through the tightening pressure as he spoke to her. “Whatever you want, daddy,” she answered in her most seductive voice. The scrap of parchment was still in her hand, and she offered it to him, a crude visual of her many attempts to find him. Vague notes like “wonky streetlamp” and “Scotland?” had been crossed out and below them replaced with clearer details such as “Paisley” and “stone church”. His exact address still eluded her but it didn’t stop her from finding him. “I need you.” Her heart was racing inside her chest, though not for fear but of excitement. Her adrenaline was pumping strong, giving her a tingling sensation that started in her chest and spread throughout her extremities, it was like butterflies in her stomach though there was an emptiness there as well. A hole that only his bite would be able to fill.

Dora gazed lovingly at Hunter as he looked over her cryptic directions to his home, and was unfazed when he crumpled it up into a little ball and threw it behind him. She didn’t worry about what she would do the next time she needed him because all that mattered was her need for him now. There was no tomorrow with his bite tonight, she couldn’t fathom even planning that far ahead. Nothing mattered except right here and right now. Hunter’s hand dropped from her throat and Dora breathed in deeply, not having noticed that her air had been even remotely restricted. It didn’t matter. “Where are we going?” she asked he ushered her outside, more conversationally than quizzically. She would go anywhere with him if it meant she’d get a little taste of him. She nearly tripped over her own high heels as she was pushed out onto the front steps of the stone church, the wonky streetlamp across the road flickering sporadically.

He didn’t answer straight away but grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stone steps and across the street. She followed as best she could, tripping over nothing but her own feet as she looked at him instead of the street they were crossing. Her high heels were no match for Hunter’s quick strides. Had he pulled her out in front of an oncoming vehicle, Dora wouldn’t have noticed. She was too enthralled with the vampire tugging her along and now inviting her to accompany him on his evening out. A date! Dora grinned but before she could say anything else she was pulled against him and suddenly everything was being squished and spun around them, the empty city street quickly becoming a dark and eerie graveyard.

For the first time in six months, Dora felt a little uneasy in Hunter’s presence but knew it was more their surroundings than the vampire himself. Dora didn’t fancy spending much time in graveyards, having been surrounded by more than enough death in her lifetime. Thankfully she didn’t need to visit them often, as her father and brother had both been cremated, and her grandmother had managed to procure some of each of their ashes for Dora, despite her heartless mum’s attempts to keep the Parkinson men all to herself. Hunter dragged her through the darkness, weaving between headstones until they reached a mausoleum which opened at his touch. He beckoned her inside. “Isn’t there someplace a little nicer we could celebrate our anniversary?” she asked shakily, pressing herself up against the vampire’s cool, chiseled frame. It was exactly six months ago to the day that Dora had danced for Hunter on the table of the Charmed Nightclub and had her first taste of his intoxicating powers.

He asked her to trust him and she did. Dora nodded as Hunter turned her around and ushered her into the mausoleum, the door closing behind them and shutting out the moonlight. Dora wet her lips with her tongue, heart beginning to beat faster as she took the stairs slowly in the seductive lamplight. She ran her hand along the wall to keep her balance as her eyes worked to adjust to the dim lighting. The stone wall was cool to the touch, and rough. Following the staircase downward, the sound of chatter and laughter were becoming more clear. And was there music playing? Dora stepped off the final step and looked down the corridor ahead of them, closed doors leading Merlin only knew where, and just beyond she could see the hall widening to what looked like a pub. Dora turned to look at Hunter and smiled, then began toward the open space where she suspected Hunter was going to buy her a drink and treat her to an evening that would put to shame the lame night she might have had with her so-called girlfriends.

Dora wasn’t sure exactly where they were, but the way the other pub patrons’ eyes followed her made her feel excited, if not a little uneasy. Hunter guided her through the maze of tables toward the bar as Dora looked around, feet moving wherever her leader ushered them though her gaze was fixed on a woman in the corner, waving at her and smiling an extra toothy grin. No, not toothy. Fangy. A shiver of excitement ran through Dora’s chest as Hunter pulled her between his legs and pulled out her wrist in the middle of the room. Her suspicions having been confirmed, Dora looked back at her date adoringly as he sank his fangs into her flesh. Dora closed her eyes, ready to appreciate the gift Hunter was giving her but a chill over her wrist forced her eyes open and she watched as Hunter turned her wrist so that the blood fell into the glass instead of his superb mouth. Her perfectly sculpted brow furrowed in confusion. “What are you..? What about me?” she clarified her concern and confusion. Hunter could do whatever he liked with her so long as she got her rocks off too. That was the deal they had made, though not in so many words. It was just a given. An unspoken agreement with her handsome vampire.

Hunter laughed at her confusion, and she felt hurt, even more so as his generally complimentary words turned harsh. He let go of her wrist and she recoiled it, holding her opposite hand over the puncture wounds where her blood was still trickling slowly. He forced the glass of blood on her and Dora pressed her lips together tight as best she could, turning her head away as the blood dripped onto the bare skin of her chest. “Stop!” she cried, heart racing in her chest. Hunter was being needlessly cruel to her and she had no idea why. What had she done? She’d only ever done exactly what he had asked of her and yet again she was being thrown aside for what? Something better? A more respectable witch? Tears filling her eyes, Dora turned to leave but stopped as she saw that everyone – every vampire in the club was looking at her. She took an uneasy step backwards into the safety of Hunter’s frame.