Page 10 of Blood Secret

Did she know the things they thought about her? The way their eyes traveled over her body? The ones who watched a bit too closely as she crossed her legs, the ones who took a look at her ass as we waited for another train? Did she know about the tall, thin man who licked his lips when she bent to pick up a dropped coin?

I saw myself pulling him behind a pillar on the subway platform, breaking his neck with a single, deft move and leaving him there on the floor, leaning against it with his eyes closed.

No one would question whether he was dead or alive, as so few humans seemed to see anything which didn’t fit into what they wanted to see. They would immediately categorize him as a homeless character and look away, if they even saw him at all.

No. That fantasy wasn’t nearly satisfying. What if I pushed him in front of an oncoming train? A moment of sheer terror, of knowing his days of using women and imagining them in filthy, degrading situations were over?

No to that, as well. The innocent people on the train didn’t deserve their trip ruined, nor did the people on the platform who’d witness the fall.

I wanted to hold his heart in front of his face so he could watch it beat its last. I wanted to bathe myself in his blood and stare into his eyes as the life drained out of them. I wanted to torture him, bleed him slowly, make him beg for the pain to stop. I wanted him to know why his useless, degenerate life was coming to an end.

None of that was possible on a crowded platform.

And I could hardly end the lives of every human that ever did something or thought something animalistic, evil, dark. I would have to destroy most of the human race, unless human nature had changed considerably while I was in The Fold—which I doubted very much, based on what I was watching just while riding the subway.

The city was even more vibrant at night than it had been during the day, something which I wouldn’t have believed unless I saw it for myself.

The sidewalks were jammed, shoulder-to-shoulder in some places. Saturday night and everyone wanted a good time. The scent of a dozen types of cuisine, maybe two times that many, clogged my nostrils and made me sick to my stomach.

I wondered if humans also smelled rat feces and cockroaches the way I did. No, of course not, or there would be no restaurants at all.

I kept my eyes away from them and on her back as I followed her through the crowd. It wasn’t difficult—people seemed to make room for me without my trying. Perhaps they sensed something about me.

She didn’t.

She went on about her business as though no one was following. Was she that oblivious? Or that hell-bent on destruction?

The club was close.

So close.

I could smell those of my kind. I could feel them. And they would be able to feel me—but then, there were enough of them that my presence would fade into the larger whole. I’d keep my distance, just the same.

She walked straight into the club without hesitation.

It looked like any other business on the street—unmarked, no special signs or lights or anything which would denote its presence.

Smart. One wouldn’t want to stand out.

The human world hadn’t accepted vampires as part of its reality, and while many standards had loosened, I doubted the acceptance of our species was one of them. They still had no choice but to live and hunt at night.

When they saw her, what did they think? Fresh meat. Fresh, special meat.

They might not have known who she was for certain, since she didn’t present any powers, but they had to feel something was different.

I would’ve bet she was very popular among them. it probably went to her head. All the more reason for her to go back again and again—there were thirsts just as potent as my thirst for blood.

Like the thirst for attention. For feeling special. It was dangerous and could prove deadly.

Especially with vampires involved.

I would have to announce my presence when she left the nightclub. The time for observation was over.

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