The Vampire's Crimson Kiss (Editing)

Chapter 22/With the ticking of the clock

 "Hurry up" I said in the shadow tongue to Mary "or I will stuff your throat with Yak vomit."

Mary glanced over at another rather dreadful threat that Electra had taught me.

I turned my attention to Cub. "You call this tight? I've seen balloons tied up tighter than this" I remarked in the shadow followed by shadow tongue "Jua Ne theta," a phrase in the shadow tongue that was so offensive I was lucky Mary didn't punch me for using it. Fortunately, the higher familiars were accustomed to hearing such things, while the lower familiars had no idea what we were saying. At that point, I hadn't spoken English for more than a month.

I had been gripping a bar to allow the laces to be pulled tight. With Electra's and the other girls' advice, I had grown accustomed to having a fashionably narrow waist. I knew it was tight enough when I could feel my pulse and hardly breathe. My chest was also lifted and exposed in the most tantalizing way possible. I had found this corset in a shop at the top row of the night market, with guidance from Electra and the girls who had taken me to their favorite corset vendor in the highest ring of the night market.

I had discovered why Mary had never suggested the highest ring of the night market before. The top level was reserved for vampire-exclusive shops, and jurgrath (sub-people or humans) didn't frequent this area. There were stores that sold instruments of torture, others peddling intoxicating elixirs and alchemical narcotics. Some claimed their products were so potent that a single pill could ensnare you into a lifetime of ruin. Electra purchased her venom from one such vendor, who proudly boasted about the narcotic effects of his latest inventory. It turned out that Dr. Ambrose was one of his most prolific suppliers. Upon noticing the hint of my silver collar, the seller quickly averted his gaze and then pointed out that the notices firmly promised doses only a vampire could survive. After all, if you were already dead, no lethal dose could exist.

I quickly surmised that Electra was doing this to test my nycha. I had read about nycha in a number of books; it was easy to recognize but hard to embody. It was the pinnacle of sensuality. You needed to show a lack of empathy, guilt, or remorse for your actions, be manipulative and deceitful, possess superficial charm, and have a propensity for engaging in impulsive and often criminal activities. Yet, you had to do it with style. There was a fuzzy border between Nycha and cruelty. Cruelty was stealing someone's venom; a prank was replacing it with sugar. Nychar was stealing the venom but leaving a photo of yourself and a couple of lovers enjoying it, behind. It was unknowably indefinable, like chic but for pain.

I pretended to be unfazed by the presentation and instead paid closer attention to the different varieties of venom available. During my visits with Electra, I had been introduced to the subtleties of different brews of venom. I appreciated their intriguing names, such as "Serpent's Kiss," "Eclipse of Infinity," "Sealed in Silence," or "Broken Road." The vampire seller shared stories of the old days when he used to move around London, dealing drugs to both humans and vampires, evading the police. He claimed that while life was simpler and safer now, he missed the thrill of the old times.

As we left, I couldn't help but notice several shops similar to his. Vampires had an eternity of time to spare and an insatiable appetite for indulgence and excess that no jurgrath could tolerate. No pleasure was beyond their limits. We passed a stall selling various herbs and concoctions that, like venom, added flavor to the blood of their victims. I casually ignored the shop selling blood run by a man called Ozymandias. Vampires preferred it fresh, but in the past, they had sustained themselves with stolen blood from blood banks. The shops blood bags claimed to be from exotic sources, all displayed on mounds of clear blue ice. One label read "Walrus," another, two marked "A-B negative" then "Red Head," while another with a high price claimed to be from a "lonely" donor.