The dim lighting cast a reddish glow over the room. The murmur of voices was just audible, sharp laughter puncturing the air every very few minutes. Mick leaned over the table in the smaller room, lining up his pool cue to send his third last ball into the pocket. Drawing back the cue, Mick proceeded to hit the ball sharply, his aim true. A smug and satisfied smile crossed his face as pulled further in front of his friend.

"You know, I will never understand the attraction you have to this game, Josef," Mick said conversationally as he put his cue to the side.

Josef shrugged. "It's a game, someone wins, usually me. What's not to like?" He loosened a shot that sent the ball dead straight into the pocket, and raised an eyebrow at Mick.

"I'm still winning, Josef," Mick reminded his friend. Josef was an incredibly competitive person. It didn't matter if he hated the game – as long as he was victorious, he could be playing hide and seek for all he cared. Mick had learnt to deal with his friend's competitive nature by never playing any sort of game against him, but today, he couldn't refuse. He needed the distraction.

Mick took another shot, missing the ball as his mind strayed to exactly what he needed distracting from – his girlfriend of six months, Beth Turner.

Josef took his shot gleefully, scoring another hit and shortening the gap between the players. Then he looked up at Micks far away expression and sighed.

"And you think my hobby's weird," he muttered. "Hey, earth to Mick!" Mick's head snapped up.

"What?" he asked innocently. Mick picked up the cue and took his shot, again missing by a fair margin. Josef gave an exasperated sigh, even louder than the first one.

"Will you just ask her, please?"

Mick frowned at his friend. "It's not that easy, Josef."

"Sure it is. If she doesn't want to, she can make up some excuse so not to hurt you, and you pretend to believe it to make everything easier," Josef said simply, taking another shot. He missed. "You see what you made me do?"

Mick ignored him, carefully lining up his shot and concentrating hard on the game. The ball went into the pocket with the speed and accuracy of a bullet. Shooting a self satisfied smile at Josef, Mick lent back on his cue and watched the shorter man take a shot. It was a good one, accurate, bringing them to a draw, both having one ball then the black left on the table.

"Can you imagine living with someone who sleeps in a freezer? Who doesn't eat when you do, who is a hundred times stronger than you?"

"This is the 'I'm a monster, grab your pitchfork' thing again, isn't it?" Josef gave a snort of disbelief. "Yes, you're a vampire, no, she doesn't care, yes, you should ask her to move in with you!"

Mick's next shot nearly sent the ball flying off the table. Josef grabbed his cue and sent his own ball neatly into the pocket. A knock came at the door to the relatively small room.

"Come in," Josef called.

"Mr. Kostan?" a tall, slim blonde poked her head around the door. Mick recognised her as one of Josef's secretaries – clearly he had convinced her to become a part of his 'supply', as he called the willing volunteers who gave their blood to the vampires that congregated in Josef's house.

"Yes, Rebecca?" Josef said smoothly, his eyes roaming her attractive figure.

"The reporter, Ms. Turner, she's here. She says that she's a friend. Should I let her in?" Mick realised this must be Josef's newest acquisition if she didn't realise that Beth had VIP access here.

"No need," Josef said. She looked at him, confused. "She already snuck in through the side door when you came to tell me."

Beth slipped past Rebecca and into the billiard room. "You have a massive house, with beautiful big rooms and an abundance of guests, and you two choose to shut yourselves in this matchbox of a room. Hey, honey," Beth bounced into the room, planting a kiss on Micks cheek before going to leave again. She knew better than to interrupt Mick-and-Josef time. Plus, if she did, it normally ended in her getting teased by the two vampires who could almost read each other's minds.

"I'm going to sit down," she called over her shoulder, "Come and get me when you're done." Beth walked off.

Mick stared glumly at the table, knowing that he would loose. Sure enough, his next shot was dismal, followed by Josef's smooth winning hit.

Josef clapped a hand on Mick's shoulder. "Just go ask her, so I can play someone who actually pays attention."

Mick rolled his eyes and walked out, waving a hand vaguely at Josef as he left. Once he had walked out, Josef turned to the blonde still waiting in the doorway.

"Now Rebecca, why don't you come in… I won't hurt when I bite…"

Beth sank into a soft, black leather couch, sighing deeply as she sat down for the first time in hours. People milled around Josef's large living area, walking in and out of rooms seemingly randomly. The conversations were almost always quiet, a low murmur that was often below Beth's range of hearing. It had been a way to amuse herself, noticing the difference between the vampires and the human volunteers they kept for food. The humans always talked louder, in a tone that Beth could actually hear. She pulled her laptop out of her bag and flipped it open. While waiting for it to load, Beth surveyed the room. While the majority of the vampires ignored her, both because she was totally off limits when it came to feeding and because she was a reporter, some of the 'supply' humans were pretty friendly. A short and skinny dark-headed girl caught her eye, bringing a smile to Beth's face.

"Rhea!" Beth called out to the twenty five year old. Rhea spun, her dark curls whipping around her head. Upon seeing Beth, a delighted smile came to her face and she quickly walked over to her.

"Hey gorgeous!" Rhea said affectionately, hugging Beth around the laptop before sitting beside her. "How's the house-hunting going?"

Beth shuddered, "Uh, terrible. I can't find anything I can afford that is actually liveable, in a good location and available soon. How are you?"

"Fine, fine. It's not a feeding day for me today, so I'm just hanging around. You know, if you wanted a little extra cash, vampires pay well for their blood." Rhea said, raising a perfectly groomed eyebrow. Beth gave a short laugh.

"You know as well as I do that if anyone tried to feed off me they'd be dead within five minutes."

"True," Rhea admitted. Beth grinned at her friend. It was Rhea who had explained the whole concept of the 'supplies'. No one else had bothered to tell her that they received wages, like for any job, though many still referred to them as volunteers. Some, like Rhea, had been rescued from the streets by vampires who found them attractive, and bought onto Josef's payroll. Since the other vamps paid Josef to feed on his employees, under the guise of a never-ending party, Josef did well enough to pay a large amount of humans. The number had lessened in the last year, when a vampire working as a scientist invented an injection that stimulated blood growth, particularly red blood cells, meaning that supplies could give once a week, instead of once every few months. The part that had always bothered Beth was how many people could know, and yet the world in general had no idea. It had been Mick who cleared that up for her.

"It's a bit of a carrot and a stick system. If they tell other people, they know that Josef wont hesitate to have them and the ones they tell killed. If they keep their mouths shut, they have a steady income, they rub shoulders with influential people and they are in on one of the biggest secrets around."

Rhea lent over and looked at Beth's laptop screen, breaking Beth out of her thoughts. "That one looks nice," she said, pointing at one of the apartments Beth had information on.

"It was nice. Only I would have to be working four more jobs to afford it," Beth groaned in frustration. "I get booted out next week! What am I supposed to do then?"

Rhea shrugged. "Just ask that hot vampire lover of yours if you can move in. It's been what, six months? Easily at moving in stage."

Beth stared at her. "I can't ask him if I can move in! The idea did cross my mind, but he needs to ask me."

"This isn't the dark ages, Beth, women can do the asking now," Rhea said sarcastically.

"I know, but it's still his apartment."

"Yeah, fair point." The women settled into a comfortable silence. Since Rhea had started being a regular here, she had gone to university, studying psychology, graduated and become a social worker. Beth loved how down to earth she was, the girl that had been a street child until age 18.

Mick walked out of the billiard room and towards one of Josef's side lounges, off his main entertaining area. He smiled and waved greetings at a few people, but was more eager to get Beth and leave. Being at Josef's while vampires fed off humans always made him uneasy, despite the strict rules, and when Beth was here it made him feel incredibly overprotective.

He didn't relax until he saw her on the couch with Rhea, laptop open and a smile on her face. A grin spread across his own as he watched her from the doorway. Beth suddenly looked up, feeling his eyes on her. She quickly shut down her laptop.

"Ready to go?" he asked, walking over and taking the computer out of her hands.

"Sure," she replied as he wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her forehead. "Sorry, Rhea, looks like I'm off!" Beth broke away from Mick to hug her friend goodbye.

"See ya! And good luck," she said meaningfully. Beth just shook her head and grabbed Micks hand.

"Lets get out of here."

"Great idea," Mick said, kissing her gently on the lips before leading her out to her car.