opening

A heady mass of bodies filled the room the same way it always did. You could almost taste the desperation and need on the air if you tried hard enough, or at least Araina thought so. She stood on the edge of the dancefloor, watching with a disdainful expression on her face. Every night the same sequence of events occurred. It was getting terribly old.

"Araina."

The woman inclined her head slightly to the left to glimpse the man who had called her name. Her lips stretched out into a smirk when she recognised him.

"Daniel Lark. I didn't think I'd see you again this side of the millennium. What brings you to Avalon? You weren't looking for me, were you?" Araina asked, barely speaking louder than a whisper. Her companion still managed to hear her above the techno beats.

"Yes and no. I heard you were having trouble with a victim who didn't stay dead." The man named Daniel strode closer to Araina, their shoulders brushing lightly. "I also happened to hear this particularly troublesome human is an eight-year-old little boy."

Araina's playful expression disappeared in a flash, replaced with hot fury. "Who spread that malicious little rumour? Was it Lily? I'll rip her throat out if she dares utter foul words like that again."

"Relax darling, it wasn't Lily. She's still frightened from the last time you jumped her bones. No, I dug this gem up on my lonesome. Don't worry. I haven't mentioned it to anyone else," Daniel taunted.

Araina span around in an instance, her hand tightening around Daniel's throat as her temper ran rampant. "You better not have," she hissed, ignoring the startled looks of the nearest clubbers. "Because it is nothing more than fiction. I can hunt more cleanly than the eldest of vampires. I know how to compel a victim so much they forget their own name. A little boy could never leave me stumped. Understand, Daniel?"

The male vampire looked unfazed. Araina dropped her arm and Daniel focused on dusting away imaginary pieces of dirt to look nonchalant. Araina snorted and turned her attention back to the dancefloor, her eyes cast out like a fishing line.

"It's true that you are one of the better hunters, my darling Araina, but it is also true that you bit off more than you could chew when you chose Nathaniel Martin to feed from. You failed to kill him when you finished drinking his blood. You then failed to erase his memories when you found him bedridden in hospital. There is something about that boy that has left you, how shall I put it, stumped. You may have screwed his vulnerable little mind up enough to give you room to breathe, but mark my words, this will come back to haunt you. Then where will you be? Remember that I came to help you and you threw it back in my face, because there will be no second offerings."

Araina didn't bother to turn around. She already knew that Daniel had left her standing alone again.