The Vampires Student Part III: "Vampire Mountain"

Chapter 1: A Club

Come back to me a while
Change your style again
Come back to me a while Change your taste in men

Gillian the vampire listened completely lost to the text of the placebo song and the enjoyed the goosebumbs that made the fine hairs on her arm stand up, caused by the incomparable voice of the singer. This song always gave her the creeps.
The bass boomed loudly from the speakers above her and Gillian gently rocked her hips.
She stood at the back edge of the small dance floor of a dimly lit nightclub somewhere in a sidestreet of a big city, before her a Barcardy-Cola, which she had not touched yet, and looked at the dancing figures in the flickering strobe lights in front of her.
The club was packed full and the people struggled to get a place on the dance floor or at the bar.
Only around Gillian it was quiet. No one pushed or jostled her aside, people kept unconsciously away from her. No one dared to touch or disturb or even to speak to her. The small woman with pale complexion and long silky black hair, seemed unapproachable and intimidating.
Gillian was aware of this effect, that started since she became a vampire and on some days she enjoyed the attention she got from men (and women - the latter gave mostly envious glances), and at other days it annoyed and irritated her.
Today, she hardly noticed that she drew all eyes upon her.
She was too deep in thought.

Come back to me a while

Gillian took a deep breath.
How long was it ago?
Six years?
Gillian tried to remember how much time had passed. Could it really be so long ago? She shocked. She did not realize how fast the years had passed.
On the one hand, it seemed to her like an eternity, on the other hand, it felt like yesterday that she had turned her back on the Cirque du Freak and gone on her own way.
Six years in which she had traveled, and done research.
Six years in which she had learned to cope on her own, and developed her vampiric powers.
Six years in which she had not seen Larten Crepsley.
"Does your drink not taste you?"
One guy had put all his courage together and had approached her. He had black hair shaved on the sides and tattoos on his muscular arms. His eyes were glassy, his breath smelled of alcohol, and Gillian saw his buddies standing behind him grinning and making gestures to encourage him.
Gillian scanned him with bored eyes.
"Would you like something else to drink? I'll invite you." He leaned over and had to shout in order to make himself heard over the loud music.
Gillian hesitated.
She actually might need something to drink.
But not something from the bar.
Gillian glanced at the man and her eyes came to rest on his carotid artery. He was sweating slightly, was strongly built and seemingly healthy.
He had, however, plenty of alcohol in the blood.

Change your taste in men

Because she had answered him nothing, the man came closer to her now. He had a beer bottle in his hand, and wanted to put it down on a narrow ledge, on which Gillian's drink stood as well. Due to his nervousness he acted a little clumsy, and threatened to spill the beer bottle.
"Caution," said Gillian and her hand shot forward. She reached for the bottle, gripped the man on the wrist and brought the beer back into an upright position so that nothing got spilled. Her hand clasped his, and the guy started grinning stupidly.
"Oops, how clumsy of me!"
He let go of the bottle and thrashed a stack of flyers of the ledge, which had been lying there, and now trickled down in a colorful rain.
Gillian's attention was immediately drawn to a specific paper, grass green sailed away.
She jostled to catch the Flyers still in flight, and had to step very close to the guy, directly into his arms. He caught her and put his hands on her hips. Gillian felt her hands joined behind his back and catch the paper. Her heart began to pound excitedly.
"Not so rough!" The man laughed and grinned. He ran one hand up her back, the other lay on her butt. Gillian was only marginally aware of it: she stared at the grass green paper in her hand.
It was a flyer for the Cirque du Freak.
They were in town!
Gillian felt a tingling sensation in the stomach and started breathing fast with excitement.
Her eyes looked quickly over the list of the show artists:
The Wolf Man ...
Madam Truska ...
The snake man ...
Cormac Limbs ...
Madam Octa!
The man had wrapped his muscular arms around her and looked at her with glassy eyes. He leaned forward and tried to kiss her.
Gillian recoiled.
His buddies behind them roared with laughter, and made lewd gestures.
Confused about her rejection the guy stared down at her. "What? I think you want to... "
Gillian hesitated.
Then she pursed her lips. "Sure I want to."
She laid a hand on his broad chest when he greedily went for her.
Gillian shook her head. "But not here."
She nodded her head toward the ladies room and broke away from him.
Gillian made her way directly through the dancing crowd, which parted before her like water.
The guy followed her without any will but not without roaring a triumphant "Yes!" to his friends.
Gillian barely noticed.
One sip could not hurt, before she headed of to the Cirque du Freak.
Before she met her master Larten Crepsley again.

Come back to me a while