Blud

Part 7: Eve

I step over the decimated chair and rush out of the room, practically shoving some guests as I make my way down the stairs and across the floor to the bar.

"Give me blood, in any form, please." I say to Gerald, our best full time bartender we have. He is flamboyantly gay, and all the women feel comfortable with him, and the men don't feel threatened by him. Not to mention his personality is perfect for a bartender. Charming, reliable, and reasonably sassy. He sees the expression on my face and grabs a large beer mug, filling it to the top with warmed blood, then sliding it to me. I pick up the massive cup and take a huge sip, closing my eyes and gulping it down.

"Thank you." I say, nodding to him before turning and walking up the other set of stairs to the balcony leading to the blood harvesting rooms.

Once I go through that door, it's like entering a whole different building. The walls are painted a pale blue with wood trim work, a beautiful brown hardwood on the floors and crystal light fixtures hang delicately above my head. I hardly come back here, because my job is to be the face of the club. Before Hector was beheaded, he ran stuff behind the scenes in the spa with Marcus, and I ran the front of the house, so to speak. I manage our employees, the DJ's, the supply of alcohol that flows in and out of our guests. Keeping Reap upscale and popular with the humans as well as the vampires is important for our business. Without human patrons, we would have nobody to take blood from.

Marcus is leaning on the desk in the fourier when I walk through the door, chatting with the secretary, who I do know is named Beth.

"Where are the girls?" I ask with a short attitude. He stops smiling at Beth and looks at me.

"What crawled up your ass?" He glances around and sees I'm alone. "Where's your little pet?" He smirks as I clench my jaw in response. He likes that that pisses me off. I take a long sip of my blood and walk past him to the hallway of rooms. I hear him get up and follow me down the hall and I go to reach for a random door knob, but he stops me, crowding me into the closed door with my back to it. He leans over me, putting his hand on the frame, blocking me in. His proximity makes me uncomfortable, but I dont move. I just look up and meet his eyes.

"What's your problem," He growls at me under his breath, eyes piercing as he forces me to look at him. I try to lift my glass between us to take a sip but he grabs it with his free hand and lifts it up over my head. "Tell me," He nearly begs, releasing me from his arm jail, but leaning on the wall next to me ,his face pleading. I'm about to tell him, literally opening my mouth to tell him, when I stop. For some reason I snap my mouth shut and just shake my head, forcing a smile on my lips even though it creates an acid in my gut.

"Just something I saw before I came up here. It's nothing, really." I nudge his chest playfully, and I can tell he doesn't buy it. But he steps away from me, handing me back my drink. I chug it down, tipping the glass upside down and holding my tongue out to catch the last drip, then I put it on the little stand next to us.

"Thirsty and cranky?" He smirks, "I know what's going on."

My eyes narrow at him. "What do you think you know?"

Without saying another word, he is in front of me again, bringing his hands up to my face and holding either side of my head. His black eyes bore into mine, his brows thick and low as he leans in and presses his lips to mine. My first reaction is to pull back, tucking my chin away from him and scowling at him, confused. He just smiles, slides one of his hands down my neck and shoulder, tracing my arm until he can grab my waist gently. I freeze, not wanting him to stop, but feeling awkward. My cold heart pounds in my chest in anticipation. I've never thought of Marcus in this way, but having him so close, feeling his breath on my skin and his hands on my body is delicious. He holds the side of my neck and jaw with his other hand and slowly, carefully, goes back in for a kiss. This time I meet him halfway, lifting my chin and pressing my lips to his.