1

Ruslana could hear the cicadas chirping as she stepped out of the steaming shower, wrapping herself in a lush towel. The night had come that she was to go out on the town. Caroline had asked her to come last weekend and Ruslana agreed as long as they steered clear of the very popular vampire bar called Fangtasia, which was down the road from the stables in which she worked. It would be the first time in nearly a month that she had gone out. She quite liked dancing, but since her breakup, nights out were few and far between.

She laid her clothes out on the bed. After nearly a half an hour of choosing, she decided on a purple, one-shoulder dress. She had never worn it before and was somewhat nervous about it. Her three year-old Weimaraner, Pete, was lying next to it with his grey head sitting on his front paws. Ruslana leaned down and gave him a kiss on the head. He let out a sigh and looked up at her with his round, grey eyes. He did hate it when she left him alone.

"Its alright, Petey," she said, running her hand down his back, "I will be home before you know it." Pete was a gift from Caroline about a year after her mother's death. He was intended to be a distraction from her being gone, and so he was. He was the sweetest and smartest dog anyone could have asked for and she was more that grateful to Caroline for giving him to her.

These days Ruslana was living alone in her parents' old home. Her brothers, both of them policemen, moved out a few years back. Ethan, the middle child, was a deputy in their hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana. Cedric, the eldest, was a deputy in Baton Rouge. Their parents were both deceased. Their father, Benjamin Barnhardt, died when Ruslana was about five years old. She did not remember him well, but Cedric sure did. Their mother, Amber, fell ill with a terrible bout of the flu four years back and was unable to recover. Ruslana often missed her terribly, the only female mentor she had. Even after four years, it was hard to accept her death.

Her phone buzzed on her vanity. Still wrapped in a towel and her hair dripping, she walked over to the vanity to see who had sent her a text message. Of course it was Caroline, reminding her when she would come to pick her up. She set the phone back down and plugged in her hairdryer. She flipped her head over and began working the brush through her hair with one hand and maneuvering the hairdryer with the other.

Her hair was long, straight, and silky blonde. She was in love with it actually, though it was a bit of a pain sometimes. It took a good ten minutes before it was completely dry. She flicked her hair back over her shoulders, smelling her fresh shampoo as it went.

Very gingerly she applied her makeup. She put a thick line of eyeliner below her eyes and made a thin silvery grey line just above the lashes of her top eyelids. After applying her mascara she looked up to observe her work. The liner enhanced her large, blue-grey eyes. Finally she spread a layer of shiny, pale pink lip-gloss over her lips.

Ruslana was often complimented on her beauty, but she could not see it. She found herself to be quite ordinary and she was self-conscious about her freckles and her jaw, which she thought to be too square. On the other hand, she was confident with her body. Her figure resembled an hourglass and her belly and all of her extremities were toned. In particular she loved her long legs and her sculpted calves.

Glancing at the clock she threw her towel to the floor and pulled the purple dress over her shoulders. Sitting on the bed, she bent down and slipped on her black heals, buckling the strap around her ankles. She heard a honk outside her window. Caroline had arrived. She put in a pair of gold, chandelier earrings, grabbed her bag and ran down stairs. She gave Pete another kiss goodbye as her followed her down the steps, locked the door behind her and dashed to the passenger's side door.

"Damn, Liv!" Caroline said as Ruslana sat down. Liv was Ruslana's middle name. Mostly every one she knew called her by it, and for the most part, that was the way she liked it.

"You look dynamite, yourself," Ruslana said with a laugh.

"Thank you!" she answered, flipping her short brown hair to the side. They heard a howl come from the house. Ruslana saw Pete's head between the curtains in the living room.

"Poor boy," Caroline said sadly, "He should have a companion!"

Ruslana blew Pete a kiss and the two drove off. It took about fifteen minutes to get to downtown Shreveport. They had the windows of Caroline's blue mustang rolled down. The air was particularly fresh that night and they were thankful that it was not too humid. She stuck a heel out of the window, as she often liked to do. It was her comfortable car position, as she liked to call it.

On the way to the club they passed the bayou and the city park, which was home to large, bending oak trees. She used to play in the park as a child, climbing the trees every chance she got. Every so often she took Pete there to play fetch. Unfortunately he likes to jump in the pond after the swans, so the police were not too pleased with her there. She smiled, taking in the smell of the cool wind in her face through the open window.

The ride was quiet. Ruslana didn't like to talk much while in the car. She would rather spend the time thinking. At this moment she was thinking about how grateful she was that Caroline was not interested in taking her to Fangtasia. Neither of them had ever gone there and Ruslana kind of wanted to keep it that way. Caroline seemed a little more curious about the place. Ruslana had to walk by Fangtasia on her way to the bus stop after she left the stables, and those times were often at night.

Ruslana managed the Pelican Stables. The rich folks of Shreveport kept their horses their, many of which were Thoroughbreds for the race tracks. She gave riding lessons and made sure all of the horses were cared for. Sandra Perkins, the owner of the stables, let Ruslana keep her horse there for free. She sometimes brought Pete to the stables with her because he was surprisingly stoic around the horses. Ruslana's horse, Totem, was a white Warmblood with black around her big brown eyes. Totem had been a gift from her mother for her sixteenth birthday. She never would have dreamed that her wonderful mother would make one of her greatest wishes come true. A horse was popular on her annual Christmas list.

When Caroline pulled into the parking lot of the club, Ruslana put her leg down and rolled up her window. There was a line around the door, but Caroline knew the doorman.

"Come on, girl," Caroline said, "let's go have some fun!"

"Lets!" Ruslana said with a smile.

They fixed their dresses and walked up to the front door. The doorman smiled and waved at Caroline. She smiled back in a very flirtatious way and said, "Hey, Daniel!"

"Hey, Caroline," he replied with an even bigger smile, "How is your evening going?"

"Just excellent!" she said before kissing him on the cheek. The poor thing turned terribly pink and let us through. Caroline tended to lead men on, which was fine, but Ruslana had too big of a conscience.

The hip-hop music was pounding loudly as they entered. The air was warm and stale in the open room. If you wanted to see hundreds of sweaty people in a single place, then it was in a bar. Small towns were notorious for the abuse of drugs and alcohol, probably because there was not much to do. But this was Shreveport and the percentage of trashy folk was somewhat smaller.

Ruslana was growing more excited by the minute. She loved to hear the loud music. The rhythm commanded her body. She was in heaven. Dancing heaven. She and Caroline pushed their way into the center of the dance floor and began dancing with each other.

The two danced non-stop for nearly forty-five minutes before they began to get tired. Caroline offered to get the two of them drinks, so she walked off towards the bar. Ruslana continued to dance to the popular song that rang out over the crowd. She was getting hot and was looking forward to a break. After all, she preferred not to leave the place looking disgusting like most of the other people in the club.

Caroline returned shortly enough with two drinks in her hands. She motioned to the terrace and Ruslana followed her. The two walked outside the bar and sat down on the table nearest to the door. Ruslana set her drink down on the table. It was already sweating from the heat, and so was she. She pushed her hair to one side and took a sip from her glass. Feeling a summery breeze sweep over the terrace, Ruslana closed her eyes and smiled. There was nothing better that a cool breeze on a hot day, or night like it was then.

Caroline gave a hard nudge to her arm. Snapping out of her calm breeze trance, Ruslana turned to her friend.

"What is it?" she asked, wondering why she had been nudged so damn hard.

"There is the hunkiest guy sitting over by the railing. Damn. He is the one with the blonde hair. He has been staring at you," Caroline replied, being careful not to look at him as she said it.

Ruslana looked in the direction Caroline mentioned and searched for the man. It did not take her long to discover whom she spoke of. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man with dark, expensive jeans that fit him quite well. His features were striking and he was staring at her with big blue eyes. Ruslana looked away, feeling herself blush hard. A flushed redhead was sitting sloppily on his lap. He did not seem too fond of her being there and he pushed her off of his lap with incredible ease. She came back over to him and leaned down close to his face. Ruslana could see the blonde-haired man's exposed arms better now. His dark grey tank top was tight around his chest. Ruslana bit her lip and watched the red head suddenly stumbled backward, almost falling into the arms of an unsuspecting man. She looked horrified and the blonde-haired man was laughing to himself. Ruslana watched the woman wobble back into the bar with her face contorted, wondering what he had said to her.

When Ruslana looked back over at him, however, he was gone.

"What the hell?" she said quietly. She looked around anxiously. What a pity it would be if she never saw him again. He was so handsome. Caroline was looking around too.

Ruslana looked down and found a flyer on the table sitting in front of her. In curly red letters, Ruslana read out the name "Fangtasia." She stared at it a moment and then looked over her shoulder quickly. The handsome man was walking off into the club. Her stomach twisted up and her eyes widened. Did it mean he was a vampire? Ruslana looked around the busy terrace to see if he had placed any flyers on the other tables. He had not. This one was left specifically for her. Her heart rate was increasing. She had never met a vampire before. But to think of it, he was quite pale, and he scared that woman off for some reason.

Ruslana put the flyer into her purse, grabbed Caroline by the wrist, and pulled her out of the chair.

"Whoa, what's the deal?" Caroline asked as Ruslana led her back inside.

"We are leaving!" Ruslana said, pushing past dancers.

"Why? Are we following that hunk?" she asked with sudden excitement.

"Absolutely not!" Ruslana said, running out to Caroline's car. Caroline looked horribly confused. She yanked her wrist out of Ruslana's hand and stopped in the middle of the parking lot.

"What is with you?" she asked, "you are being weird."

"I will explain in the car," Ruslana said, looking around. Caroline didn't move. "Please!" Ruslana begged.

"Okay, okay" Caroline answered finally, rather annoyed. She unlocked the car and Ruslana rushed to the car door. She squeezed past a shiny silver Audi to get in. She shut the door quickly and locked it. Leaning back in the seat, she sighed.

"Drive," she demanded.

"Liv!" Caroline said, "I am not going anywhere until you tell me what the hell is going on. Did I miss something here?"

Ruslana pulled out the flyer and slapped it into Caroline's hand. She looked down at it, raising her eyebrows. "Where did you get this?" She asked.

"Why don't you ask that hunky blonde guy?" Ruslana answered.

"So he gave it to you. I guess it means he is into vampires," Caroline said.

"Or," Ruslana began, "It means he is one."

Caroline's eyebrows were raised again, "Oooh."

"Yeah, oh!" Ruslana said, "And he gave it to me. No one else had one."

"Well, then that means he is interested," Caroline said, "What is so bad about that?"

"Its bad because I am his kind's food!" Ruslana said.

"Well I hear that vampires are amazing in bed," she said smiling.

"I could care less! I value my life," Ruslana said with a glare, "Please take me home!"

"Gees, if you insist," Caroline said, "You are such a damn party pooper!"

Caroline drove home as quickly as she could. Ruslana was feeling cold and her nerves were frayed. She was very anxious to get home.

"I am sorry, Caroline. That just really freaked me out," Ruslana said after a little while.

"It's alright, but I think you should be a little more open minded about that guy. You don't come across a man like that every day and on top of it all, he wanted you," she answered, watching to road attentively. Ruslana had to admit that she didn't hate the idea of that beautiful vamp wanting her, but she was still fearful.

"I don't know," Ruslana said as Caroline pulled in front of her old Victorian style house.

"Maybe you should just think on it. I will go to Fangtasia with you sometime if you want," she offered.

Ruslana laughed, "No, thank you."

She stepped out of the car. Pete had heard them coming and he was barking loudly at the window. Ruslana thanked her for the night out and hopped up the steps. Caroline graciously waited until she was inside to drive away.

Ruslana locked the door behind her and leaned against the door. Pete hopped up and placed his paws on her shoulders, showering her with big dog kisses. She hugged him tight. She was still frightened and Pete made her feel better. He was a dog with very keen senses and she took some solace in the fact that if anything were in or around her house that he would be the first to know. He gave out a little whimper, sensing her anxiety.

He jumped down and followed Ruslana up the stairs. She flicked on her light and tossed her bag on the bed. She sat down and pulled off her high heels. Her toes were red from the straps. Pete jumped up on the bed next to her, sniffing around in her purse. Ruslana looked over at him. The flyer had fallen out onto the quilt, and it was what Pete was sniffing. Ruslana smoothed her hand across his head and said, "Good, boy. You recognize that vampire's smell."

She pulled the dress over her head and put it neatly on a hanger. After the trying night, Ruslana was in the mood for a hot bath. Walking into the bathroom, she brushed out her hair and tied it into a loose bun. Leaning over the claw-foot tub, she ran the hot water. Waiting for the tub to fill up, she washed her face and cleaned off her makeup. For a moment she stared at herself in the mirror.

Clicking on her Ipod to a Native American album, she thought it would be nice to open the window. The music was the kind one would hear in a spa. It was very relaxing. Ruslana walked over to the window and pushed it open.

The water had filled up by now, so she turned off the water. Steam was rising off of the surface of the water. After sliding off her underwear, Ruslana dipped her toe in and then gradually lowered her whole body into the hot water. She had to go slow, as she was not yet accustomed to the water. But when she was accustomed, she became quite relaxed.