Thank you for your reviews, we're still loving your guesses. The same warnings from the last chapters still apply.
Ste was two hours into his first shift at DOA and was finally starting to calm down. He'd pretty much been shaking from the minute he'd walked into the nightclub, almost expecting them to turn him away or say they'd made a mistake. It was Mitzeee who had opened the doors for him again, a big smile on her bright red lips. She'd helped to train him behind the bar for the first hour of his shift with the smuggest smile on her face, like she knew some kind of secret that he didn't. Ste was relieved that Mitzeee had seemed impressed with him and allowed him to serve the customers on his own after a while. He had often helped Tony behind the bar on busy nights at his restaurant, so the whole thing felt almost second nature to him. They even had an amazing till that did all the adding up and had all the drinks names on it, all he had to do was press a few buttons.
It was just the bottles of home brand 'Special Brew' that worried Ste, he'd never encountered the drink before and the bottles seemed to be full of a thick liquid the colour of blood. By now the club was completely full of people, some looked like they'd been sculpted out of marble they were that pale and beautiful. Ste glanced up towards the walkway he'd seen Brendan pacing along all evening. The older man hadn't been near him all night, but Ste had felt his eyes burning holes into the back of his neck. He felt his cheeks flushing slightly at the memory of the dream he'd had last night. It wasn't exactly normal to have those type of dream about your boss who liked to sleep in cemeteries, was it?
"How you getting on?" asked a perky voice from behind him. He glanced at the owner of the voice and saw Theresa McQueen, a blond girl dressed in a short red dress with heavy eye-liner that Ste thought was supposed to be gothic.
"Great!" said Ste. "This is really fun." He'd been relieved to see a familiar face behind the bar. Although he wished Theresa hadn't eagerly told Mitzeee that the two of them had gone out together when they were kids. Mitzeee had seemed to find the whole story hilarious and looked at Ste with a new found respect.
"It's a bit weird at the start, working for...well you know. But you get used to it in the end, it's not so bad." said Theresa kindly.
Ste chewed his lip, thinking about the Brady's eccentricities. "I'm sure I'll get used to it."
Theresa nodded, stepping forward to serve a man waiting at the bar.
Ste glanced up at the balcony, unable to stop himself from once again eyeing up his boss. There was something about the man that made every part of him sing with desire. He passed a customer their drink and then turned, colliding straight into a wall of solid muscle. Brendan Brady was somehow stood right behind him.
"How'd you get there?" asked Ste, frowning in confusion.
"I flew Steven," said Brendan sarcastically, "How do you think I got here?"
Ste scratched his head. "I'm sure you were just standing on that walk way a second ago, there's no way you could have got here so quick."
"Good observation, it's good to know I've not just hired another pretty face." said Brendan, his voice low.
"Well I've got to get back to work." said Ste boldly, trying to side step Brendan. There was just something about the man that made him go weak at the knees.
"No Steven," said Brendan, his eyes dark.
There was something about those eyes, it was like they were radiating heat and pulling him in. Ste could feel himself falling, the world around him becoming a cloud. It was like he was floating above everything and all that mattered was Brendan's will.
'You will go upstairs Steven,' said Brendan's voice from far away. 'You will go behind the curtains and strip naked. Then we will fuck all night until the sun comes up.'
Ste couldn't logically see any problem with this. "I will go upstairs and..." Wait a minute! Ste felt himself crashing back down to the earth with a bang. Suddenly he could think freely again, everything wasn't fuzzy anymore. And he was very annoyed that he'd almost just obeyed. Which made him wonder why he was annoyed at the idea of having sex with someone he really wanted to have sex with. He decided it was the way Brendan asked. "No I bloody well won't!'
The expression on Brendan's face resembled one of complete and utter shock. "Sorry?" he asked, as if he hadn't heard right the first time.
Ste pointed his index finger into Brendan's chest. "I don't know what kind of place you're running here, but I ain't some chew toy you can do what every you want with! If you've hired me to be some kind of prostitute, then you can stuff your job where the sun don't shine."
"Steven." said Brendan, his voice low and husky. "You will yield to me."
"I don't yield to anyone." replied Ste, feeling annoyed with both Brendan and himself for still being tempted.
Mitzeee appeared next to them as if by magic. "I might be wrong Bren, but I don't think your Jedi mind trick works on him." she sounded as if she was about to explode with laughter. "Looks like Cheryl's little problem runs in the family."
"What's she on about?" demanded Ste, feeling even more confused. Brendan screwed his face up, his eyebrows scrunched together with effort. Ste was surprised the man hadn't gone red; he seemed to be trying that hard. "Cheryl did that face the other day, do you suffer from constipation too?"
Brendan angrily threw his arms into the air. "It's like trying to tap into a plank of wood, there's nothing there! It must be you because it certainly isn't me."
"Are you calling me thick?!" asked Ste, angrily, his voice definitely raised now. Why did people always seem to think there was something wrong with him? He'd spent most of his life believing he was thick, but was furious that there didn't even seem to be a reason for Brendan to think it and still he did. "Because I don't have to put up with that."
"Alright boys, enough." said Mitzeee. "Ste carry on with your work, Brendan go to the office and calm down." Neither man moved. "Go!"
Brendan slipped out from the bar, his angry eyes flashing. He kept looking at Ste like he was some kind of anomaly, like there was something wrong with him, and like Brendan wanted to kill someone.
Ste felt a chill run down his spine, like somebody had slipped an ice cube down his back. For a moment he had been scared that Brendan was going to hurt him.
"Don't worry love," said Mitzeee softly, "he's just angry because his ego is a bit bruised, that's all. Take no notice."
Ste finally drew his eyes away from Brendan's back, which was disappearing into the office. "He's proper mental, him! He wanted me to go strip naked in one of those rooms upstairs. Isn't that sexual something or other?"
Mitzeee looked Ste straight in the eyes. "You will forget that ever happened." she ordered softly.
Ste felt the familiar pull, like there was an unwanted fly buzzing round his head. "No I bloody won't forget! First you go mental, then he does the same! It's like some mental Lynx advert, only I haven't got any on."
Mitzeee looked taken a back, but she forced herself to smile again. "What I said had no affect on you, did it Ste?"
"What? No, I don't have to just do what anyone says! It's not in the job description!" answered Ste. These people really were proper mental.
"Interesting." said Mitzeee, once again buzzing with excitement like a little kid who'd just been given candy. "I think I'm really going to enjoy working with you Ste."
He recounted everything that had happened to Theresa, expecting some good sympathetic and disgusted sounds, "So then he was all like 'you will yield to me' and I was like proper freaked out, I mean he can't talk to me like that, can he?" said Ste, but Theresa McQueen just looked bored. She kept glancing at the door as if expecting someone to walk through it, ever once in a while making the appropriate noises that made it seem like she was listening.
Her face lit up into a bright smile, as a small man with brown hair walked into the club. "Listen Ste, I wouldn't ask usually but I need you to do me a favour."
Ste tried his best not to show he was annoyed that she hadn't listened to a word he'd said in the last ten minutes. At least Brendan had kept away from him since that incident earlier; maybe it had all been some kind of joke after all. Why else was Mitzeee going on about Jedi mind powers? It just didn't make any sense.
"What do you need me to do?" asked Ste, desperate to get at least one member of the DOA staff to like him, and Theresa didn't seem quite as mental as the others.
"My boyfriend Joel has just walked in." explained Theresa. "And I haven't seen him in ages. Do you think you could cover for me while I take a quick break? I would never normally ask, but I've really missed him." she gave him her best puppy dog eyes.
"Okay." said Ste, agreeing before he had a chance to think about it.
"Thanks Ste!' Squealed Theresa. "I won't be long, just whatever you do don't let on to Brendan where I've gone. He's scary when he's angry." She slipped out from behind the bar, running over and greeting her boyfriend with a passionate kiss. They were practically pulling each others clothes off as they disappeared up the stairs towards the curtained rooms.
"Young love, ay?" said a good looking man leaning at the bar.
Ste couldn't help but admire how good looking the man was, even if he was a bit on the pale side. He forced himself to once again shake off the fuzzy feeling that was taking over his head. "What can I get you?" he asked politely.
"You." answered the man silkily. "You look delicious."
Ste forced himself to laugh, how many nutters could this one club hold? Although it was a bit of a confidence boast, a lot of men and women were finding him attractive tonight. Normally these types of people would be completely out of Ste's league, maybe it was that Special Brew making them see him in a different light.
"I'm not on the menu, I'm afraid to say." said Ste cheerfully.
"Pity." said the man, finally tearing his eyes off Ste. "I'll have a bottle of Special Brew instead then."
Ste bent down below the counter to grab a bottle (for some reason they liked the drink at room temperature), he stood up too quickly, banging his head hard on the counter and biting down hard on his lip. "Bugger." he muttered, immediately tasting blood.
Ste glanced up and his mouth fell open; the man was no longer on the other side of the bar any more, but beside him. There was a look in the man's expression that caused ice cold fear to spread through his veins. His eyes were full of desire and something else, Ste felt his stomach drop when he realised it was hunger.
Just as the man pounced forward to attack a blur shot in front of Ste, causing the man to fly across the room and hit the middle of dance floor with a bang. The music stopped and all eyes flicked to Ste. But he didn't notice this because his view on the room was blocked by a long leather jacket.
"He's mine!" growled an animalistic voice. Brendan Brady's voice.
The music suddenly burst back on and everyone turned around as if nothing had happened, averting their eyes. Brendan turned slowly so that he was facing Ste, his eyes flashing with murderous intent.
"I'm not yours!" said Ste indignantly. He didn't care how childish he sounded; Brendan's behaviour just wasn't on. It was good that he had saved him from that weird bloke, but it didn't give him any rights over him now.
Brendan stepped forward, closing the space between them. His eyes were on Ste's bottom lip which was stained red from the blood slowly oozing out of the cut. Ste felt his heart quicken as Brendan bent his head down, never taking his eyes off Ste's. Ste was drowning in his eyes; they were dark, wild and full of desire. He wanted them to swallow him, he wanted Brendan to take him upstairs like he said he would have earlier and spend all night doing all sorts of things that he wasn't sure were legal. Brendan pressed their lips together, his tongue darting out and licking on the blood on Ste's lower lip. Ste felt an explosion of desire rock through his body, his cock alert with spasms of pleasure at every sweep of Brendan's tongue.
Brendan pulled away for a second, as if he was savouring the taste of Ste's lips. He closed his eyes and pressed his lips together, letting out a moan as if he'd tasted something delicious. "You're delicious Steven," he said softly, his voice almost a whisper. "You're going to be the death of me."
Ste didn't really want to leave DOA, even when it came round to three o'clock and his shift ended. A part of him even thought about trying DOA's special brew, just to have an excuse to stay. But the gloopy liquid did little but turn his stomach, and frustratingly Brendan seemed to have disappeared.
Typical! One kiss, a cryptic remark and then he was gone in a puff of smoke. He was mental, that guy! What was Ste supposed to do now? Amy would go mad if she knew he'd snogged the boss on his first day! Confusing bastard, who made him having confusing dreams that were sexier than anything Ste had ever experienced.
He waved good bye to Mitzeee who had taken to looking at him like Brendan had earlier; like he was the crazy one! Obviously Ste was the sanest person in that building, so it was no wonder they thought him odd.
He was almost out of the door when he spotted Brendan again. He was standing on the walkway, looking gorgeous, predatory, and he was watching Ste. Ste's breath caught in his throat. The things he wanted that man to do to him! The things he wanted to do to that man! He bit his lip. This was bad. Workplace romances were not a good idea!
He forced himself to leave before that weird sensation overcame him again, making him want to strip naked or something equally humiliating. The outside world almost hit him, it was so cold, boring and real in comparison to the world around Brendan Brady. He sighed, pulling his coat more closely around him, and walked out into the darkness. The village was almost in darkness and silent, the pale moon was the only source of any light.
As he walked into the alley, bloody Brendan Brady kept invading his mind. That kiss had been mind-blowing. Ste had barely been able to think straight since. He had a very distinct image of the man baring down on him, the taste of his mouth on Ste's mixed with the copper taste of his own blood.
Ste stopped, leaning against the nearest wall and let out a groan.
"Yes, that's the normal reaction to meeting Brendan Brady," said a voice from his far left.
He jumped and looked up. He couldn't see anyone.
"Who's there?" he demanded of the darkness.
He got no response, so he moved towards the source of the sound and peered into the darkness for any human figures.
"I know someone's there!" he said, angrily, "is that you Brendan?" he added as he thought it, suddenly hopeful. Maybe they'd get to kiss again. "Stop messing about!"
"No," said the voice, this time from behind him "nothing so dangerous."
Ste spun, "Who's there?" he shouted.
He began to make out the figure before him. Tall, slim, dressed in a knee length coat and a Stetson hat. The figure came closer and closer until Ste could make out the roughness of the clothes, the few days of ragged stubble, a slight smell of alcohol and his single fang earring glinting in the moonlight. The man smiled, but it was far from warm.
"I'm Simon Walker," said the figure, "and I'm a vampire slayer."