“This is the base pay for all three levels of flock. Job requirements include participating in the daily Feeding Frenzies, every ball, plus time to get into makeup and costume. The rest of the days are yours. You’ll have a space tochange, so you can handle the daily blood loss. Most do so from one to three times per week. There are no off-days. Everyone who is invited will be a shifter. No humans. As you can see, the pay is substantially less for a level one, though exotic shifters can negotiate for more. Generally speaking, there are less than five no-pain flock members accepted.”
The price difference between a feed-and-fuck and a no-holds-barred pain-whore was nearly ten times more, butdamn, because the notes said this meant being disemboweled or skinned was on the table. Anything thatcould be healed in threechangesfrom human to animal and back, which meant sixchangestotal.
She might agree to impact play for four times the salary, but no way in hell would she consider the most extreme level.
But then came other options. A skilled actor could make more, and that absolutely applied to her. She’d played the lead in several professional productions put on by the various colleges she’d attended.
And then the ‘girlfriend experience’ option, where vampires paid to have educated companions who could hold their own in philosophy, the sciences, physics, or other advanced topics, and who’d also fuck them and just generally act as girlfriend or boyfriend. For the money offered, Emmy could absolutely do that, but there was a note about this only being available in one’s second year, never a first-year employee.
Next came images of balls, torches mounted on walls, people dressed in Victorian dresses, one that looked like a Carnivale of some sort, another that looked like demons in hell wielding whips, with humans strung by their wrists and skin ripped off.
Maybe she’d reconsider the impact play thing.
“Six balls during the three months.” The images changed to what looked like Shakespearean plays being acted out on stage and in the audience, an orgy with togas, Viking raids, Moulin Rouge, Snow White, the Mad Hatter tea party. “And nightly shows acted out both on stage and elsewhere, feeding frenzies with themes.”
He looked up, scanned the room. “Flock at Mordnik are not people. You will be assets. Tools. We prefer you not have bangs so we can mark your forehead, making it clear what our guests can do to you. Those who insist on bangs will have your cheek marked. Our stamps are waterproof to a point, but excessive tears will degrade the ink, so it isn’t ideal.”
If she could be accepted at level one due to her dragon blood, that might be the wisest choice, but she was still tempted to offer level two. Four times as much money was a lot, and add in the actress pay, she’d make double in three months to what she’d make in a full year in Anchorage.
And she wanted to build up her savings, so she’d never again be down to zero funds.
Also, just looking at all the costumes and decadence made her want to be a part of it at least once, just for the experience.
And then a vampire stepped onto the stage who took her breath away. Black Patagonia cargo pants with a charcoal thermal henley, black hair in a fashionable cut that looked like he’d just fucked someone and had only run his hands through it after.
But when he turned toward the audience and she realized it was Zander, looking cool-as-fuck, she sat up and her entire body took notice.
He scanned the audience without looking directly at her, and the image above him changed to the Hell scene again, everyone in the image with their backs to the camera so no faces showed, but the brutality of the night clear —daywalkers being whipped and fucked. Some of them crawling on the ground while being whipped. Blood all over the place, and not a stitch of clothes on anyone.
“This is opening night,” Zander said. “We start things off with a bang. We’ll need twenty to thirty high-level masochists for this night who will go home when the planes that bring most everyone up return. We keep one plane on the premises for emergencies, but it’s expensive to keep the hangar heated, so it’s a small plane in a small hangar. Other than the extras we bring in for opening night, and for balls that happen during the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas, sometimes New Year’s if it works out, everyone who goes will be there the entire three months. If you want to apply for one or more balls but not the entire stint, there are forms to do so.”
“Some jobs are only available for those who’ve completed a season already,” Spence said, stepping back onto the stage and walking to stand beside Zander.
“And while Lucien is correct that it’s a hard life for the flock who choose to go,” Zander said, “you have to know I’ll see you as people, even if the vampire guests do not. Everyone in this room has oathed to me. If not directly, to one of my top people, in my name. I claim every one of you as mine, and you’re under my protection. If a vampire brings more harm to you than is allowed, you’ll be recompensed. Vampires are invited to pay a million-plus dollars to attend, and I only allow those in whom I trust not to cause more harm than is allowed. My predecessor averaged around two incidents per year. So far, in the seven years I’ve been here,we’ve had three total, and those vampires are no longer allowed back.”
“Make no mistake,” Spence said. “The final month will feel like the last miles of a marathon. This is an endurance test. You’ll be well fed, and we have a variety of things to do in your downtime besides sleep, but you’ll feel not only the effects of feeding so many vampires daily, and ofchangingdaily, but also the lack of sunshine. We have special full-spectrum lightbulbs in the common areas, and we’ll arrange expeditions outside when the aurora borealis is active. We have a full gym, a sauna, and two running tracks. Once a week we have organized fights with the losers fucked on stage by the vampire who bids the most in an auction to do so. Many of the shifter types need that outlet of physical fighting.”
Zander’s eyes found Emmy’s for the briefest second before he looked away, but she felt it in her spine. In her gut. Goosebumps raised all over.
“The deadline to apply is ten days from now,” Zander said, “but if you qualify for elite positions you should turn your application in as soon as possible, as we’ll begin the interview process for those with acting experience, those who wish to participate in the girlfriend experience, and those who consider themselves extreme masochists next week. Before you apply for anything, consider your limits. Understand that this is not a vacation. You will be worked hard, and you will be used and consumed. You will also be well paid.”
“To be clear,” Spence said. “We will rent slaves from both the Senatus and Concilio to fill out our field should we not have enough qualified applicants. The slaves are actually cheaper than paying you, but we prefer willing participants. There will also be some slaves present because some of our guests prefer them, but you’ll mostly be kept away from them.”
“I believe Spencer’s point was that we aren’t requesting you apply. We’re giving you the opportunity to do so. Flock will also come from Vegas, New Orleans, Birmingham, and Florida. Forty-five paying vampires, and around fifty daywalkers to feed them, including the townspeople. On top of this, we’ll have security, cooks, cleaning staff, and other jobs manned by both vampires and daywalkers. The townspeople will help feed the vampire support staff and vampire guards. You’ll be feeding our guests, along with those of us running the show.”
He paused. “Questions?”
Someone asked how often they’d be fed, and whether there were quantity restrictions, someone else asked what kind of cold-weather gear would be needed to view the aurora. Another asked what kind of acting experience was required, and two people inquired about pay for doing only the balls, and how long they’d be gone during Thanksgiving and Christmas. It seemed they flew another dozen flock members in for the balls, and then they returned home hours later.
Zander answered with clarity and finality, then stepped off the stage and disappeared through the same door he’dcome through, but Emmy felt the heat of his gaze long after he left, and Emmy’s skin prickled with awareness, her pulse hammering in a way that had nothing to do with fear.
Felix leaned in and whispered, “So. You gonna go?”
Emmy exhaled slowly. “Fuck yes, I’m going. Constant sex, and if I get extra pay for acting then I’ll make more money in three months than in a year of being coterie food. It’s kind of a no-brainer.”
“You think that now, Your Highness, but Spence wasn’t wrong about that last month.”
She ignored the title and nodded in acknowledgement, but said, “Dragons are strong as fuck. Kinda like I’ve discovered hares are.”
