Chapter 9

The three vampires walked down the street of the city, Vlad looked around at the passing night life. He'd never seen this many people out on the streets at night. Not even when Otis had brought him here, but Vlad guessed that was because they were on a more business side of the city. But this, this was defiantly less stuffy and business centered. In fact, it was more of an area made strictly for people to party. Bright Neon lights littered the fronts and sides of buildings, mostly advertising beer, card games, and a few advertising supposedly attractive women and men in one or two of buildings. Nelly would murder him if she ever found out he'd been in an area like this. If there was anyone in the world that could kill the Pravus, it was Nelly. Vlad bit his bottom lip, he couldn't help but wonder why they'd come here. With all the people out and about, wouldn't this be the worst place to feed? He couldn't help but imagine how easy it would be to get caught. Vlad looked to D'Ablo 'so, is this where we're going to hunt?' Vlad thought the question at D'Ablo. D'Ablo looked at him, a surprised look on his face, but it only lasted a moment. Then, an impressed smile appeared on his lips. 'I didn't know you could fully converse with telepathy, Master Pravus.' The voice of the older vampire spoke in his head 'I can, but I have a limit to how far I can go before it stops functioning properly. I can still call for Otis from this distance, but we probably couldn't have a full on conversation.' Vlad said, D'Ablo turned to look back at Jasik, the other vampire was staring at a few women that had passed. Vlad couldn't help but to remark to himself that their 'skirts' barley qualified as belts. D'Ablo said nothing, but Vlad considered that they were talking telepathically. Vlad watched as Jasik shook his head and they continued on their way. 'To answer your question, yes this is where we will hunt.' 'Why?' D'Ablo came to a stop in front of a building. D'Ablo leaned against the wall and looked at the boy 'I take it, you were thinking something different?' he asked with a raised eye brow 'honestly, yes I did. I kind of expected us to lurk in some dark alley way and wait for some unsuspecting person to come by.' Vlad said, 'and then we'd grab them and pull them into the shadows?' D'Ablo asked, Vlad nodded. Vlad jumped as both vampires, once again, burst into laughter. Vlad felt his cheeks redden with embarrassment. Clearly, there was a lot more to feeding from the source than he thought. 'You watch too many movies, Master Pravus.' Vlad couldn't help but smile. Otis had told him the same thing before. Now here stood the man, who was the epitome of cliché villains, telling him the same thing. Even Vlad couldn't help but to expect D'Ablo to be into something like that. 'I guess so, but knowing you of all vampires, I'd expect you to hide out in a dark alley way and offer candy to children.' D'Ablo grinned before Jasik nudged him. The two vampires looked at each other. "Should we not start, sir?" he asked.

"Oh, yes of course. I nearly forgot" the council president said with a chuckle. He then looked at Vlad 'now, Master Pravus' D'Ablo spoke into Vlad's thoughts. 'Look around us, what do you see?" D'Ablo asked, Vlad found the question odd to say the least. 'Bright lights, people, a few cars-'D'Ablo's chuckle broke his thoughts 'Of course, I expected as much at this point of time.' His voice said, Vlad looked back at D'Ablo, he was grinning at the boy. 'What are you talking about?' Vlad asked, D'Ablo shook his head. Vlad watched the vampire walk up to him and place a hand on his shoulder. 'Close your eyes and focused on the energy around you.' He said, the vampire stared down at Vlad. 'What?' D'Ablo's eyes flitted around the area. 'Just do it' D'Ablo said in his mind. Vlad sighed and closed his eyes again, he felt the power swirling inside him. When he opened his eyes again, the people around him looked different. D'Ablo watched as Vlad looked around, 'do you see it?' D'Ablo asked, Vlad couldn't speak. The whole experience was becoming too weird, it felt like he was looking through one of those infrared cameras. He could see what seemed to be the colorful silhouettes of the people walking by. But that wasn't all he could see. As his vision focused on one person standing across the street, he could make out veins and arteries. Vlad realized he was seeing the location of their blood. He focused his attention to a large shape on the left side of the man's chest, it must have been his heart. Vlad felt his fangs threaten to leave their place in his gums as he felt a bit of hunger. "Vladimir" Vlad blinked, it started to fade as D'Ablo gripped his shoulders. Vlad looked at him, his eyes still wide and confused. D'Ablo smiled as he straightened up and walked over to Jasik "looks like the boy has another gift." D'Ablo said aloud, his smile was wide and proud. Vlad felt himself shake a bit and he looked around "is-is this normal for vampires?" Vlad stuttered "no, not it's not." He said with a smile, "fan-fucking-astic" the Halfling grumbled "come on, we shouldn't linger here." D'Ablo said as he looked around. Vlad and Jasik nodded and followed after the council president.

D'Ablo looked around the passing people before Vlad noticed it. There was a slight glow in his eyes, it wasn't like his did when he touched a glyph or something like that. But it was still there, a reddish, glowing, line surrounded his irises. 'Is this part of my Pravus powers, or can other vampires do it too?' Vlad asked D'Ablo, the man looked down at the boy. 'No, there are several vampires who have this ability. But it is in fact rare, it also can't be learned.' Vlad looked around, 'what do you mean?' Vlad asked, D'Ablo smirked 'I mean that you can't be taught it by anyone, it is a naturally occurring skill that has become rarer and rarer as years have passed.' Vlad looked at the vampire as they walked 'can you do this?' the council president nodded. 'What is it used for?' Vlad asked 'hunting in more rural areas, since we have moved into cities and large towns, it has become less useful and necessary for us.' Jasik walked up beside Vlad, his dark eyes met Vlad's 'he's not gonna say it, but I think he's happy you have it.' Vlad looked at D'Ablo as they walked. His cool grey eyes didn't look at him. Vlad sighed and closed his eyes, it only took a moment for him to run right into someone. He opened his eyes and looked around.

D'Ablo had stopped again. A smile spread across his face. 'Next step' D'Ablo said suddenly, Vlad followed his gaze to a young woman, and she was obviously drunk. That was combined with a pair of high heels, which no one should have been able to walk in while sober, caused her stumble about. 'Some of the easiest victims for a vampire of your skill level tend to be people like her." D'Ablo said in Vlad's mind. 'You also need to get close enough the smell them. If you smell any hint of garlic, well you know what to do.' Vlad looked at him, the vampire was staring at him. Vlad stared up into those steal grey eyes, 'I don't know about this' Vlad told him, he thought about this, maybe this was a bad idea. It had to be, there was no way Vlad could follow a woman and then attack her. D'Ablo suddenly put a hand on his shoulder, 'why are you so nervous?' he asked, 'this feels wrong' Vlad admitted, Jasik walked up beside him. "Vladimir, there are things much worse then you drinking her blood and leaving her in a hotel room for the night." Vlad looked at Jasik, "what?" D'Ablo shook his head, 'I made a few agreements ahead of time for tonight. I knew you wouldn't have enough experience to drink and then leave without being noticed.' Vlad watched D'Ablo walk past them and up to the woman. Jasik put a hand on Vlad's shoulder. Vlad shrugged him off and watched as D'Ablo put his arm around the woman and then look back at them. 'Come' he said and started to walk away.

Vlad followed D'Ablo and Jasik up to the hotel, it was nice, really nice. Vlad bit his lip as he looked around the lobby was pretty much empty aside from a few guests and the receptionists. Felt worry over take him, the Halfling watched D'Ablo hit the button. The woman still clung to him, giggling like mad. It wasn't long till the elevator came down and opened, Vlad felt relieved that it was empty. The four got in, the moment the door closed; Vlad saw D'Ablo touch a glyph. Just like in the office building the panel slid down and revealed more buttons. Vlad stared as the vampire touched the button, "what the hell is this?" Vlad asked, "really Vladimir? You didn't expect more hidden places in the city?" "Kind of, but in a hotel?" D'Ablo smirked and Jasik shook his head. The woman laid her head against the President's shoulder and drew imaginary patterns on his chest. Even to Vlad it was obvious this annoyed D'Ablo, "there are many buildings in this city and others that have places for vampires. Places were humans can't access or find without being led there. D'Ablo pointed at the normal list of buttons for the floors "between each normal floor, there is a floor made for vampires. It's easy to bring a meal here and eat without being seen." He said, the elevator stopped at their destination. "What if you kill their meal?" Vlad asked as he followed them "if they do, then the vampires who work with the hotel in secret will take care of everything." Vlad looked around the nice hallway they were walking down. He took notice of the doors they passed. Made of some sort of dark wood, he wasn't sure exactly what it was, but there was no doorknob. "Let me guess, for security reasons, you can only get into the room if you're a vampire." D'Ablo and Jasik both laughed, the woman drunkenly joined in as she stumbled along. D'Ablo looked back at the Halfling "you catch on fast." The council leader said with a smile. Vlad looked back at the walls, pictures and paintings hung on the walls. D'Ablo finally stopped, his hand pressed against the door and it clicked open. Vlad watched the vampires walk in, he wondered if he could still turn back. D'Ablo poked his head out and raised an eye brow, Vlad looked around, and weighing the few options he had before walking into the room.

Vlad walked in and closed the door behind him, D'Ablo had set the woman down on the bed. Vlad watched as she tried to beckon D'Ablo back over to her. Jasik watched as Vlad walked over to the older vampire "what now?" he asked, Vlad watched ask D'Ablo laid his cane down and smirked. "If you feel hungry and you feel like you want to, you can go ahead and feed." The older vampire said "And if I'm not hungry?" the half vampire asked. "Then I will merely explain and demonstrate." D'Ablo waved his hand nonchalantly. Vlad bit his bottom lip, feeling his fangs poking out a bit. Vlad walked closer to D'Ablo "if I do decide to feed, do I just bite her on her neck?" D'Ablo smiled "you could, but it would be safer to find another spot to bite." D'Ablo said and watched Vlad carefully, "so, biting the neck is a bad idea?" Jasik shook his head with a smirk "well, you could, it would just mean the risk of killing them would go up." He said, "Oh" Vlad kicked at the carpeted floor, D'Ablo stood and walked behind Vlad. The Council president removed one of his gloves and moved his shirt collar down, "considering you hate the idea of killing anyone, bite here and it shouldn't be a big problem." D'Ablo said, he suddenly moved out of the way as the woman stumbled over. Vlad let out a startled sound as she landed on his back. "Well aren't you a cute one." Vlad looked up at Jasik, who was obviously trying to hold back a laugh. "Make a new friend Master Pravus?" D'Ablo said with a chuckle, Vlad bit his lip again "funny, really funny" Vlad pushed back gently and turned. He could hear the blood rushing through the woman's body. Vlad felt his fangs push free, he let out a deep breath and slowly sank his fangs into the woman's shoulder.

AN: The hardest thing about this chapter was trying to find out how to make the idea of three vampires hunting for a meal a bit less creepy. But then I remembered that two of these adult vampire characters spent quite a bit of time stalking and hunting down a teenage boy. So there was no way to make it less creepy.