AN: Thank you very much for the reviews. :)

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Chapter 2:

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It was still early by the time I got back to my apartment. Not even midnight. The sweetness of Alice's mouth yet lingered on my lips and I was in a dour mood to say the least. I hadn't fed in five days. In two more I would truly begin to become desperate. It wasn't likely Alice would be ready any time soon which meant I would have to find someone else. The thought filled me with poutiness. I suppose I could take a cab to any bar in the city and select any woman I wanted to bring home and feed from but I didn't want any other woman. I wanted Alice. Cute, adorable, delicious little Alice.

I huffed to myself and continued down the balcony toward my apartment. I lived in a modest apartment block down by the bay, with a view over the water. I had my purse in my hands and I was fishing for my keys when I noticed someone at the end of the balcony, leaning with her elbows on the railing and gazing down at the heated swimming pool that lay shimmering in the moonlight in the terrace below. I even recognized her. Not by name but I had seen her before, the rebellious and presumably misunderstood teenager who lived a few apartments over and routinely screamed at her parents loud enough for the whole complex to hear. Dark haired, native American, dressed in jeans and combat boots, a leather jacket, scruffy and boyish. An iron hoop in her right ear, a pride bracelet on her wrist. One didn't need to guess the source of contention between her and society. She heard the click of my heels on the floor of the balcony and glanced and did a double take at my dress. She had a cigarette in her hands and the smoke came very slowly out of her mouth as she stared. I smiled at her.

"Hi," I said.

She exhaled and tossed her chin in a butch-like manner. "Hi."

I continued to my apartment door. Her eyes followed me discreetly. She was stationed quite near my apartment and as I was unlocking the door I caught a whiff of what she was smoking. "Is that a joint?" I asked.

She gave me a look full of dark eyes and dark eye makeup. "Is it any of your business?"

Well. Whatever she was smoking certainly hadn't mellowed her out.

I let the door swing open but I didn't go inside. I wandered closer to the petulant youth and sniffed at the air tentatively. She seemed surprised. The scent of marijuana was unmistakeable, as was the scent of her blood and budding excitement. I smiled and looked at her body. Trim, athletic. I lifted my eyes to hers and gestured with my hand for her to give me the joint.

She hesitated, smoke leaking slowly from her nose. There was suspicion in her eyes but something else as well, a brief flash of vulnerability, the desire for acceptance, a hint of attraction. She put the joint back to her lips and took another long drag and then she offered it to me. I took it from her and inhaled, letting the smoke smooth out my own frustrations.

"I had a date tonight that turned out rather…disappointing," I told her, in response to her silent inquiries after my dress and demeanour.

"What happened?" she asked.

I blew the smoke into the air. "She didn't put out."

Her lips parted slowly at the feminine pronoun and her pulse began to quicken. She seemed to look at me all over again, her eyes flittering over my chest. I took another hit of the joint and passed it back to her, making sure my fingers brushed hers. She lifted the joint to her mouth shakily and I leaned on the railing and looked down at the pool, at the moonlight glistening off the surface of the water.

"So what are you doing out here so late?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said. "Just had to get out of the house."

"How come?"

"Fight with my mother."

"What about?"

"Same old shit," she muttered.

I glanced at her. I could guess the fight probably had something to do the fact that she was an obnoxious baby-dyke with a bad attitude while her mother was likely a little more conservative but she seemed reluctant to admit that.

By now the joint was little more than a nub and I took it from her, had one last puff, and stubbed it out on the railing of the balcony. I glanced up at the moon, still so big and white and high in the sky. The hunger was beginning to stir again in my stomach but it wasn't the same hunger as the hunger for Alice. This was a different hunger, rueful, petulant, like a child who is denied dessert and must eat their vegetables instead. But powerful, desperate, starving.

I glanced again at the girl. Her demeanour had changed since I first approached her, her edge softened, her eyes rounder, more bright. Either the weed had done its job or she was more than a little enthralled by my dress. I didn't think she would be too difficult but that didn't mean it was a good idea. She was obviously underage and even if she wasn't it probably wouldn't be wise to get involved with a neighbour. I generally kept my dates at a distance so that they were easier to let go whenever the time came. I rarely dated friends, co-workers, people I might run into in everyday life. But still.

I looked at the open door of my apartment and turned back again. I smiled and gestured with a tilt of my head.

"Wanna come in for a minute?"

Her eyes lit up but she quickly hid it. "Why?"

"Better than standing around out here, right? I might even have a beer I could let you have. Come on."

I held open the door for her. She hesitated, sensibly enough. After all, despite her badass imagery she was still a teenage girl and I was a stranger. Who knows if I could be trusted? Why, I might even bite her neck and drink her blood.

"Don't worry," I said, giving her a reassuring smile laced with just a hint of daring. "I won't bite."

She chuckled once and looked out over the pool shyly and then she shrugged and entered the apartment.

I closed the door after us and led her into the kitchen area, a small stainless steel section of the apartment cornered off with a breakfast counter and a short row of stools. I didn't keep much food in the apartment but I generally tried to make sure I had a supply of snacks and beverages for guests. I didn't usually offer alcohol to teenage girls, of course. That would be immoral and irresponsible. And while I certainly lack any kind of morals, I do however try to be responsible for the sake of blending in. But in this case I thought it would be just the thing to impress a young rebel like her.

She had sat on the edge of a stool and I could feel her eyes on the seat of my skirt as I opened the fridge and bent to the bottom shelf where I kept the low calorie beer. Or shall I say lite beer. Too bad they couldn't have thought of a cuter way to spell beer, too. I twisted off the cap for her and placed the bottle on the counter. She still seemed a little tense but she was smiling as well, as if she knew she shouldn't be here and that was exactly why she wanted to be.

"Thanks," she said.

I touched her shoulder to say you're welcome. Ooh, contact. I could almost feel her shiver. I smiled at her nervousness and said, "Make yourself at home, I'm going to slip into something more comfortable."

She nodded and took a sip from the bottle. I went past her and into my bedroom in the back.

First thing I did was unzip my dress and slip it off before pushing down my special black lace panties—panties I had chosen specifically for my dear date's enjoyment this evening. Oh, what a disappointment tonight had turned out to be. Alice, Alice, Alice. You silly thing. Commitment indeed. Shaking my head, I opened a dresser drawer and slipped on a tanktop and a plain pair of sleepshorts. I suppose I should be happy that I had a teenage girl with a penchant for bad behaviour waiting in my apartment but I'd be lying if I said I didn't have my heart—and other things—set on Alice. Ah, well. At least I wouldn't go hungry.

Once I was dressed, I went into the bathroom and washed my face. I was pretty sure I wouldn't need make up. I had other tactics in mind. Finally I grabbed my grooming case, a suede leather satchel filled with all manner of potions and lotions and little chrome tools, and went back out into the apartment.

The girl had wandered from the kitchen and I found her snooping in the living room with the bottle in her hand. The décor was mostly white and black. White plush leather sofa. Glass coffeetable. There was a largescreen plasma on one wall and on the other wall there was an array of photographs of myself taken from various photoshoots, wearing dresses and swimsuits and lingerie and posed on beds or beaches or blank white studios, many of them quite risqué with my legs showcased and my back arched and lusty looks levelled into the lens. The girl was looking them over and she startled slightly when I came in as if she'd been thinking something naughty.

"Hey," she said. "Cool place."

"Thank you."

She looked at my outfit, at my bare midriff and bare legs and my large breasts bundled into my tight tanktop. She gulped and waved the bottle at the wall of pictures.

"Is that you?"

I smirked: no, it was my identical twin. But she didn't seem the type of girl to appreciate sarcasm, so I simply nodded. "Mmhm," I said. "I'm a model. I have a lot of meetings here, so this wall is sort of like my portfolio."

She nodded. In truth, I mostly just liked to look at myself but admitting that would be vain beyond even my own standards. She took another sip, lifting the bottle high, and I realized she was almost empty.

"Want another beer?" I asked her.

She grinned, as if she wasn't sure if she should, and then nodded. "Okay."

I took the bottle from her and went back to the kitchen, leaving her in the living room. Two beers and a joint ought to give me a fairly good head start into getting into pants, although I doubt she would've been much challenge even dead sober. Not like Alice. That damnedable vixen.

I got another bottle out the fridge and this time I fetched down a glass from a cupboard to pour it. Drinking something as hideous as beer was bad enough but drinking it out of the bottle was more man-ish than I was prepared to put up with. I bought the glass back into the living room and handed it to her.

"Here, I put it in a glass for you," I said. "Ladies shouldn't drink out of bottles."

She snorted as if I was stupid. I smiled.

"Ladies shouldn't snort, either," I told her.

"I'm not a lady," she said, and I was very glad she didn't belch to prove it. She sipped from the glass and I sat on the sofa.

"Well," I said. "I am a lady. In fact, it's a particular point of pride with me."

I had set my grooming case on the coffeetable and now I unzipped it and took out the moisturizer, propping one of my feet onto the edge of the table as I flipped open the cap and squirted some of the lotion into my palm.

"You don't mind if I moisturize my legs, do you? A body like mine requires an absurd amount of care and maintenance. My agent would kill me if she knew I wore a short dress tonight, exposing my skin to the elements. Even just a small bruise could cost me a month's work." I was exaggerating, of course. Vampires don't bruise and my body would remain faultless no matter how well I took care of it.

She had sat on the sofa beside me and she was watching as I rubbed the lotion into my thigh, my shin, my calf. My entire leg was bare and she seemed somewhat blinded—and turned on—by the pure whiteness of my skin.

"You do that every night?" she asked.

"Mmhm, and in the mornings, too."

"Wow," she said, with another unladylike snort. "I'd hate that. I hate to even brush my hair."

"It's a lot of work, yes, but well worth the effort." I had moved onto my other leg, propping my foot on the coffeetable and spreading the lotion onto my thigh and rubbing it in with a lavish massage, caressing myself sexily for her discreet enjoyment. I looked at her and smiled. "Wouldn't you agree?"

She blinked at the display of leg there. She didn't seem to understand the question right away and then she gave a jerky nod. "Uh, sure," she said. "I guess."

I smiled and resumed my ablutions, giving her a moment to observe and wonder if I was coming on to her and if I was, what was she going to do about it? She sipped her beer, swallowing very tightly. I glanced at her, still rubbing the lotion into my shapely white thigh.

"So," I said. "What happened with your mother? Must've been pretty serious to drive you out of the house."

She shrugged it off. "We fight sometimes, that's all. She can't handle that I'm gay and every now and then she has to be a bitch about it."

She was watching for my reaction at the word gay. As if I hadn't guessed. I made a sympathetic face at her predicament.

"That's too bad," I said. "It's sad when parents have trouble accepting their own children."

"Yeah. As soon as I'm eighteen, I'm outta there. I don't think I can take her bullshit much longer."

"I know how you feel."

"Yeah, sure," she said, with that typical teenage belief that everything was worse for them in particular.

"No, I do," I insisted playfully. "My mother was the same way. She tried to bludgeon me with a vase when she first caught me with another girl."

She tried not to smile at the absurdity of that. "Seriously?"

"Mmhm. She wanted to send me to an insane asylum."

"Wow, what a stupid bitch. Asylums don't even exist anymore."

I smiled and closed the cap on the moisturizer. That was true but back in the eighteenth century when I was a girl asylums were all the rage.

She sipped her beer, watching me as I wiped my hands and fitted my things back into the grooming case. There seemed to be something on her mind and I wasn't sure what it was until she spoke.

"So, are you…?"

I raised an eyebrow inquiringly.

"Gay, I mean."

"Oh," I said with a chuckle. "Yes. Yes, I am."

I leaned back on the couch to watch her reaction. She seemed impressed by the dignity with which I had simply said it. And slightly skeptical as well, as if she didn't believe it was possible to be gay without being completely emo about it as well.

"Really? I mean, I know labels suck, but…"

"I don't mind labels," I said. "I'm a lesbian."

I slipped in the l-word in a sort of purr, letting the implication linger over her that I was the kind of woman who liked to lick other women. My vampire hearing could detect her heartrate beginning to elevate and I could almost feel the heat of her blush from here. I even felt a thrill myself.

"Wow," she said. "I never thought you were actually… I mean, I saw you with a girl in the pool once, and… I wasn't stalking you or anything, I just…"

She waved a hand awkwardly, the half empty glass sitting in her lap. I smiled and realized I didn't even know her name yet.

"My name's Bella," I said. "Nice to meet you."

"Thanks. I mean, Leah. My name's Leah."

She shook my hand. I clasped it just a moment too long, enough to make her both awkward and excited at the same time. When she took her hand back, she didn't know what to do with it. I watched her, smiling.

"How old are you, Leah?" I asked.

"Eighteen. Why?"

"Just curious. But didn't you say you'd be leaving home as soon as you turned eighteen?"

"Well, I'm seventeen. Almost eighteen."

"Why'd you lie?"

"I don't know."

I smiled. I knew why. Because she wanted to present herself as available. After she admitted she was only seventeen, she seemed disappointed. Luckily for her, however, I rarely let ethics and legalities deter me from a nice meal.

"Listen," I said. "I don't know the exact situation with your mother, but I can't imagine she'd be very pleased if you went home high and half drunk."

She grinned. "Yeah right. It takes more than a couple beers to mess me up."

"Either way, why don't you spend the night here? You can take my bed and I'll sleep on the couch. I think perhaps both you and your mother could use some time too cool off, don't you?"

She began to look suspicious again. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Could you text your mother and tell her you're staying with a friend?"

"Yeah, but…why are you trying to help me?"

I shuffled closer to her on the couch, inappropriately close, and placed a comforting hand on the leg of her jeans. "Because I know what you're going through," I said softly to her face. "I know what it's like to be all alone with nobody to understand or make you feel better. I just want to help you, that's all."

I gave her thigh a suggestive caress. Her voice came out thick.

"Oh," she said. "I thought you were trying to fuck me or something."

I smiled at her, teasing a kiss, making her want it. Then I unhanded her thigh and rose to my feet.

"You wish," I said with a smirk. "Come on, it's getting late."

She seemed confused but willing to go along with it. I could've made my move on her right then on the couch but her last comment had the tone of a test, a tentative half-offer to reveal my true motives. Refusing to take the oh so tempting bait right away would lull her even deeper into a false sense of security. As with Alice there was nothing more attractive to me than consent and unlike Alice this one still hadn't quite made up her mind, one way or the other. She was teetering far too close to the edge to risk frightening with an ill-timed advance but perhaps just a little more tenderness and understanding would guide her right over that edge and into my arms—or between my legs.

She had put the glass on the coffeetable and she followed me into my room. Her phone was in her hands, texting her mother. Cautious, gazing about. I opened a dresser drawer to get her something to wear. The aim was to get her naked but sometimes a pretence is required.

"Take off your clothes," I said, and even though there was no practical reason for her to do it with me still in the room, she did.

She started with her leather jacket, pulling it off and dropping it on the floor. Then her jeans, unbuttoning them and unzipping them, pushing them down and stepping out of them after kicking off her boots without unlacing them. Finally her top, lifting it up over her head and dropping it on the carpet among the other discarded articles. Underneath she was wearing a white bra and a sporty black spandex thong. I was watching her, waiting by with the clothes. She pulled off her socks, the last things she was wearing, and despite her blush, she didn't seem shy. More determined. Tucking hair away from her face, eyeing me boldly. She had definition in her biceps and abs, but her body was young, lithe, nubile. Like an athletic nymph.

I handed her the bundle of clothes. "You can wear these."

"Thanks," she said, and then she turned around and placed the clothes on the bed. Turned. Around.

In her thong.

My heart jumped into my throat as I got a good look at her ass. Tanned, toned, terrific. It was almost enough to make me forget the disappointment of missing out on Alice. Almost.

"I have an appointment in the morning," I told her, "so I'll have to kick you out pretty early. Bathroom's through there if you need it."

She turned back to me and nodded. "You're gonna sleep on the couch?"

"Mmhm."

"You don't have to if you don't want. I mean…"

I paused in the doorway, as if I had been about to leave. She smiled and tilted a hip girlishly. Her dark eyes were slightly glazed from the weed and the beer and she was wearing nothing but her underwear.

"You could just stay here," she said, gesturing vaguely at the bed. "If you want."

I made a display of being reluctant, smiling and looking down at the carpet. She seemed like an assertive girl and I thought she would be most comfortable if she initiated herself. I wasn't wrong. She could sense the balance of power shifting in her favour and she approached me cautiously. Smiling. Willing. She put her hands at my waist, seeking permission in my eyes. I smiled and cupped her face. I could feel the excitement flowing through her, trembling under her skin. I could smell it in her scent, her pheromones. A sweet scent, sweet and smothering that entered into my head and spread through my mind. She let out a shaky breath and lifted onto her toes. Her mouth brushed onto mine in what was perhaps the first kiss of her life and a soft moan came out of her as she pressed them firmer. And firmer. Her mouth opened and her tongue came out. She moaned again. Our breasts mashed together. I grabbed her butt and squeezed. She arched her body into mine and—

"Oh fuck you're hot," she growled.

I chuckled and lifted her up by her ass. She squealed and wrapped her legs around me, surprised at my strength. I carried her to the bed and laid her down and she lay there panting as I pulled off my tanktop. Underneath my breasts were big and bare and bounced once. She stopped panting and stared. I smiled and dropped my shorts and then I hustled her under the covers and crawled in beside her before covering her open mouth with my own.

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She fell asleep shortly after and I left her there in the bed. I couldn't feed from her until she was deeper into her slumber but the sex had sated me so much.

I sighed a heavy and satisfied sigh, standing completely naked at the kitchen sink as I rinsed out the glass she drank from and poured out the remainder of the beer bottle. The night had turned out quite well, all things considered. Not as perfect as I had originally hoped, but quite well. Of course, I would've preferred to bring Alice home. To strip her out of that sexy red dress she had worn. To pull away her sexy red panties with my teeth. To kiss her, lick her, nibble at her. To fuck her pretty brains out and bite into her tantalizing neck. I sighed again, this one not quite so satisfied. I wondered what it was about Alice that fascinated me so. It was strange for me to be so fixated on one girl. Why, I almost felt guilty for cheating on her. Commitment, eh? Oops.

Smiling to myself, I put the glass back into cupboard. My purse and phone were sitting on the counter and I noticed that I had an unread text. From Alice. I smiled, leaning on the kitchen counter with naked hip, and opened it.

Thinking of you in bed :)

Wish I took you home with me…

My lips stretched into a grin and I shook my head. Oh, that minx. That saucy little minx. I thumbed in a quick reply and hit send.

Me too. :(

Then I stuck the phone into the purse and went back into the bedroom.

The light was off but I could see the vague shape of her under the sheet. Her dark hair spread on the pillow. Her back. I went to the window over the bed and opened the curtains. Bright moonlight spilled in, filling me with excitement. I stared up at it for a minute, basking there in all my nakedness, my phantom heart beginning to throb, my paleness beginning to glow. Heat was filling my face and in my mouth I could feel my fangs elongate.

Finally I turned back to the girl in the bed. Her skin was dark in the moonlight and smooth looking. I could see the definition of her shoulder blades, her spine. Gently, I touched her neck. Nothing stirred but her pulse. Throb. Throb. Throb. I swallowed with my tight throat and pulled back the covers to climb into the bed. I settled down beside her and rolled her onto her back, softly, so softly. She made a small noise but she didn't wake. I watched her face in the moonlight, stroking the hair away from her forehead. She turned her face away in her sleep. Almost as if to offer her throat. I could see the steady throb under the taut tanned skin. I licked my lips and leaned closer. I could feel her naked body undermine, the warmth, the softness. I only wished I could bite a girl in the moment of orgasm, but alas, it wasn't possible without revealing what I truly am. Perhaps one day. I grazed my lips against her neck, teasing myself, making sure she was asleep. Finally I opened my mouth and used my needle sharp fangs to craft two shallow grooves in the pulsebeat of her throat. She stirred, a silken friction of her naked body against mine. But she didn't wake and the venom of my bite would soon ensure her helplessness. Already I could feel the warmth of her blood leaking slowly into my mouth and with a low moan I pulled the covers over our heads.

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