Now that she was no longer human, Sonia did not need her sexuality or brilliance to be powerful. Her very essence was power. Her power was simply in the reality of her existence. What others had called gorgeous in her human life had transformed into a nearly painful transcendent beauty. It hurt to look at her. Her honey Asian skin against her tanzanite eyes was an otherworldly combination, and a deadly one at that. Her waist-length sheath of black hair had become even more lustrous than before. Her lithe body morphed from graceful to fluidlike.
When most humans make the transition to vampire, they don’t become instantly beautiful. The process does make up any deficit, so the body becomes as healthy and functional as it possibly could be. But still, ugly in life, ugly in death—only the afterlife provides fangs to handle anyone who may decide to point out any physical defects. Likewise, vampirism doesn’t increase or hinder intelligence. It does, however, clear away any focus deficiencies. A vampire brain is like a bulldog, biting onto whatever thought is vital at the moment, be it food, sex, or shelter. The most important things becoming a vampire bestows are nearly incomprehensible strength, immortality, and the ability to mesmerize humans.
In truth, Sonia Liu’s transition from human to vampire was the same as any other person’s passage. However, just as in life, much like when a person is deeply in love or fully satisfied with their life, they tend to glow from the inside out, making them their most attractive. That was how vampirism affected Sonia. Granted, she wasn’t happy. Not even close. In life, she had been one of those rare individuals who had it all—looks, brains, and as if that weren’t enough, a personality full of kindness and a thorough love of life. She’d glowed, and everyone around her had basked in her presence. Even those who were covetous of her good fortune couldn’t bring themselves to actually dislike her. Her metamorphosis from human to vampire heightened that appeal. She’d been called an unearthly beauty in life. In death, she embodied the moniker.
Despite her stunning appearance and luminosity, death had provided emotions and sensations Sonia had never experienced in life. There were only two things she felt—hunger and terror. Despite this, only those with the most sensitive of spirits who crossed her path caught a hint of the turmoil inside. Most only saw Aphrodite in human form.
Only blood and sex were able to push aside her hunger and fear, and only for the most fleeting of moments. Both of those were readily available at the Square. Even so, Sonia didn’t spend too much time there. Despite her consuming emotions, her intelligence required more of a challenge than the easy prey that was offered at the Square. A pacifist in life, she was a voracious hunter in death. Still, the Square could satisfy from time to time. Everyone gets hungry for fast food sometimes.
In the back rooms, she found things to occupy her in ways that weren’t feasible out in the world. When she killed, she had to do it fairly quickly and quietly, or at least enthrall her victim first, which wasn’t any fun. In the back rooms, she could drag it out for hours. Outside, after a good fuck she’d have to feed quickly. A quick bite to the jugular or femoral artery and it was over. Here, she could be feeding for the entirety of the sex play, all the time alternating between making the man feel the most ecstasy of his life and then letting him experience the true terror of his situation.
After a while, she had acquired quite the reputation. As soon as she arrived in the back room of Porn, a crowd would start gathering to watch the show. At first she didn’t mind, didn’t even notice. She’d not been a prude in life, much less in death. Soon, though, the crowd became a nuisance. After pulling a couple of observers close enough to sink her fangs into, the crowds began to give her a more respectful and safe space.
Some vampires came to the Square on a nightly basis. Sonia only came once a week or so. She’d seen her sire a couple of times from afar a few weeks after her transformation and didn’t have any desire to be in the same vicinity as him more than she had to be. Still, the lure of the Square’s appeal was impossible to ignore for long.
Soniahad been in the back room of Porn for nearly five hours. She’d had two victims. One she’d selected and purchased from Sarah, the demon who oversaw the trafficking in the Square. In his early forties, the man was swarthy and rugged. Beautiful in a masculine, backwoods sort of way. It had been his aura of power that had drawn her attention, not his good looks. His power and the look of hate in his eyes as he glared at her from his chains. So many of the captives were nothing more than terrified puddles of tears and pleas, which had its appeal at times. This one, however, would fight back. And fight he did. Nothing that came close to the strength he would have needed to overcome her, but enough to make her work for it. She only compelled him enough to increase his arousal for her, but not enough for him to ignore that his life was bleeding into her, or to ease his pain as she ripped through him. It was a rare treat to be provided with such a fighter. When she hunted, he was the type of man she sought, but she could rarely prolong the experience out in the world for fear of getting caught.
As much as it humiliated her, she was insightful enough to acknowledge why she was drawn to such a man over and over. The same reason she fled every time she caught a glimpse of her sire in the distance.
Before she’d left the back room, she was overcome with disgust at her self-perceived weakness of needing to work through male-dominance issues and tore the throat out of a fairy who’d been fucking a captive girl on one of the stone slabs. She left him drained but still twitching, not sparing a glance at the girl or the male that took the fairy’s place, but turned and left, wiping the blood of her mouth with the back of her hand and smearing it on the grimy wall.
On her way out, a figure smacked into her shoulder. She didn’t budge, but the force of the impact made the man stumble and look back at her.
She’d been about to claim a third victim for the evening, when the man’s face registered in her blood-hazed brain.
Her violet eyes widened as his name flashed through her mind.Finn!She let out an audible gasp. Her unbeating heart clenched. Her head whipped around, searching.Brett? Are you here?She was uncertain if she was saddened or relieved when she didn’t see Brett’s face among the strangers. She turned back to the man who had collided with her.
He was roughly the same height as Finn, the same complexion, the same handsome face, except thinner. She met his gaze. The brown eyes were hazy and unfocused. They were hard and cold. Lost.
Sonia looked away. This wasn’t Finn. She’d only met him once, so briefly that she might mistake his face, but she was certain this wasn’t the same man. The Finn she’d met had been filled with light, with kindness. Like she had been, in some ways. This man had none of those attributes as he stared stupidly at her. Unless he’d been turned into a vampire as well, he couldn’t have changed so drastically in a few short months. And this was no vampire.
On impulse, she opened her mouth and let her fangs show. No response, outside of a small grunt. She leaned forward, intending to drain the stupid man. Finn’s face flashed through her mind, accompanied by Brett’s laughter. She slammed her jaw closed, her fangs piercing her bottom lip. With a shove, she threw him from her. He stumbled and fell to the ground. She watched as he forced himself to his feet once more. This wasn’t Finn. It couldn’t be. She remembered a man who’d been muscular and even the tiniest bit thick in the middle. This man, while strong, looked thin and unhealthy. In addition, he stank. She could smell the drugs of the Square seeping through his pores.
She slammed the door in disgust, leaving the man stumbling on his way through the back room.
“Hey, watch what—”
She whirled, hair flying, to glare at the voice.
“Oh, Sonia…” Sarah’s goliath of a business partner, Geoffrey, paused in surprise for a moment behind the counter. “Watch how you treat my place, girl. I don’t need to have to fix stuff just because you’re in a bad mood.”
Sonia was halfway through the store by the time Geoffrey finished his reprimand. “Fuck off, Geoffrey.”
He raised his hand in mock defeat. “Hey, it’s not my fault you didn’t find what you’re looking for back there.” He grabbed his leather-clad crotch, visible through the glass counter. “I’ve been telling ya I’ve got all that you’re looking for and more than you can handle.”
She gave him a withering glance. “I said fuck off, Geoffrey.”
“I’ll even let you drink as I plow ya. Ever tasted demon?”
Sonia slammed the front door even harder than her exit from the back. She heard Geoffrey curse from behind the glass, but she was already making her way down the block.
She tore around the Square, shoving people out of her way. She crossed over to the opposite side and paused at Dance. The air around the entrance pulsated with the conflicting heavy metal and techno beats from inside. The slave auctions took place in Dance’s back room. For a second, she considered it. Between the loud music and purchasing someone to take with her, she might be able to let her brain cloud over enough to stop the torture inside her skull.
With a cry of frustration, she tore away from Dance as well and began to cross back over the street. She stopped in the rear of the huge marble courthouse in the middle of the Square. She’d known it was there but had never paid attention to it.
She took in its massive expanse. Even from the back, it was encased with huge columns every ten feet. Twenty feet up, scrolling around the top of the walls, just under the eaves of the sloping roof, words from some ancient language were scrawled over the perimeter, etched deep into the marble.
All around the Square, people, some human, some supernatural, roamed in mobs. Loud, raucous laughter, curses, and screams accosted the ears while neon lights flashed and pulsated to the beat of music. But here, around the courthouse, things were dark. No lights shone through the windows, no streetlamp flames flickered. Thick coniferous trees surrounded the building, giving the illusion of isolation.
