I spent the next day trying to prepare for the most important night of my life.
How do you prepare to seduce a 230-year-old vampire who's killed tens of thousands of people? I had no idea, but I had to try something.
I started with research. The system had given me basic information about Seraphina Blackthorne, but I needed more. I spent hours online, digging through financial news articles, society pages, and business profiles. Most of it was standard corporate information - mergers and acquisitions, quarterly earnings, board appointments. But between the lines, I started to see patterns.
Every company Seraphina acquired seemed to fail within five years, their assets stripped and sold off. Every business partner who crossed her ended up ruined - bankrupt, divorced, sometimes dead from "natural causes" or "tragic accidents." The woman had left a trail of destroyed lives stretching back decades, but she'd been careful never to leave fingerprints.
At least, not fingerprints that normal humans could see.
I also tried to learn about vampire culture, which turned out to be frustratingly difficult. Most of what I found online was either obvious fiction or conspiracy theories that ranged from ridiculous to insane. The few academic articles I could find treated vampires as folklore and mythology, not as real creatures walking among us.
**[RESEARCH INEFFICIENT]**
**[RECOMMEND DIRECT OBSERVATION AND INTERACTION]**
**[THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE HAS LIMITED PRACTICAL VALUE]**
"Easy for you to say," I muttered at the blue interface. "You're not the one who has to walk up to an ancient predator and ask her to dance."
**[CONFIDENCE IS ESSENTIAL FOR SUCCESS]**
**[DOUBT WILL BE DETECTED AND EXPLOITED]**
**[RECOMMENDATION: FOCUS ON YOUR ADVANTAGES]**
"What advantages? I'm a 25-year-old investment banker going up against a creature that's been alive since before my great-great-grandparents were born."
**[YOU POSSESS ENHANCED PERCEPTION]**
**[YOU HAVE SYSTEM SUPPORT AND PROTECTION]**
**[MOST IMPORTANTLY: YOU ARE UNEXPECTED]**
**[SERAPHINA BLACKTHORNE HAS NEVER ENCOUNTERED SOMEONE LIKE YOU]**
That was supposed to be comforting, but it just made me more nervous. Being unexpected might be an advantage, or it might get me killed faster than normal.
I decided to focus on things I could control. I went shopping for clothes - not my usual off-the-rack business suits, but something that would work in an upscale nightclub. Dark jeans that fit properly, a black button-down shirt, a leather jacket that cost more than my monthly grocery budget. I even bought new shoes, black leather that looked expensive without being flashy.
When I looked at myself in the mirror, I almost didn't recognize the person staring back. I looked... dangerous, maybe. Or at least more interesting than the boring financial analyst I'd been a week ago.
But looks wouldn't be enough. I needed to be smart, confident, and very, very lucky.
The Crimson Moon was in Mayfair, tucked between a high-end art gallery and a private members' club that probably cost more to join than most people made in a year. From the outside, it looked understated - just a black door with a small red sign, no windows, no obvious indication of what lay inside.
There was a line of people waiting to get in, all of them dressed like they belonged in a fashion magazine. I joined the queue, trying to look like I belonged there, trying to ignore the fact that my heart was beating loud enough to wake the dead.
Actually, given where I was going, that might not be just a figure of speech.
The bouncer was a mountain of a man with arms like tree trunks and cold eyes that seemed to look right through me. When I reached the front of the line, he looked me up and down for a long moment.
"Name?" His voice was deep and gravelly.
"Alexander Kane." I hoped I sounded more confident than I felt.
He checked a list on his clipboard, then looked at me again. "You're not on the list."
My stomach dropped. I hadn't even thought about getting on a guest list. How was I supposed to get inside if-
**[VERBAL MANIPULATION PROTOCOL ACTIVATED]**
**[FOLLOW PROMPTS EXACTLY]**
Suddenly, words appeared in my vision, like subtitles I was supposed to read aloud.
"Check again," I heard myself saying, and my voice had a strange quality to it - more confident, more commanding than usual. "Alexander Kane. I should definitely be on there."
The bouncer's eyes went slightly unfocused for a moment. He looked at his list again, then nodded.
"Right, here you are. Welcome to Crimson Moon, Mr. Kane."
He stepped aside, and I walked through the black door into another world.
The interior was nothing like I'd expected. Instead of the typical nightclub setup with flashing lights and pounding music, Crimson Moon felt more like an exclusive lounge from the 1920s. Dark wood paneling, burgundy leather furniture, crystal chandeliers that cast warm, intimate light over everything. The music was jazz, low and sultry, played by a live band on a small stage in the corner.
But there was something else underneath the sophisticated atmosphere. A tension in the air, an undercurrent of danger that made the hair on my arms stand up. And when I looked around at the other patrons, I started to understand why.
They were all beautiful. Every single person in the club looked like they could be models or actors - perfect features, flawless skin, an otherworldly grace in the way they moved. But their beauty had an edge to it, something predatory that normal human attractiveness didn't have.
And now that I was looking more carefully, I could see the details that marked them as inhuman. A woman near the bar whose shadow didn't quite match her movements. A man whose reflection in the mirror behind the bartender showed something with eyes like burning coals. A couple in a corner booth who seemed to be sharing what looked suspiciously like blood from a crystal wine glass.
**[SUPERNATURAL ENTITY COUNT: 47 IDENTIFIED]**
**[HUMAN COUNT: 12]**
**[RECOMMENDATION: MAINTAIN DEFENSIVE POSTURE]**
Forty-seven supernatural creatures. And only twelve humans, most of whom looked like they were in some kind of trance, staring adoringly at their inhuman companions with the glassy-eyed devotion of the deeply enchanted.
I wasn't just in a nightclub. I was in a feeding ground.
The realization hit me like cold water. This place wasn't just where supernatural beings came to socialize - it was where they came to hunt. The humans here weren't customers or even prey exactly. They were livestock, carefully managed and harvested for whatever these creatures needed from them.
Blood. Life force. Souls, maybe.
And I had just walked into the middle of it, carrying abilities that made me stand out like a neon sign in a library.
I made my way to the bar, trying to look casual while my enhanced senses took in everything around me. I could smell things I'd never noticed before - the metallic scent of blood, something musky that might have been werewolf, a cold ozone smell that reminded me of thunderstorms. I could hear conversations from across the room, catching fragments of discussions about "territory disputes" and "feeding schedules" and "the new regulations from the Council."
Whatever the Council was, it didn't sound like a human organization.
I ordered a whiskey and tried to blend in, scanning the room for my target. According to the system, Seraphina frequented this place, but I didn't see anyone matching her description. Maybe she wasn't here tonight. Maybe I'd have to come back tomorrow, or next week, or-
"You don't belong here."
The voice came from directly behind me, and it sent ice water through my veins. I knew, even before I turned around, that this was her. The air itself seemed to change when she spoke - colder, thinner, like standing on a mountain peak where the atmosphere could barely sustain life.
I turned around slowly, and there she was.
Seraphina Blackthorne didn't just enter a room - she commanded it. Every conversation in a twenty-foot radius seemed to pause as heads turned in her direction, supernatural creatures acknowledging the presence of something more dangerous than themselves. She was tall, maybe five-eight in heels that clicked against the floor with the precision of a countdown timer, with platinum blonde hair that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it.
But it was her presence that hit me like a physical force. Standing near her was like standing next to a predator so perfectly evolved that every instinct I possessed screamed at me to run. Her dress was simple and elegant - black silk that flowed like liquid shadow - but she could have been wearing rags and still dominated every person in the room.
And her eyes... Jesus Christ, her eyes.
Ice blue didn't do them justice. They were the color of arctic oceans, of winter skies before a killing storm. When she looked at me, I felt like she was reading my soul and finding it disappointingly easy to understand.
"I'm sorry?" I managed to say, and my voice sounded pathetically weak even to my own ears.
"You don't belong here," she repeated, stepping closer. She moved with fluid grace, each step perfectly calculated. "This establishment caters to a very specific clientele, and you are not part of that demographic."
**[WARNING: HOSTILE INTENT DETECTED]**
**[TARGET SERAPHINA BLACKTHORNE IDENTIFIED]**
**[THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME]**
"I have as much right to be here as anyone else," I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
Seraphina smiled, and it was the most terrifying expression I'd ever seen. Her teeth were white and perfect, but her canines were just a little too sharp, a little too long.
"Rights," she said, and her voice had a musical quality that was almost hypnotic. "How delightfully... human of you to mention rights."
She was close enough now that I could smell her perfume - something expensive and floral, but underneath it was that metallic scent of old blood. Her skin was pale as porcelain, and when she moved, I caught glimpses of veins that looked too dark beneath the surface.
"Tell me," she said, reaching out to touch my cheek with one perfectly manicured finger. "What makes you think you can see us for what we truly are?"
Her finger was cold, but that wasn't what made me flinch. It was the certainty in her voice, the way she'd immediately identified what made me different.
"I don't know what you mean," I lied.
"Of course you do." Her smile widened, showing more of those sharp teeth. "Your eyes, darling. They see too much. Notice too much. That's very dangerous for someone in your position."
**[CRITICAL THREAT ASSESSMENT]**
**[SUBJECT POSSESSES SUPERNATURAL DETECTION CAPABILITIES]**
**[IMMEDIATE DEFENSIVE ACTION REQUIRED]**
"My position?" I tried to back away, but I was already against the bar.
"The position of prey," Seraphina said simply.
Her hand moved faster than I could track, going from my cheek to my throat in an instant. Her grip was like steel wrapped in silk, and suddenly I couldn't breathe. The sound of the jazz band seemed to fade into the distance as my vision tunneled down to her face, inches from mine.
Around us, the other patrons of Crimson Moon continued their conversations as if nothing was happening. A few glanced our way with expressions of mild interest, like they were watching someone choose between wine selections rather than witnessing a murder. They weren't going to help. They probably thought this was entertainment.
"I should snap your neck right now," Seraphina whispered, and her breath was cold against my ear. "It would be a mercy, really. Much faster than what some of my associates would do to you."
Her fingers tightened slightly, cutting off the last of my air supply. I could feel my pulse hammering against her palm, could see the satisfaction in her eyes as my body began to shut down. This was how I was going to die - strangled by a vampire in a nightclub while jazz music played in the background.
Black spots bloomed across my vision. My legs went weak. I tried to claw at her hand, but she was immovable as stone. The edges of the world started to blur and fade.
This was it. This was how Alexander Kane died. Not in a car accident on Westminster Bridge, but in the hands of a creature that had probably killed thousands of people over the centuries. Just another human who'd gotten too curious about things he didn't understand.
But just as consciousness began to slip away, something exploded to life inside my chest.
**[CRITICAL THREAT DETECTED]**
**[ALEXANDER KANE - VITAL SIGNS APPROACHING TERMINAL]**
**[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL OMEGA ACTIVATED]**
**[DEPLOYING ALL DEFENSIVE COUNTERMEASURES]**
The blue text flashed across my vision, but this time it was accompanied by something else. Power. Real, tangible power that surged through my body like electricity through copper wire.
**[CHARM RESISTANCE: MAXIMUM]**
**[SUPERNATURAL DETERRENT: ACTIVE]**
**[PSYCHIC SHIELDING: ONLINE]**
**[WARNING: FULL DEFENSIVE SUITE DEPLOYMENT WILL REVEAL SYSTEM PRESENCE]**
**[AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED]**
Even dying, I managed to think one word: *Yes.*
**[AUTHORIZATION CONFIRMED]**
**[BEGINNING FULL SPECTRUM DEFENSE]**
Something fundamental changed in my body, like a dam breaking and releasing a flood I didn't know existed. Suddenly, Seraphina's grip on my throat loosened. Her ice-blue eyes widened, and for the first time since I'd met her, she looked not just surprised, but genuinely startled.
The cold pressure of her fingers fell away completely. I gasped, sucking air into my burning lungs, but I could see that everything had changed in the space between one heartbeat and the next.
Seraphina had taken three steps back from me, her perfect composure cracking for the first time. She was staring at me like I'd just transformed into something she'd never seen before.
I gasped, sucking air into my lungs, but I could see something had fundamentally changed in the way she was looking at me. The predatory certainty was gone, replaced by curiosity and what might have been confusion.
"That's not possible," she said, and for the first time, her voice held a note of uncertainty.
"What's not possible?" I asked, my voice hoarse and raw.
Instead of answering immediately, she began to circle me, her movements now cautious rather than predatory. She kept a careful distance, like I was a wild animal that might bite. Her eyes never left my face, but now she was studying me the way a scientist might examine an unexpected result in a crucial experiment.
"You have some kind of... barrier around you," she said slowly, as if she was working out a complex puzzle. "Something that deflects supernatural influence. It's not magic - I would recognize magical protection. It's not divine blessing - those have a very distinct signature." She stopped directly in front of me, tilting her head like a bird. "What are you?"
"I told you, I don't know," I said, which was getting closer to the truth every minute.
"Hmm." She reached out again, but this time her movement was hesitant, experimental. When her fingertip touched my cheek, she jerked it back as if I'd burned her. "Fascinating. Your protection doesn't just resist mental influence - it actively repels it. I've been alive for over two centuries, and I've never encountered anything like this."
The predatory hunger in her expression was fading, replaced by something that might have been intellectual curiosity. She looked at me the way a collector might look at a rare artifact - still potentially dangerous, but valuable enough to risk studying.
"You resist my influence," she continued, more to herself than to me. "Complete immunity to vampiric charm, natural psychic shielding, and some kind of supernatural detection ability that allowed you to see through my human glamour immediately." She laughed, and this time the sound held genuine amusement. "You're either the most dangerous human I've ever met, or the most interesting supernatural creature I've encountered in decades."
**[CHARM RESISTANCE SUCCESSFUL]**
**[TARGET SERAPHINA BLACKTHORNE: INTRIGUED RATHER THAN HOSTILE]**
**[RECOMMENDATION: CAPITALIZE ON HER CURIOSITY]**
I rubbed my throat where her fingers had been. "Maybe I'm not entirely human."
It was a risky thing to say, but something told me that being mysterious would work better than pretending to be ordinary.
Seraphina laughed, and the sound was like crystal bells mixed with winter wind. "Now that is interesting. What are you, then? Witch? Demon? Some kind of hybrid?"
"I'm not sure," I said, which was close enough to the truth. "I only recently found out I was different."
"Recently?" She moved closer again, but this time her approach felt more like fascination than threat. "How recently?"
"A week ago. I was in an accident, and when I recovered..." I gestured vaguely. "Things changed."
"Near-death experience," Seraphina mused. "That can sometimes trigger latent supernatural abilities. Though usually not at your age." She reached out again, but this time her touch was gentle, exploratory rather than violent. "May I?"
I nodded, not sure what she was asking permission for.
Her fingers traced along my jaw, and I felt a strange tingling sensation wherever she touched. It wasn't unpleasant, but it definitely wasn't normal human contact either.
"Fascinating," she murmured. "You have some kind of protective aura. Natural shielding against mental influence. I've never encountered anything quite like it."
**[SERAPHINA BLACKTHORNE THREAT LEVEL: REDUCED TO MODERATE]**
**[CURIOSITY CONFIRMED AS PRIMARY MOTIVATION]**
**[MISSION STATUS: PRELIMINARY SUCCESS]**
"Is that why you tried to kill me?" I asked.
"I tried to kill you because humans who can see through our glamours are dangerous," she said matter-of-factly. "They call attention to things that should remain hidden. They upset the natural order."
"And now?"
She smiled again, but this time it was genuinely amused rather than threatening. "Now I'm curious about what you might be capable of. And curiosity is a weakness I've always indulged."
She gestured to a private booth in a corner of the club, away from the main crowd. "Join me for a drink? I find myself wanting to learn more about you, mysterious Alexander Kane."
I followed her to the booth, my heart still racing from the near-death experience. The system had saved my life, but it had also revealed capabilities I didn't know it had. What other functions was it hiding from me?
And more importantly, why had Seraphina been able to detect my enhanced perception so easily? If she could see through whatever made me special, what did that mean for my mission?
**[PRELIMINARY CONTACT ESTABLISHED]**
**[SUBJECT SERAPHINA BLACKTHORNE: INTERESTED BUT CAUTIOUS]**
**[PROCEED TO PHASE TWO: RELATIONSHIP BUILDING]**
As we settled into the booth, I realized that I'd passed some kind of test I didn't even know I was taking. Seraphina wasn't trying to kill me anymore, but I wasn't sure if that made me safer or in more danger than before.
What I did know was that this was just the beginning. Whatever game I was now playing with one of the most dangerous creatures in London, the stakes couldn't get much higher.
I just hoped I was smart enough to survive it.
---
End of Chapter 4