Cassian Legacy: The Vampire Prince

By four in the afternoon, I had accomplished what I needed to, giving me two extra hours for browsingmerchandise. It took a bit longer than I thought for me to open up a new bank account. I had no credit history and no family to back me up, so therefore I had to go through an assortment of extra paperwork. But once I told them where I was staying, they shredded the paperwork and handed me an account without another word on how I acquired the cash. Sylvia’s name was like a parental permission slip to them.

I made sure I got a checking card before I left, as I still had shopping to do. I gathered up my toiletries and groceries next. I had everything I needed and paid for it in about forty minutes. When I mentioned Sylvia’s name at the counter, they boxed up my items and had it shipped to my address so I wouldn’t have to walk down the street with several big bundles in my hands. Something interesting that I noticed about Sylvia’s name was that the employees stopped looking at me like I was just a kid off the street. Apparently my clothes were dirty and in tatters, but I hadn’t noticed something like that, when they had. I was definitely out of place here.

But there was also something strange about these little boutique stores on Avenue K, they didn’t have a high amount of noise compared with the rest of the city. I didn’t have to focus on the pitter patter of feet trudging around on the cement sidewalks so I wouldn’t get a migraine. It was oddly and breathtakingly quiet; a nice change for my exquisite hearing.

I hopped into the next store, and told the sales lady who sent me. She had looked like she wasn’t about to give me her business, but she perked up at once from the woman’s name and started busying herself with new clothing outfits. I soon realized they were for me. In a matter of minutes she had guessed my size and color, and packed me up into a dressing room with an array of clothing.

Having no other choice before me, I set about trying on the clothes. I never needed to before knowing my size and buying them first, but these were tailored differently. They all arranged from a six to a ten, depending on the designer. I was averagely built, not skinny like super models, but I maintained my weight and height since…well ever I could remember.

I found several items I really liked and set them aside for purchase. The sales girl handed me a beautiful blue top and a long flowing black skirt. I wasn’t as intrigued by the skirt as I should’ve been, but it looked good on me. I asked her if I could wear one of the sets of clothes out of the store, instead of the ratty shirt and jeans I wore. She happily exclaimed I could do that, and I grabbed the blue shirt and the black jeans.

Once I was done with the clothes, she packed them all up into boxes and bags, and set them aside. We got to work on shoes next. I still wore my worn out tennis shoes, but she picked up a few sandals and heels for me to wear. I didn’t like the heels too much, but paid for them anyway. I outfitted myself in some sandals for the evening. Once I paid her, everything I bought was actually cheaper than I originally thought it would be. I carried my bags out to the boardwalk.

There were couples and people surrounding me this evening. Apparently this part of town was quiet during the day and crowded at night. Already the increased noise gave me a headache. I hurried on over to the bus station and waited. As soon as it came and started depositing people onto the sidewalks, I reached for the door. But Nate and Krista appeared just as my foot hit the first step.

I hoped they wouldn’t spot me among the throng, but her eyes found me instantly, like she was searching for my face in the crowd. She jumped up and down as she ran over to me. “Abel!” she screamed. “We missed you today!”

I was forced to step off the bus and turn my attention towards her.

Nate eyed me from head to toe, staring at me like I was something extraordinary. Of course I stared over at him wondering what caused him to look at me like that. He whistled once. “Wow, you’re hot.”

Krista elbowed him in the gut. “Like you’ve never seen a girl dressed up before.”

I switched my eyes from him to her. “How’s Seth?”

She looked unperturbed by my new outfit. “He had some sort of fever, but he’ll be back at school tomorrow. Will you be there?”

I nodded. “Yes I will. I had a cold too. I needed some time to get over it,” I lied smoothly.

She slightly smiled, but didn’t say anything more on the subject. “So what are you doing down here?”

“Shopping.” I held up a bag to make my point.

Nate leaned in to me. “We’re going to a club.”

“The Red Curtain,” Krista whispered. “It’s just around the corner. You should come. Mallory will be there.”

I wasn’t much of a partier, or a drinker. Plus, I didn’t think I’d fit in right away with the partying crowd - usually they were the exclusive types. I shook my head. “I should be returning back to my apartment.”

Krista’s face fell. “Oh, well. Maybe later. We’ll see you at school.”

Nate winked as they left.

During that time, the bus had left. I waited for it to return, and it did, eventually. Once I got back to the apartment, I found a stack of boxes outside my door from the drug store. I pulled all my packages into the small space of the kitchen and unpacked them. But while I busied myself with mundane tasks, I wondered why my friends were at a club on a school night.

The idea seemed odd to me, but intriguing all at the same time. I had never been to a club before, and I had all my homework done which left me a night devoid of work. I stuffed the small plastic card with the microchip into my jeans and went back the way I’d come. I took the bus back to Avenue K, and listened for others discussing the club and its whereabouts. When I tried searching for The Red Curtain on my phone, the address was missing just like the apartments when I tried searching for them.

I was about to give up after a few hours listening to mundane gossip when I caught snippets of the topic from a couple. The left from the nearby theater, headed for the street. Their discussion yielded a lot of vital clues that I had missed earlier, but it was enough information for me and I discovered its location quickly. The club lay on a side street where I discovered the familiar letters curling through a neon blue sign over two magnificent heavy red drapes. They doors looked like stage drapes from the theatre, where I guessed it took its namesake.

I walked up to the curtains, where a heavily muscled guy barred the entrance. He stood there alone with no visible weapons on his person. My experience in dealing with bouncers and other security personnel, which mostly included the portrayal of them in TV series and movies, led me to believe they were armed in case things got out of hand. Apparently this wasn’t the case. But while I stood there sizing up the man, I neglected to notice that there was a line outside the door, slinking its way along the building’s wall and around the corner. Several people threw me hateful glares out of the corner of my right eye as though I had just cut in front of them. I paid them no attention because they weren’t that much of a threat.

“My friends are inside,” I stated to the guy, wondering if the simple statement was enough to allow me passage.

He smiled at me and gestured to the curtains. “Don’t get lost, sweetheart.”

I resisted the urge of a retort. I was never lost, and I didn’t get lost no matter how bad the circumstances were. My brain had this uncanny ability to know where I was going and what part of the country I’d be in even if I were locked in a coffin and shipped across the states - it was like imprinted GPS. But once inside the club, I could see why he made that comment. The place was a huge jungle of red velvet curtains and staircases. It was like a painting by M.C. Escher, but with color. People milled around tables and bars, gathering drinks and straws. I thought the noise in the cafeteria was deafening, but this space combined with the metallic floor coverings amplified the noise by extreme levels. A DJ mixed music on a raised stage in the middle of my line of sight. Bright blue lights flooded the floor from above, casting shadows and highlighting the dancers.

I focused in on the bass, desperately trying to drown out the sound of everything else. No wonder I had avoided these places. The chatter was louder than I thought possible in here. People nearly yelled at each other in order to make simple conversation. There were a lot of boys and girls in this establishment, both high school and college age. It was definitely a young person’s clubhouse.

I stood at the beginning of the place and searched for Krista and Nate with my eyes, while focusing my hearing on the bass so I wouldn’t go completely nuts. Someone walked up behind me, distracting my thoughts instantly from the invasion of my personal space, and placed their hand right on my bottom, giving it a little squeeze. I whirled around as the guy leaned into my ear.

“Looking for me sweetheart?” he smiled.

Rather than inflict punishment on him for his inept rudeness, I stalked away from him, not wishing to acknowledge his behavior with words or actions. By my calculations, I could throw him into the wall and kill him instantly for what he did. Instead of leaving me alone though, he followed behind, clearly not understanding the message I no doubt sent.

He tried approaching me again, just as I spotted Mallory in the crowd. I rushed over to her, pushing my way through the mass of people on the dance floor. She danced as well, but the moment she spotted me she stopped performing her chaotic moves and started jumping up and down.

“You came! I can’t believe you’re actually here! Krista said you were tired when she ran into you earlier.”

I nodded and glanced back at the guy behind me, giving him a set of my dagger eyes. I hoped that he’d leave me alone, but my expression didn’t make him stop. He walked right up to the two of us and glanced over at Mallory. “Why Mallory, it’s a pleasure to see you again. Tell me, who is your friend?” His eyes trained back to me, and he swept them up and down my body like I was someone he wanted to know but not in a talkative way.

I glanced at her, hoping she wouldn’t introduce me.

But Mallory surprised me by blushing, sporting a huge grin aimed directly at the harasser. “I didn’t think you’d remember me, Jaden.”

He paused in his ogling of me and fixed his gaze back on her. “I’d always remember a pretty red-head like you,” he slyly whispered in her ear. He had leant in to kiss her cheek, a greeting of some sort. He wrapped his thick black arm around her shoulders. “Tell me, who is your friend. I’ve never seen her before.”

His words dripped like honey. They were spoken with care and power, chosen so that she would make a decision in her mind to answer him regardless of my wishes or hers. I knew that power - the want and the need behind the suggestion. He wasn’t just using speech he was using a form of compulsion. My eyes fell upon him again, though I now saw him as something else, something different. I didn’t know there were others this far uptown.

I grabbed Mallory’s arm, breaking her from his spell. She blinked her eyes and looked up at him. “What were we talking about?” she laughed aloud.

Jaden eyed her with his dark green eyes. “Nothing.” He looked back at me, though, clearly distressed by my ability to break his compulsion so easily. “Who are you?”

His tone had shifted. He no longer sounded friendly and flirty, but commanding and defensive. He wanted my name otherwise something bad might happen next if I failed to give it. I wasn’t in a mood to be trifled with. Besides, he was a fly to the likes of me. He had compulsed my friend into liking him, and that I had problems with.

“This looks like a party,” some other guy mused from nearby. His voice sounded like honey too.

Mallory smiled at the new guy behind me. “Hi Tyson,” she greeted while twirling a lock of red hair with her right index finger.

I turned and found a blond headed boy with tanned skin gazing down at my figure. He ogled me like Jaden had. I resisted the urge to poke out their eyes and glanced back at Mallory right as she leaned her head to one side and exposed her neck in a way that made me sick at my stomach instantly. It was like she expected it from them.

My stomach flipped in several different directions as I wrapped my mind around what took place here. I understood at once what this club was for and I knew what had happened to make her perform these kinds of actions. There were two kinds of drug houses in this world. There were those that were rundown and in a bad part of town, where the people used lucrative passwords and simple bills, and then there were places like this where the others made more than just a simple profit from cover charges and drinks. They called these upscale businesses legitimate ventures, but in reality they were just the same as the crack houses. Mallory, Krista, and Nate had all been coming to this club for a long time just by the way I heard them talking about it that one day they sat at my table. Their presence here on many occasions was long enough for them to make a lot of acquaintances and have compulsion used on them more than once which resulted in their forgetfulness so they wouldn’t remember the blood sharing experience. This thoughtless act sincerely angered me to my core. Already I felt saliva pouring into my mouth, readying my body for a fight.

Tyson moved in on my figure. “You look good,” he practically drooled on me.

But as suddenly as he took a step and closed the distance between us with his words dripping like honey so that he could munch on my neck without restraint, he moved away quickly and went still. Even Jaden dropped his arm from Mallory’s shoulders and straightened his back. The tension that was once here vanished.

“What’s going on here?”

I turned my head and spotted him directly behind me, standing next to Tyson. He was here, at the Red Curtain. His supposed pair of friends from school flanked him on either side, but they quickly took one another’s hands and rushed away, mixing with the other couples on the dance floor.

Tyson retreated, and Jaden turned to Mallory. “I was about to ask her for a dance,” he stated to my friend in a normal voice.

Mallory blushed and went with him. I grabbed her arm quickly before she could run away from me and held her gaze. “Don’t go anywhere alone with him,” I commanded. She could obey that much at least. She nodded and turned away, smiling, completely unaware of the danger.

I whirled on the guy. He had some sort of power in here.

“I told you we needed to talk,” he restated.

I shook my head. “Not here,” I said through clenched teeth. I exerted an extreme amount of control so I wouldn’t let anyone see I had fangs. They wanted so much to extend in this environment, and it was teeming with fresh blood. Plus I was already agitated from the most recent situation.

He stayed where he was, staring at me with his dark blue eyes. He held no soda bottle this time, but a single wine glass filled with a rich red. His white shirt was buttoned up but not at the collar, and left half tucked in and half hanging out of his blue jeans. The crowd parted around us, giving a wide berth. No one really quite knew we both stood here, yet they knew someone was taking up this space. I glanced around at the other dancers, searching their faces. The young students were half happy and half dazed by their relaxed facial expressions. They were either happy about having a night long party or thinking they were happy about their situation. Maybe this was what Sylvia meant about the underhanded comment she gave me earlier in regards to this environment. They were all unaware of the danger in front of them, even the three who thought they were my friend.

“Would you like a glass?” He drew my attention back to him by offering me his drink.

I shook my head. “I don’t drink.” I hadn’t had wine in a long time and it wasn’t because of the alcohol content.

He smiled, regardless of my answer, and took a sip of his red.

Suddenly the DJ’s music shifted from a soft bump into a loud bass. I had trouble concentrating on the rhythm once the tempo changed. I shook my head quickly, dislodging the dizziness that followed a shift in rythym like this. But the pounding grew louder and louder and a migraine started forming above my left eye.

“Excuse me,” I apologized and hurried away. I ran back onto the dance floor and grabbed Mallory by the arm.

I knew she wouldn’t want to return with me, but Jaden let her go and didn’t bother using his compulsion on her. I found Nate and Krista talking by the door, and led them all outside. They were happier to see me than the other kids they talked to.

We burst out into the cool night air and I took a deep breath in. The bouncer eyed me suspiciously before he let in four more students, who were thrilled at being offered a chance to enter the prestigious nightclub.

I followed Krista and Nate back to the bus stop, pulling a tired and unhappy Mallory with me. When we stopped, she tried turning around and heading back, but I pulled her face to mine and met her gaze. “You’re going home.” This was the second time tonight I had to use my gift.

She nodded. “Home.”

Krista glanced back at us, just as I broke the connection. “She sounds so tired. She arrived there before us.”

I reached down and felt her pulse along her right wrist. It was a little faint and her skin appeared sallow now that we were away from the diminished lighting. I brushed back her hair on the left side of the neck; the side she hadn’t exposed and found two healing scars right where I thought they would be. Some young one had fed off her. As though right on cue, she collapsed onto me.

Krista nearly screamed. “Is she alright?”

I shook my head. “She’s a little faint, probably from the heat.”

It was possible the two had no idea what occurred at the club and were compulsed like the other people in there. There was only one option left for me and that’s why I lied.

Krista bent down after I lowered Mallory to the ground gently. “Too much to drink. She passed out like this once before in the summer. I ended up taking her home with me but only because my parents were gone.”

Nate reached down and picked her up. “She can’t go home with me.”

I read the responses in their eyes and body language. Neither wanted to take her home, because then they would have to explain what caused her sudden fatigue. I sighed. “I’ll take her.”

The bus arrived on schedule and we all got her into a seat. But once it halted at my stop, I picked up Mallory supporting her weight from my one arm wrapped around her waist. Nate protested, offering to take her up to my pad, but I shook my head vehemently. The house matron would not like that. Even though she hadn’t explicitly expressed the “no boy’s allowed” rule, I understood it was implied with the drinking comment.

Before the bus left, I managed to get Krista’s phone number as I promise I’d text her in the morning before the two of us headed for school. Krista would retrieve Mallory’s school uniform from her house and hand it to her on the bus.

I let Mallory sleep on the couch downstairs, afraid that she might vomit in the middle of the night. I had no idea what she drank if she consumed any alcohol at all, but it was clear to me that a vampire got a hold of her. The marks left over from the white porcelain fangs were painstakingly clear against her ivory complexion.

I left a bucket on the floor in case she awoke and got sick, before I headed upstairs for my sleep clothes.