Chapter One
As Sebastian rested in the far back corner of Brenner's Coffee Shop, watching the humans and their social interactions, he brooded with frustration. Deciding not to leave New York had not been a difficult decision. It did not matter where his restless soles took him, elsewhere would be just the same as any; empty of vigor that appeased his senses Sebastian had long seen since his youth years as an immortal. The only exception with implausible worthiness was the selfish humans traipsing around day after day as if nothing but their own existences were admirable of the brilliant sun. Definitely none of these hateful beings deserved his heed unless he decided to make them into lunch, he inwardly laughed.
The atmosphere was light and many enthusiastic—scrumptious he might add—young people chatted away sipping on lattes and cappuccinos, making Sebastian's skin crawl and venom seep from the depths of his glands. Albeit Sebastian had already had his fill on fresh blood, enough to last him a fair few days, in his experience there was always room for more. It was common to happen across a situation that demanded a little forced action on his account to rid the world of another spineless mortal. Whether that be a drunken fool looking for a brawl, a thief, or whatever. He'd never set upon becoming the monster movies made his kind out to be, but the mind does venture into dangerous territories when it's been stretched as his has. In other words, when you've lived as long as he has and experienced as much, there are no limits to what you will do to satisfy animalistic hungers and instincts imprisoned for far too long. It had only been in recent decades that his acts of feeding have become more violent. There was only so much rage a vampire could restrain before emits of it bubbled to the surface.
When he had been at the mercy of Gabrielle, his maker's rules of the coven, Sebastian had been ordered to reframe from such violence. Although, measures of avoidance and exceptions were always acceptable in regards to his feedings as long as they took place outside the coven's place of rest. And not to mention, most encounters he'd kept to himself to spare the lecture of concern and fury his coven possessed. Needless to say, they did not approve of his methods. Not their business, if he had anything to say about the matter. A vampire of over two centuries in age was well aware of the threat his inquiries caused society and himself, but it was in fact his choice.
The table nearest him exploded in choruses of laughter bringing him from his thoughts. Two young men wearing skull t-shirts, tight jeans with converse and a pair of bouncy females in short summer dresses, even though fall's chill had already started making its presence known, were increasing in volume quickly as one of the males move about in his chair, making horrid faces that apparently amused the females. The scene was annoying as hell and a quick consideration of luring the group outside to permanently shut them up was immensely tempting, but he abruptly crushed that notion before he could act. It would be too obvious and the witnessing humans here might identify him or give a description to the police as the man who'd taken the group of teens outside minutes before their murder. They would definitely get an ID, as he stared down at the disgusting cup of brown liquid, which was certainly cold by now, sitting in front of him he'd purchased with a credit card. Of course the police would never truly learn his identity, but the false name he'd devised years ago, Luke Hensley, would most likely be under suspicion if something unfortunate were to take place. And he didn't want to draw attention to even his false name; mostly because it was damn difficult to sum up a new one. Those kinds of acquiring took time, and Sebastian didn't care to waste it on silly things as such.
He forced himself to calm the simmering urge to spring over to the loud table of irritating teenagers, as he rose to discard of his untouched coffee. As he passed, the startled gaze that quickly morphed into a longing desire within chocolate brown eyes of the bouncy girl on the left was not much a surprise. Not that Sebastian was overly arrogant or anything, only it was common, especially for the female race, to be attracted to him because of the vampiric lure he possessed. It wasn't of his accord, but something that develops for survival purposes when one is transformed. His core need with this disease will always, unfortunately, be blood and his body is designed to get it by any means necessary.
The male with green converse sneered up at him after spotting what the girl had been gawking at with deep interest. It was pretty obvious the guy did not much appreciate his so called humorous tactics to impress the girl to be brushed aside by an intimidating person such as Sebastian, but it was beyond his control.
"Excuse me!" The guy stood up like he wanted to challenge him, but Sebastian ignored him and moved on across the coffee shop, before the kid embarrassed himself.
Since the hour was late, the trash receptacle was piled high with the days used coffee cups. Sebastian set his cup on top the lid and headed for the door, but something stopped him from leaving. A slight urge to turn back bewildered him. There was nothing more here of interest, he mused; that is until he glanced over his shoulder and noticed a lone woman blowing on a steaming cup of coffee, reading a book called, Treasures In Time. But that hadn't been what sparked his curiosity. It was how intent the woman was concentrating on the pages she read, as if none of the strident voices, a screen overhead playing the news with updates on War in Iraq, screeches of coffee machines and beeping of the cash register had any effect on her whatsoever. He'd been on his last string, eager to rid himself of this place, but it seemed to make no never mind to this woman. How anyone could concentrate in this atmosphere was news to him, he acknowledged. His curiosity peaked.
The track lighting that danced over her light chestnut hair, which draped around her slim face, highlighted its frizz, soft overly plump lips mumbled now and again as she read along with the novel, the purple framed glasses sliding down her petite nose, which she had to shove them back with her thumb discreetly as she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear to cover up the act. She must be the self conscious type, he thought. The simple jean jacket hung over a tight purple tube top harboring small, delicate breasts that had Sebastian paying close attention. Every little detail of her appearance fascinated him and for the devil of him he couldn't figure out why. She wasn't what Sebastian would have called a great beauty, but there was something unique that couldn't be overlooked. As his gaze followed what was under her table, he couldn't help the tightening of his stomach at the sight of long lavish legs the color of honey cream uncrossing and crossing.
The legs had been the last straw. A burning desire to have this bizarre woman protected in his arms bombarded him like a grenade exploding in his chest. And a wave of nausea followed suit as the impossible emotion continued to hit him. What the hell was wrong with him? The marvel of having any sort of sentiment for this human was more than he could bear.
He saw her glance up and asked, "Can I help you?" Sebastian halted, now aware he'd been inching forward to the woman's table, drawn like a hummingbird to sweet nectar. Man, he needed to get out of here fast, before he did something he'd regret. He didn't know what he'd regret, but he wasn't about to find out.
Sebastian's swiftness out the door of Brenner's Coffee Shop was greeted by New York's finest car alarms, blaring of horns and pedestrians galore. The slight dewy scent of chill mixed with gas fumes saturated the air. It was most certainly going to rain, but anything was better than the confining shop of new-fangled emotions Sebastian had just endured. His unsure hand ran through the silky strands of deep brown hair as he huffed in more frustration. Maybe leaving New York hadn't been such a bad idea after all, he contemplated.
After pacing his more luxurious room at the Sheraton Inn—compared to his previous hotel rooms—for the past two hours, Sebastian had decided there was no reason to leave so soon. He could handle avoiding one lone human in a humungous city as big as New York. It was ridiculous to think of running off like a dog with its tail between its legs, as if he was frightened. Like hell, he snapped. He had everything required for contentment here, solitude, money in an account under the Hensley name, a place to stay and most importantly blood. There was nothing else needed to make his stay more accommodating. He wouldn't run. He would simply go about his business like nothing had happened. And nothing really had happened; it was only a average female. There were tons just like her around this city, if not thousands. He would survive.
Feeling much better about the situation, Sebastian decided to risk another outing into the city; after all, the night was just getting started. As soon as he stepped out into the darkness once more from under the awning, a downpour of rain instantly soaked every piece of clothing Sebastian was wearing until he couldn't walk without the wet swishing sound on the bottom of his jeans. It was like a curtain of water fell upon the city making it almost impossible to see through. Although to Sebastian, each drop was so distinct, like he was seeing thousands of tiny highlighted orbs. If he had cared, he would have thought them beautiful, but as it happens, he didn't care. Rain was rain, but he didn't think it would last long.
There was still a good amount of people traipsing around the streets, despite the weather; after all this was the city that never sleeps. And one of the noisiest night clubs, Link, a few blocks away on 21st street had just opened last week, making the party crowds triple at night. Sebastian had found the place annoying and completely overdone in neon lights, bad seating and pop-techno music that could make any sane person's skin crawl. But he had discovered it was the perfect scene for a quick meal or to tease his entrees a bit. Women these days boggled Sebastian's mind. Most were willing within the first twenty minutes of meeting him to take him back to their place for sex.
It had always taken massive skills of persuasion to even get a woman to accompany him out to dinner under false pretenses, much less to his bed fifty years ago. It was insane how human's behaved, having no sense of self preservation. Didn't they realize how dangerous a city can be at night? Monsters lurked, namely him.
Of course he was bound to run into another one of his kind here and there, but most of the time, vampires tended to stay out of each other's affairs, unless they were part of a large coven like his own. His stomach clenched at the thought of his coven. Sebastian had tried to avoid it, but it was inevitable since he'd lived with Gabrielle and the others for so long. They had become his family, but that life was over now. He couldn't go back. It just wasn't the same now that Gabrielle had found a "mate".
The swift beat of music carried out into the night as Sebastian had approached the doors of Link. A large, burly mocha skinned bouncer stood at the front of the line that formed around the building and down half the next block. Some out of the lighter rain and others huddled together under umbrellas. No way in hell he was going to wait in that line. As much as he wished, like in movies, vampires could persuade people to do as he pleased, that simply was not the case in real life. Sebastian had to use more classic ways of persuasion on this bouncer.
The bouncer saw Sebastian approaching and crossed his arms over bulging pecks, eyeing him with determination as if not even the Queen of England could enter without waiting in line. Will see, Sebastian laughed to himself. He pulled out two one-hundred dollar bills and held them out to the bouncer, positioned where the others in line would think he was only chatting with the guy. The bouncer shook his head and smirked with a hint of amusement. Sebastian figured the guy had to deal with people trying to weasel their way in every night.
"Alright," he said. "How about this?" With that thought, Sebastian pulled out eight more hundreds and flashed them in front of the guy before rolling them up. The bouncer faltered, just staring at him like Sebastian was crazy, but shrugged and pocketed the money. The door opened up to flickers of moving lights and crowds of people packed to the point you couldn't move anywhere quickly.
"Thanks," Sebastian smirked hitting the bouncer on the shoulder before plunging into the chaos.
He heard the guy mutter, "Thanks for the rent," as the door closed behind him. Ugh. He really despised clubs like these, but hell; where else could he find a little action and more importantly sweet, thriving blood? Not the coffee shop, not those loud teenagers and certainly not that woman. No. He would buy himself a drink that he wouldn't drink and wait for a sexy little lady to come throw her arms around his neck. He'd dance with her, buy her more intoxicating beverages and take her home for a sweet snack; and he had no intentions of thinking about that other woman from Brenner's Coffee. Sebastian would rid her of his thoughts tonight and he'd do that the best way he knew how. Hunt.
AN/ hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter! Dont worry more dialogue will be in the next one and you will get to meet Jess. Please review any comments are helpful. Good sexy fun to come!