6. A Party

She'd been hired for security at Deacon's new building, and only at Deacon's building. Deacon Frost did not cut any corners. The towers had been built for him, so it didn't just have a spectacular penthouse, but also a lockdown system and a centralised underground security hub. She had room 008 in basement 1, and grey square thing that had two doors: one to the corridor and the other to the bathroom. Below her was a training area, a parking lot and then the hub under that. Deacon had a small group of familiars who guarded the building during the day, some of them posing office workers, or buskers.

To her surprise, Racquel had also moved in.

"You can't be tired already, Princess?" Racquel lay in the dark, her bed looking out to the city lights that dimly lit the room. She lived on the thirty-third floor, the closest to the double penthouse suite. It made her wonder why Deacon kept her around. There were girls that he kept around, but as far as she could tell Racquel preferred women.

Mercury sat at the edge of the bed, pale and naked. She looked like a slim waif sitting beside Racquel who had a definite curve and a pinkish tone to her skin. "God, I need a smoke." Racquel was delicious to look at, but her voice had always been harsh. Probably left over from too much smoking as a human. There was some shuffling as she fumbled for the packet.

"I should go." There was a familiar tightness around her mouth that told her she needed to feed.

An orange light appeared as Racquel lit a cigarette. "Why baby? It's your day off, and Deacon's having a wild party." The glowing tip bobbed up and down in the dark.

"Deacon's always having a party," she replied, unimpressed. She'd worked at enough of them to know that it would be filled with sycophantic adoring followers. "I need to hunt."

"There'll be plenty of blood at the party. And then there's dancing, and talking and more blood." Next to her ear, she said, "I promise you'll have fun." Racquel had left her cigarette in the ashtray, and had wrapped her hands around Mercury's waist. "I wanna show you off, Princess," she said and tongue-fucked her ear. Mercury smiled faintly.

"I don't have any clothes," Mercury murmured, but Racquel was running her mouth down her spine now, and she didn't mind going. Not if refreshments were going to be provided.

"I'll find you something," Racquel assured her and lay back on the bed. "Now where were we?"

---

'Something' was a white bra, a short skirt, and a jacket that didn't cover much. Racquel came behind her shoulder in the mirror and smiled approvingly. "Stop admiring yourself Princess, we have a party to go to." She kissed Mercury quickly on the lips, making her grin. A wild party. There were things vampires could take that would fuck them up like drugs, and Deacon would probably have everything available.

The elevator had a polished stainless steel interior that reflected the two of them in an industrial grey. Racquel hit floor twenty-five, and lit another cigarette as they waited. Vampires couldn't get cancer. Vampires couldn't get very much except dead. The elevator pinged, and the doors slid open.

The room was bathed in a deep blue with classy lounge music in the background, but loud chatter and the smell of blood and smoke showed it for what it really was. A blood party.

She delved into the crowd, following Racquel without thinking. She didn't want to think about how she should behave at the party of someone who was her boss and maybe even revolutionary leader. Deacon's parties weren't exactly the office Christmas type. Instead, she examined the glimmering reflections that water canals in the ground created on the walls. There was a three to one ratio of women to men, and Mercury wasn't surprised.

When she reached two Italian couches and she'd somehow gained a drink and finished half of it. It was champagne, the real kind imported from France, or so the bottles at the bar had said. Not that you could tell the difference.

Deacon looked up with interest. "Racquel," he welcomed, and stood to greet her, leaving girls strewn on expensive leather, all giving Racquel death glares. He kissed Racquel almost brutally like her owned her, and maybe he did. Deacon owned a lot of people. Either way, Racquel didn't seem to mind, although Mercury noticed her tucking a flap of paper into Deacon's pant pocket. He broke the kiss and smiled with satisfaction.

"My, don't you look lovely," he commented thoughtfully, looking at Mercury, but with Racquel latched to his side. He held her eyes so that she could almost see the thought flit across his mind. Later.

"I bet you say that to all the girls," she returned in the same tone, but her eyes flickered to the ones on the couch, almost wetting themselves at the sight of Deacon. When she looked back, his face was sly.

"Perhaps I do." Racquel had been holding her cigarette idly, but now Deacon plucked from her hand for himself. Taking a drag, he tossed his head back and blew smoke to the ceiling. Racquel took the chance to press closer and kiss his neck. Mercury was torn between wanting to look away and wanting to just stare. It wasn't anything she hadn't seen before, except it was Deacon Frost.

"Hey, Deac! I got your main course right here!"

Mercury turned and remembered Quinn. She'd seen him around after the change: apparently he was in charge of some other security faction. She had laughed when she'd heard he was Deacon's right hand.

"For wanking," she'd said. But Quinn was loyal and stupid. She understood what was going on.

Quinn was holding two girls by the neck. Behind him a few guys brought up more humans. Some of them were crying, and Mercury could even smell the acrid stink of urine. But altogether they smelled of fear, and that smelled so good. Better than any drug. Mercury had never been to a blood party, but she'd heard about them. Humans were brought up from the street and set loose in the party. If they could survive the night they became familiars. If the host was extremely impressed, then they were turned instantly.

Deacon looked like he wouldn't be impressed by anything. Her night just got a whole lot better.

"There's so many of them," Racquel said darkly, "and they're all so fucking TERRIFIED!" She cackled. The delicious smell got stronger, and Mercury giggled when some of the humans started sobbing harder. And she kept giggling. The smell was making her light-headed and happy and so fucking hungry. In the corner, a lonely vampire had his hands down the front of his pants. So fucking hungry and horny. Her chest was heaving. She looked back to Deacon, but he was composed, with the touch of amusement on his lips.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, dinner is served," he announced, and a cheer went up from the vampires. Mercury found herself clapping with the others. "Let's eat!"

Some of them went for the closest prey, but Mercury wanted the best. She found the boy, about twenty, that was radiating fear. He was a short curly brunette with little freckles on his nose. Adorable. She smiled at him with her fangs, and heard his heart beat harder.

This was priceless. When she became a vampire, they taught her to grab people off the streets quickly without being noticed. There was fear, but not the build-up like this. Half the time the human was confused, and then it was dead before it knew what had happened. The blood was enjoyable, but the fear was like nothing she'd experienced. This boy was frozen with it.

He tried to close his eyes, but Mercury slapped him lightly. "Don't do that again." She didn't think it was possible, but his heart sped up again when she touched him. She hoped he didn't have a heart condition. She didn't want him to collapse when she was just beginning. Mercury smiled slowly, and ran her sharpened fingernails down his arms lightly, not breaking the skin. Oh yes, there it was. "You like that don't you, angel?" she licked her lips.

His terror held him to the spot, but it made him pliable too. "Why don't we get comfortable?" she asked, sitting him on a leather chair, and perching on his lap. "Now," she purred, "what's your name dear?" She ran her tongue slowly up the side of his face, and his breath hitched in his throat. "Hmm?" She put her hands on each side of his head, and dug her nails in slowly. Now he'd started screaming.

Mercury laughed. "Oh angel, you are perfect!" she exclaimed, and tasted her fingers experimentally. And suddenly, he was so delectable that she couldn't stop herself from biting down. The blood spurted into her mouth was better than anything else she'd had. She was so hungry. A warm wetness ran down the front of her body, and she was biting and pressing against him harder. She could hear herself in the distance, sucking and growling. Paradise, but it was suddenly over. Angel-boy's head fell back against the seat, his eyes wide and dead. Mercury lifted her head, and found that Racquel clothes had been ruined, although the leather chair only had a few flecks of blood. Most of it had gone down the front of the human's body. She licked a bit of it off, but what she really wanted was another live human. She'd learn to save the next one.

Around her, talking had started again, with most of the guests as bloodied as she was. There were only a handful of humans left, and someone had gotten the idea to chain them to furniture, so the guests could enjoy them slowly through the rest of the night. She looked for Racquel, and found Deacon smirking at her. He had a human girl who was naked and crying at his feet.

Mercury grinned back with her teeth.