Then there is Tina. I met her just as she became a vampire, a rite of passage that females go through at age twenty-one. The only problem for Tina was that she had no idea she was a vampire. Or a witch (she's a half-breed). Her whole life had been a lie up until recently. And what a way to find out, when you've been abducted by Eric, brought into this house, and suddenly craving human blood. Despite her rocky start here, though, we've grown really close and I'm lucky to have her in my life. Her witch (human) side tempers her vampire side too, so I can relate to her a lot more.
"Are you okay?" Luke asks, looking over his shoulder at me as he finishes putting up the pumpkins.
I blink and give my head a quick shake to snap out of it. "Yeah. Sorry. Just trapped in ye ol' brain here."
"Oh, I thought you were checking me out," he says with a playful grin that knocks the air from my lungs. "You might be a human, but I can feel your eyes on me just the same."
I stare at him dumbly, my cheeks going hot.
"I wasn't checking you out," I say, flustered.
The corner of his wide mouth quirks up. I'm rarely flustered and he's clearly enjoying this.
I quickly clear my throat and attempt an easy smile. "I mean, I wasn't at that moment."
There. Back to my flirty, casual self.
He stares at me for a moment, holding me in his golden green gaze in such an intense way that I feel his eyes in the depths of me, searching inside. For what, I don't know. When I first met Luke, he told me he'd never compel me—if he wanted something, he would just ask. And while I think he's kept his word, I also know he compels me without meaning to. With most vampires it's a natural skill, something you can turn on and off. With Luke, when it comes to me, well…sometimes I wonder if there's a difference between being compelled and being in love. It's got to be the same thing.
Not that I'm in love with him.
I feel my cheeks go warm again and I'm forever grateful that Luke doesn't possess the same mind-reading powers that Eric does.
Luke turns around, folds his massive veiny arms across his chest, and tilts his head at me as he looks me over. "What's your costume, by the way?"
"Oh, that's a secret," I tell him, grateful for the change of subject. "You'll see soon enough."
He raises his brow in curiosity, and we go back to work.
/AMANDA/
When I was in my early twenties, my friend Shannon told me she'd met a guy named Ezra who lived in the famed Westerfeld House at Alamo Square. She was besotted with this mysterious dude and since Shannon was shy and mousy, back then anyway, I wanted to meet the guy who captured her attention like no one else ever seemed to.
So, with Ezra's permission, she brought me to this storied Victorian house, to the private club called Dark Eyes that operated in the ballroom in the basement. Luke came to the back door, invited me in, and the rest was history. I was captivated by Luke and Eric from the start, enthralled by the way the club operated, and absolutely mind-blown at the fact that they were all vampires. Being in Dark Eyes with them made the world seem limitless and magical, made me look at everything through new eyes. The fact that vampires were real and could theoretically live across time was like discovering a whole new world for myself.
And it became my world. I became addicted to Dark Eyes, to the house, to the vamps. I didn't let them feed on me the way that Shannon did, I wasn't into the blood play kind of thing (no kink shaming here), but I wanted to be a part of it all in every way that I could. When I wasn't at my bartending jobs or with my mom, I was hanging out here, soaking up the atmosphere, feeling like I finally found a place where I belonged. It was enough that Eric offered me a job, working for him at Dark Eyes as a bartender. He told me he could give me and my mother a better life.
At the time, I was too afraid to consider it. Despite how natural it felt to hang around vampires all day, they were still predators and not all of the vamps that stepped inside the club to feed respected me the same way that Eric, Luke and Ezra did. I was human—prey in their eyes—and working here would bring risk into my daily life, no matter how Eric promised I would be protected.
But then Eric's word became reality.
I was attacked one night walking back home.
My attacker, some man, some ordinary shitty human, was going to rape me, possibly kill me.
And Eric appeared when I needed him most.
He saved me.
Killed the man.
And I was forever in his debt after that.
Still am.
My mother and I moved into the house and we never looked back. Before, my mother worked numerous jobs as a maid, and together we could barely pay our rent. Now, we both live in this house on the second floor, we get a hefty salary, and everything is paid for. I run Dark Eyes, sometimes as a bartender, other times I manage things like the guest list, party planning, etc. My mother is the housekeeper, cleaning and cooking meals that the vamps rarely touch (they appreciate and occasionally eat food, just not as much as they do blood), and keeping the old house in tip-top shape.
And, eight years later, here I am in an Elvira costume, putting on my first Halloween party for vampires.
"How do I look?" I ask Tina as she sits on the corner of my bed, drinking a glass of red wine. It's evening and the party should start in an hour or so, and even though I'm working, I'm already getting my pre-game boozing on.
"Sexy mama," Tina says, eyeing my chest, which is fully on display in my skimpy black gown. "I mean, whoa. You're going to cause some trouble tonight, I can tell."
"Well, the Mistress of the Dark wasn't known for her subtlety," I say, adjusting my boobs in the low-cut dress before gently patting down my hair. I have naturally black, long hair that took about an hour to tease and backcomb into an Elvira-esque bouffant.
"You aren't known for your subtlety either," she points out. She then looks down at her clothes. "And now I'm feeling hella unsexy."
"Whatever, your costume is hilarious," I assure her. Tina is dressed up as Carol Baskin from the Netflix show Tiger King, complete with a leopard print top, jeans, and a flower crown on her highlighted hair. The selling piece is the stuffed tiger under her arm.
"It was supposed to be even more hilarious when I thought Eric would dress up as Joe Exotic."