As they had supper in her room, she noticed that the only item out of his order he was eating was the meat. He had ordered a steak as close to rare as possible. She said nothing through dinner. He had also read the email.

  “You understand sis, you can’t go with me this evening.”

  “I know, but I will be up until you return and I want you to keep in touch with me until you are back in that cab and on your way here.”

  “I will.”

  Her brother went through the adjoining room door to get ready. She waited until he was dressed.

  “Here, this is the perfume or after shave, Ms. Arachne Corrick suggested you wear this evening. It is supposed to hide whatever scent you give off that indicates you are going through the change.”

  “I know I read the email remember?”

  Tom smiled at his sister and returned to the washroom mirror to splash some on.

  His sister followed him.

  “The name of the place is strange. Do you think it really exists?”

  “This is New York sis. Nothing in this city is like back home. Yeah, I think it exists and if it does, I’ll find it.”

  Tom put on a light jacket and grabbed his cell phone and showed it to his sister as he clipped it to his belt. He picked up the medical case and headed for the door.

  “I love you Tom, be careful.”

  “I love you too sis, I’ll be alright.”

  Elizabeth felt hopeless as her brother left and she went back in her room and put her cell phone on charge. She would stay dressed and awake until he returned safely.

  ***

  Elizabeth’s phone rang about twenty minutes later. It was Tom.

  “How is it going?”

  “Fine, the cab driver dropped me off at the address.”

  “Do you see the place yet?”

  “I’m on the street but I can’t find it. I am standing in front of a dress shop at the address Ms. Arachne Corrick gave us. I don’t see a ‘Club Corpuscle’ anywhere.”

  Tom continued to scan both sides of the streets.

  “Are there many people around?”

  “It’s almost nine and there are hundreds of people coming and going. Many of them are still shopping! Hell, back home they would have rolled up the sidewalks by now. Almost all the stores are still open and business in this area is going strong.”

  “Well you are in New York big brother, the town that never sleeps… maybe you could ask one of them where this place is.”

  “There is a restaurant across the street and it is busy. Maybe I could…. Wait a minute…”

  “What is it?

  “There is a man coming this way carrying the same kind of metallic medical case I have. I’m going to follow him. I’ll call you right back.”

  Tom walked up to the man and stood right in his path.

  “Excuse me sir, but can you tell me where the Club Corpuscle is?”

  The irritated man looked at Tom.

  It’s right down this alley. Now If you’ll excuse me, I’m late.”

  “Thank you.”

  Tom fell in step and followed the man into the alley right alongside the dress shop. He never considered the possibility that anything was down there. There was no lights or sign. The man he followed talked back over his shoulder to Tom.

  “This your first trip here?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well after this trip you won’t have any problem finding it in the future.”

  “You come here often?”

  “Twice a week… “

  “Where do you come from?”

  “Most of us come from either mortuaries or morgues. It’s good money. Last trip I delivered here I was paid over two thousand dollars cash.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah… It depends on what your inventory is and how much you are carrying. They do pay good. The business I deliver for makes four times as much as I do. No one wants to come here because they think you won’t be able to leave.”

  “I can see why someone would think that.”

  The stranger started down a stairway and they were at a door with a dimly lit sign that said Club Corpuscle. The stranger reached for the door. They could hear loud music on the other side.

  “Follow me and take a seat at the bar. They will tag you and under no circumstances try to enter the lounge area. It is behind another set of doors.

  “Tag you? What does that mean?”

  “Look follow my lead and have a beer with me while we wait.”

  The man turned the knob and entered as Tom followed him into the establishment. It was dimly lit as well. The bar extended all the way from the left wall and wrapped around to the set of doors his guide had warned him about. There was a single blonde bartender wiping the counter. His guide went up to the bar and took a seat alongside another man also with a medical case on the floor next to his stool. Tom did the same and all three sat there. The bartender came over and stood in front of the man Tom had followed.

  “Who are you here to see?”

  “I’m here to see Ron and I’ll have a beer.”

  She slapped a ‘guest’ name tab on his back as the man leaned forward over the bar. All it said was ‘hello, my name is Courier.’

  “And what can I do for you… Or for that matter to you stranger?”

  Tom could see she was flirting with him and he forced a smile and tried not to stare at her fangs.

  “I’m here to see Iolana.”

  “She is not here yet. What’s your name you hunk of beef?”

  “Tom.”

  “Well Tom let me explain rules here because you seem to be a first timer. First, lean forward and I will tag you.”

  Tom did so and she put the same guest label on his back.

  She drew him a beer and wiped the counter in front of Tom and set the beer down. She leaned on the bar just inches from his face as Tom took a sip.

  “See those double doors? You don’t want to walk through them. If you do, you might never be able to walk in the sunlight again, understand?”

  Tom looked at the doors and back at the bartender and nodded.

  “The other rule is don’t take that tag off your back or you might never leave her without being someone’s dinner. We try to protect the couriers, but all bets are off if you don’t have a sticker. Got it?”

  “Yes.”

  “You will stay right here until your customer enters the club. The woman you are delivering to, Iolana, comes here around nine. You see, each hour the music changes. One hour it might be ‘Rock and Roll’ and another hour it might be music from another century. That’s the kind of mix of customers we have. Your woman likes the ‘Rock and Roll’ hour and usually comes in with her girlfriends and just listens to the music and reads the newspaper. They are some of the tamer clients. Across the hall is a restroom for you ‘warm bloods’. Don’t go wandering around and you might live in the light long enough to make another delivery. Understand?”

  “Yes.”

  Tom watched as several of the club’s guests entered. Some were male and the females each got a negative response from the bartender that it wasn’t the lady in question. Tom looked at his watch. It was now almost quarter after nine. His contact was running late. The other two men made their deliveries and now were gone. It was just him and the bartender. She kept watching him with a lustful look and the second his beer was gone, she brought him another. He was not about to call his sister until after he made contact with Iolana. Tom felt better when still another man with a medical case sat down and was tagged and served by the bartender. He looked at Tom.

  “I haven’t seen you before. Is this your first delivery here?”

  Tom kept his head down to avoid eye contact.

  “Yes. This is my first time.”

  The stranger slid a price sheet over to him.

  “Here you should know how much the content of your case is worth.”

  “Thanks.”

  Tom looked at the price list. Cow’s blood was the cheapest at four hundred a pint. Then the prices jumped up after pig blood and goat blood. He scanned the list and found A.

  B. Negative. It was on the list at almost twenty thousand a pint. He thought the psychic said he had either four pints or six pints. He couldn’t remember. It was the most expense one on the list.

  Chapter 12 The Patrons

  Tom sat there watching the bartender draw blood from several different levers normally used to draw draft beers and pass the red stained glasses through the window. The servers on the other side of the counter in the lounge all appeared to be vampires as well. He would watch the woman’s face every time the door behind him opened for a sign that his contact came in. There was nothing and he became concerned that this night of all nights, she may not show up. Tom would catch a glimpse of those entering the lounge. Many had pale complexions and most wore ensembles that were primarily black. He knew that each one had checked him out for his tag on the back. They would give him a look like he was some kind of walking buffet.

  There was a small mirror next to the right door. Tom figured it was the bartender’s way of knowing if some ‘warm blood’ was trying to sneak in the lounge to spy on the others. Each time a a patron entered the dark back area, there was no reflection on their simple security system. That was part of what Tom considered to be the job of the bartender besides filling drink orders from different blood types on tap. He was glad the beer was strong and he had a slight buzz coming on. Hart figured that the club must have had several hundred inside listening to the loud period music. He did notice that when the selection of music changed around nine, it was the only time any patrons exited the dark interior. After all, the night was young. He could feel the phone vibrate and quickly typed a two letter response…’OK’. That was the first contact he had with his sister since entering the club.

  Tom thought about everything he had heard or seen involving these creatures as he put his hands around the stem of his third beer. He found it interesting that when a patron walked past the small shoulder height mirror by the entrance the head of the vampire could not be seen but their clothes could be seen. Seeing this phenomenon and witnessing the loss of a reflection in the mirror made him think about an issue never before considered by him. That issue was if a vampire could turn into a bat and back into a human, what happened to their clothes? During such a transformation, do their clothes just fall to the floor? The effects of the two quickly drank beers and a lull in the drink orders made him smile and motion the bartender back over. She came with her towel and leaned on the counter in front of him.

  “Anything or me that I can get you?”

  Tom was enjoying her teasing and flirting with him. Her smile and gestures had a calming effect that at least it made him feel safe in her presence now that once again he was the only courier at the bar.

  “I got to ask you a question beautiful.”

  She purred and looked at Tom.

  “Yes honey, ask away.”

  “When a vampire transforms into a bat what happens to the clothes it was wearing? Do they fall away or do they somehow magically disappear?”

  “Fall away honey.”

  “So when you change back are you nude?”

  “For you I would be…”

  “No seriously.”

  “Well remember, vampires can control the minds of you ‘warm bloods’. They can make you see whatever they want you to see so they may appear in your mind to be fully clothed. Sometimes they will just transform into something like a dog or a wolf… Oh there she is.”

  Tom spun around to see three young women enter the club. He was attracted to the one in the middle with a brief case and a newspaper under her arm. She had short black hair and a dark women’s business suit. Her two friends were more casually dressed. All three were smiling and talking as the bartender waved them over.

  “Iolana is the one with the newspaper. My name is Pasha if you prefer blondes.”

  Tom smiled at his protector and server.

  “That’s the best offer I’ve had in a long time.”

  The potent brews had affected Tom. Iolana came over.

  “Yes Pasha, what do you want?”

  “This courier is here to see you.”

  Iolana had a puzzled look on her face. She wasn’t expecting a courier. She glanced at Tom and returned to continuing her eye contact at Pasha.

  Tom smiled at the slender well-dressed woman.

  “Hi my name is…”

  Iolana didn’t look at Tom. She addressed the bartender and continued to lock her eyes with the bartender.

  “Is the conference room empty?”

  Tom could see Iolana’s fangs.

  “As usual my dear, it is free and available for you.”

  “Good.”

  She turned to Tom.

  “Follow me.”

  Her two friends were smiling at Tom with what he also thought were lustful stares, and he liked it. Iolana’s glance was more of a business glance. Maybe it was that lack of desire in her facial expression that drew Tom to her rather than one of the others. Tom followed her to a door alongside of the ‘warm blood’ restroom. He was relieved that he didn’t actually have to enter the club. Her two girlfriends walked alongside of him to the conference room door following Iolana. Iolana went into the room first and found the light switches.

  “I wouldn’t feel so relaxed and comfortable Courier, my bite is much worse than my bark.”

  One of the women escorting him tugged on his arm smiling up at him.

  “She is kidding. She was turned her freshman year in college and never even went on a date with a man before that.”

  The other woman escorting Tom had to add her comment.

  “We don’t think she even knows how to dance! She is all business.”

  “What kind of business is she….”

  Iolana was becoming irritated with her friends teasing her.

  “Have a seat Courier. I was not expecting a delivery. Do you have an invoice or a note?”

  Tom looked at her and removed the note from the psychic and gave it to her. He sat the medical case on the table. She motioned for him to sit and he did as she requested. The others sat down very close to both sides of him flirting with him. With the light beer buzz he had acquired, he was enjoying it. He thought if he had to be bitten by these women, it would not have been the worst way to go and besides, given his curse, it seemed to be better than a silver bullet. All three appeared to be in their early twenties and their complexions were not as pale as some of the other patrons he saw enter the lounge area. Iolana paced back and forth reading the note very carefully. When she finished, she looked at Tom. She put the note down. She opened the box and removed one the contents of the case by extracting the metal liner that sat on top of the dry ice coolant below its cargo. She slid a plastic bag over two her two companions.

  “Here this is for you. Please take the rest of this to Pasha and have her store the other bags for us. Bring back the liner and then please leave us alone for a while so we can talk.”

  Her two friends were all smiles as they read the label on the blood and quietly left the pair alone.

  “Just how much blood does one of you need a night….”

  “A half of a pint is more than enough for one.”

  “Aren’t you going to have some…”

  “Maybe later…”

  She kept looking at the note and then at Tom.

  “So you only have been infected for a few days?”

  “Yes. Is there any hope?”

  “Maybe, I am not sure. Hell, I am not even sure if I want to help you. Are you married?”

  “No.”

  “Who are your closest living relatives?”

  “My sister and my uncle…”

  Iolana took a seat and was about to continue her interview when one of her friends entered and put the medical liner on the table.

  “Thanks Chelsea… Chelsea you were turned by your grandfather right?”

  “Actually it was my great, great, grandfather.”

  “Do you know how to reach him?”

  “It has been awhile since we talked but I should be able to run him down. Why?”

  “I will fill you in just as soon as we finish this meeting.”

  “Okay, by the way, Hadiya says the Ab negative is top quality.”

  “That is good, please leave us.”

  Chelsea smiled and left the room. Iolana went over and put the liner back in the case and closed the empty container. She then sat it in front of Tom. She kept examining him as she returned to the front of the table. She opened her briefcase and removed a pen and an index card. She handed the items to Tom.

  “Write down your name and address and a phone number.”

  “Do you think you can help me?”

  “I haven’t yet decided if I want to help you let alone if I can help you.”

  “I am running out of time.”

  “You have a solid three weeks. That should be plenty of time.”

  Tom wrote the information down. He printed it to make sure that his only ray of hope would be able to read his writing.

  “I detect a southern accent.”

  “I am from Kentucky.”

  “Is anyone traveling with you?”

  “My sister and also a flight crew... We are using a corporate jet.”

  “If I call you later, you must send them all away. This is important. No one you care about should be around you. They will be the first you will want to attack and kill.”

  “What about the jet and the crew?”

  “I have my own. If we need to travel I will make any necessary arrangements.”