I
Noah Crawley stumbles down the dark alley. He is drunk, and his day is now over as he returns to his cardboard box. The large Amazon boxes are positioned in an L-shape and placed down a narrow lane off Houston Street in Manhattan. The boxes are a prime spot for Noah to house himself at night. Friends and family are shocked by the twenty-five-year-old Noah Crawley becoming a homeless man walking the streets of New York City after years of privilege that his family has afforded him. Since the death of his mother at sixteen, Noah has given up on life, the life he knows, abandoning his aspirations and helplessly delving into the underbelly of the city that never sleeps with a bottle in his hand daily. Noah commits his first drunken disorderly conduct at seventeen; Tracy, his sister, puts him in his first detox and rehab, only to have him sign himself out ten short days later, convincing himself he is okay. The pattern of behavior continues wherever he is, leaving a tornado of wreckage in his wake each time. His sister sends him to rehab in that city to dry out, and he leaves within ten days to go back on the run. Now twenty-five years old, living in New York City, Noah is a homeless man with an unkempt beard, long hair, and rags for clothes. Noah stumbles into the alley, his alley, his home, Crawley’s Spot, as Noah calls it. Noah looks one heartbeat away from death in his disheveled state, his skin yellow and thin; Noah weighs very little due to malnutrition. The smell of piss and beer baked in the hot sun has become such a part of Noah that he can no longer approach people to panhandle as they avoid him.
Noah notices the dark figure as he approaches the cardboard box that has become his home. The figure is six feet tall, wearing a long black trench coat, a fedora, and long black locks down to its broad shoulders. Noah stops and stares. He squints for a better look. “Heya dumb ass, this is my spot,” he exclaims with a drunken slur. “Get your own spots, motherfucker,” he continues, yelling at the figure as he stumbles forward. The dark figure does not move; it stands like a statue. “Get your spots,” Noah screams again. He rummages through his ratty jacket pocket and pulls out an empty beer bottle. Without thinking, Noah flings the bottle at the figure. As it flies through the air, the figure doesn’t move. When the bottle nears the figure’s head, the figure, with one smooth movement, snatches the bottle out of the air with its right hand and crushes it effortlessly. The glass explodes, shattering into shards throughout the alley. The figure growls. A harsh, demonic sound rips from its throat, making Noah’s blood run cold. The figure growls louder as it moves closer. The growl pierces Noah’s ears and sets off car alarms for a city block. Noah sticks his fingers in his ears and watches as the figure floats off the ground and flies toward him. Noah tries to scream, but nothing comes out. As the monster gets closer, Noah can smell death. The figure grabs Noah by the neck with such force that Noah’s neck breaks, killing him instantly. The figure flies into the night with a demonic growl.
II
Ted “Teddy” Williams stands in front of the carbuncle building that is to house him and one hundred and twenty-five other homeless addicts and veterans for the foreseeable future. “Serve your country, get addicted to crack, and they put you up in a condemned building to live.” He says to himself as he rolls his bag up the broken concrete steps. The outside of the building reeks of death, and he can’t wait to see and smell the inside of it. Teddy walks through the splintered wooden door into the dank, darkened, cavernous building. The old school building sits only a few blocks from the Hudson River. Built in the late 1920s, the school was a haven for happy children until the 1970s, when all classes were discontinued. The city relocates the school to a brand-new building, four blocks from its original location.
The city does not want to waste space, so the city makes the old school building a shelter catering to people without homes and veterans of war who have become addicted to drugs and/or alcohol in the 1980s, when the crack epidemic was at its height. The city officials knock down walls to accommodate dorms and meeting rooms for therapeutic services. “Hello,” Teddy calls in the hallway as loudly as he can. His voice echoes back, and no one answers. Teddy walks straight ahead to the door, which used to be the old principal’s office and is now the program’s main office, as indicated by the name on the door. As he approaches, he hears a woman’s voice scolding someone. “We give you and the Master enough food here; what in your lives made you think it was okay to pick one off the streets”? The African American woman is tall in stature and presence. Yet, the figure in the black trench coat and fedora dwarfs her in size. “And the worst of it is, there are witnesses who saw you flying out of the alley with a dirtbag,” the woman continues. “The mayor and city hall are having a PR nightmare trying to explain what happened and keep the public from panicking over what the witnesses saw.” The woman does her best not to let her voice get too loud. “This is worse than your sister partying with the governor’s son and feeding off of him; at least we could keep that under wraps, and the son survived.” The woman continues, pinching the bridge of her nose. “If you or any of your kind are caught picking victims off the streets again, the city council, the mayor’s office, and Albany all say the deal is off, and you know what it means: no food for any of your kind.” She looks up at the figure, putting her finger to his face. The figure doesn’t move; it just nods. “Hello,” Teddy calls into the office. The woman looks at the door, startled, then looks down at her watch. She mumbles, “Shit”! and then says, “One second, Mr. Williams.” She looks at the figure and says, “Now go and tell the Master what I said. That is an order, not a request,” from the tone in the woman’s voice. The tall figure nods again, turns around, and exits the office by the attached door on its left.
Before the figure leaves, it lets out an unholy growl and shuts the door behind it. “Come in,” the lady says, sitting at her desk. Teddy enters and catches a whiff of something rotten, like a decomposing body. “Sorry about the smell, Mr. Williams. Some of our clients have hygiene problems, and the man just here needed another talk about it.” Teddy wrinkles his nose and thinks, “It smells like they died and forgot to lie down.” He moves quickly to the desk, where the lady sits. Teddy sits in the provided steel chair, holding his bag beside him. He smiles at the lady.
“Mr. Williams, I’m Kelly Nash, program director of Steps to a Better Life. We work with the city to help our clients get clean, stay clean, and become productive members of society.” She smiles and pulls his folder closer. With her left hand, she picks up her glasses and puts them on. She opens his folder with her right hand. “I see you come to us from Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Before that, you did two tours in Afghanistan.” She looks at him and says, “Thank you for your service.” Teddy nods at her. Ms. Nash glances through the rest of Teddy’s file, noting his crack addiction, his lost ten-year marriage, the death of his parents, and his brother’s terminal cancer two years ago, which ended with his brother’s death within a year.
“You’ve had a hard several years, Mr. Williams. You found your answer in crack,” Ms. Nash says. Teddy nods. Ms. Nash folds her hands. “Well, Mr. Williams, here at Steps to a Better Life, we don’t tolerate drug use. If you are caught using drugs on the premises, your stay ends. You’ll be sent into the city shelter system, which is worse than this place.” Teddy nods again. “This place isn’t ideal,” she adds, gesturing around the office. The walls are peeling, the ceiling is falling in some places, and there is black mold in others. “But it’s ours, and we’re here to help you. If you do everything as we suggest, you’ll live a beautiful life.” Ms. Nash smiles. Teddy nods.
III
Teddy’s dorm is on the third floor, where twenty men share a room, and Teddy is on the top bunk. The program rules stipulate that clients must make their beds promptly at 7:00 am. Breakfast is served at 7:30 am, and the day’s first group is scheduled for 8:30 am in either the old teachers’ lounge, cafeteria, or several classrooms on the first and second floors. Groups go to lunch at noon, with two smoke breaks. After lunch, there are three smoke breaks among the afternoon groups. Free time runs from 4 pm to 5:30 pm, when dinner starts. There is more free time after dinner until 7 pm. The incoming AA or NA group speaks for an hour, followed by another block of free time until 10 pm. Lights out are at 11 pm on weekdays. Lights out is midnight on weekends.
Teddy is on lockdown for his first 30 days; during that time, he receives medical checkups and psych evaluations from on-site doctors. After 30 days, with the doctor’s and psychologist’s approval and a valid reason, Teddy can leave the building for 2 hours. As Teddy reaches the 60-, 90-, and 120-day marks, two more hours are added to Teddy’s pass time outside the facility; by six months, Teddy is allowed a full day’s pass under the terms of making at least one group in-house and attending either the in-house or the outside 12-step meeting. By nine months, Teddy is allowed overnight passes; under the terms, he must provide the name, address, and phone number of the person he is staying with. Teddy is required to attend one group meeting before leaving on a pass, attend an outside 12-step meeting, and provide proof of attendance at both. Teddy is assigned a caseworker to help him find housing, employment, education, and other necessary resources. Teddy is subjected to drug testing during his treatment stay; all clients under six months are tested twice a week on Mondays and a randomized day during the week. When Teddy reaches six months in the program, he is subjected to random drug testing at any time the program requests it. When Teddy reaches nine months in the program, he can pick the day to be drug tested, as he has gained a level of trust at this point in his program. No females are allowed in the facility. The other rules include that no drugs, alcohol, weapons, razors, or blunt objects are permitted on the premises. No cell phones are allowed for the first six months. Visitors are welcome to visit the last week of the month and meet their client in the common area from 12 pm to 4 pm on the weekend of their visit. You will be immediately discharged and referred to a city shelter if you break any rules. Teddy has no plans to be discharged; he plans to do the right thing, play by the rules, have no problems, and get his life and his wife back.
As Teddy rolls his bag down the long, dimly lit hallway, he feels like he is in an abandoned building, like the buildings Teddy used to sleep in when he was getting high. No one returns to the rooms until after 4 pm for free time. Though no one is on the floor, Teddy turns quickly to look behind him. Nothing is there. Teddy feels as if he is being watched, but nobody is there. “This place is creepy; it feels like I’m in a Stephen King novel.” Teddy thinks to himself as he continues to walk down the poorly lit hallway; the wheels on Teddy’s bag squeak as he rolls it, and his sneakers click on the cement floor.
The smell of rotten flesh seeps into Teddy’s nose as he walks down the long, creepy hallway. Teddy stops in his tracks, sniffs the air, and gags from the smell of rotten flesh hanging in the hallway, just like he had smelled in the office earlier that day. Teddy catches a glimpse of a dark figure from the corner of his right eye as he looks down the hallway opposite him. Teddy has seen the figure before and heard its ungodly growl in Ms. Nash’s office. Teddy freezes and closes his eyes because the figure is not a client with a hygiene problem. Teddy’s eyes are closed tight, yet the growling behind him continues and gets closer. The smell is overpowering; it smells as if the figure just exited the grave and does not know it is dead. Teddy places his right hand on the small silver crucifix around his neck, clutches it, and says a little prayer. The growling gets close enough to be right in Teddy’s left ear; the smell of death is so close to Teddy that he can taste it. A door opens, then slams suddenly; the smell and growling disappear with the slam. Teddy opens his eyes to see a man in a white lab coat standing with a folder. “Mr. Williams, I’m Doctor Davis. Nice to meet you,” the Doctor says with a smile. The Doctor’s teeth are stained red, and Teddy swears his back teeth are sharp like knives—fangs, if you want to be more accurate.
IV
As Teddy nicknames him, Dr. Stained Teeth shows Teddy to his dorm, which is cold, dank, and in total disrepair, like the rest of the building. The city has broken down the classroom walls, extending them to accommodate clients in large dormitories. The city does this to the classrooms on the first, second, and third floors. The fourth floor is the medical floor, where you meet with your caseworker once a week. The basement is off-limits to all clients and most staff, except for the program director, Dr. Davis (also known as Dr. Stained Teeth), his nurse, the psychologist, and the facility’s janitors. Teddy places his bag by his bunk, noticing the room’s sadness and emptiness, which depresses him. Dr. Stained Teeth stands in the dorm doorway, watching everything Teddy does to settle into the room. Teddy feels Dr. Stained Teeth’s icy-blue eyes burning into his soul as he watches Teddy settle in like a guard dog watching its backyard. Once Teddy settles himself in the room, Dr. Stained Teeth escorts him to the fourth floor. Teddy notices that all the windows in the facility are blacked out, preventing sunlight from reaching the floors or entering the dormitories. The only light source is dim fluorescent lights that flood the hallways and rooms. These lights give the facility a haunted house vibe.
As Teddy and Dr. Stained Teeth walk to the medical floor, they pass the hallway where Teddy saw the figure that smelled like a rotten corpse. Teddy glances down the hallway to a set of exit doors leading into one of the facility’s stairwells; Teddy swears he sees the same figure from before standing behind the doors, peering out at Teddy and Dr. Stained Teeth with glowing red eyes. Teddy stops, closes his eyes, and opens them again. Nothing is there, only the exit doors sitting closed, bathed in the poor lighting of the hallway lights. “I must still be hallucinating from the withdrawals from the alcohol and drugs,” Teddy thinks to himself. Dr. Stained Teeth leads Teddy down the hallway and up a staircase to the fourth floor. Hoping for the best, Teddy is disappointed: the medical office looks like it is from the 1970s, and the equipment is too. Dr. Stained Teeth walks over to his desk and sits down; a pretty, petite blonde emerges from the attached room as he sits.
Teddy smiles, and she smiles back as she approaches Dr. Stained Teeth with a folder in hand. “Megan, this is Mr. Williams,” Dr. Stained Teeth says to her as she sits her perfectly tight ass on the desk, crosses her legs, and hands the Doctor the folder. The blonde turns her head around and smiles at Teddy. “Hi,” she says. Teddy nods; his mind goes to other places, like banging the nurse named Megan in the ass right here in this office. “Megan, if you could please get the blood test ready for Mr. Williams, I’d like to allow Mr. Williams to eat dinner.” Megan nods at the good Doctor, hops off his desk, and proceeds to wiggle her tight ass back into the room from which she came to get the blood test ready. Dr. Stained Teeth speaks to Teddy, but in Teddy’s mind, he is finishing cum in Nurse Hottie’s ass, and she is calling Teddy “Daddy.” Teddy smiles at this thought when he finally notices Dr. Stained Teeth waving his hands and snapping his fingers to get his attention. “Sorry, I got lost there, a second doctor, what did you say”? Dr. Stained Teeth smiles. “Don’t worry; it always happens when Megan is around.” The Doctor smiles; those reddish teeth give Teddy chills as he looks at them from the other side of the desk.
V
“Just a little pinch,” Megan says with a thousand-watt smile as she plunges the needle into Teddy’s arm. Her teeth are perfectly white. “Thank God,” Teddy thinks to himself. Having Megan close makes Teddy hard. It feels like a rock between his legs right now. “Nurse,” Teddy says with a little squeak in his voice. Teddy is 35, but sounds like a teen in puberty. He feels like one in her presence as well. “Yes, honey,” Megan says, looking at Teddy. Teddy doesn’t know he can get any harder down there, yet he does.
Teddy takes a few moments to choose his words carefully, “Umm, Doctor Davis, I don’t mean to sound nasty, but why are his teeth reddish?” Megan looks at him thoughtfully and chuckles. “Oh, that,” she says as she approaches Teddy’s arm with the needle and another blood tube to collect more blood. “He’s on this juicing diet; whatever juice he drinks is reddish-brown.” She gently removes the filled blood tube and replaces it with the empty one, placing the filled one on the counter next to her. “I’ve been telling him he needs to buy some teeth whitening strips because he’s freaking out the clients with those red teeth of his,” she continues with a chuckle. Once the fresh blood tube is filled, Megan gently removes the needle from Teddy’s arm and places a cotton ball and bandage in the crease of the arm where she draws the blood. “Well,” Megan says with a smile. “We are all done here, babe; get something to eat and rest,” Megan adds. Teddy smiles and gets up; he can still feel the erection in his pants as he walks out of the room. Teddy leaves, and Megan stands there momentarily when the supply room door creaks open. The dark figure, the smell of certain death hanging in the air, stands there for a moment. He then approaches Megan with a slow, purposeful step. “That was quick,” Megan says to the figure. The figure speaks to Megan in an ancient language. Megan understands what the figure says. Megan hands Teddy’s blood tubes to the imposing figure standing before her.
“And I liked him too,” she says, handing over the tubes. The figure responds with a growl. She looks at the figure unfazed and says, “Remember who the pretty one is, brother dear; I don’t think the Master would like your tone of voice with me, and let’s not forget your little hunting party last night has pissed off the city.” The figure stands there, towering over Megan for a moment, its red eyes peering down at her. Without a word, the figure turns around, leaving the same door through which it came. The figure enters the supply room doorway; it clasps Teddy’s blood tubes in its mangled hands. Before the door closes, the figure says in broken English, “Beware of ego, dear Megan; it has been the demise of many of our kind.” The figure closes the door behind it. Megan rolls her eyes, walks to the medical fridge, and removes a clear red container. Megan opens the container and smells its contents; her eyes blink shut. Her eyes are red when she opens them again, and her fangs have retracted from her mouth. “This, dear brother Rune, is how sophisticated vampires drink blood in the modern world.” Megan lifts the container symbolically towards the supply room door, saying “Prost,” and drinks the blood.
VI
Teddy returns to the dorm around four thirty to find most of his roommates there. Whispers follow him as he walks to his bunk in the middle of the dorm. “Hello, bunkie,” a tiny pale man with no neck says, introducing himself to Teddy. His glasses make his eyes look like oversized drink coasters, and his skin is pale; Teddy assumes he is a ginger with a red goatee and a clean-shaven head. “My name is Sammy,” the man continues, extending his hand to Teddy. “Teddy,” Teddy replies, shaking Sammy’s hand; Sammy’s hand is cold to the touch. “Sorry about the cold hand; I’m anemic,” Sammy says with a grin. Teddy nods and says, “It’s okay; they say cold hands, warm heart.” Teddy chuckles. Sammy grins, refusing to expose his smile to Teddy. After Teddy and he are done shaking hands, Sammy says with a chuckle, “Welcome to the DUMP!” Teddy does not laugh at his comment. Sammy stops chuckling, seeing that Teddy does not find the remark funny. “This place isn’t that bad; we eat well, and you get help,” Sammy says seriously as he sits back down on their bunk. “I’m planning on doing whatever they tell me to do,” Teddy responds as he looks down at his bunkmate. “Well, you better do what they say, my man; they quickly boot people out for the littlest infractions,” Sammy responds, pausing momentarily. Sammy clicks his tongue, then adds, “Just keep your nose clean, and you won’t have any issues; play by the rules.” Teddy nods. “I’ve been here almost nine months, and I’ve seen more than thirty people booted to the shelter system, never to be seen again,” Sammy continues in a low whisper. “That’s odd,” Teddy responds in a low tone. “Yeah, this guy Carl is my bunkie about three months ago. He gets booted for sneaking in beer, which is wrong, but that’s not my point; he asks me to hold his computer until he gets settled at the city shelter.”
Sammy says he pauses for effect. Teddy leans closer, interested in Sammy’s story. Seeing Teddy’s interest in the subject, Sammy continues. “Well, I still have the computer Carl asked me to hold for him, but when I ask the staff here which shelter Carl is referred to, I am told it is against program policy,” Sammy continues. “Really, but doesn’t everyone have to go to the main shelter on Thirty Street to get first-time assistance and a home shelter”? Teddy asks. “Yes, that’s what one of the other clients here told me, so I went down to Thirty Street with the computer,” Sammy responds. He pauses and looks around to ensure no one else is listening. Teddy looks around as well. “And so what happens?” Teddy asks, but no one is paying attention to the conversation. They are too busy keeping to themselves. Sammy continues, “When I ask about Carl King at Thirty Street, they say they have no record of him, and this program here hasn’t yet referred anyone to them for shelter assistance.” Teddy feels a cold chill go down his spine at this statement. A school bell rings, breaking the tension. The school bell signals to the students that it is time to start lining up for dinner.
As the dinner bell rings, Rune walks toward the Master’s chamber in the off-limits basement area of the facility. Rune walks through the dark, dank basement with the tubes of Teddy’s blood gripped tightly in his mangled right hand. As Rune approaches what was once the boiler room door and now the Master’s chambers, he stops for a second and looks at the containers of blood in his mangled right hand. Rune’s red eyes stare at the tubes for a moment. When Rune feels Teddy’s presence in Nash’s office early in the day, he feels something is special about Teddy. So Rune decides to hide in the small office attached to Nash’s office to smell Teddy’s aura and ensure his feelings are right. When Rune first feels Teddy, he senses that Teddy is special to the vampire race. Rune smells Teddy’s aura more closely from behind the closed door in the office attached to Nash’s. Teddy Williams is special in some way, but Rune is not sure how, so he lets the Master know immediately of his findings. The Master immediately contacts Dr. Stained Teeth, a vampire. He lets him know that Megan needs to draw blood from Teddy immediately. Rune looks at the blood tubes, growls, and enters the door leading into the Master’s Chambers. Once inside the room, Rune feels the Master’s presence close by. Rune is forever telepathically connected to the Master. The Master appears in the chamber, emerging from a puff of red mist, the Master’s means of travel when handling other important matters outside and within the facility. The Master stands in silence after his sudden appearance within the chamber; he knows that Rune is waiting for him. The Master has his eyes closed, his white hands held behind his back; the Master longs for the past. When the vampire race doesn’t have to hide in the shadows, they can kill on the streets as they please and are not controlled and forced to suppress their animalistic natures. Before the Great War, vampires were not relegated to hiding in shadows or making deals with humans to feed on those deemed suitable for consumption. Before the Great War, vampires could feed on whomever they wanted, whenever they wanted; it was a beautiful time for the vampiric race. The Master hopes for a change, a power shift. The Master can feel the ancient prophecy predicting the return of the strong vampire leader, Vlad, growing closer in his non-beating heart. These prophecies foretell that a great vampire leader will be born into the human race and rise to power in the twenty-first century, leading the vampire race out of darkness and into the light, becoming apex predators again.
“Master,” Rune says. The Master’s red eyes open. “Do you have it?” The Master asks Rune, his voice cold and deep. “Yes, Master, I will take the samples from Megan as soon as the blood is taken from him, as you ordered,” Rune responds. “Good, good,” the Master replies; he turns towards Rune and puts his pale white hand out for the tubes. Rune approaches the Master and puts the tubes into the Master’s cold, dead hand. Rune reveres the creature who makes him a vampire; he sees the Master as his father, and the Master sees him as his son. “Perfect, my son, and if you’re right about what you feel and smell, we no longer have to hide in the shadows; we’ll have our leader as promised”! The Master says, his voice reverberating through the chamber. Rune nods, then asks, “How will we know”? “Well, my son, the old masters leave writings on how to test the blood of humans, so find our chosen leader who will help us overcome humankind once and for all,” the Master replies. The Master pauses, then adds, “We have to run some tests on the blood samples to find out if the blood is vampiric despite him being human, but first, we must check on the fresh harvest for us to feed.” The Master places the blood tubes on a tiny table beside him. The Master then walks toward the back of the chamber, leaving the blood tubes on the table for safekeeping. Rune follows the Master like an obedient dog. The duo walks to the back of the chamber, with Rune following behind his Master.
In the back of the chamber, hanging on meat hooks, are three male bodies, nude, pale white, hanging upside down. Noah Crawley is one of the bodies; he hangs from the meat hook by his ankles, the hooks protruding through them, his weight held up by the tendons in his ankles. Noah’s throat and wrist are slit open, and his body hangs over a massive bucket in which his blood is draining for later feedings; the bucket is overfilled with blood. The other bodies are in a similar state to Noah’s; they are those of two former Steps for Better Life clients, and their blood has not yet been fully drained. The Master walks up to Noah’s body. “Looks to me like Mr. Crawley has bled out all the way,” the Master says to Rune, looking down at the bucket overflowing with blood. The Master then places his right hand, pale white, onto Noah’s throat and squeezes it as a way of testing if there is more blood in the body. No more blood comes out when Noah’s neck is squeezed.
The Master removes his hand from Noah’s body; his pale white hand is covered in blood from the open gash on Noah’s throat. “You can remove Mr. Crawley from the hooks and put his body into the incinerator; he is done milking.” The Master directs the order to Rune, who growls and nods. The Master brings his bloody hand to his mouth and licks up the blood with his black tongue; he moans with pleasure at its taste. Blood tastes so much better from hunting the prey; the victim’s fear gives the blood a better taste than the blood of victims that humans pick for slaughter; the blood tastes spoiled and rotten from lack of fear. The Master walks past the other two bodies; they are still draining, blood still pouring into the buckets under their bodies.
The Master walks past the bodies hanging from the meat hooks to the chamber’s far end, where the Master vampire has installed a small lab. The Master enters the lab area and then looks down at a nude woman lying on her back, strapped down to an exam table. The human prey on the exam table, the Master on his own, is fetched once Rune tells the Master what he senses about Teddy Williams. It is a pleasure to be on the hunt again; as an ancient vampire, the Master hunts naturally. The woman has been drugged; she is in her 30s and has a body that any actress in Hollywood wants at that age, and she is all natural. The Master walks up to the unconscious woman and runs his cold, dead hands down her body, playing with her breasts. She groans and looks at him with misty eyes. She can only keep her head up for a few seconds, and then it falls limp again. “Soon, my dear, we will know the role you’ll play in this matter,” The Master tells her as he tenderly touches the woman’s face. “You’ll either be a sacrifice to help our kind rise again,” The Master pauses. He looks at the woman’s ample body and smiles, bearing his fangs. Vampires lust for ample women to bear them hellspawn. “Or,” the Master pauses to run his cold hand down her body to her private parts and fondle them. The Master stops fondling her, his cold hand resting on her warm private area.
“Or you’ll be my new bride and bear me many new hellspawn just like my boy dear Rune here,” the Master adds. Rune looks on at his Master. Rune himself is, in fact, a hellspawn, born decades ago from the Master’s rape of a young, ample virgin who is a silent film star in Hollywood on vacation in New York City. Rune does not know much about the woman who gives him life, except that she is German and an actress; she dies when Rune is young, possibly murdered by the Master. Rune now watches his Master with a possible new lover, and he gives the Master a few moments to fondle the woman on the exam table. When Rune feels enough time has passed, he asks the Master, “What’s the next phase?” The Master stands a moment, staring at the unconscious woman. “We test the blood of Mr. Williams. And if you are correct.” The Master pauses; he uses his black tongue to lick up the blood on the side of his mouth, and then continues speaking. “We’ll reunite the Williams to begin the ritual,” the Master says, lovingly petting the woman’s head. The Master then looks to Rune and smiles.
VII
Teddy eats dinner and wonders where Sammy has disappeared. Sammy disappears after the bell rings for dinner, and none of the clients are willing to say where he goes. As Teddy eats dinner, Rune burns Crawley’s body as instructed, and the Master performs an ancient vampirism test on Teddy’s blood. Meanwhile, Dr. Stained Teeth ensures Vivian Williams remains heavily sedated, and Megan gets ready for a night out on the town, possibly including a hunt of her own. Teddy runs back to Sammy after dinner. When Teddy asks Sammy why he isn’t at dinner, Sammy explains that those clients can get food to go at 9 months with special permission, so he’s doing that for dinner tonight at his favorite Chinese place near the program. Teddy cannot wait to reach that level and regain that sense of freedom. Teddy attends an AA meeting with Sammy and then watches a vampire movie in the common room. “Which do you prefer, the scary, ugly vampires or the sexy, suave vampires?” Teddy asks Sammy. “Both,” Sammy responds to the question. Teddy finds the answer interesting, as he thinks vampires should be scary. “So, Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula?” Teddy asks. Sammy thinks for a moment, and his eyes fixate on the TV, where the sexy female vampire with large, juicy breasts is in the middle of seducing the hero of the movie with her lustful nature.
“Yes, vampires are the epitome of lust and death, the perfect combination of showcasing the dangers of the allure of lust and the fear that lust can lead to death.” The sexy vampire on the TV draws the hero into her voluptuous body. The hero’s face exhibits lust as his body rubs against the vampire’s large breast—the hero moans as the vampire licks his left ear. The camera angles frame the female vampire’s face, which is currently angelic and full of lust. The camera stays on her face as she licks the hero’s ear again. As the female’s tongue dives into the hero’s ear canal, her eyes flash red, and her fangs emerge from her mouth. In the shot, the movie goes into a commercial. “Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” Sammy says, getting up from the ratty black leather couch he is sitting on. Teddy chuckles. “It is not over yet.” Teddy pauses to look at the clock on the wall.
“It’s got an hour left,” Teddy adds. “Well, I have an early day tomorrow, and I want to keep it on the happy note of the vampiress getting her prey,” Sammy says. “Vampiress”? Teddy asks. “That’s how you address a female vampire; she is a vampiress,” Sammy answers, looking down at Teddy through his glasses. Teddy could swear his eyes are red in the light of the common room. “You know a lot about vampires,” Teddy remarks. Sammy grins, again refusing to show his teeth. “I’m interested in the occult; this place helps reinforce my interest; you’ll experience the things that go bump in the night if you stay long enough,” Sammy says spookily. “I already have,” Teddy thinks to himself. The smell of the rotten corpse that stalked him earlier in the day is still in his nostrils. “Enjoy the rest of the movie; I sure hope the vampire wins,” Sammy says, walking with his arms behind his back to the doorway of the common room. Teddy takes his eyes off Sammy for a moment. Teddy looks back to ask Sammy another question, but he is gone. The vampire does not win. Teddy awakes at 1:30 am with an overwhelming urge to pee. His only choice is to hold the pee until morning or climb down the creaky ladder as carefully as possible without falling and waking his bunkie, who is asleep when Teddy returns to the room.
Sammy is fully under the covers when Teddy enters the room at 9:45 pm. The way Sammy covers himself under the covers reminds Teddy of how he slept to hide from the monsters in the room as a kid. Teddy has no choice but to use the bathroom. He cannot hold his urine for another five hours. Once Teddy is safely on the ground after climbing the creaky ladder, he tiptoes out of the dorm and into the dimly lit hallway. While walking in the hallway this afternoon, Teddy thinks he is in a horror movie. Tonight is even worse. The hallway is almost dark, lit only by dim light; the building creaks as Teddy walks down it. Teddy feels that the twins from The Shining will appear as he walks down the hallway and ask him to play with them forever. Teddy walks cautiously down the hall; he feels a cold wind at his back as he reaches the bathroom door. Teddy looks in both directions but sees no windows to account for the cold wind he feels. “What the hell,” Teddy thinks, pushing open the door to the bathroom. Teddy enters the bathroom, feels for the light switch on the wall, and flips the switch. Once he finds it, they don’t go on. “Of course,” Teddy mumbles under his breath. Walking mindlessly into the darkened bathroom, he feels his way to the toilet stall, using his hands to guide him.
He goes to the first stall. Once Teddy finds it, he opens the door and enters the stall. The door closes behind him automatically; the slam startles him, as it is louder than expected. “I’m too jumpy,” Teddy says out loud to himself. Teddy unbuttons his jogging pants, pulls his genitals out of his underwear, then lets out a sigh of relief as he releases a massive piss into the toilet. As his muscles relax, he closes his eyes and feels relief as his aging bladder empties. Teddy hears the bathroom door open, then a woman’s high heels clicking on the bathroom’s tile floor.
From behind, a woman’s cold, soft hands wrap around him. The female whispers in his ear, “I know you wanted me from when you saw me this afternoon.” The sultry voice whispers in Teddy’s ear. He turns around slowly and looks into Megan’s eyes. Megan wraps her hands around his neck, leans in, and kisses him on the lips. Her lips are soft, yet cold, but the kiss is passionate, fueled by the heat between them. “Fuck me, daddy”! Megan screams. Teddy looks at her; it is dark, yet he can see the outline of that beautiful face; her eyes are red. “You want to do this here in the men’s bathroom”? Teddy asks her; his penis is already becoming a full-blown erection as Megan pulls him closer to her firm body. There is no question in Teddy’s mind that this is real and not a dream, and he doesn’t care about his ex-wife or getting back with her at that moment.
“Yes, right here, baby,” Megan says passionately, pulling Teddy close. He feels Megan’s pelvis rub against his. Teddy’s erection grows larger. Megan and Teddy rip each other’s clothes off and then lie on the cold, damp floor of the men’s bathroom within moments. Their bodies rock in perfect rhythm with each other as they work together, gyrating to come to an ideal climax together. Megan screams Teddy’s name at the top of her lungs; Teddy screams in ecstasy as he lets go of his sperm into Megan’s tight pussy. When done climaxing from the sex, Teddy is breathing extremely hard after the sex session, like he has climbed up to the peak of Mt. Everest with no oxygen.
Teddy and Megan lie in each other’s arms, and Megan gently runs her tongue along the nape of Teddy’s neck, kissing it slowly up and down. “Do you want me to bite you?” She asks with a giggle. “To leave a hickey,” he asks with a laugh. “Kind of like that,” she says, rubbing her nose into his neck. “Sure,” he says. Teddy smells Rune before he sees him. Megan screams when she is lifted by her neck and tossed clear across the room. She hits the bathroom tiles so hard that they break into tiny pieces as Megan thuds to the floor with a bang. Megan hits the floor, falling over, nude, limp, and unconscious. A large, mangled hand comes down on Teddy’s head like a ton of bricks before he can do anything; it is just darkness after the hand hits him. Before Teddy blacks out, he hears Rune growl.
VIII
Teddy walks down a long, well-lit hallway. Ahead of him, a bright light beckons him forward to freedom; behind him is only the darkness of the past. Teddy walks for hours; the closer he gets to the shining light, the further it moves away. Behind him, the darkness draws closer; Teddy feels its pull, and it is strong. There is something dark and ancient in the darkness, alive for centuries; the ancient entity needs him for a glorious purpose. Teddy stands between light and dark in the middle of the hallway, torn. Teddy looks towards the dark; it beckons him with promises of great things. Opposite the bright light, with its warmth, is offering him unconditional love. Should he choose the warm and loving glow or the dark, which promises great things, like ultimate power and extreme wealth? Teddy moves into the darkness; it is closer, as if he is being reborn as he walks through it. Teddy screams and curses at the top of his lungs in torment as he moves through the darkness.
Teddy awakes with a start, screaming at the top of his lungs. He awakes in a basement that smells like death. As his eyes focus, Teddy notices Megan, still nude, lying on the dirty floor; she is leaning against a wall. Megan’s legs are spread wide, welcoming Teddy for another go-round. As Teddy’s eyes focus further, he moves his head slightly to the right and notices another nude woman; she is strapped to an exam table, and the woman is unconscious. Once Teddy’s eyes fully focus, he recognizes the woman on the exam table: his ex-wife, Vivian. Teddy’s head is swimming as he attempts to process what is happening. Teddy moves his head to look straight ahead of him to get more familiar with his surroundings; to his horror, he sees bodies hanging on meat hooks by their ankles; large buckets are underneath the bodies to catch the blood. “What the fuck,” Teddy says out loud, his voice echoes. Teddy attempts to move his hands, but cannot. Teddy looks down to see why he cannot move his hands. Looking down, he sees his hands tied together with zip ties. He tries to move them, but Teddy can’t. Teddy looks up at Megan, then slightly to his right at his ex-wife, then straight ahead at the dead bodies hanging like meat. He starts screaming again.
A coldness envelops him quickly, and he stops screaming. Teddy hears footsteps behind him; this is the bearer of the coldness. They step around him. It is the small man, Sammy, yet something is different about him now. He has no glasses, yet his eyes are still as big as those in his glasses and are fully red. His skin is paler, his bald head glows in the dim lights of the basement, and he wears all black. “I’m sorry, Teddy, we can’t get to know each other better before I have to bring you down here.” He walks around him and stands in front of him in silence. “What exactly is going on here?” Teddy asks.
“Teddy, you are part of a revolution, my friend; my kind have been in the shadows for centuries,” Sammy says. “Your kind”? Teddy asks. “Yes”! Sammy says passionately. Teddy looks past Sam, his eyes focused on the men hanging like meat over buckets, and he looks back at Sammy. “What are you”? Teddy asks. Sammy finally smiles fully, revealing his sharp, stained red fangs like a good doctor. “I’m the Master, the last of the ancient order of vampires of Draconian, the first vampires created by our father Vlad; you know him better as Dracula,” Sammy explains. Teddy looks at him in amazement, then laughs. “You’re just some nut job playing a vampire; they don’t exist; you need help, brother,” Teddy continues. Sammy chuckles again, then smiles, showing off his fangs. When Sammy is done smiling, he says, “I knew you wouldn’t believe me, so” he walks close to Teddy. “I’ll have to show you that I’m not nuts!” Sammy reaches out his pale right hand, touching Teddy’s head. His hand is cold to the touch, and Teddy is pulled into darkness, then through a tunnel of time.
Flying through Sammy’s memories, Teddy sees his humbling beginning as a farm boy in Transylvania, the death of his mother at the age of ten, his drafting into battle for Vlad’s campaign against the Turks, and how Vlad makes a deal with an ancient evil, Bael, to win his crusade against the Turks. Sammy becomes one of the immortals when he drinks Vlad’s blood the night before a battle against the Turks. Vlad rises to power with Sammy at his side. Vlad falls to the Christian Crusaders some years after becoming a tyrant. Vlad allows Sammy to escape to continue the order of Draconcin. Vlad is beheaded and placed on a wooden stake, and Vlad’s body is burned to keep Vlad from returning from the grave. Vlad foretells his return in a prophecy by the ancient evil that turns him into a vampire.
Sammy then takes Teddy through the centuries, showing the order of Draconcin’s place in historical events and its influence on certain events. Eventually, in the early 20th century, humanity discovers that order exists as a shadow player in world events, and a human campaign emerges to eradicate it, culminating in World War I. Many lives are lost on both sides fighting, as humans discover how to kill vampires more quickly, thanks to the extensive literature on the creatures written over the centuries. With the use of trial and error, they can eventually get the upper hand on the vampire clans. The world’s governments conceal the truth from the global population, presenting the Great War as a conflict between the Allies and the Central Powers, rather than humans fighting for their existence against an ancient evil. After four years of fighting, a peace deal between both sides leads to this moment: vampires being forced into hiding as part of the deal and forced into feeding on those persons whom political leaders at all levels of government around the world tell them to feast on; no more hunting, just being fed those persons that the government deems unworthy to live. Rogue vampire clans have continued to hunt illegally for decades. Still, they are quickly put down by the world’s military, trained to fight the vampires and exterminate them quickly. Sammy’s vision reveals his plan for Teddy: to turn him into a vampire because, as indicated by signs in Teddy’s blood, he is the human reincarnation of Vlad. Teddy’s blood test shows signs of the ancient vampiric curse that creates the vampire race. Teddy will soon become the new leader of a vampire revolution against humans who have enslaved them. Teddy snaps out of the time travel adventure; he immediately pukes from the experience of flying through time.
Teddy’s puke is green with specks of meat from last night’s dinner. Sammy rubs Teddy’s head gently. “Easy, my child; I know it’s a lot to see quickly, but time is of the essence.” Rune enters the chamber, and the smell of death and decay comes with him. “I will attend to Mr. and Mrs. Williams; please, along with the good doctor, prepare your sister for the ceremony,” Sammy orders Rune. Rune nods at his Master and then growls; he lumbers over to the unconscious Megan. Rune lifts Megan like a sack of potatoes and throws her over his shoulders; her soft blonde hair lies on his dirty trench coat. Megan’s arms and legs dangle limply while Rune exits the chamber. “And Rune, dress her for the occasion; it is a celebration,” Sammy calls after Rune joyfully. Rune growls back in response.
VIII
Sammy, aka the Master Vampire of the Order of Draconian, admires himself naked in front of the tall mirror. Contrary to popular belief, vampires can project a reflection in a mirror. Vampires don’t project a reflection when they choose not to. Sammy sees how centuries have caught up with him, and he sees it now more than ever before as he looks at himself in the mirror. Sammy’s pale body is scarred and battered from the hundreds of battles with the Grand Master of the Order of Vlad’s Draconian, whom Sammy helped defeat the Turks centuries ago. Sammy has been involved in wars since the 15th century. Sammy has been personally involved in every major battle in the world’s conflicts since the 15th century, including the American, French, and Russian Revolutions, among others, as vampire clans have a vested interest in creating new nations to expand food supplies for vampires worldwide. After centuries in hiding, humanity discovers the existence of Dracicon and, in turn, the existence of vampires, which becomes a cause of World War I in 1914. Sammy is one of the major players who fight in the Great War, which prevents humanity from permanently wiping out vampires from the face of the earth. After four years of fighting, the two sides reached a peace agreement. The peace deal negotiated requires the Dracoion Order to split into small, worldwide clans to prevent any one clan from growing too powerful. Sammy negotiates to bring the last remaining members of his clan to New York City, where he fights hard to secure a deal with the State of New York to keep his kind protected and alive for generations to come. All his negotiations are a means of keeping his clan intact until the chosen one appears to fulfill the prophecy of Vald’s return. Sammy’s vampires are given the right by the State of New York to feed off the sick and insane in the asylums of New York City; when Federal Laws are passed to stop the cruel treatment of those with psychological issues, the state changes the feeding population for the vampires. The population becomes Immigrants living in the slums of NYC; then, when the Great Depression hits, it is the homeless population, which continues to be today, with those in the shelter system added sometime later in the 20th century. Sammy and his clan lived on North Brother Island in the East River from 1919 to 1981, residing in a cave and subsisting on waste from Riverside Hospital. This hospital treated persons with infectious diseases, most notably typhoid fever, from 1881 to 1943. Over the years, the island has also provided housing for World War II veterans and offered drug rehabilitation services to youths. These residences also serve as food for Sammy’s clan. When the city condemns Brother’s Islands due to infrastructure issues, Sammy’s clan is moved to the Steps for a Better Life program to build
IX
Sammy hunts secretly for food and lovers to grow his clan. Despite his best efforts, clan members have gone rogue over the decades, hunting openly and unable to tame their animal instincts. They are seen and exterminated to protect the human population from panicking. Now only three remain of Sammy’s clan as he dresses himself in his finest attire and prepares himself for the return of Vlad, the father of them all. Those three are Rune, his lone hellspawn that has survived for decades, and Doctor Davis, a doctor whom Sammy meets in 1930, who discovers Sammy’s clan cave. Doctor Davis pledges allegiance to Sammy, driven by the Doctor’s desire for immortality. Doctor Davis proves useful decades after joining the clan. The Doctor’s medical expertise is vital to the clan’s survival, as the Doctor can purify the blood of the sickest victims in the city, allowing the clan to feed on them, which is all the city allows the vampires to feed on. Megan is the last of Sammy’s clan; Sammy initially seeks her out as a bride after seeing her leaving a restaurant on the Upper West Side in the 1960s. When he spots her, Sammy takes one of his night flights to clear his mind. Sammy follows her home and observes her for the next few evenings. From those observations, Sammy determines that Megan would be better as a clan member than as a bride; a bride is a sex object, and Megan is much more valuable than that. Sammy turns Megan into a vampire a few nights later, with her consent, with her beauty and medical knowledge. Megan is a valuable clan member, but her partying antics can also be a thorn in the clan’s side. Sammy looks at himself in the mirror; this is not to reminisce about the bad times, but to celebrate the return of the good times.
Noah notices the dark figure as he approaches the cardboard box that has become his home. The figure is six feet tall, wearing a long black trench coat, a fedora, and long black locks down to its broad shoulders. Noah stops and stares. He squints for a better look. “Heya dumb ass, this is my spot,” he exclaims with a drunken slur. “Get your own spots, motherfucker,” he continues, yelling at the figure as he stumbles forward. The dark figure does not move; it stands like a statue. “Get your spots,” Noah screams again. He rummages through his ratty jacket pocket and pulls out an empty beer bottle. Without thinking, Noah flings the bottle at the figure. As it flies through the air, the figure doesn’t move. When the bottle nears the figure’s head, the figure, with one smooth movement, snatches the bottle out of the air with its right hand and crushes it effortlessly. The glass explodes, shattering into shards throughout the alley. The figure growls. A harsh, demonic sound rips from its throat, making Noah’s blood run cold. The figure growls louder as it moves closer. The growl pierces Noah’s ears and sets off car alarms for a city block. Noah sticks his fingers in his ears and watches as the figure floats off the ground and flies toward him. Noah tries to scream, but nothing comes out. As the monster gets closer, Noah can smell death. The figure grabs Noah by the neck with such force that Noah’s neck breaks, killing him instantly. The figure flies into the night with a demonic growl.
II
Ted “Teddy” Williams stands in front of the carbuncle building that is to house him and one hundred and twenty-five other homeless addicts and veterans for the foreseeable future. “Serve your country, get addicted to crack, and they put you up in a condemned building to live.” He says to himself as he rolls his bag up the broken concrete steps. The outside of the building reeks of death, and he can’t wait to see and smell the inside of it. Teddy walks through the splintered wooden door into the dank, darkened, cavernous building. The old school building sits only a few blocks from the Hudson River. Built in the late 1920s, the school was a haven for happy children until the 1970s, when all classes were discontinued. The city relocates the school to a brand-new building, four blocks from its original location.
The city does not want to waste space, so the city makes the old school building a shelter catering to people without homes and veterans of war who have become addicted to drugs and/or alcohol in the 1980s, when the crack epidemic was at its height. The city officials knock down walls to accommodate dorms and meeting rooms for therapeutic services. “Hello,” Teddy calls in the hallway as loudly as he can. His voice echoes back, and no one answers. Teddy walks straight ahead to the door, which used to be the old principal’s office and is now the program’s main office, as indicated by the name on the door. As he approaches, he hears a woman’s voice scolding someone. “We give you and the Master enough food here; what in your lives made you think it was okay to pick one off the streets”? The African American woman is tall in stature and presence. Yet, the figure in the black trench coat and fedora dwarfs her in size. “And the worst of it is, there are witnesses who saw you flying out of the alley with a dirtbag,” the woman continues. “The mayor and city hall are having a PR nightmare trying to explain what happened and keep the public from panicking over what the witnesses saw.” The woman does her best not to let her voice get too loud. “This is worse than your sister partying with the governor’s son and feeding off of him; at least we could keep that under wraps, and the son survived.” The woman continues, pinching the bridge of her nose. “If you or any of your kind are caught picking victims off the streets again, the city council, the mayor’s office, and Albany all say the deal is off, and you know what it means: no food for any of your kind.” She looks up at the figure, putting her finger to his face. The figure doesn’t move; it just nods. “Hello,” Teddy calls into the office. The woman looks at the door, startled, then looks down at her watch. She mumbles, “Shit”! and then says, “One second, Mr. Williams.” She looks at the figure and says, “Now go and tell the Master what I said. That is an order, not a request,” from the tone in the woman’s voice. The tall figure nods again, turns around, and exits the office by the attached door on its left.
Before the figure leaves, it lets out an unholy growl and shuts the door behind it. “Come in,” the lady says, sitting at her desk. Teddy enters and catches a whiff of something rotten, like a decomposing body. “Sorry about the smell, Mr. Williams. Some of our clients have hygiene problems, and the man just here needed another talk about it.” Teddy wrinkles his nose and thinks, “It smells like they died and forgot to lie down.” He moves quickly to the desk, where the lady sits. Teddy sits in the provided steel chair, holding his bag beside him. He smiles at the lady.
“Mr. Williams, I’m Kelly Nash, program director of Steps to a Better Life. We work with the city to help our clients get clean, stay clean, and become productive members of society.” She smiles and pulls his folder closer. With her left hand, she picks up her glasses and puts them on. She opens his folder with her right hand. “I see you come to us from Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Before that, you did two tours in Afghanistan.” She looks at him and says, “Thank you for your service.” Teddy nods at her. Ms. Nash glances through the rest of Teddy’s file, noting his crack addiction, his lost ten-year marriage, the death of his parents, and his brother’s terminal cancer two years ago, which ended with his brother’s death within a year.
“You’ve had a hard several years, Mr. Williams. You found your answer in crack,” Ms. Nash says. Teddy nods. Ms. Nash folds her hands. “Well, Mr. Williams, here at Steps to a Better Life, we don’t tolerate drug use. If you are caught using drugs on the premises, your stay ends. You’ll be sent into the city shelter system, which is worse than this place.” Teddy nods again. “This place isn’t ideal,” she adds, gesturing around the office. The walls are peeling, the ceiling is falling in some places, and there is black mold in others. “But it’s ours, and we’re here to help you. If you do everything as we suggest, you’ll live a beautiful life.” Ms. Nash smiles. Teddy nods.
III
Teddy’s dorm is on the third floor, where twenty men share a room, and Teddy is on the top bunk. The program rules stipulate that clients must make their beds promptly at 7:00 am. Breakfast is served at 7:30 am, and the day’s first group is scheduled for 8:30 am in either the old teachers’ lounge, cafeteria, or several classrooms on the first and second floors. Groups go to lunch at noon, with two smoke breaks. After lunch, there are three smoke breaks among the afternoon groups. Free time runs from 4 pm to 5:30 pm, when dinner starts. There is more free time after dinner until 7 pm. The incoming AA or NA group speaks for an hour, followed by another block of free time until 10 pm. Lights out are at 11 pm on weekdays. Lights out is midnight on weekends.
Teddy is on lockdown for his first 30 days; during that time, he receives medical checkups and psych evaluations from on-site doctors. After 30 days, with the doctor’s and psychologist’s approval and a valid reason, Teddy can leave the building for 2 hours. As Teddy reaches the 60-, 90-, and 120-day marks, two more hours are added to Teddy’s pass time outside the facility; by six months, Teddy is allowed a full day’s pass under the terms of making at least one group in-house and attending either the in-house or the outside 12-step meeting. By nine months, Teddy is allowed overnight passes; under the terms, he must provide the name, address, and phone number of the person he is staying with. Teddy is required to attend one group meeting before leaving on a pass, attend an outside 12-step meeting, and provide proof of attendance at both. Teddy is assigned a caseworker to help him find housing, employment, education, and other necessary resources. Teddy is subjected to drug testing during his treatment stay; all clients under six months are tested twice a week on Mondays and a randomized day during the week. When Teddy reaches six months in the program, he is subjected to random drug testing at any time the program requests it. When Teddy reaches nine months in the program, he can pick the day to be drug tested, as he has gained a level of trust at this point in his program. No females are allowed in the facility. The other rules include that no drugs, alcohol, weapons, razors, or blunt objects are permitted on the premises. No cell phones are allowed for the first six months. Visitors are welcome to visit the last week of the month and meet their client in the common area from 12 pm to 4 pm on the weekend of their visit. You will be immediately discharged and referred to a city shelter if you break any rules. Teddy has no plans to be discharged; he plans to do the right thing, play by the rules, have no problems, and get his life and his wife back.
As Teddy rolls his bag down the long, dimly lit hallway, he feels like he is in an abandoned building, like the buildings Teddy used to sleep in when he was getting high. No one returns to the rooms until after 4 pm for free time. Though no one is on the floor, Teddy turns quickly to look behind him. Nothing is there. Teddy feels as if he is being watched, but nobody is there. “This place is creepy; it feels like I’m in a Stephen King novel.” Teddy thinks to himself as he continues to walk down the poorly lit hallway; the wheels on Teddy’s bag squeak as he rolls it, and his sneakers click on the cement floor.
The smell of rotten flesh seeps into Teddy’s nose as he walks down the long, creepy hallway. Teddy stops in his tracks, sniffs the air, and gags from the smell of rotten flesh hanging in the hallway, just like he had smelled in the office earlier that day. Teddy catches a glimpse of a dark figure from the corner of his right eye as he looks down the hallway opposite him. Teddy has seen the figure before and heard its ungodly growl in Ms. Nash’s office. Teddy freezes and closes his eyes because the figure is not a client with a hygiene problem. Teddy’s eyes are closed tight, yet the growling behind him continues and gets closer. The smell is overpowering; it smells as if the figure just exited the grave and does not know it is dead. Teddy places his right hand on the small silver crucifix around his neck, clutches it, and says a little prayer. The growling gets close enough to be right in Teddy’s left ear; the smell of death is so close to Teddy that he can taste it. A door opens, then slams suddenly; the smell and growling disappear with the slam. Teddy opens his eyes to see a man in a white lab coat standing with a folder. “Mr. Williams, I’m Doctor Davis. Nice to meet you,” the Doctor says with a smile. The Doctor’s teeth are stained red, and Teddy swears his back teeth are sharp like knives—fangs, if you want to be more accurate.
IV
As Teddy nicknames him, Dr. Stained Teeth shows Teddy to his dorm, which is cold, dank, and in total disrepair, like the rest of the building. The city has broken down the classroom walls, extending them to accommodate clients in large dormitories. The city does this to the classrooms on the first, second, and third floors. The fourth floor is the medical floor, where you meet with your caseworker once a week. The basement is off-limits to all clients and most staff, except for the program director, Dr. Davis (also known as Dr. Stained Teeth), his nurse, the psychologist, and the facility’s janitors. Teddy places his bag by his bunk, noticing the room’s sadness and emptiness, which depresses him. Dr. Stained Teeth stands in the dorm doorway, watching everything Teddy does to settle into the room. Teddy feels Dr. Stained Teeth’s icy-blue eyes burning into his soul as he watches Teddy settle in like a guard dog watching its backyard. Once Teddy settles himself in the room, Dr. Stained Teeth escorts him to the fourth floor. Teddy notices that all the windows in the facility are blacked out, preventing sunlight from reaching the floors or entering the dormitories. The only light source is dim fluorescent lights that flood the hallways and rooms. These lights give the facility a haunted house vibe.
As Teddy and Dr. Stained Teeth walk to the medical floor, they pass the hallway where Teddy saw the figure that smelled like a rotten corpse. Teddy glances down the hallway to a set of exit doors leading into one of the facility’s stairwells; Teddy swears he sees the same figure from before standing behind the doors, peering out at Teddy and Dr. Stained Teeth with glowing red eyes. Teddy stops, closes his eyes, and opens them again. Nothing is there, only the exit doors sitting closed, bathed in the poor lighting of the hallway lights. “I must still be hallucinating from the withdrawals from the alcohol and drugs,” Teddy thinks to himself. Dr. Stained Teeth leads Teddy down the hallway and up a staircase to the fourth floor. Hoping for the best, Teddy is disappointed: the medical office looks like it is from the 1970s, and the equipment is too. Dr. Stained Teeth walks over to his desk and sits down; a pretty, petite blonde emerges from the attached room as he sits.
Teddy smiles, and she smiles back as she approaches Dr. Stained Teeth with a folder in hand. “Megan, this is Mr. Williams,” Dr. Stained Teeth says to her as she sits her perfectly tight ass on the desk, crosses her legs, and hands the Doctor the folder. The blonde turns her head around and smiles at Teddy. “Hi,” she says. Teddy nods; his mind goes to other places, like banging the nurse named Megan in the ass right here in this office. “Megan, if you could please get the blood test ready for Mr. Williams, I’d like to allow Mr. Williams to eat dinner.” Megan nods at the good Doctor, hops off his desk, and proceeds to wiggle her tight ass back into the room from which she came to get the blood test ready. Dr. Stained Teeth speaks to Teddy, but in Teddy’s mind, he is finishing cum in Nurse Hottie’s ass, and she is calling Teddy “Daddy.” Teddy smiles at this thought when he finally notices Dr. Stained Teeth waving his hands and snapping his fingers to get his attention. “Sorry, I got lost there, a second doctor, what did you say”? Dr. Stained Teeth smiles. “Don’t worry; it always happens when Megan is around.” The Doctor smiles; those reddish teeth give Teddy chills as he looks at them from the other side of the desk.
V
“Just a little pinch,” Megan says with a thousand-watt smile as she plunges the needle into Teddy’s arm. Her teeth are perfectly white. “Thank God,” Teddy thinks to himself. Having Megan close makes Teddy hard. It feels like a rock between his legs right now. “Nurse,” Teddy says with a little squeak in his voice. Teddy is 35, but sounds like a teen in puberty. He feels like one in her presence as well. “Yes, honey,” Megan says, looking at Teddy. Teddy doesn’t know he can get any harder down there, yet he does.
Teddy takes a few moments to choose his words carefully, “Umm, Doctor Davis, I don’t mean to sound nasty, but why are his teeth reddish?” Megan looks at him thoughtfully and chuckles. “Oh, that,” she says as she approaches Teddy’s arm with the needle and another blood tube to collect more blood. “He’s on this juicing diet; whatever juice he drinks is reddish-brown.” She gently removes the filled blood tube and replaces it with the empty one, placing the filled one on the counter next to her. “I’ve been telling him he needs to buy some teeth whitening strips because he’s freaking out the clients with those red teeth of his,” she continues with a chuckle. Once the fresh blood tube is filled, Megan gently removes the needle from Teddy’s arm and places a cotton ball and bandage in the crease of the arm where she draws the blood. “Well,” Megan says with a smile. “We are all done here, babe; get something to eat and rest,” Megan adds. Teddy smiles and gets up; he can still feel the erection in his pants as he walks out of the room. Teddy leaves, and Megan stands there momentarily when the supply room door creaks open. The dark figure, the smell of certain death hanging in the air, stands there for a moment. He then approaches Megan with a slow, purposeful step. “That was quick,” Megan says to the figure. The figure speaks to Megan in an ancient language. Megan understands what the figure says. Megan hands Teddy’s blood tubes to the imposing figure standing before her.
“And I liked him too,” she says, handing over the tubes. The figure responds with a growl. She looks at the figure unfazed and says, “Remember who the pretty one is, brother dear; I don’t think the Master would like your tone of voice with me, and let’s not forget your little hunting party last night has pissed off the city.” The figure stands there, towering over Megan for a moment, its red eyes peering down at her. Without a word, the figure turns around, leaving the same door through which it came. The figure enters the supply room doorway; it clasps Teddy’s blood tubes in its mangled hands. Before the door closes, the figure says in broken English, “Beware of ego, dear Megan; it has been the demise of many of our kind.” The figure closes the door behind it. Megan rolls her eyes, walks to the medical fridge, and removes a clear red container. Megan opens the container and smells its contents; her eyes blink shut. Her eyes are red when she opens them again, and her fangs have retracted from her mouth. “This, dear brother Rune, is how sophisticated vampires drink blood in the modern world.” Megan lifts the container symbolically towards the supply room door, saying “Prost,” and drinks the blood.
VI
Teddy returns to the dorm around four thirty to find most of his roommates there. Whispers follow him as he walks to his bunk in the middle of the dorm. “Hello, bunkie,” a tiny pale man with no neck says, introducing himself to Teddy. His glasses make his eyes look like oversized drink coasters, and his skin is pale; Teddy assumes he is a ginger with a red goatee and a clean-shaven head. “My name is Sammy,” the man continues, extending his hand to Teddy. “Teddy,” Teddy replies, shaking Sammy’s hand; Sammy’s hand is cold to the touch. “Sorry about the cold hand; I’m anemic,” Sammy says with a grin. Teddy nods and says, “It’s okay; they say cold hands, warm heart.” Teddy chuckles. Sammy grins, refusing to expose his smile to Teddy. After Teddy and he are done shaking hands, Sammy says with a chuckle, “Welcome to the DUMP!” Teddy does not laugh at his comment. Sammy stops chuckling, seeing that Teddy does not find the remark funny. “This place isn’t that bad; we eat well, and you get help,” Sammy says seriously as he sits back down on their bunk. “I’m planning on doing whatever they tell me to do,” Teddy responds as he looks down at his bunkmate. “Well, you better do what they say, my man; they quickly boot people out for the littlest infractions,” Sammy responds, pausing momentarily. Sammy clicks his tongue, then adds, “Just keep your nose clean, and you won’t have any issues; play by the rules.” Teddy nods. “I’ve been here almost nine months, and I’ve seen more than thirty people booted to the shelter system, never to be seen again,” Sammy continues in a low whisper. “That’s odd,” Teddy responds in a low tone. “Yeah, this guy Carl is my bunkie about three months ago. He gets booted for sneaking in beer, which is wrong, but that’s not my point; he asks me to hold his computer until he gets settled at the city shelter.”
Sammy says he pauses for effect. Teddy leans closer, interested in Sammy’s story. Seeing Teddy’s interest in the subject, Sammy continues. “Well, I still have the computer Carl asked me to hold for him, but when I ask the staff here which shelter Carl is referred to, I am told it is against program policy,” Sammy continues. “Really, but doesn’t everyone have to go to the main shelter on Thirty Street to get first-time assistance and a home shelter”? Teddy asks. “Yes, that’s what one of the other clients here told me, so I went down to Thirty Street with the computer,” Sammy responds. He pauses and looks around to ensure no one else is listening. Teddy looks around as well. “And so what happens?” Teddy asks, but no one is paying attention to the conversation. They are too busy keeping to themselves. Sammy continues, “When I ask about Carl King at Thirty Street, they say they have no record of him, and this program here hasn’t yet referred anyone to them for shelter assistance.” Teddy feels a cold chill go down his spine at this statement. A school bell rings, breaking the tension. The school bell signals to the students that it is time to start lining up for dinner.
As the dinner bell rings, Rune walks toward the Master’s chamber in the off-limits basement area of the facility. Rune walks through the dark, dank basement with the tubes of Teddy’s blood gripped tightly in his mangled right hand. As Rune approaches what was once the boiler room door and now the Master’s chambers, he stops for a second and looks at the containers of blood in his mangled right hand. Rune’s red eyes stare at the tubes for a moment. When Rune feels Teddy’s presence in Nash’s office early in the day, he feels something is special about Teddy. So Rune decides to hide in the small office attached to Nash’s office to smell Teddy’s aura and ensure his feelings are right. When Rune first feels Teddy, he senses that Teddy is special to the vampire race. Rune smells Teddy’s aura more closely from behind the closed door in the office attached to Nash’s. Teddy Williams is special in some way, but Rune is not sure how, so he lets the Master know immediately of his findings. The Master immediately contacts Dr. Stained Teeth, a vampire. He lets him know that Megan needs to draw blood from Teddy immediately. Rune looks at the blood tubes, growls, and enters the door leading into the Master’s Chambers. Once inside the room, Rune feels the Master’s presence close by. Rune is forever telepathically connected to the Master. The Master appears in the chamber, emerging from a puff of red mist, the Master’s means of travel when handling other important matters outside and within the facility. The Master stands in silence after his sudden appearance within the chamber; he knows that Rune is waiting for him. The Master has his eyes closed, his white hands held behind his back; the Master longs for the past. When the vampire race doesn’t have to hide in the shadows, they can kill on the streets as they please and are not controlled and forced to suppress their animalistic natures. Before the Great War, vampires were not relegated to hiding in shadows or making deals with humans to feed on those deemed suitable for consumption. Before the Great War, vampires could feed on whomever they wanted, whenever they wanted; it was a beautiful time for the vampiric race. The Master hopes for a change, a power shift. The Master can feel the ancient prophecy predicting the return of the strong vampire leader, Vlad, growing closer in his non-beating heart. These prophecies foretell that a great vampire leader will be born into the human race and rise to power in the twenty-first century, leading the vampire race out of darkness and into the light, becoming apex predators again.
“Master,” Rune says. The Master’s red eyes open. “Do you have it?” The Master asks Rune, his voice cold and deep. “Yes, Master, I will take the samples from Megan as soon as the blood is taken from him, as you ordered,” Rune responds. “Good, good,” the Master replies; he turns towards Rune and puts his pale white hand out for the tubes. Rune approaches the Master and puts the tubes into the Master’s cold, dead hand. Rune reveres the creature who makes him a vampire; he sees the Master as his father, and the Master sees him as his son. “Perfect, my son, and if you’re right about what you feel and smell, we no longer have to hide in the shadows; we’ll have our leader as promised”! The Master says, his voice reverberating through the chamber. Rune nods, then asks, “How will we know”? “Well, my son, the old masters leave writings on how to test the blood of humans, so find our chosen leader who will help us overcome humankind once and for all,” the Master replies. The Master pauses, then adds, “We have to run some tests on the blood samples to find out if the blood is vampiric despite him being human, but first, we must check on the fresh harvest for us to feed.” The Master places the blood tubes on a tiny table beside him. The Master then walks toward the back of the chamber, leaving the blood tubes on the table for safekeeping. Rune follows the Master like an obedient dog. The duo walks to the back of the chamber, with Rune following behind his Master.
In the back of the chamber, hanging on meat hooks, are three male bodies, nude, pale white, hanging upside down. Noah Crawley is one of the bodies; he hangs from the meat hook by his ankles, the hooks protruding through them, his weight held up by the tendons in his ankles. Noah’s throat and wrist are slit open, and his body hangs over a massive bucket in which his blood is draining for later feedings; the bucket is overfilled with blood. The other bodies are in a similar state to Noah’s; they are those of two former Steps for Better Life clients, and their blood has not yet been fully drained. The Master walks up to Noah’s body. “Looks to me like Mr. Crawley has bled out all the way,” the Master says to Rune, looking down at the bucket overflowing with blood. The Master then places his right hand, pale white, onto Noah’s throat and squeezes it as a way of testing if there is more blood in the body. No more blood comes out when Noah’s neck is squeezed.
The Master removes his hand from Noah’s body; his pale white hand is covered in blood from the open gash on Noah’s throat. “You can remove Mr. Crawley from the hooks and put his body into the incinerator; he is done milking.” The Master directs the order to Rune, who growls and nods. The Master brings his bloody hand to his mouth and licks up the blood with his black tongue; he moans with pleasure at its taste. Blood tastes so much better from hunting the prey; the victim’s fear gives the blood a better taste than the blood of victims that humans pick for slaughter; the blood tastes spoiled and rotten from lack of fear. The Master walks past the other two bodies; they are still draining, blood still pouring into the buckets under their bodies.
The Master walks past the bodies hanging from the meat hooks to the chamber’s far end, where the Master vampire has installed a small lab. The Master enters the lab area and then looks down at a nude woman lying on her back, strapped down to an exam table. The human prey on the exam table, the Master on his own, is fetched once Rune tells the Master what he senses about Teddy Williams. It is a pleasure to be on the hunt again; as an ancient vampire, the Master hunts naturally. The woman has been drugged; she is in her 30s and has a body that any actress in Hollywood wants at that age, and she is all natural. The Master walks up to the unconscious woman and runs his cold, dead hands down her body, playing with her breasts. She groans and looks at him with misty eyes. She can only keep her head up for a few seconds, and then it falls limp again. “Soon, my dear, we will know the role you’ll play in this matter,” The Master tells her as he tenderly touches the woman’s face. “You’ll either be a sacrifice to help our kind rise again,” The Master pauses. He looks at the woman’s ample body and smiles, bearing his fangs. Vampires lust for ample women to bear them hellspawn. “Or,” the Master pauses to run his cold hand down her body to her private parts and fondle them. The Master stops fondling her, his cold hand resting on her warm private area.
“Or you’ll be my new bride and bear me many new hellspawn just like my boy dear Rune here,” the Master adds. Rune looks on at his Master. Rune himself is, in fact, a hellspawn, born decades ago from the Master’s rape of a young, ample virgin who is a silent film star in Hollywood on vacation in New York City. Rune does not know much about the woman who gives him life, except that she is German and an actress; she dies when Rune is young, possibly murdered by the Master. Rune now watches his Master with a possible new lover, and he gives the Master a few moments to fondle the woman on the exam table. When Rune feels enough time has passed, he asks the Master, “What’s the next phase?” The Master stands a moment, staring at the unconscious woman. “We test the blood of Mr. Williams. And if you are correct.” The Master pauses; he uses his black tongue to lick up the blood on the side of his mouth, and then continues speaking. “We’ll reunite the Williams to begin the ritual,” the Master says, lovingly petting the woman’s head. The Master then looks to Rune and smiles.
VII
Teddy eats dinner and wonders where Sammy has disappeared. Sammy disappears after the bell rings for dinner, and none of the clients are willing to say where he goes. As Teddy eats dinner, Rune burns Crawley’s body as instructed, and the Master performs an ancient vampirism test on Teddy’s blood. Meanwhile, Dr. Stained Teeth ensures Vivian Williams remains heavily sedated, and Megan gets ready for a night out on the town, possibly including a hunt of her own. Teddy runs back to Sammy after dinner. When Teddy asks Sammy why he isn’t at dinner, Sammy explains that those clients can get food to go at 9 months with special permission, so he’s doing that for dinner tonight at his favorite Chinese place near the program. Teddy cannot wait to reach that level and regain that sense of freedom. Teddy attends an AA meeting with Sammy and then watches a vampire movie in the common room. “Which do you prefer, the scary, ugly vampires or the sexy, suave vampires?” Teddy asks Sammy. “Both,” Sammy responds to the question. Teddy finds the answer interesting, as he thinks vampires should be scary. “So, Gary Oldman in Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula?” Teddy asks. Sammy thinks for a moment, and his eyes fixate on the TV, where the sexy female vampire with large, juicy breasts is in the middle of seducing the hero of the movie with her lustful nature.
“Yes, vampires are the epitome of lust and death, the perfect combination of showcasing the dangers of the allure of lust and the fear that lust can lead to death.” The sexy vampire on the TV draws the hero into her voluptuous body. The hero’s face exhibits lust as his body rubs against the vampire’s large breast—the hero moans as the vampire licks his left ear. The camera angles frame the female vampire’s face, which is currently angelic and full of lust. The camera stays on her face as she licks the hero’s ear again. As the female’s tongue dives into the hero’s ear canal, her eyes flash red, and her fangs emerge from her mouth. In the shot, the movie goes into a commercial. “Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” Sammy says, getting up from the ratty black leather couch he is sitting on. Teddy chuckles. “It is not over yet.” Teddy pauses to look at the clock on the wall.
“It’s got an hour left,” Teddy adds. “Well, I have an early day tomorrow, and I want to keep it on the happy note of the vampiress getting her prey,” Sammy says. “Vampiress”? Teddy asks. “That’s how you address a female vampire; she is a vampiress,” Sammy answers, looking down at Teddy through his glasses. Teddy could swear his eyes are red in the light of the common room. “You know a lot about vampires,” Teddy remarks. Sammy grins, again refusing to show his teeth. “I’m interested in the occult; this place helps reinforce my interest; you’ll experience the things that go bump in the night if you stay long enough,” Sammy says spookily. “I already have,” Teddy thinks to himself. The smell of the rotten corpse that stalked him earlier in the day is still in his nostrils. “Enjoy the rest of the movie; I sure hope the vampire wins,” Sammy says, walking with his arms behind his back to the doorway of the common room. Teddy takes his eyes off Sammy for a moment. Teddy looks back to ask Sammy another question, but he is gone. The vampire does not win. Teddy awakes at 1:30 am with an overwhelming urge to pee. His only choice is to hold the pee until morning or climb down the creaky ladder as carefully as possible without falling and waking his bunkie, who is asleep when Teddy returns to the room.
Sammy is fully under the covers when Teddy enters the room at 9:45 pm. The way Sammy covers himself under the covers reminds Teddy of how he slept to hide from the monsters in the room as a kid. Teddy has no choice but to use the bathroom. He cannot hold his urine for another five hours. Once Teddy is safely on the ground after climbing the creaky ladder, he tiptoes out of the dorm and into the dimly lit hallway. While walking in the hallway this afternoon, Teddy thinks he is in a horror movie. Tonight is even worse. The hallway is almost dark, lit only by dim light; the building creaks as Teddy walks down it. Teddy feels that the twins from The Shining will appear as he walks down the hallway and ask him to play with them forever. Teddy walks cautiously down the hall; he feels a cold wind at his back as he reaches the bathroom door. Teddy looks in both directions but sees no windows to account for the cold wind he feels. “What the hell,” Teddy thinks, pushing open the door to the bathroom. Teddy enters the bathroom, feels for the light switch on the wall, and flips the switch. Once he finds it, they don’t go on. “Of course,” Teddy mumbles under his breath. Walking mindlessly into the darkened bathroom, he feels his way to the toilet stall, using his hands to guide him.
He goes to the first stall. Once Teddy finds it, he opens the door and enters the stall. The door closes behind him automatically; the slam startles him, as it is louder than expected. “I’m too jumpy,” Teddy says out loud to himself. Teddy unbuttons his jogging pants, pulls his genitals out of his underwear, then lets out a sigh of relief as he releases a massive piss into the toilet. As his muscles relax, he closes his eyes and feels relief as his aging bladder empties. Teddy hears the bathroom door open, then a woman’s high heels clicking on the bathroom’s tile floor.
From behind, a woman’s cold, soft hands wrap around him. The female whispers in his ear, “I know you wanted me from when you saw me this afternoon.” The sultry voice whispers in Teddy’s ear. He turns around slowly and looks into Megan’s eyes. Megan wraps her hands around his neck, leans in, and kisses him on the lips. Her lips are soft, yet cold, but the kiss is passionate, fueled by the heat between them. “Fuck me, daddy”! Megan screams. Teddy looks at her; it is dark, yet he can see the outline of that beautiful face; her eyes are red. “You want to do this here in the men’s bathroom”? Teddy asks her; his penis is already becoming a full-blown erection as Megan pulls him closer to her firm body. There is no question in Teddy’s mind that this is real and not a dream, and he doesn’t care about his ex-wife or getting back with her at that moment.
“Yes, right here, baby,” Megan says passionately, pulling Teddy close. He feels Megan’s pelvis rub against his. Teddy’s erection grows larger. Megan and Teddy rip each other’s clothes off and then lie on the cold, damp floor of the men’s bathroom within moments. Their bodies rock in perfect rhythm with each other as they work together, gyrating to come to an ideal climax together. Megan screams Teddy’s name at the top of her lungs; Teddy screams in ecstasy as he lets go of his sperm into Megan’s tight pussy. When done climaxing from the sex, Teddy is breathing extremely hard after the sex session, like he has climbed up to the peak of Mt. Everest with no oxygen.
Teddy and Megan lie in each other’s arms, and Megan gently runs her tongue along the nape of Teddy’s neck, kissing it slowly up and down. “Do you want me to bite you?” She asks with a giggle. “To leave a hickey,” he asks with a laugh. “Kind of like that,” she says, rubbing her nose into his neck. “Sure,” he says. Teddy smells Rune before he sees him. Megan screams when she is lifted by her neck and tossed clear across the room. She hits the bathroom tiles so hard that they break into tiny pieces as Megan thuds to the floor with a bang. Megan hits the floor, falling over, nude, limp, and unconscious. A large, mangled hand comes down on Teddy’s head like a ton of bricks before he can do anything; it is just darkness after the hand hits him. Before Teddy blacks out, he hears Rune growl.
VIII
Teddy walks down a long, well-lit hallway. Ahead of him, a bright light beckons him forward to freedom; behind him is only the darkness of the past. Teddy walks for hours; the closer he gets to the shining light, the further it moves away. Behind him, the darkness draws closer; Teddy feels its pull, and it is strong. There is something dark and ancient in the darkness, alive for centuries; the ancient entity needs him for a glorious purpose. Teddy stands between light and dark in the middle of the hallway, torn. Teddy looks towards the dark; it beckons him with promises of great things. Opposite the bright light, with its warmth, is offering him unconditional love. Should he choose the warm and loving glow or the dark, which promises great things, like ultimate power and extreme wealth? Teddy moves into the darkness; it is closer, as if he is being reborn as he walks through it. Teddy screams and curses at the top of his lungs in torment as he moves through the darkness.
Teddy awakes with a start, screaming at the top of his lungs. He awakes in a basement that smells like death. As his eyes focus, Teddy notices Megan, still nude, lying on the dirty floor; she is leaning against a wall. Megan’s legs are spread wide, welcoming Teddy for another go-round. As Teddy’s eyes focus further, he moves his head slightly to the right and notices another nude woman; she is strapped to an exam table, and the woman is unconscious. Once Teddy’s eyes fully focus, he recognizes the woman on the exam table: his ex-wife, Vivian. Teddy’s head is swimming as he attempts to process what is happening. Teddy moves his head to look straight ahead of him to get more familiar with his surroundings; to his horror, he sees bodies hanging on meat hooks by their ankles; large buckets are underneath the bodies to catch the blood. “What the fuck,” Teddy says out loud, his voice echoes. Teddy attempts to move his hands, but cannot. Teddy looks down to see why he cannot move his hands. Looking down, he sees his hands tied together with zip ties. He tries to move them, but Teddy can’t. Teddy looks up at Megan, then slightly to his right at his ex-wife, then straight ahead at the dead bodies hanging like meat. He starts screaming again.
A coldness envelops him quickly, and he stops screaming. Teddy hears footsteps behind him; this is the bearer of the coldness. They step around him. It is the small man, Sammy, yet something is different about him now. He has no glasses, yet his eyes are still as big as those in his glasses and are fully red. His skin is paler, his bald head glows in the dim lights of the basement, and he wears all black. “I’m sorry, Teddy, we can’t get to know each other better before I have to bring you down here.” He walks around him and stands in front of him in silence. “What exactly is going on here?” Teddy asks.
“Teddy, you are part of a revolution, my friend; my kind have been in the shadows for centuries,” Sammy says. “Your kind”? Teddy asks. “Yes”! Sammy says passionately. Teddy looks past Sam, his eyes focused on the men hanging like meat over buckets, and he looks back at Sammy. “What are you”? Teddy asks. Sammy finally smiles fully, revealing his sharp, stained red fangs like a good doctor. “I’m the Master, the last of the ancient order of vampires of Draconian, the first vampires created by our father Vlad; you know him better as Dracula,” Sammy explains. Teddy looks at him in amazement, then laughs. “You’re just some nut job playing a vampire; they don’t exist; you need help, brother,” Teddy continues. Sammy chuckles again, then smiles, showing off his fangs. When Sammy is done smiling, he says, “I knew you wouldn’t believe me, so” he walks close to Teddy. “I’ll have to show you that I’m not nuts!” Sammy reaches out his pale right hand, touching Teddy’s head. His hand is cold to the touch, and Teddy is pulled into darkness, then through a tunnel of time.
Flying through Sammy’s memories, Teddy sees his humbling beginning as a farm boy in Transylvania, the death of his mother at the age of ten, his drafting into battle for Vlad’s campaign against the Turks, and how Vlad makes a deal with an ancient evil, Bael, to win his crusade against the Turks. Sammy becomes one of the immortals when he drinks Vlad’s blood the night before a battle against the Turks. Vlad rises to power with Sammy at his side. Vlad falls to the Christian Crusaders some years after becoming a tyrant. Vlad allows Sammy to escape to continue the order of Draconcin. Vlad is beheaded and placed on a wooden stake, and Vlad’s body is burned to keep Vlad from returning from the grave. Vlad foretells his return in a prophecy by the ancient evil that turns him into a vampire.
Sammy then takes Teddy through the centuries, showing the order of Draconcin’s place in historical events and its influence on certain events. Eventually, in the early 20th century, humanity discovers that order exists as a shadow player in world events, and a human campaign emerges to eradicate it, culminating in World War I. Many lives are lost on both sides fighting, as humans discover how to kill vampires more quickly, thanks to the extensive literature on the creatures written over the centuries. With the use of trial and error, they can eventually get the upper hand on the vampire clans. The world’s governments conceal the truth from the global population, presenting the Great War as a conflict between the Allies and the Central Powers, rather than humans fighting for their existence against an ancient evil. After four years of fighting, a peace deal between both sides leads to this moment: vampires being forced into hiding as part of the deal and forced into feeding on those persons whom political leaders at all levels of government around the world tell them to feast on; no more hunting, just being fed those persons that the government deems unworthy to live. Rogue vampire clans have continued to hunt illegally for decades. Still, they are quickly put down by the world’s military, trained to fight the vampires and exterminate them quickly. Sammy’s vision reveals his plan for Teddy: to turn him into a vampire because, as indicated by signs in Teddy’s blood, he is the human reincarnation of Vlad. Teddy’s blood test shows signs of the ancient vampiric curse that creates the vampire race. Teddy will soon become the new leader of a vampire revolution against humans who have enslaved them. Teddy snaps out of the time travel adventure; he immediately pukes from the experience of flying through time.
Teddy’s puke is green with specks of meat from last night’s dinner. Sammy rubs Teddy’s head gently. “Easy, my child; I know it’s a lot to see quickly, but time is of the essence.” Rune enters the chamber, and the smell of death and decay comes with him. “I will attend to Mr. and Mrs. Williams; please, along with the good doctor, prepare your sister for the ceremony,” Sammy orders Rune. Rune nods at his Master and then growls; he lumbers over to the unconscious Megan. Rune lifts Megan like a sack of potatoes and throws her over his shoulders; her soft blonde hair lies on his dirty trench coat. Megan’s arms and legs dangle limply while Rune exits the chamber. “And Rune, dress her for the occasion; it is a celebration,” Sammy calls after Rune joyfully. Rune growls back in response.
VIII
Sammy, aka the Master Vampire of the Order of Draconian, admires himself naked in front of the tall mirror. Contrary to popular belief, vampires can project a reflection in a mirror. Vampires don’t project a reflection when they choose not to. Sammy sees how centuries have caught up with him, and he sees it now more than ever before as he looks at himself in the mirror. Sammy’s pale body is scarred and battered from the hundreds of battles with the Grand Master of the Order of Vlad’s Draconian, whom Sammy helped defeat the Turks centuries ago. Sammy has been involved in wars since the 15th century. Sammy has been personally involved in every major battle in the world’s conflicts since the 15th century, including the American, French, and Russian Revolutions, among others, as vampire clans have a vested interest in creating new nations to expand food supplies for vampires worldwide. After centuries in hiding, humanity discovers the existence of Dracicon and, in turn, the existence of vampires, which becomes a cause of World War I in 1914. Sammy is one of the major players who fight in the Great War, which prevents humanity from permanently wiping out vampires from the face of the earth. After four years of fighting, the two sides reached a peace agreement. The peace deal negotiated requires the Dracoion Order to split into small, worldwide clans to prevent any one clan from growing too powerful. Sammy negotiates to bring the last remaining members of his clan to New York City, where he fights hard to secure a deal with the State of New York to keep his kind protected and alive for generations to come. All his negotiations are a means of keeping his clan intact until the chosen one appears to fulfill the prophecy of Vald’s return. Sammy’s vampires are given the right by the State of New York to feed off the sick and insane in the asylums of New York City; when Federal Laws are passed to stop the cruel treatment of those with psychological issues, the state changes the feeding population for the vampires. The population becomes Immigrants living in the slums of NYC; then, when the Great Depression hits, it is the homeless population, which continues to be today, with those in the shelter system added sometime later in the 20th century. Sammy and his clan lived on North Brother Island in the East River from 1919 to 1981, residing in a cave and subsisting on waste from Riverside Hospital. This hospital treated persons with infectious diseases, most notably typhoid fever, from 1881 to 1943. Over the years, the island has also provided housing for World War II veterans and offered drug rehabilitation services to youths. These residences also serve as food for Sammy’s clan. When the city condemns Brother’s Islands due to infrastructure issues, Sammy’s clan is moved to the Steps for a Better Life program to build
IX
Sammy hunts secretly for food and lovers to grow his clan. Despite his best efforts, clan members have gone rogue over the decades, hunting openly and unable to tame their animal instincts. They are seen and exterminated to protect the human population from panicking. Now only three remain of Sammy’s clan as he dresses himself in his finest attire and prepares himself for the return of Vlad, the father of them all. Those three are Rune, his lone hellspawn that has survived for decades, and Doctor Davis, a doctor whom Sammy meets in 1930, who discovers Sammy’s clan cave. Doctor Davis pledges allegiance to Sammy, driven by the Doctor’s desire for immortality. Doctor Davis proves useful decades after joining the clan. The Doctor’s medical expertise is vital to the clan’s survival, as the Doctor can purify the blood of the sickest victims in the city, allowing the clan to feed on them, which is all the city allows the vampires to feed on. Megan is the last of Sammy’s clan; Sammy initially seeks her out as a bride after seeing her leaving a restaurant on the Upper West Side in the 1960s. When he spots her, Sammy takes one of his night flights to clear his mind. Sammy follows her home and observes her for the next few evenings. From those observations, Sammy determines that Megan would be better as a clan member than as a bride; a bride is a sex object, and Megan is much more valuable than that. Sammy turns Megan into a vampire a few nights later, with her consent, with her beauty and medical knowledge. Megan is a valuable clan member, but her partying antics can also be a thorn in the clan’s side. Sammy looks at himself in the mirror; this is not to reminisce about the bad times, but to celebrate the return of the good times.
The first order of business for Sammy is to sacrifice Vivian in front of Teddy and have him drink her blood, along with Sammy’s blood, as, to his knowledge, the last remaining vampire turned by Vlad personnel. It seems to Sammy that, since Teddy has been to war, remnants of Vlad’s blood have entered his veins, as his soul is tormented, as Vlad’s was all those centuries ago. Teddy is then susceptible to the entrance of the evil known as Bael. Bael, the demon who makes a deal with Vlad to defeat the Turks, infects him with the virus known only as Vicia. Vicia transforms its victims into bloodthirsty hordes of the undead, endowed with superhuman abilities that Vlad uses to defeat the Turks. Vlad soon lets his ego get the best of him. He becomes a bloodthirsty tyrant who is later defeated, beheaded, and impaled on a stake. His body is burned by Christian Crusaders, who defeat him. At his execution, Vlad confirms he will return to his vampire kind in human form, as his blood runs in human veins; Bael told him this during a consultation. The human form of Vlad returns to reclaim his rightful place as Master of the undead, marking a significant step closer to this happening now.
Now, more than ever, Vlad’s vampires struggle to survive; all vampire clans around the world lose hundreds of members a year for decades. Sammy knows this is the best time for Vlad to return, and is bringing vampires back to the glory they had before the Great War took that away. Rune is correct; he detects the origin of the Vicia virus in Williams’s blood when he is in Nash’s office; the test reveals remnants of Vicia’s ancient qualities in Teddy’s blood. Before sunrise, Vlad returns to them to lead them in an uprising.
X
Now, more than ever, Vlad’s vampires struggle to survive; all vampire clans around the world lose hundreds of members a year for decades. Sammy knows this is the best time for Vlad to return, and is bringing vampires back to the glory they had before the Great War took that away. Rune is correct; he detects the origin of the Vicia virus in Williams’s blood when he is in Nash’s office; the test reveals remnants of Vicia’s ancient qualities in Teddy’s blood. Before sunrise, Vlad returns to them to lead them in an uprising.
X
Sammy looks at himself in the mirror one last time to see if he is festive enough for the ceremony about to take place. He smiles, baring his fangs. Then, he turns to enter the door leading to the sub-basement of the facility, a hidden secret not on the facility’s floor plans. Sammy walks down the thirty steps to another door leading into the sub-basement itself; the vampire clan converts this part of the facility into comfortable living corridors for Rune, Megan, Doctor Davis, and himself. As Sammy enters the vampire’s living space, the first thing that strikes him is that the living area is completely lit by candlelight. Candles of all shapes and sizes illuminate the living area. Bookshelves line the walls with both fiction and nonfiction literature books in their nooks. A former enemy’s skull is fully displayed on the furthest shelf; the skull is almond-shaped, and the fangs are prominently displayed. In the middle of the room are two black leather couches covered by red stain sheets; no rule says a vampire cannot have a comfortable place to sit on their centuries-old body. The couches are arranged in a circle to facilitate and stimulate conversation; a coffee table sits on one of the couches, and an iPad lies on it. A long dining room table sits on the far side; the table can seat ten or more guests, not four vampires who have never dined together. The vampires dine together tonight, so the table is set with six fancy place settings and steel goblets at each. The table has a centerpiece: a candelabra with twelve bright candles. Music sets the mood, and an old-time recorder player spits music from a long-forgotten time. Further back in the sub-basement, you find the vampires’ living space, coffins filled with dirt from their native land. Sammy looks at the table, happy with its set; Megan enters from behind. She wears a fancy dress and looks at Sammy with a hateful distaste.
“Don’t dare look at me like that, Megan,” Sammy snarls, baring his fangs. Megan ignores Sammy’s snarl; she adjusts the front of her dress to accentuate her cleavage. Megan looks at Sammy after adjusting her dress and walks over to the table without a word. Sammy stands there, momentarily staring at Megan, thinking about how much he loves her as his own. Yet, she almost ruins the whole plan with her sex addiction tonight, an issue that has become increasingly prevalent over the years since she joined the clan. The door into the lair opens, and Doctor Davis rolls Vivian in on a gurney. She is still unconscious from the medications the Doctor has given her to keep her sedated. A thin sheet covers Vivian. Doctor Davis has also dressed in his best suit; it is a party. Sammy walks over to Vivian and rubs her forehead. Vivian puts up a fight when Sammy goes to get her hours earlier; it is a shame she now needs to be sacrificed. Vivian would have made a great bride; Sammy likes fighters. Vivian is naked under that thin sheet. You see a perfectly ample body through the sheet; Vivian looks like a warrior princess laid to rest on the gurney; she is the key to all this, and Sammy loves her for that. He leans down and whispers to her, “Soon, your sacrifice will mean the rise of my kind again, and we will hold you in the highest regard, my love.” Rune enters as Sammy is leaning over Vivian; Teddy is beside Rune. Rune has a vice grip on Teddy to keep him from running. Neither of them is dressed fancy like the rest, and neither cares. Teddy looks around the room; Megan sits at the table in her revealing cocktail dress, sipping a goblet of blood. Sammy, or whatever he calls himself, along with Dr. Stained Teeth, hovers over the unconscious body of his ex-wife. The smelly creature, Rune, has a vice grip on Teddy’s arm, preventing him from moving. Teddy’s head is swimming; it is three-thirty in the morning, and he does not know if this is a dream. All this seems to be happening, and it smells authentic from where Rune is standing. If it is a dream, it is one of the most fantastic Teddy has ever had; he has had nightmares over the years, but this is the most in-depth and real. Sammy looks over at Teddy; he smiles with delight, showing his fangs, and says, “Shall we begin”? Teddy wets himself with fear.
XI
Teddy sits in a chair across from Vivian; his wet underwear clings to him uncomfortably. Rune stands behind Teddy; the monster has his mangled hands on Teddy’s shoulders to hold him down; the smell of death is unbearable. With the strength of ten men, Rune can beat anyone easily. Rune stands guard behind Teddy to ensure he does not try anything stupid. Teddy is unsure what he will do, having never encountered vampires before. They want to sacrifice Vivian to transform him into Vlad Dracula, thereby leading them into a hostile takeover of the world. This situation is new, and all Teddy can do is watch in horror as Sammy begins the ceremony. Sammy gently pulls the sheet down on Vivian, revealing her ample breasts. Sammy proceeds to run his cold, dead hands down her still-warm body. Sammy stops near her navel area, and his right hand fingernail extends; Sammy uses it to make a slight marking of the ancient order of vampires from the time of Vlad’s accession to power. Megan sits at the table with a look of hate; Dr. Stained Teeth stands close by with a shit-eating grin, his red fangs extending in sexual pleasure. Sammy walks up to Vivian’s face and neck after making the mark on her stomach. Sammy chants a few words in an ancient language and finishes by running both his cold, dead hands all over Vivian’s face and neck. Sammy’s eyes begin glowing blood red; he looks at Teddy, bares his fangs, growls, and prepares to bite Vivian.
XI
Teddy sits in a chair across from Vivian; his wet underwear clings to him uncomfortably. Rune stands behind Teddy; the monster has his mangled hands on Teddy’s shoulders to hold him down; the smell of death is unbearable. With the strength of ten men, Rune can beat anyone easily. Rune stands guard behind Teddy to ensure he does not try anything stupid. Teddy is unsure what he will do, having never encountered vampires before. They want to sacrifice Vivian to transform him into Vlad Dracula, thereby leading them into a hostile takeover of the world. This situation is new, and all Teddy can do is watch in horror as Sammy begins the ceremony. Sammy gently pulls the sheet down on Vivian, revealing her ample breasts. Sammy proceeds to run his cold, dead hands down her still-warm body. Sammy stops near her navel area, and his right hand fingernail extends; Sammy uses it to make a slight marking of the ancient order of vampires from the time of Vlad’s accession to power. Megan sits at the table with a look of hate; Dr. Stained Teeth stands close by with a shit-eating grin, his red fangs extending in sexual pleasure. Sammy walks up to Vivian’s face and neck after making the mark on her stomach. Sammy chants a few words in an ancient language and finishes by running both his cold, dead hands all over Vivian’s face and neck. Sammy’s eyes begin glowing blood red; he looks at Teddy, bares his fangs, growls, and prepares to bite Vivian.
A streak of blonde comes suddenly and swiftly, with such force that it knocks over Sammy and the gurney, dumping Vivian’s unconscious body onto the floor with a bone-crushing smack. Dr. Stain is lifted off his feet and flung across the room into the bookshelves, which collapse on him, knocking over candles that set the books and bookshelves ablaze. The good Doctor screams in pain as he burns alive underneath the heavy shelves. Rune is surprised when the blonde stream takes his feet from underneath, and Rune falls to the ground with a thundering crash. The blonde streak is Megan, who looks amazingly sexy. Her blonde hair is messy, and her breasts fall out of her dress from all the action. After taking out the two vampires, she whispers to Teddy, “Get her out of here, baby.” She kisses him long on the lips, “By the way, thanks for the best fuck in centuries.” Megan smiles, then runs headlong into Sammy, who is approaching them.
Megan and Sammy fly across the room and crash into the table, shattering into a hundred pieces. They struggle on the floor, rolling over the broken pieces of the table. Teddy gets up and sprints to his unconscious ex-wife. The crash to the floor jolts her from her drugged slumber. “Teddy, where are we?” she asks, her voice trembling with terror. “I’ll explain it all later; let’s get out of here.” He grabs her and pulls her up; from his view, Teddy can see that Megan is getting the better of Sammy. She punches him violently, and he flies backward, landing close to the lighted candelabra. Teddy lifts his ex-wife in his arms. Teddy walks towards the doorway leading out of the lair. Teddy sees Vivian’s eyes widen; she attempts to scream, but cannot. Teddy feels a brute-force blow from behind, sending them both to the floor hard.
Teddy lands on top of Vivian. She screams in pain as all his weight is upon her. Rune hovers over them, his fedora removed, and for the first time, they see his ghastly face; hideous and deformed, one whole side of his face is caved in, while the other side is not too far behind from the same fate. Rune growls, and his breath stinks as if he is rotten from the inside out. Rune reaches down to grab Teddy when a flaming table leg is heaved across the room, penetrating Rune’s chest. Rune falls backward with a thump, a painful growl is gargled, and the beast falls silent, his clothes catching ablaze, burning his body. Teddy does not look back at Megan; he grabs Vivian in a fireman’s carry and runs out of the underground lair. By the time he reaches upstairs, the smoke detectors have gone off, alerting the residents and staff in the building to a fire. Teddy blends in with the other residents as they leave the burning facility. Teddy can’t figure out how he manages to walk out with Vivian over his shoulders without asking questions.
XIII
The city investigates the fire at Steps to a Better Life, but the inspectors find no evidence of arson. The fire department determined that a space heater left by a neglectful staff member caused the fire and smoke. No clients or staff are hurt; everything at the Steps to a Better Living Facility returns to normal within a few days. When asked what happened to Dr. Davis and his nurse, the clients are told they have been transferred to another location. The city hires a new doctor and nurse to replace the previous ones. The client, Sammy Ortiz, whom residents know very little about or remember, has been granted early dismissal from the program to care for his sick mother in Puerto Rico. No one cares. Teddy Williams and Vivian reconcile; Teddy does his outpatient work while attending twelve-step meetings. Both are still coming to terms with what happened that night. Vivian remembers very little, except for coming home the day before and encountering something in the kitchen. Vivian does not remember anything else until waking up and seeing her ex-husband by her side in the hospital. They talk little about it, yet both wonder what will happen to the blonde woman who saved them.
Megan and Sammy fly across the room and crash into the table, shattering into a hundred pieces. They struggle on the floor, rolling over the broken pieces of the table. Teddy gets up and sprints to his unconscious ex-wife. The crash to the floor jolts her from her drugged slumber. “Teddy, where are we?” she asks, her voice trembling with terror. “I’ll explain it all later; let’s get out of here.” He grabs her and pulls her up; from his view, Teddy can see that Megan is getting the better of Sammy. She punches him violently, and he flies backward, landing close to the lighted candelabra. Teddy lifts his ex-wife in his arms. Teddy walks towards the doorway leading out of the lair. Teddy sees Vivian’s eyes widen; she attempts to scream, but cannot. Teddy feels a brute-force blow from behind, sending them both to the floor hard.
Teddy lands on top of Vivian. She screams in pain as all his weight is upon her. Rune hovers over them, his fedora removed, and for the first time, they see his ghastly face; hideous and deformed, one whole side of his face is caved in, while the other side is not too far behind from the same fate. Rune growls, and his breath stinks as if he is rotten from the inside out. Rune reaches down to grab Teddy when a flaming table leg is heaved across the room, penetrating Rune’s chest. Rune falls backward with a thump, a painful growl is gargled, and the beast falls silent, his clothes catching ablaze, burning his body. Teddy does not look back at Megan; he grabs Vivian in a fireman’s carry and runs out of the underground lair. By the time he reaches upstairs, the smoke detectors have gone off, alerting the residents and staff in the building to a fire. Teddy blends in with the other residents as they leave the burning facility. Teddy can’t figure out how he manages to walk out with Vivian over his shoulders without asking questions.
XIII
The city investigates the fire at Steps to a Better Life, but the inspectors find no evidence of arson. The fire department determined that a space heater left by a neglectful staff member caused the fire and smoke. No clients or staff are hurt; everything at the Steps to a Better Living Facility returns to normal within a few days. When asked what happened to Dr. Davis and his nurse, the clients are told they have been transferred to another location. The city hires a new doctor and nurse to replace the previous ones. The client, Sammy Ortiz, whom residents know very little about or remember, has been granted early dismissal from the program to care for his sick mother in Puerto Rico. No one cares. Teddy Williams and Vivian reconcile; Teddy does his outpatient work while attending twelve-step meetings. Both are still coming to terms with what happened that night. Vivian remembers very little, except for coming home the day before and encountering something in the kitchen. Vivian does not remember anything else until waking up and seeing her ex-husband by her side in the hospital. They talk little about it, yet both wonder what will happen to the blonde woman who saved them.
The music inside the small bar in the heart of Boston is rocking. David Newman stands with his friends, Jay Duda and Ryan Farmer. “Don’t just stare at her; go for it, bro,” Jay says with a wink. He takes a drink from his beer and gestures to Ryan, prompting him to say something. “My man, she is a hottie, go for it”! Ryan responds with a goofy smile. David drinks his liquor to get the courage to approach the blonde at the bar. After drinking, David takes a deep breath and walks up to the bar with a purposeful stride. She sits there on the stool, taking no notice of anyone; she is in her own little world. David leans against the bar and asks the bartender for two shots of his best whiskey. The bartender nods in acknowledgment, walks over to the top shelf of bottles, and pauses momentarily to find the bottle he seeks. When the bartender zeroes in on it, he picks it up and returns to the bar, setting up two shot glasses. The bartender pours the whiskey into the shot glasses with expert precision, places the bottle on the bar, and delivers both drinks to his customer. The customer hands him two dollars as a tip, and the bartender nods, rapping his knuckles on the bar. This indicates that one shot is on the house, and the other will be added to David’s tab.
David takes a deep breath and approaches the lonely woman on the stool. “Excuse me,” he says with a slight squeak. “Would you do me the honor of having a shot of whiskey with me?” he continues. The blonde turns around; my god, she is beautiful; her breasts look like two perfect globes in that tight-fitting dress of hers. Her hair lies perfectly on her petite shoulders. David looks into her eyes and instantly smiles; his mind goes to doggie styling her right over the barstool. She looks him up and down and smiles slyly. Leaning over just enough for him to see one nipple, she places her hand on his hand, which is sitting on the bar. Her hand is cold to the touch, yet David gets an instant boner like he is eleven years old again. She looks him up and down, takes the shot glass, puts it to her lips, and nods. He nods back, and they drink together. She places the shot glass on the bar. “Shall we dine together, Daddy?” Megan says with a twinkle in her eyes.