i.

"Wow," she says. "Nice place."

She takes a few steps in my entrance and looks at the stairs going up the second floor while I take off my jacket. I don't comment. She has yet to tell me in which way she's about to fuck me, all she asked so far was to be introduced in my place. Literally, just parked the car, got out and was like so, going to let me in or not?

So I let her in.

"Living alone?" she asks.

"No."

"Who?"

"A donor."

"Ah. Not a thrall." That's a vampire servant. It's complicated.

"Not a thrall, just a donor."

"Kay-kay."

She examined the photographs of Elenor I got up on the wall of the entrance now and I don't like it. At all. She's giving me the same vibes she did on our first meeting. Serial killer stalker vibes? Yeah, those.

"Is that cat still alive?" she asks, pointing at a photograph.

"Yes. Her name's Elenor."

"Pretty kitty. I used to be allergic. Now cats are scared of me."

"Elenor's pretty brave. She got used to being around me."

"Nice. That's nice."

She turns to me, claps her hands.

"So, let's get inside. Your human's sleeping, right?"

"On the first floor," I say. "We can go in the living room."

"Cheer up, Mike."

I give her a big smile.

"After you, m'lady," I say, holding the door open for her.

She chuckles and bows. "Thank you, messier."

And trots right by me, grinning. I hate it so much. I could just punch her, but I don't know if I'd get my hand back.

"Your house's really neat," she says. She throws herself on my corner couch, literally sinking in the middle of all the pillows until she's half immerged. "Oh, comfy."

I stay standing near the door.

"You can sit too, you know," she says.

"Spit it out," I snarl.

"Spit what out?"

"Don't toy with me."

"What?"

"You want my house, don't you?"

"What? No! What would I do with it?" Pause. She looks around my living room, the low table, the 4k TV, the latest-gen console. "Although, now that you mention it, if you got a copy of the keys... how could I refuse? I could come and hang out. But I wouldn't get you expelled."

I don't even try to hide my disgust. I don't want her around. I don't want her anywhere near me.

"Sit down, Mike," she tells me. "Relax. Gee, you're tense. You're making me nervous just by looking at you."

Begrudgingly, I go to sit down on a comfy seat of my living room. Riley is still half-buried in the pillows, by the way, she has not moved. It's been such a long night, but I still got to indulge her.

___

ii.

"So, I think you already got the picture," she says. "But lemme recap. I got videos. Very clear, and very visible videos, of you following Elisabeth to her house, of her kissing you, of you forcing a kiss on her--"

"I didn't force her."

"And of you coming back, getting in her house, and spending time watching videos on the computer with her. I'll remind you that we are not supposed to do that. In fact, seeing how badly you fucked up, I'd be in the wrong not to send them to someone important. Someone like... hey, how about the Elder?"

"Don't."

"Ah, Karl Wander it is, then."

"No, please."

"My sire?"

I grit my teeth and shake my head.

"That's really troublesome. It's almost as if you don't want anyone to see those pictures. That is understandable... after all, that could be the death of any career you might hope for among vampires. Any opportunity you have, any hope of bettering yourself, having access to better teachers, better resources, and all that... blown to smithereens. How sad."

"What do you want, Riley?" I ask through gritted teeth.

She smiles. She already has an idea and she's been stalling. Little fucker.

"Are you sure you want me to set the price for my silence?" she asks.

I shut my trap for a second. What could a creature like Riley want from me? My first guess is sex, but I keep my ego in check and discard that. And then I remember something that she told me last time we hung out together.

"I'll tell you why I'm no longer with Elder Reginald," I say.

"That's a good start," she says. "But it's a start."

"What else could you want?"

"I want a Blood Bound."

___

iii.

More exposition dump. I know. Annoying! I'll try to be quick.

Vampires' bite is addictive. Vampire blood makes someone go a bit coo-coo. When you give your blood to someone, as a vampire, you create something that's called a Blood Bound. That means that the person that drank your blood's starts to like you. In fact, it starts liking you so much it would do anything for you if they drank enough blood. They call that slave a thrall.

Of course, it's not a 100% method. The results can vary and you're never quite sure what level of obedience you're going to get for how much blood. And there is the risk of addiction, and vampire blood isn't always the healthiest thing to drink... etc, etc. You get the picture. It's not... Super cool. But all the older vampires love, love, love that shit. So much. I mean, it's an old method, like them, and old vampires always love everything old.

So far so good? Good.

You can make a human into a thrall, become their master if you will. That's interesting, because generally they are quite, well, nice to you, and they can be trusted with a bit more about the Secret. They won't betray you. That'll prevent them from getting blood.

But you can also make a vampire into your thrall. And that's... well. It's not taboo. But that's humiliating if it's known. Only humans are fit to become thralls, if you're a vampire and a thrall you're like, a bit of a servant to another vampire. As a human should be. It's lame.

___

iv.

"No way," I tell her.

"No?"

"No."

"Oh. Why not?"

"I'm not becoming your slave."

She laughs. "My slave? No, no. I'm not talking this far deep. Just a little... surface level Bound. Just enough that, next time you get another brilliant idea like this one, you're more inclined to tell me first."

I narrow my eyes at her.

"If we do that, I'll erase the proof. That makes it a fair trade, something permanent against something permanent. And, besides, it's not in my interest to get a Blood Bound that's too deep. They tend to be a lot more noticeable. Something about the thrall being unable to help themselves around their master, I suppose, and I want this little arrangement to remain a secret, you see. It's no one's business but our own."

"Just a little?"

"A tiny bit. Oh, and the information on Elder Reginald and you. I love gossip and this one sounds juicy."

"The key to my house?"

"That was a joke. Unless you feel like giving it to me?"

"No."

"Your loss. Do we have a deal?"

It really, really pains me to say it. It goes against my pride. I tighten my lips.

"Little reminder: you're trading a little bit of servitude for a lifetime of rejection. Vampires don't fend off well on their own, even you know that."

"Yeah. Fine."

"Fine?"

"Yeah. I'll do it. Where do we start?"

She smiles at me. "The Bound. If you please."

"Sure." Better get it over with quickly, before I got the time to think too much about it and regret it.

___

v.

She gestures for me to come closer. So I get off my seat and come over, sitting on the couch. She then pulls a small... ceremonial knife from her pocket? It's small and grey and looks very sharp for its size. And, without flinching, she cuts her wrist.

Blood beads from the wound. She presents it to me. I stare at her. Not going to lie, I sort of thought... well, that I was going to get to drink from her neck. It would have been more sensual like that, at least, like a consolation prize.

Not that I especially want to get all sensual with Riley... Who do you think I am? I got taste and self-control.

I lean in and lick her wrist.

I thought I know how blood tastes; I did not. The sensation explodes on the tip of my tongue, then down my throat. It's like needles sinking into my flesh, but pleasurable, and it gives me shivers as I got to grip the couch for stability. I let on a small grunt. When I breathe, suddenly the very *smell* of her becomes almost too much for me. I take it in, slowly.

She's looking at me, her gaze burning the skin of my face.

"A bit more than that, Mike," she whispers.

I'm shaking, but just a bit. For a second, it's as if it's too much, I think that I can't take it, but I dive back down and start sucking on her wrist. Things become... a little foggy. But I got the acute sensation that what I'm doing is ancient and sacred, and truly *vampire*. It's a really strange sensation of it feeling right and not, at the same time. It feels so out of place when done in a modern living room.

And I forget all of that. I taste her, her power, and I start to *know* her in a way I know no one else before. It's spicy, in many more ways than just one, and it's lovely and dark, and just her at the same time. My fangs come out. I feel excited in a bestial way.

She curls her wrist, pulling it from my lips and cupping my chin in her fingers. I look up at her, and I realise that I'm actually shaking. Shaking, and staring, and shaking some more, and I just can't tear my eyes from her face.

"Good," she says.

I can't hold it anymore. I got to crawl up on her, trying to get to her face, to her eyes that are sucking me in. My hands get on her body and I feel that she's so thin under her ample clothes, I feel her bones more than her flesh. I feel her smell, again, and it's driving me crazy. I hear her gasp and I love it.

"Enough!"

She half-kicks me, not too hard, or at least I feel almost nothing. But the impact of her knee in my abdominal cavity somewhat grounds me, brings back some of me, as I'm all above her and she's trapped in the middle of the cushions in the corner of my couch.

"Mike, that's enough," she says.

I growl at her. Words are a bit out of my reach at the moment. Give me five minutes.

"Get off."

I got to do it. It's not as compelling as I thought it would be, though, I distinctly know when I decide that I should obey. That means I still got some agency in what I do.

"Well, I did hear that every vampire reacts a bit differently," she tells me.

"Did I scare you?" I ask.

"Surprise me, but you don't scare me, Mike. Maybe if we had been human I'd be a bit more scared of you. But things are different."

I nod. And I get off the couch to go back to my seat.

___

vi.

You might be wondering if anything changed in the way I look at Riley. I'm wondering myself because I am not quite sure. I don't know all that much about Blood Bounds, but I do know that the surface level ones can be subtle. Emotional, rather than forced on your free will and whatnot.

But I look at her, and I'm indeed wondering what she would look like in better clothes. Not... necessairly sexier ones. But something that would fit her better than whatever's she's got going on with that skirt and wide pullover. She looks like a nerd. Which she probably is, mind you, since she's into old books as far as I can tell.

Actually, maybe I can tell what changed. What she does surprises me less than before. I can almost feel... as if I can talk to her. Tell her about myself, and know that she won't react too poorly. I can... tell her reactions will be more understanding than I initially thought.

Of course, that's all an illusion, perpetuated by the blood I drank. It's not actually true, and I got to keep telling myself that.

We're all vampires, after all. And I dare hope that I've said it enough up to this point for you guys to understand that they are not to be trusted. At all. Ever. No, not even one time. And now, I'm stuck with Riley, but she's not stuck with me, and it sucks.

___

vii.

"So," she says. "The second part of our deal."

I give her a mean look.

"No," she adds, "don't look at me like that. You promised."

"Urg." I rub my face with both my hands in frustration. "Fine. But then you erase the pictures for good."

"The videos?"

"All of it, everything you took."

"Fine, of course I was going to do that. That's the agreement."

"Good. I'll come with you to see that it's done."

"Fine, fine... But now, you tell me. So?"

She leans forward, grinning, hands on her knees. I make another face.

"I really shouldn't be telling you this," I tell her. "So you better not spread it."

"You can trust me for that."

Can I really?

"All right. So. I was sent away because Logan didn't want me to be... Well. Didn't want people to that he's into men."

She stares at me, obviously disappointed.

"That's all?" she asks.

"Pretty much."

"Is... Is he into men?"

"Why do you think he went as far as to cast away one of his children to hide it?"

She grins and leans forward. "So he really? Is?"

"Yeah. I mean he certainly looked like he was enjoying it when we fucked. That's as far as you can go if you ask me."

"Oh. So... wait. I need context. I need more. He made you... as a lover?"

"Yeah. We met at a bar. He was a very wealthy patron and I was a stripper."

She starts sputtering.

"You were a *stripper?*"

"Yeah."

"Elder Reginald does go to male strippers."

"He used to, at least. I don't think he does it anymore. But yeah, that's how we met. He was obsessed with me, he told me a bit about vampires, and I agreed to... do the do. Die. By his hand. And be reborn as his child."

"You mean his infant?"

"Isn't that the same thing?"

"Erm... not exactly. I mean, it is the same thing, but the fact that you're talking about having sex with him makes it weird."

"It was really weird," I tell her. "He was teaching me stuff, and then we'd fuck as a reward. I know some people are into it, I'm not. Called me his baby too. As in, not like, baby, like, the pet name. His baby."

"I get it. He's into weird shit."

"That's how I think of it too, now, I guess. I've been used to it. Without the weird shit. I'd feel weird for me to have sex with Karl, for example."

"Anyway. Was there a time that made him nope out of it? If you're telling me that's the *only* reason he kicked you out."

"Ever fucked someone's that's bi-curious but straight? Or like, bi, but still in denial, and that had a drunk moment?"

Riley makes a weird face, shrugging and pinching her lips. Can't quite tell what she means by that but I let it slide.

"Well, anyway, at first they enjoy it, they're high in the clouds. And then they get that 'oh shit' moment the next day when they look at you in your bed and realise that their life might not be the same if they spend another second with you. That's what happened, over a longer period of time. But like, two months. I was a secret that whole time. Sorta."

"Louise knew about you."

"Yeah, I guess as much."

"So he kicked you out."

"Yeah. Sort of like... slowly grew less interested in me. And shoved me on to Arthur at some point because I was starting to get bored and doing shit on my own."

"Like what?"

"I got a cat." And other things. I'm not telling her.

"What a problem with that?"

"Got Elenor without him noticing. Arranged for her to be brought to me through a donor he didn't know about, and then he discovered her when I had already made her grow used to vampire presence when she literally came to ask for pets during his weekly visit. Made him realise I was getting restless."

"Louise always says that vampires aren't inside cats."

I shrug. Doesn't sound quite right to me. I mean, if we're outside while there is sun, we're screwed. But I don't comment.

"That's the gist of it," I say. "Unless you got another question."

"Nah."

"Kay."

"Oh, by the way." I get up. "I said I'd bring you a better phone than this one."

"What, really?"

"Not that I think you deserve one. Want a coffee? Like, iced coffee."

"Eh, I'd say yes, but I think I'm going to leave soon."

"What, so soon? You don't want to hear what I figured out about Eli while I was there?"

She slow blinks.

"Or did you really think I'm that quick in bed?" I add, this time with a smug smile. "Nah. Since you know about me and Eli, might as well tell you everything that happened between us. And, believe me, that was a lot."