Good Nite Dr Death

It was better than any mortal high but harder than I had expected.
“Not so hard!”
The third head of the night bounced down the alley and Claire rolled her eyes. I had still to get used to extra strength and the thirst made it hard to exercise self control. My first lesson had been to bite without spilling blood on myself, the second how to pinpoint a target and lure them out. Lesson three was learning to kill without fuss. That I was struggling with as I enjoyed the taste of the partygoer who now lay headless at my feet.
“Sorry.”
There was a giggle and a suggestion that we stop now for an alcoholic drink before we went on the last part of the fun planned for the evening. Claire and I had set out at dusk, the promise from Gerard that they would meet us later in the club where we had found each other. Until then I had some lessons to take in and it seemed some to give out as we pushed our way into a new bar and out of the misty rain. This one was a little more upmarket than I was used to and I saw the patrons glance us both up and down. Claire and I both wore black, a simple long dress and boots for her and me in tight jeans and t-shirt. We had been getting looks all night but those had been admiring and these were not.
“So he tasted funny because he was high?”
Claire looked a little sceptical as we took ourselves and a drink to the furthest table from the bar.
“He was blitzed on coke, I could taste it. Kinda….fizzy.”
I grinned lazily and she giggled, pointing again to remind me that it was not wise to show the fangs in public. There was so much to learn and I badly needed the whiskey as Claire told me about the night she had first seen Gerard and Mikey. I still couldn’t grasp that this amazing and beautiful woman had seen so many centuries, the light glinted off her hair in a red halo as her eyes went a little dreamy, her fingers latching onto the crucifix around her neck.
“They were both so pretty. Men dressed nicely back then and both of them had such impeccable taste. Gerard was training to be an artist, he had been accepted into the Royal Academy and that was where I met them. I used to love art exhibitions and that era produced some amazing work.”
She paused, giggling at my rapt expression as the buzz of conversations around us faded out.
“Mikey was with him, promised to the priesthood of all things and I was having none of that. They were both so alive, so questioning of everything in a time when you were supposed to question nothing.”
“So what happened?”
Claire winked refusing to tell me until another round had gone down and we had clocked the next targets. Two young men in expensive suits that brayed loudly and flashed their wealth. Clearly this bar would be to their taste, the shiny metal furnishings and pale beech wood was the height of fashion. The whiskey made me hungry and I wanted to hear them scream. Claire turned my chin back to her and continued, the same hunger evident in her eyes.
“Mikey was ambushed in an alley by a thief, Gerard ran in to help and somehow got himself stabbed.”
I gasped and sat back, the vision of him lying bleeding in the snow flashing into my head.
“I turned him to save him and Mikey made his choice. Wherever one brother goes the other is sure to follow.”
Claire stopped talking as champagne appeared at our table and the waitress smiled superficially and motioned to the bar where the two men raised a toast to us. She returned it with a serene smile, I had to just stare. It still hurt, the need to feed on blood was still so strong that anything drawing attention to it made it hard to focus. Claire turned back and I had to ask.
“What about Frank?”
Her face lit up, pouring us both champagne.
“My Frankie we met in New Jersey where he was bare knuckle boxing. Short but a fucking terror in a fight and I had to have him. Love at first sight so Gerard enticed him back to where we were staying and he never left.”
I looked up as the two men joined us at the table, one of them looking me up and down with something approaching a leer. Gerard had said being a vampire didn’t actually make me look much different, the goth thing already made me pale and I had wound my hair into a ponytail so that it curled down my back.
“Good evening ladies.”
“Thank you for the champagne, please join us.”
Claire winked at me, the gesture lost as the first man, a slightly sweaty twentysomething grabbed her hand. An irrational mix of anger and jealousy shot through me and I forced a smile at my supposed suitor. He was older maybe nearer to thirty and already had a slight paunch. His hand on mine was limp and hot. I resisted the urge to rip his head off and let my friend turn on the charm, taking this lesson in as she soon had them eating out of her hand. Within half an hour we had eaten them in the alley behind the place and were on our way.
“Ladies….”
Gerard and Frank were leant up against the wall by the front door and drawing looks from every woman as they walked past. Gerard’s arm was around Frank’s shoulder, the fingers of his other hand playing with the curls that touched Frank’s neck. It was shamelessly erotic and I thought back to the night before. He had been everything I had thought of and more, a violent streak emerging that made passion turn into fire, both of us shaken and satiated by the time we slept. Claire had explained that the men shared each other sometimes, a result of that first enticement into the alley and I found I didn’t care, looked forward to it in fact.
“Gentlemen, where are the two good looking ones?”
Frank giggled and kissed Claire with some passion as I walked into Gee’s arms. He smelt of coffee and warmth, my heart hammering in my chest as he held me against him. As if in answer Mikey melted out of the shadows, kissing my neck as he passed by us and into the club. Ray I could hear inside and I turned back to look at Claire.
“You didn’t tell me how Ray got turned.”
Frank smiled, his face transformed into something approaching an angel. Gerard it seemed was blushing slightly as Claire linked her arm in mine and pulled me so that we were facing the two men. Behind us the place was busy, so many humans and I knew now more than just us, other vampires.
“Yeah Gee, how did Ray get turned?”
“Claire, please….no…don’t.”
His words were lost in laughter into my hair as Mikey handed me a drink. Ray had joined us, he looked effortlessly chic and not at all worried about what it seemed I was about to be told. We pushed through the crowds, Claire whispering into my ear and casting looks at all of these men that I now considered my family.
“Your lover boy there is bisexual as I told you. He found Ray working as a pimp in a gay bar in San Francisco. The place was a shithole but Ray was so adorable and so…talented that he just had to join us. Doesn’t hurt that he is also one of loveliest men I know and was getting three girls and boys a week out of the trade and into proper work.”
Ray grinned and kissed Gerard’s cheek as Mikey say next to me and looked both Claire and I up and down. We had to recount the evening, all of it and I found that they were a little at a loss in this time and place. Things had changed fast in the last twenty years and Gerard admitted they felt a little out of date.
“Hard to keep up with what’s new and in and what’s soooo last year.”
There was a gale of laughter before I kissed him hard, sliding into his lap before sighing and lifting his chin with one finger.
“Well now you have me and I have some really fun ideas for us to try out.”

Notes

Need new cast members for lovers for Mikes and Ray...and maybe some competition :D