The Pull

Chapter One (Henry)

Henry

I stood against the wall of speakers, closed my eyes and surrendered to the bass reverberating through my body. The pulsing beat rippled through my muscles, echoed in my lungs, and for a moment, I thought I could grasp humanity. Yielding to the sensations, I wondered if others ever did this, ever considered the lives of humans, the speed in which they moved and the tempo of their fluttering hearts. I supposed not. How often did humans consider the palpitations of a mouse?

Being in the sweltering club with the crowd of humans and the music flowing through me, I almost felt like one of them. My lip curled upwards like it wanted to smile, and I allowed it. Tonight, of all nights, I could smile with ease. No one would find my smile abhorrent, not tonight.

Abruptly the beat changed, and the moment was lost. My impulse to smile vanished, and I opened my eyes. I scanned the club, captivated by the humans and their comical traditions. I watched as the Vikings, zombies, naughty nurses, skeletons, princesses, superheroes and amusingly, the vampires danced and revelled in the celebrations. Inhaling deeply, I noted the delicious bouquet of scents in the club, which flowed together like a delta hitting the sea and created an intoxicating fragrance. I smelled their sweat, excitement, nervousness, arousal, alcohol, drugs and blood.

Dear Lilith, the blood.

Sternly, I reminded myself to wait. I stopped breathing and forced my Lust to simmer down before I got swept away in the tide of their scents. I couldn't turn it off completely; none of us could. It rarely went away, especially in the company of this many humans. The Lust was always present when emotions were heightened. Whether the Lust exacerbated the emotions or the emotions intensified the Lust was a question for the scholars at the Universitatis. What I needed to focus on presently was choosing my quarry or, more accurately, have my quarry choose me.

Gliding through the horde to the centre of the dance floor, I started to sway. Opening myself up to the beat, it flowed through me again. I moved my limbs in the current human fashion, and as I danced, I made my mind quiet. I was a talented Legens, much quicker and more effective than many of my peers. In a flash, my mind opened and a rush of images flooded in. Quickly, I sorted through them, impatiently flicking away images that were not of me and held onto the ones that were. A few were encouraging.

As was usual, I was noticed by many humans, as all my kind were. Some people knew instinctively to avoid me. These were the mortals whose hairs would rise when one of us was near. They didn't necessarily know that we were the ones who put fear into their hearts, but they knew to leave our proximity.

There were a few humans, increasingly rare now, that seemed to know precisely how dangerous we were. There appeared to be none here tonight. They didn't always know what we were, but they knew we weren't to be trusted. These mortals were the most dangerous to us; they were usually impacted by our presence so much that they would research or investigate us, often leading to dire consequences for humans and Vampire.

Others were drawn to us superficially, enticed by our otherworldly features, flawless, luminous skin and luscious hair. Others still were drawn to us on an intuitive level, like a bee to a flower. These were the ones I sought. These were the willing and their acquiescent blood tasted sweetest. They were also the easiest to Coerce in case something went wrong.

One image was particularly promising, so I seized the mind and watched myself dance through the eyes of my prey. I was frequently surprised by how each mind interpreted the world differently, often painting over the aspects they don't want to see or believe. This mind, like most, ignored my preternatural gold and red eyes, unblemished skin and richly coloured umber hair and focussed on my muscular physique. Like most in my family line, my build was large and robust, but I was almost hulking and threatening to burst from my tuxedo in this mind. When my prey started to imagine me naked and my face twisted in passion, I smiled again, freely and without trepidation. I loved Halloween.