Loving the leech (Guardians of Red Moon city #4)

“Britney, I’m not sure about this...” I say, looking skeptically at my reflection.

She has dressed me in a black knee-length lace dress, flattened my hair, and set it up in a high ponytail. The makeup is dark to accentuate my natural features more, and a pair of soaring heels on my feet. I feel like a Barbie doll right now; this is so not me!

“No, stop whining now!” she exclaims without looking at me and continues to paint her lips dark red. “You look like a real party beat, and every guy will drool in front of your feet tonight.”

“That’s what I want to avoid,” I mumble and euthanize myself inside my head.

I’m not too fond of attention and be in the center. To be seen among people, fine, but to be outstared is something completely different. Britney doesn’t seem to care, though, given that she’s the one who picks out what I’m wearing tonight. The dress is the only thing I own and feel comfortable with; the rest feels more like something she would wear a Saturday night out with her girlfriends. Given that I’m the asocial non-party girl who’d rather wear Spongebob Squarepants pajamas and munch down peanuts in bed in front of a bad soap opera, this is really out of my comfort zone.

“We’re going to have fun tonight, and nothing’s going to ruin it, not even you miss Debbie-Downer,” she laughs, pinching me playfully in the cheek.

I walk, sighing with her out through my bedroom door, and when dad meets us in the living room, he whistles loudly.

“Well, look at that! What princesses I have in my house, welcome to my simple abode,” he says respectfully in an old-fashioned accent and bows dramatically, causing both of us to giggle. “Be careful out there; you can never know which perverts are crawling around in the shadows.”

“We’ll be careful, daddy,” I answer, giving him a simple kiss on the cheek.

“Take care of my piglet tonight, Britney. I trust you both will be home safe and sound,” he says, looking at her sternly.

“Of course, uncle Carl. She’s safe with me,” she replies and hooks her arm with mine.

Together we walk out to the waiting taxi, announce where we’re going to the driver and speed away toward new adventures!

When we arrive, the bar is packed as usual, with many revelers doing everything from throwing darts to doing body shots. I walk up to the bar to order our drinks from Chris while Britney looks up a table for us.

“Hi, Chris. Four shots, a big whiskey without ice, and a martini. Thank you,” I say, smiling at him.

“Excuse me, have we met before?” he asks, confused while preparing our order; it’s clear that he doesn’t recognize me.

“You’re senseless,” I say, laughing, leaning forward. “It’s terrible when you don’t even recognize your work colleague.”

He looks at me with wide-open eyes, and his mouth is shaping in an “O.” Slowly, his gaze moves from my high heel shoes to my curvy shapes to finally land on my smiling face.

“Damn, girl! You’re smoking hot!”

“I didn’t have that much choice; my cousin is here to celebrate my birthday with me,” I respond, shrugging my shoulders.

“Fuck, that’s right! It’s your birthday today, right? Give me an hour, and I promise you that you’ll experience a party you’ve never been to before,” he says and winks at me.

I laugh and take the tray with my order, and walk away to the table Britney sits at. She gives me a grin and moves her eyebrows up before they go down, and then do it again faster.

“But come on,” I laugh. “That’s my fucking workmate!”

“Why not? He’s handsome, you’re beautiful, and given the sexual mood between you, there’s no reason to hesitate,” she expertly points out.

“It sounds like you’ve got much track on sexual relationships in the workplace,” I say, laughing and wink at her.

“I’m just saying that if the spirit falls on, why not? If you don’t want him, I’ll take him!”

“Nope, you promised me not to leave me alone tonight. Remember?” I point out, grinning, and she groans in response.

“Yeah, I know, you don’t like that with the panic attacks and shit. Anyway, let’s do shots!”

We take a shot each that we down quickly, and she grimaces at the strong alcohol while I can’t do anything but laugh at her; she looks ridiculous. I hold up my next shot, but she shakes her head and makes a grimace, which causes me to shrug my shoulders before downing them both. Although I’m not out often, I’m not a lightweight; believe me, I can drink more than most.

Time passes, and I’m now drunk; however, it takes ten more shots and five glasses of whiskey. Britney and I laugh at absolutely nothing; it begins with us looking at each other, and then I’m not entirely sure what happens. Suddenly we get interrupted by Chris’s voice in the speakers.

“What’s up, people!?” he asks, hyped, and all present howls in response to show how pumped they are. “Tonight is no ordinary night because today is your favorite bartender, Kaylin’s birthday! Come up here, honey!”

The people are cheering, and I walk up to the bar and then take Chris’s hand. He pulls me up at the bar and gives me a shot before turning toward the customers again.

“Since this beauty, today, turns twenty years old, it’s only right that we give her twenty jello shots on the house, right!?” he exclaims happily again, and the celebration continues. “Count with me when the Queen takes her complimentary shots!”

I down them one by one and laugh in the meantime.

“One... Two... Three... Four...” the crowd counts, and when I finally swallow the last one, I howl out a loud “woo.”

“Happy birthday, Kaylin!” they all exclaim, and I bow unsteadily, still laughing.

Chris lifts me off the bar and hugs me before I stumble back to Britney’s table. We talk about all sorts of things, and she’s in the middle of an anecdote about how she caught her boss having sex with his secretary in the cafeteria kitchen when Chris comes up to me with a glass of whiskey. I look at him questioningly.

“It’s from the gentlemen over there; they wish you a happy birthday,” he explains, pointing towards the men I served yesterday.

I lift my glass in salute and grin before downing the contents. Britney is much drunker than me, even though she hasn’t drunk as much. Britney stands unsteady and says she’s going to talk to a man she’s been eyeing. I nod disappointedly and tell her I’m going out to take some air, feeling betrayed. My legs feel heavy like lead; even so, I manage to get out and try to light a cigarette. I don’t usually smoke, but when I party, it’s a whole other thing. My lighter is malfunctioning and doesn’t want to work. Suddenly another lighter appears in front of my face and lights it for me.

I look up, and my eyes meet the most attractive man I’ve ever seen in my life; the man from the other night has nothing compared to this god. His emerald green eyes look into my bright blue, and it feels as if time stands still; there are only us here. Laughter echoes across the street, and I immediately break our stare contest to draw in a long blaze of the poisonous smoke.

“Thank you,” I say and start walking a little further away.

“Happy birthday,” the same man says, and I smile involuntarily.

“Thank you, sweetie,” I respond, slurred, realizing that I’ve drunk way too much, and it doesn’t seem like I can keep my mouth under control at all, given that I keep going. “You’re beautiful; you know that?”

He chuckles at me a little, and his smile makes his dimples clear. I involuntarily lick my lips, and his gaze follows the action.

“Hey, Will, we should-Hey! It’s the birthday girl!” exclaims one of the men who bought me the whiskey earlier with a big smile.

There are four of them, and every one of them looks like a God sculpted them. It’s not far from the drool flowing out of my mouth of the fourfold sexiness I have in front of me. I giggle at the comment before tipping over and fall to the ground. My laughter continues to echo, and my knee pulsates. I look down at my bleeding knee and then look up at the men again.

“It’s bleeding,” I say with a pout.

The man with the emerald eyes pulls his thumb over my wound and then brings it to his mouth to lick away the blood. I hear the others say “shit” and don’t understand what the problem is.

“Will, it’s not worth it, please. You have to-,” the blonde says, and I watch the man whose name clearly is Will pulling the other three away while I’m being left alone.

The emerald man gesticulates wildly with his arms and quickly talks to the others. Whatever he’s telling them, it can’t be any good, given how white their faces become. They walk back to me, and Will bends down to lift me bridal style. I look at him questioningly but don’t argue; his warmth is all I need. Britney left me again anyway. My eyes are heavy with alcohol and everything else that happened this week. I’m struggling to stay awake.

“Where are we going?” I ask, sleepy.

“I’ll take you to a safe place where they can never find you, my beloved,” he replies, and I don’t react to the words.

I’m just too tired to understand what he just said; I’m sure it’s okay. Sleepy, so sleepy...

William’s POV

“Do I have to come?” I ask, feeling annoyed when my best friends keep nagging at me.

“Come on! It’s been a long time since you came out with us, and besides, we ran into an adorable bartender a couple of nights ago. I think your brother is a little bit drawn to her,“ Elijah says in a theater whisper.

“Shut up!” my little brother Benjamin roars. “I’m not drawn to her.”

“But you think she’s cute,” my other best friend Oliver points out.

“Hey, I’ve got eyes to see with, and besides, I don’t think she’s cute; she’s beautiful,” he says with his usual harsh grimace.

“Damn, I’ve never heard you say someone is beautiful or even show interest in the opposite sex! For a while, I thought you were gay,” I say with wide-open eyes. “I can’t miss out on seeing this so-called beauty if she even manages to entrap my callous little brother.”

He growls at me but says nothing more. We head out of my office to our rooms to prepare for a whole night at their favorite bar, Polly’s Lagoon. The only reason it’s their favorite place nowadays is because of that bartender. None of them have ever gone there before; last week, their usual watering hole was closed, and they had to choose another place. Long story short, they got stuck there. Apparently, she makes incredible drinks and always manages to pick out what whiskey they want without them having to say anything.

As if she can determine their mood and taste, considering that none of them likes the same thing. Damn, I’m fascinated by her already, and I have yet to meet her.

When we get to the bar, there’s a full roll in there. We just have time to sit down and get our drinks when the bartender’s voice echoes in the speakers.

“What’s up, people!? Tonight is no ordinary night because today is your favorite bartender, Kaylin’s birthday! Come here, honey!”

I look confusedly at my friends and brother; they nod in a direction that I turn to. Oh. My. God. She’s truly a goddess, an angel, what a woman! The bartender offers her shots, and she downs them all like a pro.

“Damn, she can drink,” I point out to no one in particular.

“And then she doesn’t drink very often either,” my brother replies, and I look at him confusedly.

“What? What do you know about that?” I ask.

“I’ve done my research on her,” he replies like it’s the most natural thing in the world, while taking a sip of his whiskey; I keep looking questioningly at him. “Kaylin Clarkson, born on the twenty-ninth of November in 2000. Her mother died when she gave birth to Kaylin, and she lives with her father in a yellow house in the second district. No boyfriend and what I’ve got, she doesn’t have any friends, except for the bartender over there. Besides that, she’s got a cousin, Britney, probably the girl who’s half asleep at the table over there.”

We’re just looking at him. What. The. Hell!?

“What the fuck!? Since when are you such a psychopath stalker?” Oliver asks, laughing.

However, I stop listening and see her stumble out the doors. Without saying anything, I get off the table and follow her out. She stands a bit away at the brick wall and tries to light a cigarette. Kaylin is genuinely my type of woman; whiskey and cigarettes. It seems that she has a problem, and I decide to light it for her; maybe it can help us start talking without it getting embarrassing. Kaylin thanks me, and I try to make her stay put by wishing her a happy birthday. I can’t do anything but laugh when she calls me sweetie and says she thinks I’m beautiful. Oh, honey, you’re very drunk.

The rest of my company comes out of the bar and stops abruptly talking when they see me with Kaylin. Elijah wishes her a happy birthday, and she begins to laugh, then falls to the ground. The blood flows from her knee, and I can’t help but taste it; the blood draws me to itself. I know exactly what this means. My buddies are trying to get me not to keep going because they think I’m going to drink her dry; well, if you haven’t understood it yet, I’m a vampire. I’m pulling them away with me.

“Dude, you can’t just do that! What if-,” Benjamin begins.

“She’s my beloved,” I interrupt him.

“W-what? Are you sure?” he asks, confused.

“That’s why I had to taste her blood to be certain; she’s my beloved,” I say for sure.

We walk back to her, and I pick her up in my arms. She snuggles into my chest, and I involuntarily smile at her sweetness.

“Where are we going?” she asks with her eyes closed.

“I’ll take you to a safe place where they can never find you, my beloved,” I respond, waiting for her reaction, but realize pretty quickly that she’ll have no response to my words; she’s passed out.

I sit in the back seat with her in my arms and hug her.

“Are you sure about this, Will?” Oliver asks uncertainly.

“Now that I’ve found her, I never intend to let go; she can’t find her,” I respond with a dominant tone, and he nods thoughtfully before starting the car.

I look down at my beloved and gently caress her soft cheek. Oh my dear beloved, you should only know what a difficult situation you’ve ended up in. But it’s all right; I’ll protect you until my last breath. You see, my clan needs me, and I don’t function without you. There’s nothing else for you to do than adapt to your new life because you’re my only weakness.

A/N:

Hello everyone!

So, a vampire has the beautiful human Kaylin as his beloved.

❀ What kind of problems may this cause? Two different worlds smashed together.

✿ What do you think so far regarding the characters?

❀ Do they feel like real people or not?

Please let me know your thoughts since they help me develop in my creative process! Thank you for reading, lots of love.<3