Friday evening Marinya paced the entry floor angrily, her father Alex trying to contact his eldest son.

'No answer.' he dumped the phone onto the receiver.

'Fine.' she hissed as stomped out of the room. 'I'll go and get him and god help him.'

Alex would have liked to tell his youngest to go easy on her big brother but she was too far away and Marinya was a temperamental creature. Much like her mother he thought with amusement. In fact, she was the spitting image of Alina and was like her in so many ways.

Marinya stomped through mid-jump to the gates and entered the code for her brother's gate. When she eventually found him, he was asleep on his bed. She thought it was odd that none of the tarts were hanging around. She was about to poke him in the eye and ask him where they all went when he groaned and rolled over. Marinya wanted to make some joke about how ridiculous he was for having satin sheets but she didn't know that he'd probably return with something that she didn't want to hear. No, the less she knew about her brother's bedroom antics, the better.

'What do you want?'

'It's Friday and its six-thirty. You're late arsehole.'

'Go away.'

'You promised Lucian, get up.'

She strolled into his robe, noting that the boxer shorts he was wearing wasn't very suitable. Marinya looked at the robe in dismay, even though Lucian had staff to attend to his every desire, his robe was a disaster. Clothes had been flung to the floor crumpled, socks that she didn't dare touch, shoes dumped in a pile in the corner. Either his staff weren't doing their job or they weren't allowed to. She pursed her lips with a scowl. It was likely he was telling them they weren't to touch anything in his room.

'I never promised.' he grumped at her from the bedroom.

'You agreed and mum said if you don't go she's going to change the laws so that she can skip you as heir and go straight to Nic.'

Marinya peered out the robe, Lucian now sitting up, his hair a complete write off, poking up and scruffy. She thought that if that's how he looked in the morning it was no surprise he hadn't had a permanent relationship in a very long time.

'And you know what that means, right?'

Lucian spied one eye at her, still hung over from the two-day binge.

'It means that your allowance gets cut considerably. I do believe that you would drop to the bottom of the list dear brother...' she smiled wickedly at him. 'Even below me.'

She picked up a pair of jeans with two fingers, hoping to keep them as far away from her as possible, tossing them at him.

'So either you get dressed and take me or I will go home and tell mum and dad about the mound of white powder on your coffee table. Get dressed, we're late.'

He groaned again as he struggled to pull the jeans on.

'Why don't you just make Nicoleta take you?'

'Oh puh-lease. As if I want to take the drama queen with me. You know she'll complain that it's too loud and there are too many people there. Even though she wouldn't be paying for a ticket, she will still complain about the cost. Did you know she accused the ticket box of price gouging when I tried to get the tickets?'

Lucian shrugged feeling the soft veil of the drug haze rising. He knew Marinya was complaining but heard little of it.

'Stupid cow got me banned, couldn't even buy the damned tickets.'

'How are you getting in then?'

'Sneak in of course.'

She smugly wandered into the robe, searching out a shirt for him. Lucian heard a dark chuckle from his robe.

'Oh please say it isn't true.'

Marinya appeared at the doorway with a black t shirt. She held up the shirt, Lucian cringed knowing why she was laughing.

'Please tell me that this isn't yours.'

'It was Ariella's, she left it here.'

'So you kept a band shirt of her mother.' she laughed again. 'I didn't know you were a Scarlett fan. Huh, this must be old, it has Marconi not Mordecai.'

'No she kept it as a stage name. Put it back before someone sees you.'

'Who?' she tossed it at him. 'Like maybe an entire auditorium of Pink Slime fans?'

'No, find another.'

'No time, put it on.'

Marinya dumped his black boots at his feet, impatiently tapping her foot, waiting for him.

***********************

The auditorium was packed full of humans, the smell of their blood heavy in the air, mixed with sweat. Marinya could feel the hunger building in her, she knew that she would have to find a quiet spot to feed. The warm up act had already begun, the music belted out across the vast area.

'I want backstage later.'

'Do you have a pass?'

'No, I have a loving older brother who can mind trick me in.' she smugly smiled.

'What, like you just made me mind trick us in without tickets?'

She fluttered her eyelashes at him with a coy smile. His shoulders dropped as he relented, sighing as he rolled his eyes.

'I'll be at the bar, come get me when you want access.'

Lucian stumbled his way to the male toilets, the place stank and the vanity had water all over it. He turned back to the corridor, seeing no one around. The light for the female toilets was lit brightly, like a beacon of hope. He moved to the door, pushing it open. It was empty and smelled far better. The vanity was dry and clean. Lucian was so engrossed in cutting his lines that he didn't hear the door open, he didn't hear the woman slip into the room.

'Do you always do drugs in the women's toilets?' she purred.

Lucian looked up at the woman who was leaning on the wall beside the door. His mouth nearly dropped to the ground as he stared at her. She was in the tightest fitting dress he had ever seen and it showed off all of her curves.

'Are you sharing mister quiet?'

She sauntered over to him taking the tube from him. When she was done she grinned at him and moved into the toilet cubicle, waiting for him to join her.

After Pink Slime's first encore, Marinya decided it was time to have that quick feed and find her brother. She chuckled when she found him, sitting in the food court, feet resting on another seat with a paper over his sleeping face. Quietly and carefully she slipped it off his face and folded the paper, then proceeded to whack him with it. He snorted awake and then grumbled at her. She flicked her head to the door a few meters down the path, surrounded by big burly fellows. As they approached Lucian slipped into their minds, telling them that they were welcome and that they should find each of them an all access pass. It wasn't any surprise that a few seconds later, two access all areas passes were produced and passed over. The doors were open with a polite nod from the men. Marinya giggled with an excited clap as they wandered down the darkened corridor. The music was louder here, they stopped to watch from the side stage momentarily. Lucian was completely disinterested, finding his neck was now sore from the terrible sleeping position.

Marinya eagerly jostled in her spot, excited that she was so close to the band.

'Lucian, I want to meet them.'

'God, you need to learn this shit for yourself.'

'You know mind tricks take time, just help me, pleeease.'

Lucian took pity on the youngest of his siblings and agreed to make sure that she got to meet the members. With great joy she grabbed his wrist and dragged him through the backstage area, finding a good spot to wait. The passes allowed them to move freely through the backstage area without Lucian needing to enter any minds again. They waited in the main area with the other fans, waiting for the concert to end. Ten minutes later the first of the band members entered the area, Lucian slipped in and suggested he come over and say hello to Marinya. He could see his sister nearly pass out from what she thought was the most gorgeous guy in the room. She fanned herself, her cheeks flushed as he approached, the jade green eyes staring at her, the flaxen blonde hair a mess of sweat and hair product.

'Brendan the singer.' she whispered with a huge grin.

'Hey.' he nodded at her.

'Hi.' she gushed.

Then two more walked in, with a sigh Lucian entered their minds and made them come over too. Marinya was in her element, three handsome young men, vying for her attention.

'One more to go.' she whispered to him with a wink.

Lucian rolled his eyes and patiently waited for the last of the group to enter. He was looking for a male, assuming it was an all-male group when Marinya nudged him.

'Danika.'

Lucian turned to the woman who just entered, strolling among the crowd like she was one of them.

'The guitarist, Brendan's sister.'

'Oh.'

He tried to enter her mind but found it blocked which was odd for a human. The raven haired beauty was a mystery to him. Her jade green eyes locked with his and a wry smile crossed her pink lips. She continued in her path through the crowd and Lucian found his ribs being nudged again, this time a little more brutality.

'Lucian.' she hissed.

'I can't get in.'

'What?' she frowned 'It's the drugs you fool. You are going to ruin my night all because of your stupid addiction. Nic's right, you are a useless coke head.'

'I got into the others, didn't I?' Lucian snapped back.

Lucian was shocked, he had never come across a human mind he couldn't enter. Lucian didn't know what it meant but he was sure it had nothing to do with the drugs.

'I guess you're just going to have to do it the old fashion way.'

'Go into Brendan and suggest he introduce me.'

'Fine.' he sighed.

Seconds after slipping in, Brendan did as he was told and took them to his sister.

'Danika, this here's my new friends.' he grinned as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

She greeted Marinya with a pleasant tone and curled a smile into her pursed lips at Lucian, saying nothing. It took him by surprise, this was a woman that didn't want his attention and it drove him crazy. He tried to slip in again, and again he found it blocked. Clearly she knew how to block vampires and somehow must have known what he was. It was the only explanation that he could arrive at. Someone had taught her about vampires, how to identify them, how to block them from her mind. It was a handy trick for humans, to avoid becoming a meal. Of course it made life difficult for vampires that chose to feed from the humans that were allowed to roam the earth. They weren't allowed to feed from the humans that were freed. The freed humans were deemed protected. There was an alternative, a group of humans that were classed as unknown or city slickers. If a vampire happened upon them, then it was fair game. The unknowns had the option to make themselves known and become protected but chose not to and in doing so made themselves vulnerable to attack. Another option was the rogues that roamed the earth, though they were in very small numbers these days. There was always the farmed option that was still available however, but for those that craved the hunt and the intimacy of live feeding they were limited in their options now.

His mother had changed how things worked when he was younger, the humans trashed the earth and nearly killed it. They handed over control to the vampires and hoped that they would repair it, in their long lives they had the ability to get it done without fuss. Unbeknownst to the humans, the vampires had a secret plan to put the humans into a camp to rebuild the dying population. It seemed a horrid notion to many, a camp for humans, but it wasn't as bad as what everyone thought. One would associate it with the idea of a death camp from a war but it wasn't, this place was a verdant paradise and the humans flourished. After a couple of hundred years when the human race was sufficient in numbers, the more well behaved humans were allowed to roam the earth, under the careful watch of the vampires. They would be damned for all eternity if the humans thought for a second that they would allow the earth to almost die again.

His mind flickered with visions of the earth when it was at its worst, an arid waste land and how the vampires were able to return it to a reasonable state. It wasn't what it once was, that was still a long way off, but now it was much better. The vision disintegrated when the woman shifted her body slightly, turning to talk to someone on her other side. Now she was ignoring him. Lucian couldn't handle it, a woman ignoring him. He tried to slip in again and much to his utter frustration he found it was still blocked. Out of the corner of her eye she looked at him, she gave a knowing grin and returned to her conversation. Damn it he thought. Instantly Lucian knew she was toying with him. He felt a heaviness in his mind, recognising the feeling he instantly threw the wall up.

'Are you practising on me?' he angrily whispered in his sister's ear.

'What on earth are you talking about? You know I can't do that shit yet.'

Lucian scowled as his eyes roamed the room, looking for the vampire. There wasn't anyone that he knew, and Lucian knew a lot of vamps. There were no tell-tale signs either. Bright and clear eyes, perfect skin, a well formed body and of course the trade mark fangs. Of course they didn't hang out like a saber-tooth tiger, they were only slightly more pronounced than a normal human canine tooth. The smell of blood made them descend and taper to a perfect point.

'So you're a Scarlett fan?' the drummer asked him.

Lucian looked down at his shirt and cringed. Damn Marinya for making me wear this shirt.

'Not really.' he said dryly.

'Then why are you wearing it?' he chuckled.

'My ex left it at my place. It's her mother.'

'What?' he frowned confused. 'It is her mothers or it is her mother?'

'Is her mother.'

'Oh.'

Lucian could hear the clogs turning in his brain, it was so loud it was almost deafening. He was trying to process it all.

'Which one? She has a few.'

'Ariella.'

'Ariella?' he frowned as he continued to process the information.

'Yes.'

This caught the attention of the woman who ended her conversation and subtly turned to listen.

'Cuz Ariella's been married for...'

'Five hundred years.' the woman said quietly.

'Yes.' Lucian grunted.

'So she's got a lover boy.' he laughed.

'No.'

Lucian wished he could leave this particular conversation. He didn't want to relive his old painful memories, again.

'So... you dated Ariella before she was married?'

'Yes.'

He could see their eyes widen as it hit them.

'Five hundred years ago?'

'Closer to six but I don't like to keep count.'

They all gasped and took half a step back, all except one, the woman. This made it certain in Lucian's mind that she knew what he was. Lucian felt like groaning, he knew that fear still struck the humans when they thought about the vampires.

'We aren't hungry.' he said rather unimpressed.

Then they turned to Marinya who let out a pained laugh as she slid closer to Lucian.

'Brother I think I'm tired.'

'Very well then.'

Lucian turned on his heels and strolled out of the room, hearing Marinya's half-hearted goodbye.