Strekoza: thank you Yutakalamia for your reviews and hope you'll enjoy the next chapters and they'll have less mistakes...

Chapter Three

"Hello," the boy came up to Nika and sat next to her at the bar stand, "I though you were dancing with your friend."

"Not any more," she drew her eyes back, "I hear you've been asking weird questions around."

"Who told you?" the boy was pure scared.

"A girl with red hair."

"The one with orange contact lenses?"

"Yes," and then she though, "good, that's how he explains the colour of her eyes, so he doesn't suspect her of anything," the boy relieved at the connection started chatting of nothing in particular.

"Nika?"

"Yes Mike."

"Can I ask you a silly question?"

"Yes, why not."

"Well, do you see anything weird with your friend Yuri, he had kind of a strange look in his eyes."

"Oh that, I think that has to do something with spilt chemicals, or something other."

"So you don't see anything weird," Nika was surprised that he didn't suspect her, now she needed only to make him think Yuri was normal, which would probably take a bit more than her smile.

"Yes, he sure is weird. But who wouldn't if they ended up being in charge of a club at nineteen."

"He's nineteen? Are you sure?" asked Mike, amassed.

"Yeah, we used to go to the same school and one person I knew told me from which class he was."

"So he doesn't have anything to do with the death of that musician?"

"I don't think so. If it was a car accident or something I would be thinking along the same lines. But he is no doctor to mess up with boy's tablets in a way that it won't look like a poisoning."

"So they took Annabelle."

"The red head? I think she wanted to play at the theatre, but Yuri's father agreed to take her, if she would play at the club as well. Like I hear she hates such kind of music. She's more into classics." Nika didn't really care for the girl, but Annabelle helped her going into dangers for herself. Night people had to watch out for each other.

"That's what Yuri told you?"

"No, Max, the drummer," she though it was pure luck that she decided to stay in good contacts with human players of the band. Mike looked even more relieved.

"So friends of Yuri ok if you know them at all that much."

"Yeah, like normal people I think. Apart, well, sometimes we go for the bike rides. Stay in the park, smoke a bit. I don't personally do drugs, but some of them do," that would probably explain the way they behaved and looked, she though.

"So no one of them is extra dangerous. Apart from normal danger I mean you get in a band of people doing drugs. I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"Well, when you mentioned it, I think this boy Ash," Nika chose him as for him not being in the country for the moment being, "he looked really dangerous. And… he made me scared and most of other members in the group. Some looked strange, tired and stuff after spending a night at his place. He used to have a lot of sleepovers, I didn't go, but…"

"Is he here now?" the boy asked impetuously.

"No he went to England, for a while."

"Pity, I'm always on a lookout for the dangerous people."

"Really? You don't look bad yourself."

"But I am. I'll tell you a secret," he bent closer to her and whispered in her ear: "I'm a vampire."

"You're not," she said, nearly laughing, who was this boy kidding, he was half scared to death of Yuri, and Yuri wasn't one of the most dangerous ones of the kind.

"Why not?"

"I don't believe in vampires and I don't think this club is for them at all, I mean I'm not one and you're not one and em, I don't believe you and," Nika was trying to play a really scared person, she was a good actress. In that moment she started looking in different directions and fidgeting and she asked him in a shaking voice, "please tell me you're not. I know vampires aren't real, but my grandmother always told me her parents were killed by ones, it's probably not true, just a story. Please."

"You're right I'm not, I just was checking if you were one."

Nika was pale, but at that moment she became pure white, "you're telling me they are real, but I don't believe you, I won't." Nika breathed out with relief - he believed her.

At the other side of the room Annabelle was enjoying the performance, she watched as an expert at the play. She had to play a role as well, it was harder for her, having orange eyes, but no one - she didn't want to know - suspected her. The vampire hunters were organised a year ago, no one knew about them until a month before the time of the current today of the story in progress, when they started to attack night world clubs. She got away twice already and would in future if necessary. She made a decision to get friendly with human staff, of both the theatre and the club, so to know how much they suspected and either make them believe everything is normal or… well this information would be interesting either to Yuri or Nika. She smiled, most people thought she either wore coloured eye lenses or had a different shade of brown from normal, but it would be better if she'd get some lenses to change them more to typical brown, it would be easier to hide that way.

"Annabelle!" a cute boy standing next to her exclaimed.

"Sorry Max, I was thinking of music again."

"No you weren't, I could tell you know, you were looking at that boy from school paper, writing an article on music."

"If he is writing it at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Well all this questions about the boss's son and the murder, you could guess where he was heading. My bet is that he is a bad detective or had problems with drugs in the past and now is doing a favour to police."

"Really!" Max was surprised, it was easier for him to read music than understand hard connections, more clever people made.

"Personally my opinion, that's why I was looking at them."

"Them?"

"Well, he's not alone," Annabelle stated.

"Oh Nika, Yuri's ex girlfriend."

"I though they were still together," the voice belonged to the only other female member of the band, a bass guitar player and a singer, like Max she was a human. The other human member was David, he was playing his tuba or a flute at the concerts in theatre.

"They sometimes go on and off, like other normal people," and he looked straight at her, meaning her relationship with David.

"They are not normal people," the girl lifted her eyebrows.

"David and Daisy are crazy."

"Stop it, don't annoy me. I'm going to find Rick and tell him you were mean to me."

"He doesn't care for any of the three of us."

"Yes, but it will give him a reason to hit you in a face for," with that she walked off.

"She's purely annoying, so where were we. You must of noticed that three of us, David, Daisy -crazy - and myself tend to stay away from the others. What ether they say with those posh medical words," he lowered his voice, "I know Peter was killed, he didn't have any blood problems, so now it's your word that counts. I mean we could pull down the weight of four of us in the past, but with Peter being… Well now it's your word that has its pull."

"What do you know of the others?"

"Vadim, the lead singer, is dangerous as Yuri and the twins are the kind of trouble you wouldn't dream. They tend to have their own group and think themselves superior, so I don't think they'll talk to you; I don't want to sound rude, but I think you, as us, don't like the music we have to play."

"If you don't like it, then why do you work here?" came a question from a figure leaning on the wall, not far off.

"It is better paid, than in other clubs and it is my luck that neither of the three mentioned is you."

"It's your luck I'm not Yuri."

"Who the heck are you?"

"I'm his brother, Leo."

"Like I say my luck, now he'll tell Yuri and either I'm dead like Peter or sacked, don't know what's worse. Dead don't have to worry about money. Can you do me a favour, please, and just shoot me now." he looked at Annabelle.

"Well, if you ask him kindly he might keep it a secret," she said.

"I surely try, but these posh people of our time, they never listen to pleas. So anyway would you mind forgetting the whole bit of my complaining on life."

"No sweat."

"That settled, thank you good sir. Oh look here comes scary Nika."

Mike was already gone and she was passing gently through the crowd.

"Why aren't you playing?"

"Rick broke his guitar and then the electric power switch to the other guitar was smashed," to what Max smiled, it was he who stood on it.

"When we'll we get real music. I came here to thank you Annabelle for what you said to me earlier."

"What was it?" Max asked.

"A girl's secret. Do you want to come with me and the others after the closure for a ride," she came closer and whispered in the girl's ear, so only she could hear the last words, " for a hunt." Annabelle's eyes lightened and a smile played on her lips, it was long since she played with her food and it was long from when she tasted the human blood.

She bit her lip, "Sure if that won't lead into the problem discussed earlier."

"It shouldn't matter , we're going to the other side of town," she smiled, "see you outside at four sharp," and left.

"That girl gives me the creeps and what was that about a ride, the only people from the band are the three, danger subjects, who we talked about earlier, that are allowed," said Max.

"Well my brother never lets me come along with him," to what Annabelle thought that Leo was lucky.

"Don't worry I'll tell you all about it," and added to herself apart from things you shouldn't know.

"Hi Leo," it was Rick happy, with his guitar fixed, "and you deserve a punch in the eye," he pointed at Max.

"What was wrong with your guitar?" asked Max smiling.

"Well some stupid idiot cut the strings."

"I'm not some stupid idiot, ups - did I say that out loud. I'm gone to my drums. Bye."

"It was he," Rick was becoming angry.

"I think we should go play, see you later Leo," Annabelle started was pulling Rick away with her.