VanPorter

Chapter 1

Tonight, the Warehouse stunk of alcohol, sweat, and oil. If I wasn’t so accustomed to the putrid smell of my family’s nightclub, I would have gotten sick of it, but nevertheless I ran around in it, weaving between dancers with cocktails and margaritas ready for consumption.
The business was slow on the dance floor tonight, but downstairs in the basement there was something far more exciting going on. Whether it was the illegal casino or underground street fighting, it was there, beneath the surface of the Warehouse, alive and definitely more adrenaline pumped than the upstairs strobe lights. It was a castle down there compared to up here. But I was stuck with bar duty tonight, and despite my social standing in the Warehouse, I was only the daughter of Hans VanPorter. I was supposed to be a lady of VanPorter, not the future boss of the family business. Damn my womanhood.



With me behind the bar was St. Catherine City local, Jason Martin. He was a sweet boy, two years older than me. His dark Latino skin and black messy hair came from his mother, while the icy-blue eyes that were extreme against the darkness of his features were from his American father, Nathan Martin, who worked for my dad.

Jason always drew the female crowd to the bar. I don’t blame the gawking blonds for hanging all over him. The man was a sight for sore eyes.
You could see his muscles through the tight cotton that covered his chest. It was re-god-damn-diculous that such a man was stuck serving drinks behind the bar when he could be downstairs on guard duty. Not only would he have gotten paid more, but he would have gotten more action than up here. Not only because there were fights downstairs, but because there were plenty of women strung with pearls, silk, and lavender perfume, waiting for a desperate man. Not that he was desperate or anything.



His masculine laugh brought my attention over to the edge of the bar.
He was pouring orange juice, gin, and whisky to a tall gangly woman with long black hair. It was the kind of drink for a big tough alcoholic, not a frail woman as herself. Too strong.
I recognized right off the bat that she wasn’t human. I scowled as her eyes grazed over mine for a moment. She knew who I was as well as vice versa. Hey, I practically owned this joint! A lot of people knew my face. I was Alexandrea VanPorter for Christ’s sake.

Suddenly, I was well aware of my gun, Cerberus, tucked into the back of my black slacks.
“Do you come here often?” Jason asked her flirtatiously. Poor bastard, I thought, you don’t know?

The woman laughed in a sultry tone. She was trying to seduce him!
“No,” she crooned, “this is actually my first time in St. Catherine City. It’s such a beautiful place.”
Jason was completely smitten with her. It wasn’t genuine, I know. I knew what her kind was capable of. She wanted more than a good lay with Jason, she wanted blood in the mix. Maybe death.
Seductive Sally took a small sip of her drink. Orange juice, gin, and whisky was like an aphrodisiac to her kind. The strength of the two alcohol’s as well as the citrus of the juice heightened their senses and cleared their sinuses. In effect they can smell and taste blood as if it were running down their very throats at that moment. “Dracula’s Poison”, is what they call it.

She leaned over, her breasts practically spilling out of her tight red dress and onto the table. Jason fell for it and followed suit. She whispered into his ear and immediately his face became flush. He was almost in a complete swoon.

I touched Cerberus’s handle underneath my black cotton-t. It was sleek, smooth, and deadly. The custom made Glock model 19 fit just right into the contours of my hand; the three headed hell-dog, Cerberus, carefully engraved into the handle. Hence the name.
The gun was a sweet sixteen gift from my uncle Ivan three years ago before I got myself deeper into the family business and he was banned from the family and city. I can’t tell you how many times it has saved my life, but I kept the cold steel close to my heart no matter what. I even slipped it under my pillow at night.
Safety on of course.

I met eyes with the woman. Oh it was on like Donkey Kong, lady!
I licked my lips and strode over to Jason and Miss Sadist, placing a hand on Jason’s bare tattooed arm and squeezing it slightly. Wake up! I wanted to shake sense into him. He didn’t know any better. His father tried to hide him from their kind for his own good. It will only end up getting Jason killed. Sometimes I think that Nathan wanted his son dead!

Jason graced me with a sidewise glance, but kept his attention on the love slave before him. She griped her glass with manicured blood-red nails and sipped on her drink. The smell of the alcohol was overpowering, making my nose wrinkle.
“Can I help you, Mam?” I asked in a fake professional tone, smiling wide and friendly.
She frowned and leaned back from the bar.
I raised an eyebrow at her. Back off, Blood Barbie.

“No,” she bit, “I was just getting a drink.”
She scowled, showing a bit of fang and stomped off in high red heals. Only I noticed the extra points in her mouth.
Jason glared at me. I was going to have to ask the Blood Coven Brothers if she was one of there’s. If so, she was banned from the bar for good. Who did she think she was? Coming into a bar just for alcohol and a dance? I think not!
I took my hand off of Cerberus and Jason at the same time. Yeah, I was an intimidating son-of-a-bitch. It wasn’t good for my social life, but getting a blood sucking bitch to back off of Jason was enough to help me sleep at night as well as keep him alive for another.

“What the hell was that about, Dre?” he asked while I continued to clean glasses by the small sink and beer taps. He sounded hurt as well as dazed and confused. Damn vamp practically mind drugged him.
I kept my eyes averted.
“Nothing,” I lied, “I was keeping you on track and into your job. You were slacking.”
“She was a distraction.”

“Whatever,” Jason puffed, “just because you aren’t getting any doesn’t mean you have to spoil my night.”
The truth in his words made my stomach sour, but I knew that he was still coming down from a vamp induced high. He was going to feel it in the morning like a minor hangover. Poor guy.

My watch beeped. Freedom.
Jason glanced over to me. “See you tomorrow night,” he said bitterly.
I wanted to apologize, but it was useless.
“Yeah, see yah.”
You should thank me, I thought. I just saved your neck.