Reyna’s Vampyr: Chapter One

What am I doing here? I must be out of my mind.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t insanity that brought Reyna Leoine to The Gladiator. It was her damnable, childish inability to resist a dare. Specifically, a double-dog-dare. Yep, the words “I double-dog-dare you” got to her every time. You’d think at her age she’d have learned better.

“Just dye my hair blond and color me stupid,” Reyna muttered under her breath. She really was insane. There could be no other explanation. Only a crazy person would willingly walk into a known vampyr bar dressed as she was. Might as well have a sign on her forehead proclaiming, “Fresh blood! Come and get it!”

Reyna fought not to fidget. She was extremely uncomfortable knowing the majority of her pulse points were exposed. The borrowed dress draped low on her breasts in the front. The back was completely open. Forget wearing a bra. A swath of silky material lay on the swell of her ass, almost revealing the dimple directly above it. The hemline was so short it came with a color-coordinating micro-thong. This was not her usual style at all. Add in the pair of ‘fuck me’ stilettos on her feet and the image was complete. It would take everything she had to escape without being jumped or worse, bit.

Wasting time, she glanced around the shadowed interior of The Gladiator. The windowless building stood at least four stories tall and took up an entire city block. She’d been told it also extended another three stories below ground, maybe more. No one knew for sure and those who did weren’t talking.

The inside was cavernous. It had three open floors. Each level contained arched alcoves rimming the perimeter, seating groups of two or four. Soft red lighting illuminated the recesses and each was rimmed with tied-back curtains which could be released for privacy. Several of those drapes were closed. Reyna didn’t want to know what was going on behind them.

The walkways contained additional seating in the form of Roman-styled backless couches. Some lined the barrier ringing the dance floor. Others were in groupings to allow larger parties to sit together. Mock fires flickered inside Roman-styled lamps—golden oil lamps on tall pedestals—providing additional lighting.

The servers all wore short white togas fastened on one shoulder, leaving most of their muscled chest bare. The togas were belted at the waist before falling to just about mid-thigh, revealing thick muscular legs worthy of the world’s strongest bodybuilders. It was rumored underneath they were naked. The bouncers wore molded leather breastplates, short leather panel skirts, and knee-high black leather boots, similar to Russell Crowe’s costume in The Gladiators. Lots of eye candy, if you were interested in that sort of thing and didn’t mind the whole lot of them being vampyrs.

Reyna shuddered and huddled closer to the bar, all the while trying to send out vibes that said, “Not interested. Do not approach.” Despite the way she was dressed, the last thing she wanted was to attract the attention of anyone in here. Just the thought of it left a bad taste in her mouth. She squinted at her watch. Ten minutes down, fifty to go.

She gazed into the mirrored wall behind the bar into the room. Strobe lighting made the masses on the dance floor appear to be dark shadows moving in slow motion. The flooring was made up of lighted squares flowing in random patterns according to the beat. It was enough to make her dizzy.

Sighing, she called the bartender over and ordered yet another drink she didn’t want, knowing she had to blend in. Sticking out would only draw attention to herself. Something she wanted to avoid at all costs.

As Reyna sipped on her wine cooler, she mentally reviewed what she knew of Vampyrs, or bloodsuckers as she privately referred to them. Five years ago they’d come out of hiding, proving reality really was stranger than fiction. Not that she’d needed proof.

Despite the name, Vampyrs weren’t really vampires, but aliens with vampiric tendencies from a planet called Vampalien. Turns out they’d been relocating by the shipload to earth since 2400 B.C. The reason they’d given for doing so was overpopulation and a growing lack of resources on their home planet. Earth was the closest, livable planet with a similar environment to home.

Lucky Earth.

After the unveiling, mass hysteria was quickly nipped in the bud when humans realized just how powerful—not to mention wealthy—the creatures were, and how they’d infiltrated every segment of the population from highest to lowest. Laws, initiated by Vampyrs themselves, were quickly put into place to protect the populace, or so they said. It was rumored these laws were just an open acknowledgement of the ones already in place in Vampyr society.

In response to the newly enacted legislature, humans had come up with a few unofficial rules of their own—survival tactics, if you will. Briefly, she reviewed them in her mind as a reminder and to strengthen her resolve to make it out of here in one piece. After all, she had plenty of time—forty-three more minutes—before she could leave.

Rule number one: Don’t look them in the eyes. Vampyrs had an abundance of mental powers, one of which was the ability to enthrall humans.

Rule number two: Never say yes to a Vampyr. According to the law, Vampyrs could only take blood from willing donors. To do otherwise was considered rape and carried stiff penalties. That is, if the victim remembered they hadn’t consented and reported it. Vampyrs were tricky bastards.

Rule number three (and the most important one in her opinion): Never let a Vampyr claim you as mate. Once claimed, legally there was no escape. You belonged to them body and soul.

Once again Reyna mentally kicked herself for being so stupid. Her friends—bitches every one of them—had known what they were doing. She should have realized it was a setup. Reyna thought back to earlier today at lunch when she’d blindly walked into their trap...