CHAPTER ONE
Alex stepped out of the back door of the club to have a quick smoke. The night air was fresh, even though there were two dumpsters approximately ten feet away to his left. He smiled and took a long drag on his cigarette. He'd been trying to give up the habit for months now. He'd managed to reduce, but he still found the craving there whenever he went out. There was something about a club or a bar that made him want to smoke; maybe it was the relaxing quality of the act.
Whatever it was, he would only have one and then return to his companions inside. It was a work thing celebrating a coworker’s promotion and had been fine so far, although things felt a bit tense, which was probably why he needed this cigarette. The Blood Rose was a popular club because it had an air of danger about it and a mystique. Alex didn’t, as a rule, come to the Blood Rose; it felt too highbrow for him. He preferred his corner bar or one of the sports bars downtown.
The place was interesting, and the clientele was varied, both upscale and unique. He'd probably come back sometime on his own and see what the place had to offer since their total remodel a few months ago. But for now, he was on a workouting, not the most fun, but they were a good bunch most of the time.
He saw a shadow coming down the alley, so he quickly extinguished his cigarette and turned to head back inside. When he reached for the door, he was suddenly grabbed from behind and dragged over to the dumpster. "What the fuck!" He yelled, and then something hard came down on the side of his head. The hit was excruciating, and his vision began to blur. "Let . . . me go." His words slurred, and he couldn't stand up. It was more than one, and they were relentless.
They were working him over, and he couldn't get up. Alex feared he might not survive when the first booted foot hit the side of his face. He forced himself to hold on and tried to cover his head and curled up as best he could, but the hits just kept coming. Bleeding out in a dark alley between two dumpsters, this could not be how it ends; it just couldn't.
They finally left after emptying his pockets and taking his watch. Alex couldn't open his eyes, and he couldn't move. His breathing was shallow and difficult. The alley was silent now, and he wondered if someone would find him in time. Then he heard footsteps coming up beside him and someone calling to him, and then there was nothing, only darkness and silence.
****
"Nolan was emptying trash and said there's someone unconscious lying next to the dumpsters," Carter announced after taking the call. He, along with Samuel, Roman, and Leo, were in the underground garage playing poker. Samuel andRoman were the Master's personal guards, and Carter and Leo were his drivers.
"Did he check them? Maybe they're drunk off their feet and just need to lie down and sleep it off." There were a couple of rooms at the Blood Rose that were used for this purpose, along with other purposes.
"He said someone beat the man, and he looks in rough shape." No one was really interested in scraping some drunk man off the alley floor. "He smells humans, so it was human-on-human crime and not technically our issue.” Carter quipped and sat back down.
"It's in the alley off the Blood Rose, so we should check it out. He might have been a patron, and that wouldn't be a good look if we let him waste away by the dumpster.” Samuel commented. He set his cards down and stood up.
"He's probably just a bum who wandered off the main street." Carter was not concerned and wanted to get back to the game. But Roman saw Samuel's point and decided to go along and help him wrap up whatever the issue was.
"I'll go with you," Roman stated and stood. “I doubt we’ll be long.” He said, his tone slightly irritated, then he and Samuel made their way to the doors that led out to the alley, which ran between the Coven house and the Blood Rose.
****
It had started to rain, just a light drizzle, but still it made the whole thing a little more inconvenient. "Nolan," Samuel called to the young bartender, and he jogged over to them.
"He was here with a few friends and came out to smoke, according to one of the bouncers who saw him," Nolanexplained. "Luca brought him to the room off the main office. It's private, and no one saw him being carried in.”
"That fucks things up a bit," Roman interjected, hoping to simply roust the man and send him on his way. “Is he badly hurt?”
"I couldn't tell, but he was unconscious." Nolan was a very young vampire and a little unsure of himself. He kept shifting his eyes back and forth between Samuel and Roman.
"It's okay, Nolan," Samuel told him. "You can go back to work. We'll take it from here."
“Thank you.” He said and quickly disappeared.
"We should go in and check it out," Samuel said, and headed for the back door of the Blood Rose.
"Let's make it quick, I'm sure he just needs to sleep off whatever ails him, and they can roust him out in the morning and wipe his memory of the evening." Roman came up behind Samuel. "Chances are, whatever happened to him, he probably deserved. Assholes tend to bring violence upon themselves." He smirked, and Samuel agreed.
"If he has an address on him, we can drop him at his residence. If not, then we'll leave him and let the staff deal with him in the morning." Samuel suggested.
The room by the office was not large, but it did contain a bed and a bathroom. It was used for varying purposes by the staff and was cleaned regularly. Luca, who was working club security tonight, met them at the door. "I have the doctor with him," Luca informed, so they waited.
"Do you know him?" Samuel asked, and Luca shook his head.
“He’s with four other people who are still inside, but they’ll be taken care of." He assured. "I was at the door when they came in, and they called him Alex, but that's all I know." Roman and Samuel exchanged annoyed glances, realizing this was going to take more time than they thought. They stood and waited, and as they did so, Roman began to feel a strange urgency coming over him. It wasn't enough to act on, but it was slowly eating at the edges of his awareness.
“Do you feel anything strange in the air?” He asked Samuel.
Samuel focused and took in the aura of the back hall and the area beyond. "No," he said, shaking his head. "What do you sense?"
"Something, an urgency or heaviness, but nothing focused, just a feeling that comes and goes, but it's getting my attention.” He was unsure where it was coming from or if it was even real at this point.
