The moment the sun started to set, I can feel the music vibrating harder through the walls as I watched the sky shift from warm orange to a deeper shade of red outside Laurent's lavish bedroom.
"It's time," he announced from the doorway, dressed in a black silk shirt and jeans.
If his eyes weren't as red as the sky outside, he would've passed as a model. His arms muscular, his hair cropped and his features, sharp in a way that's pleasing to the eyes.
"I wonder what my prince would think if he found out his woman was ogling me," he mused as I hopped off the windowsill.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I retorted, strutting past him toward the door.
"No, surprisingly I don't," he muttered, locking his bedroom door with a click. "Vampires can be possessive, and their prince? The worst of all."
It still hadn't truly dawned on me that my sire was the vampire prince. That he was born, not made. Caused by the various disease and environmental factors of the past.
We walked deeper into the darkness, before Laurent stopped and pressed the button calling for the private elevator. I still didn't know how he could've had electricity without the government finding out about his establishment.
There are so much that I didn't know. It made me realize just how sheltered I've been.
"Laurent," I said, the moment the elevator doors closed.
"Yes, little Rose?"
"How long will this hunger last?" I asked.
He chuckled, pressing a button then we begin our ascent. I've only been in one elevator my whole life. The one back in my research facility, owned by the government. After all, electricity is scarce these days.
"Can't handle it anymore, can you?" he smiled, leaning against the wall opposite, crossing his arms over his chest.
I shake my head in response, right as his irises flashed from red to amber.
"It took my younglings a whole year," he revealed, feeling my heart sinking at the prospect. A whole year of this.
"But I'm not as powerful as Prince Ravić," he mused, shrugging, "so who knows?"
I sighed, about to lean back, dejected when the elevator doors dinged open.
"Come," Laurent offered his hand, "it's time to celebrate."
I take his hand, as we enter the ballroom.
Techno music pulsed through the walls, red laser lights flashing in every direction, bathing the space in a blood-like glow. Old chandeliers still hung from the ceiling, framed by golden carvings on the walls and tall doors that opened onto a balcony overlooking the ruined city.
People parted as we moved through the dance floor. Some bowed low in the pulsing light, others bared their fangs in silent greetings. Hands brushed against our arms, making my skin crawl.
The bass thumped harder the closer we got to the front. Red lasers cutting through the smoky air, casting warped shadows on the walls. The DJ stood above it all, head down, commanding the chaos with each drop.
Laurent and the DJ clasped hands. He leaned in, whispering something in the DJ's ear. The beats then slowed, volume fading until the DJ handed him the microphone.
A spotlight flared above us, making me wince. Not Laurent, though. He stood bathed in it, savoring the attention as he brought the microphone to his lips.
The white, lacy slip I'm wearing starting to feel too revealing, even when the crowd watching us are practically naked.
He smiled, voice smooth and magnetic.
"My beloved kin of the night...tonight, we celebrate not just survival, but legacy," he began, flashing his fangs. "Raise your glasses, bare your fangs, for we honor a prince among us. A warrior. A brother. And most of all, a legend whispered through centuries..."
"Prince Ravić."
He paused, eyes scanning the crowd like a predator.
"I have your friend here, your Rose," he added, turning his attention to me. He raised our clasped hand, making a show of kissing the back of mine.
Maybe it was a trick of light, but I thought I saw a flicker of movement in the crowd.
"She tasted as sweet as I imagined," he smiled against my palm, licking it slowly.
I wanted nothing more than to pull my hand away and wipe it off, but too many eyes are watching.
"Come, old friend," Laurent said, holding out his hand to Ravić, who stood glaring with blood irises at the foot of the stage. "The night's waiting for you."
He didn't budge, just stood there, still as statue.
Laurent retracted his hand, pretending it was nothing out of the ordinary, though I could sense the unease in his movements.
"Let's party!" he exclaimed, and the crowd responded with yells and excitement.
Laurent handed the microphone back to the DJ, resuming his set while we step off the stage.
Everyone returned to their debauchery while he slowly approached a stoic Ravić, his grip on my hand still tight.
"So, how did you like the party, my prince?" he asked, grinning. "Spectacular, isn't it?"
"Let her go, Laurent," Ravić said through clenched teeth. "We need to talk."
"How was Amber?"
"Laurent," he warned, his eyes flicking to our joined hands.
Laurent let go, jaw tight, hating the shift in control.
Soon as he did, though, I rubbed my hand subtly against the silk fabric of my slip.
It barely reached my mid-thigh. Too short for my liking, but Laurent insisted it was the norm. He claimed that I would've stood out even more if I'd kept my tank top and jeans on, the same outfit I'd been wearing since we emerged from the cave.
"Will you both please excuse me," I muttered, disappearing into the crowd while they were both having some vampiric stare down.
I'm starting to get hungry again, especially with the scent of blood running rampant around the place.
I let the beat of the music guide my body through the dance floor, among the sea of bodies grinding against one another. Some drinking, some practically fucking, some both at the same time.
A hand slithers across my waist, pulling me against a hard body.
I twist around, my arms automatically wrapping around the neck of the human male, shirtless and deliciously handsome with his tan skin and dark disheveled hair. No bite marks, too.
How did I get so lucky?
He's the literal opposite of my vampire sire.
"You can take a drink, if you need to, beautiful," he whispered against my ear, pulling me against his body, his hard dick pressing against my middle.
He didn't need to tell me twice.
My fangs extended and pierced through the skin on his neck.
The human groaned, as I gulped down his blood. Sweet, metallic and...weak. Like there's something missing. But I'll take what I can get.
My body's moving along with the music while he grind his growing erection on me. Until his hold on me eventually starts to weaken.
"Hey, that's enough!" he shouted, trying to shove me away but I latched on harder.
"Stop!" I heard him shout through the relentless techno beats.
I shut my eyes, gulping down his blood, gulp after gulp. Did he take something that makes it taste even more addictive?
I latched on harder, about to gulp the last of him when he was suddenly wrenched out of my hold.
I glared at Ravić, wiping the blood off my lips while he stole the last sips of that human male.
"That's mine!" I screeched, about to fight him for it when Ravić broke his neck with a crack and dropped his pale, lifeless body on the ground beneath his feet.
"NO!" I shouted, reaching for the human, his blood already spilling across the dance floor.
But I was wrenched away from the body before I could so much as bend forward.
"You're playing with fire, Laurent," I heard my sire bite out, just before someone twisted my neck so hard I blacked out.