My name is Lucas Barrett. I was human, once, and lived the normal life of a bartender in New Orleans. Then I met Justin and everything changed.
Now I'm a vampire and I detest humans. Am I jealous of them? Perhaps, but it's more than that. To me they're vermin infesting the world and I intend to do what I can to eliminate them.
Of course I need to be careful. If I'm caught, I'll be declared a rogue and every vampire will have me in their sights. I am careful, or so I thought, until Axel appeared. He's also a vampire, and sexy as hell. It seems he's been watching me when I go out to hunt. Luckily for me, he feels the same about the humans or I'd be dead now. Truly dead.
The attraction is there, and our shared desire to do something about the humans. Can we succeed without being caught and destroyed? Only time will tell.
The fourth day, no, night ... I have to stop thinking of them as days. There are no more days for me now, only nights.
Be that as it may, that evening I awoke with the usual hunger that drove me down to the kitchen. This time, however, I put on my jeans, first. I wasn't up for another confrontation with Justin. If it happened I might let my anger out, physically, which I knew wouldn't be my smartest move. He was much older than me and undoubtedly a hell of a lot stronger. Not that I wasn't tempted.
I took the stairs two at a time, flung open the refrigerator to grab a blood bag, and tore into it as if I hadn't drunk in a week. Dropping it onto the counter when it was empty, I got another one and drained it before putting both of them in the trash.
"Feeling better," Justin asked laconically from the doorway.
I whirled to glare at him. "You had no right!" I snarled.
"What does right have to do with anything?" he replied calmly. "We're vampires. We do what we want as long as we don't reveal our existence to the humans."
"So if I wanted to kill you for what you did to me, I'd be within my rights to do so?"
"First, you couldn't. I'm ten times as powerful as you. Second, even if you succeeded you'd immediately be designated a rogue and every vampire in the area, no, in the country, would be after you." He smiled maliciously. "When they caught you, and they would because you're too young to know how to hide from them, they would make certain your death was extremely painful."
I wanted to punch the smug look off his face. Instead, I turned to walk swiftly away, calling over my shoulder, "You never intended to fuck me, did you?"
"Of course not," he replied. "I don't do men."
I'd said that in anger, figuring he'd admit he would have because he at least found me interesting as more than a companion for the next year. Whirling around to look at him, I asked, "Then why the hell didn't you pick up some woman?"
"They may be fine in bed, but as housemates they're a royal pain in the ass. They either expect to be catered to hand and foot or they try to take over, bustling around cleaning and rearranging things and ..." He shook his head.
I almost laughed. Not because I found that funny, but because at least in that he and I were in agreement. I'd grown up with a mother who ran roughshod over me and my father. The most important thing in her life was a clean house and God help us if we left a sock under the bed, a water-ring on the coffee table, or crumbs anywhere in the living room while we were watching TV.
"I see you agree with me," he commented.
"Reading my mind?" I snarled.
"It could have been your body language or you're very expressive face."
"But it wasn't."
"Not this time, Lucas. I try not to pry but occasionally it's necessary. I had to find out how much it bothered you that I'm not gay."
"I don’t give a damn one way or the other, although it's going to be a long, dry spell since you aren't. It's the idea that you used the fact that I am to get me to come home with you that pisses me off."
"Would you have, otherwise?"
"I, umm ... Probably not. You could have compelled me to," I pointed out.
"True, but I didn't."
"In a club full of willing men, why did you choose me?"
"I told you, the first night, you're young and healthy. The fact you're not some big bruiser also played into it. I learned a long time ago that men like that tend to think they're better than everyone else because of their size."
I could see his point. I'd run into a few of them in high school. They would bully smaller guys like me for the fun of it. I was a slender five-nine which made me the perfect target. I'd bulked out since then, in order to protect myself, but I'd never be synonymous with tall and athletic. Not that it seemed to bother the guy who'd hired me to tend bar at the club. As he'd said at the time, there were bouncers to handle troublemakers.
Thinking of that reminded me. "What about my job? They must miss me by now. At least I hope they would," I added dryly. "And my apartment? The rent's due in a week. If I don't pay it, chances are the landlord will toss my stuff in the street. He's not big on people who pay late."
"Tell me where it is and I'll get your clothes and anything else you think you want to keep. Not the furniture, though."
"Yeah, well the furniture's mostly from a secondhand shop so I can live without it. If I come with you ..." I looked hopefully at him.
He considered the idea and nodded. "If you've calmed down, we can do it tonight."
"Let's say I'm not about to try and strangle you at the moment and leave it at that," I replied.
He chuckled. "Tomorrow or next week is another thing?"
"You never know." I smiled, briefly.
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