Vampire Security guards stood outside the new club, Bodella, visors pulled over their faces and batons at the ready. They held them out, preventing Justin and Letitia from entering.

Justin sighed. Tonight's goal was to drink too much whisky while listening to music so loud, it stopped all brooding thoughts—the dominant ones, she will have married him by now. Why didn't she change her mind...?

Eight people stood between him and that goal. In theory, he could use his superior strength to swat them to one side. But only if he wanted to trigger off a hail of sharpened metal stakes which were bound to take a few others out at the same time as him.

Letitia pouted. "Aw, guys! I really wanna dance tonight! Are you going to stop me?"

Letitia drew stares from everyone, human and vampire alike. Some vampires got away with not disguising what they really were. She was one of those. Though Justin sometimes wondered if she didn't bother using Mortal Beauty's products to make herself look human because his ex-girlfriend was so well known for those vampire makeover videos.

The guard nearest her goggled them—the dropped jaw taking in Letitia's hair and outfit; a skirt that skimmed her bottom, thigh-high boots and a shirt tied in a knot just under her breasts. His eyes returned to her mouth, the thoughts all too easy to guess.

What's it like when a vampire gives you a blow-job? Bet those teeth make it exciting...

Letitia ought to get herself a T-shirt. Emblazon the words, Blow jobs not dangerous to humans across the front. On the other hand, that might encourage volunteers. As her boyfriend of the last 11 months, shouldn't that bother him more than it did?

No answer to her question from the guard. Enamoured, but not enough to let her into the club.

"Hurry up you morons!" Someone in the queue behind them shouted at the guards. Letitia's admirer rounded on the queue, whacking his baton on his gloved hand so the thwack of it whistled menacingly through the air. The shouter quietened at once.

In the eight months Justin had been away from Dunrovia, many positive changes had taken place.

Vampires, for instance, could work almost anywhere. The buses that transported them to and from workplaces and college didn't use chains to restrain the passengers. Abuse of vampires—name-calling, stone throwing, etc—was enshrined in law as a crime, and the courts pursued those who disobeyed the law with much more zeal than they once had.

Some things didn't change. The company tasked with providing Dunrovia's vampire protection services was still Vampire Security. The contract they'd signed with the former ruling party, the National Conservatives, was so watertight there would be no review of it until 2030—almost five years away.

Still, the Liberal Life Party reviewed the contract every few months—a time-consuming inspection process where Vampire Security's bosses had to answer for every action they took. Seeing the guards here now, acting in that old heavy-handed way, made Justin bristle. He'd grown too used to the freedom of Llandia. Dunrovia had a while to go before the country achieved that kind of human/vampire integration.

"What's going on?" Justin asked. The guards refused to say, batons still in place.

Robin appeared, strolling to the front of the queue and ignoring the howls of protest behind him. "Hiya, Gordy. How's it going?"

The guard's face relaxed. "Robin, me old mucker! Saw you at a gig the other night. There's a rumour you're supposed to be a comedian. I've been to funnier funerals."

Robin's once-upon-a-time job as a Vampire Security guard afforded him liberties—the guards willing to chat to one of their own, even if he did not work for them anymore.

"Aye, very good," Robin said. "But I'm the one with the women dropping at my feet nowadays. They love comedians."

Letitia obliged him, pretending to swoon as Gordy stared on enviously, no doubt now imagining that blow-job taking place, with Robin the one benefiting from it.

Robin's career change had resulted in one unwelcome development—infidelity. He had a young kid too, but that didn't stop him from cosying up to all the groupies who hung around the club drooling over the comedians.

"They don't," Lewis always said. "They're here for me, not him. He mops up my leftovers."

"Has the club been overrun with vampires?" Robin asked, pointing at the front door.

The guard shrugged. "We got this order through from the big bosses. A look-out for two dangerous vampires. Two females. Not licensed."

Justin stiffened. Cordelia had disappeared after that fight outside Vamp Towers a year ago, presumed destroyed. As vampires didn't leave bodies behind—black ash and slime instead—her destruction had been impossible to confirm. That she had resurfaced nowhere since served as a kind of proof. Did this mean she'd turned up once more?

And if she had, she would not be pleased to see him or Lewis...

Gordy shut up as another guard, this one's black cap stamped with the initials SCO for senior commanding officer accompanied by three others pushed through the revolving doors.

He took out an old-fashioned walkie-talkie and spoke into it. "Nothing here."

Justin overheard squawking at the other end. He recognised the voice. Carly Wang. Whoever these missing unlicensed vampires were, they must be big news.

"Are you sure?" Carly said. "The surveillance team picked one of them up in the locale a few hours ago."

"No, they're not here. We've searched the place from top to bottom."

More words, but Justin couldn't make anything else out. Another person emerged—a woman in a tuxedo, her expression belligerent.

"Have you finished?" she snapped at the SCO. "I've got a living to make and having your guards here disrupting everything interferes with that. I'll be putting forward an official complaint for the next time you get reviewed."

The SCO's face wrinkled. Everyone knew about the reviews and threatened Vampire Security that way all the time. It didn't always stop the guards' heavy-handed behaviour, but it was satisfying. The man grunted and moved off, the other guards following him.

"Well, come on in, then!" the woman bellowed. The queue had built up behind Justin, humans and vampires all desperate for a night out. He swallowed his misgivings. Cordelia didn't team up with female vampires. The mystery pair was unlikely to include her.

So he told himself.

Letitia blew Gordy a kiss. "You angel! Now I'll get to dance. You're the greatest."

Justin sensed Gordy's eyes follow them as they pushed open the door. He threw his arm around Letitia, pulling her in tightly. She giggled, turning to plant her lips on his cheek. With any luck, Gordy saw all of it. Spent the rest of the night and even the following day., week, in feverish envy of Justin and his gorgeous girlfriend.

... the one who wasn't Maya.

Inside Bodella, a labyrinth of narrow corridors stretched out in front of them, music thudding through the floorboards.

"Wow, where do we go first?" Letitia asked, as they paid for entry at the barriered door to the rest of the building. The lighting was vampire-friendly too—pinky-toned that made it harder to tell vampires and humans apart. An old-fashioned street sign stood in the middle of the hallway, pointing towards different rooms themed according to the music they played.

"That one?" Justin pointed to his left. The sign said 'grime', the once human Justin's favourite kind of music.

"Must we?" Letitia pouted. "Can't we go there, baby? I can't dance to that stuff."

She indicated the corridor to their right, the sign saying Euro house. Letitia dancing was a sight that demanded attention—her undulating body drawing all the stares in the room. At least it would allow him to drink that whisky in peace and quiet. He could give up pretending today didn't bother him at all.

"Okay."

They made their way down the corridor, people and vampires squeezing either side of them. The door opened into an old school disco, complete with rotating glitter ball, DJ decks up the back and lights picking up blissed-out faces. Most of the dancers would be on ecstasy. With any luck, Justin might be able to score some himself later.

He kissed the tip of Letitia's nose. "You dance. I'll find us a seat and a drink and watch you."

She needed no further encouragement, disappearing into the throng. Her hand held up as she wriggled her fingers at him. A Spanish dance track boomed out, and he caught sight of her hair swirling around.

Most of the booths were occupied. Towards the back, he found an empty one, curtains hanging over a makeshift porch. He ordered a bottle of 18-year-old single malt via the app, brushed the curtains back and slid in, pushing himself into the far corner so he was out of sight.

"Careful, dear boy. I'd rather you didn't crush me."

The voice—one he hadn't heard in a long time—startled him so much he dropped his phone.

The other vampire twisted to the side to pick it up, handing it over. Lighting in the booth was so dull the figure remained shadowy, but there was no doubt who sat in front of him, gleaming sharp teeth catching the light.

Griffin. Once-upon-a-time vampire tutor and AWOL for the past 18 months.

"I hadn't planned a reunion," Griffin said, "or at least not for today, but now that you are here, we've got a lot of things to talk about, haven't we?"

A drone interrupted them, setting down a bottle of whisky and two crystal tumblers on the table. Griffin reached for the bottle and unscrewed the gap. The whisky's peaty scent hit the air.

He poured himself a far too generous amount. "Let's start with your loyalty and that of your brother's, to your species, shall we?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE - thanks for reading! Next update, Friday 26 March 2021.