Lifestyle Choice
Disclaimer: I don't own Moonlight or any of the characters appearing in this story. If I did, this would be a TV script and you could watch it.
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"Hey, man, welcome to the party." Josef is sitting on a smart, leather couch, a cute blonde perched on his lap. He smirks at me, "Thought you weren't going to show for a while there."
"And miss out on all the free booze? Not a chance."
"Alright, but you should know by now, I save the booze for my special guests." he says, wrapping his fingers around the girl's slender arm, which she raises in a lazy toast to me before taking a swig of the champagne that probably costs more than I earn in six months.
"Still, it being your birthday and all, I thought I should make an appearance. Not that I've got you anything to mark the occasion."
"You know what, I'll live. Anything from you wouldn't have been any good anyway." He looks me up and down critically. "At least you made an effort with the outfit." he remarks with heavy sarcasm. I realise I'm wearing the same black shirt and dark jeans as yesterday at poker night. To hell with it, it's been a rough day.
"Thanks. I'm so glad we're friends." Taking a look round, I can tell that there are about a hundred people at the party, hosted with typical subtlety in Josef's own beachfront mansion, a glass temple to ostentatious wealth. About a third of the attendees are vampires, the rest are not. I wonder how many of them know who, and what, they're partying with. Most of them, probably.
"You want a proper drink?" Josef offers. "You look like you need it. Still living off the morgue stuff?" He grimaces at the thought.
I could do with a drink. I'm feeling tired, having spent far too much time outside during the day following around a guy suspected of cheating. He hasn't been cheating, I couldn't smell anyone else on him when I "accidentally" bumped into him on the street earlier, but that won't do as a final report back to his girl. So I'll have to spend the next few days sneaking around taking photos to prove it using more conventional means. This means that I'll be visiting the grocery store and listening in on life insurance sales pitches a lot more than I usually do in the near future. "Yeah, please." I tell Josef.
"I've got just the girl for you," he grins, "She's called Jessica, she's delectable." The blonde pouts in jealously, and Josef pulls her down a little and brushes his blunted teeth across her collarbone in reassurance. She giggles. "Where is Jessica, anyway?" he mutters, still staring at her neck.
Another vampire answers him, having heard his words from across the room: "She was here a while ago, must be upstairs."
"Too bad for Mick, then," Josef says distractedly. He turns away from the girl's neck and beckons over another of his freshies. "Mick, meet Zara."
She comes over to face me and drapes an arm around my shoulders, a gesture that gives me a choice between her throat and her wrist. Her thick, dark hair brushes against me as she leans in, inhaling as if she was the one about to drink. I take her wrist and pull it to my mouth, so her arm is encircling me, and she tenses in expectation. I am disgusted by my own predatory feelings, but I know I'll do it. I need to do it. Josef smiles widely, baring his teeth as they lengthen into points, "To my twenty fifth birthday – as ever." and he bites down. I do the same, and the party music is replaced by the primal thudding of a heartbeat.
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It's about an hour later and I'm sitting on a couch in the corner. Zara is leaning against me, drowsy as a result of blood loss. The two puncture wounds on her wrist are neat and small. They'll heal easily, and won't have caused her any significant pain – it's a vampire trick I made sure I learned very early on. Around the room are many other freshies in a similar state, except no one is watching them. Why would anyone? They'll be fine. I know that. And yet I won't leave Zara. She murmurs something, half asleep, and her head falls down onto my chest. I put my arm around her instinctively, as if to protect her or keep her warm, and a small, contented smile steals onto her lips. For a moment, it's as if I can see the two of us from a third perspective, and I look like her dutiful man, taking care of her after a long night out. The reality this appearance covers up makes me shudder. I can still taste her blood in my mouth.
Josef saunters over, a smirk on his face, "My, my, this does look friendly. Although I hadn't planned for a slumber party. Should I go and get some marshmallows?"
I get up as quickly as I can without waking Zara. I don't even know why I'm embarrassed. Maybe it's because I spent the whole evening with one freshie, making me look like a pretty pathetic vampire; or perhaps it's because by feeding from her at all, I've proved myself once again to be a terrible human being. I know Josef thinks it's the first option. I feel that it's the latter. "You're party sucks, Josef." I tell him sarcastically. I consider my words for a moment: "Urgh, pun not intended."
"Yeah, I know," Josef agrees matter-of-factly. "It's a slow crowd. I'd hoped Lola might turn up, or at least Coraline. I seem to have finally proved: money can't buy you love." The second name I know, and it obviously brings a pained expression to my face. "Yeah, yeah, you and Coraline are currently in a hate patch of your whole love-hate thing, but you can't deny she's good at parties. Unlike you. You should break up with her, you know, she's crazy."
"Thanks, as ever, for the sensitive and insightful marital advice, Josef." Coraline: my sire, or vampire-mom; and also my sometime-wife. This vampire thing, as you may be picking up, is pretty twisted even before you get your first taste of the red stuff. I don't want to even think about her right now, and silently thank the stars she's a no-show tonight.
It's at this point that a scream rips through the house.
The scream belongs to a woman, and came from upstairs. I find myself racing up the wide stone staircase, just behind Josef, to see what's happening. As we come to the landing, a door flies open and the blonde who was with Josef earlier runs out in distress. Clearly, she is the one who screamed, but right now she seems fine. Humans with significant injuries can't move or make noise like that, which means my priority is what caused her flight. Apparently, Josef is with me on this, as he bursts into the room before the door has a chance to shut, with me following closely behind.
The first thing to hit me is the intoxicating scent of very fresh blood. A lot of blood. Blood from a stunning woman in a silky green cocktail dress, sprawled on her back across a bed. Her eyes are wide open in fear, and her lips are just parted as if she is about to gasp in shock, but she won't because she is dead. Her throat is all but gone. Looking at her with a still, blank face, Josef says one word: "Jessica".
And then we both notice that there's someone else in the room. A vampire, I'm guessing a few decades older than me from his scent, but it's difficult to tell right now. Human blood is pretty overpowering. He's wearing modern clothing – leather cowboy boots with a slight heel, flared black jeans, a purple open-necked shirt with a wide pointed collar, the wings of which reach almost to his wide shoulders – what any self-respecting fashion-conscious guy is wearing at the moment in 1976's LA. But his face is that of a monster: his eyes are filmed over with silver, like those of a corpse , except made more grotesque by the obvious spark of life in them; and his mouth is full of sharp teeth, and blood, which is dripping over his lips and down his chin. He turns towards Josef, open palms spread down at his sides in a submissive shrug, with a guilty look. It's not the look of guilt a murderer wears, but that of someone caught by the buffet at a party before it's been declared open. "Hey, man, sorry," he explains sheepishly, "Things got a bit out of control. I guess I should call the Cleaner – obviously at my expen…"
Almost too quick for even me too see, Josef whips a blade out from it's hiding place in a picture frame, and slices the other vampire's head off with a vicious backhand. The head falls at his feet with a dull thud. Sidestepping it as it rolls Josef spits in restrained fury, "Apology not accepted, man."
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Author's note: Hope you enjoyed my first attempt at something with a significant plot rather than just a short character exploration one-shot. Thanks for reading. Reviews encourage me to write more and update quicker! hint, hint
