Dare I? Read Free Page A

notion. She wanted the vampire she would
choose to have an open access to her throat. There would be no
hiding of marks on the inside of her wrist with jewelry, for her.
When she was bitten, she would show off her scars to the world, and
prove her point.
    She had let down her auburn hair from its
usual tight bun and she thought about letting it free on her
shoulders, but again the desire to show off her neck and throat
made up her mind and she wove it in a loose braid. Dangling
earrings, dark red lipstick, dark eyeliner and mascara to
accentuate her brown eyes, a touch of blush on her cheeks, black
high-heeled shoes and a small black handbag completed her
preparations.
    It was a little past ten o’clock when she
climbed into the cab and gave the driver the name of the club;
usually, she was slipping into bed with a good book at this hour.
To be out and on her way to the city’s vampire club made her feel
like a teenager slipping out of the house after curfew. She
relished the way her heart beat just a little faster, and her skin
flushed in anticipation. But most of all, she enjoyed how easy, how
freeing it was. She didn’t feel uncomfortable, as she had expected
she would. This wasn’t at all like the party experiences of her
younger years, and that simple difference was, already,
exhilarating.
    At last the cab stopped across the street
from a brightly illuminated building. As she paid her fare, Anna
was barely conscious of the driver’s gentle admonishment to be
safe. Her attention was already fully on the club, on the red neon
letters above the entrance that bled the words ‘On The Edge’ in the
night, on the muffled music she could already hear as she crossed
the road toward the entrance, on the people walking in or out,
alone or in couples. Already, she was wondering which of them were
humans and which were not. To know that there were vampires close
by sent a shiver down her spine as she stepped in, but she
dismissed the feeling of fear that was trying to creep up. She
refused to be scared. She was here to have fun, to be daring, and
she would do just that. It had been a long time since she had
flirted with anyone or been held by a man. Much too long.
    Slow steps took her further inside, and she
frowned a little, puzzled. In the center of the club, a bar was
open on four sides, two bartenders serving drinks. Around the bar,
round tables hosted couples and small groups chatting over the
semi-loud music. In the very back of the room, curtained alcoves
seemed to be offering a more private space to patrons. But despite
the music, no one was dancing that she could see.
    Wondering whether she was at the wrong
establishment, she walked over to the bar and ordered a cocktail
from a man with the most gorgeous smile—the rest of him wasn’t bad
either, from what she could see through a partially unbuttoned
shirt and very tight jeans. It was while she was waiting for her
change that she noticed people coming up and down staircases on the
side of the room. Her glass in hand, she went to investigate. She
only needed to descend one flight of stairs to see that she was
indeed in a dancing club. Through the metal railing of staircases
and suspended bridges, she could make out a dancing floor on the
lower level, which seemed darker and louder than the bar area. She
stepped down one more staircase and stopped on a catwalk to look at
the crowd beneath her. The music was fast, faster than she liked
it, but she could see the attraction of such a beat in a place like
this one. The air thrummed with energy, and it wasn’t all due to
the music. There was something about the dancers, a feeling of raw
life and sexuality that Anna had never encountered before.
    She took a sip of her fruity cocktail and
pulled out her cell phone from her slim purse. If she was going to
do this—and at this point there was no doubt in her mind that she
would—she wanted Carol to know. Her friend would probably call
Jessie afterwards, and the two of them