Chapter 1
Danielle swore as she brought her bleeding knuckles to her mouth, not wanting to get the blood on her new dress, mentally kicking herself for letting him get so close. She turned on her heel away from the man now clutching his face, and the quickly multiplying crowd that had 'come to her defense', to hunt down a bathroom in the dimly lit night club.
Weaving in and out of clearly horney couples, Danielle tried in vain to crane her neck to locate the nearest bathroom. Admittedly, at five six Dani wasn't the jolly green giant, but she had always seen herself as five eight, no matter what that damn measuring tape said. In fact, most of the time when asked how tall so and so was, Danielle always supposed herself to be just as tall as them, even when they were a good six inches taller than her. Clearly facing the fact that her small five six stature was not going to be able to see over the mass of bodies around her, she closed her eyes and sought it out in her mind. Searching through the minds of the intoxicated people around her, she finally located it. Spitting out the copper taste in her mouth, Danielle winced as the cool water hit her now throbbing hand.
"Make a fist. Remember Baby, keep your thumb on the outside. Now throw your entire weight into it. There is no use hitting unless you mean it. If any man treats you with disrespect you are free to hit him. Remember that my darling," her father said to a twelve year old Danielle.
The bathroom door opened, and the music from the club pulled Dani from her own thoughts. Looking down at her hand, Dani smiled smugly to herself. That'll teach him to try to finger fuck me on the dance floor, she thought as she headed back through the club and into the cool October night.
Once outside, Dani once again closed her eyes and made sure the ass wipe that had tried to publicly assault her was no wear near her. Satisfied, she started off in the general direction of her house. Taking her time walking home, knowing that sleep would be impossible until she was off the adrenaline high that came with sucker punching a man well out of her weight category, Danielle walked through the park by the nearby mountains. She sang loudly as she walked, knowing that no one was within miles of her.
As dawn approached, Danielle decided it was time to get serious and actually go home. Sighing to herself, she moved outside of the shelter of the trees, and trudged up the sidewalk in the general direction of her apartment.
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Michael shook his hand absentmindedly as he stalked the near by city for his prey. Sifting through the crowd and their emotions, he easily lured a couple less than upright men to an ally where he feasted almost lazily. He then set himself to making sure that his home and the near by city were safe from any other vampire foolish enough to attempt to hunt there.
Feeling the presence of a vampire near by, Michael easily followed the scent to a night club. He spotted the vampire doubled over outside the rear of the nightclub holding his face. Fledgling, Michael thought as he moved forward silently. Sighing at the mundane routine that had become his life, Michael casually walked forward and pulled out the vampire's heart. He then moved almost lazily to finish the vampire off. Michael 500, ass wipe vampires 0, he thought to himself as he shimmered back to his home in the mountains.
With a flick of his hand an entrance into a cave opened, and Michael descended into the side of a mountain, embracing the healing earth, vaguely aware of the faint music not fifty feet away from him.
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Damn fancy parties, Dani thought as she struggled into the tight black dress that was cut dangerously low in the back. Finally figuring out which side was front, she moved in front of the mirror to make a final inspection when a low whistle made her turn around.
"Holy shit Danielle!" her next door neighbor Jade said as she sauntered into Dani's apartment.
"Shut up Jadeth," Danielle said threatening Jade with her full name. "You know I hate these company functions. If I'm not being talked down to by arrogant coworkers, I'm being felt up by some old man who wants to 'feel alive again'. Now get your ass over here and help me with this makeup thing. You know I'm not exactly the girly girl."
Jade smiled and sat Dani down to do her makeup. Dani squirmed the whole time, anxious to get out from under Jade's hands.
"Alright, alright you're free. I give up. You know if it was me it would be way more drastic than this but I went conservative just for you," Jade said with a wink as she turned Dani around towards the mirror.
Seeing herself, Dani clamped her eyes shut in fright. What did I get myself into, she thought as she slowly opened one eye at a time to get a good look at herself.
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Danielle fidgeted nervously in the corner as the party quickly multiplied. I knew I shouldn't have worn this dress, what was I thinking. Dani clasped one of her blond curls out of habit, pulled it straight, and released it, letting it 'boing' back into place before her hand found a different curl. Seeing her boss approach, Danielle quickly stepped away from the wall, being a wall flower was a big no-no for the company, and put her best (and fakest) smile on.
"Danielle, I know I didn't just see you leaning against the wall," Robert chastised lightly. Laughing, he put his arm around Dani's waist and propelled her towards a group of people to introduce her. Being the lightweight that she was, Dani let him pull her along.
Danielle had always been creeped out by her boss. At thirty five he was a little over ten years older than her, but had quickly established himself as the 'friendly' boss who doesn't think twice about flirting with coworkers. Resisting the urge to shudder as he held her close to him, Dani greeted the potential clients, stopping short when she raised her eyes to the most beautiful man she had ever seen.