Spinning Around

[pinkroses]

The sun had slowly drifted through the sky and dropped behind the horizon without Murphy noticing. He’d been sat in the same spot for hours, on a bench in the street with his legs stretched out before him, wearing a smart, dark green shirt which brought out the green in his eyes, and black trousers. There was a lot to do still at home, but he’d found himself here, with a half empty bottle of whiskey cradled in his hands and a dazed look on his face.

It was three weeks since his father had died. Today he’d had a meeting with his solicitor, and been told his father hadn’t written a will, so everything went to him. Murphy hadn’t been all that surprised, but having someone tell him it officially had helped things settle in. The funeral had been a week ago and it had been terrible. Hardly anyone had shown up, and Murphy hadn’t even shed a tear.

He’d hated his father, he’d only stayed in the house because he knew his father would have gone long ago if he hadn’t. The house would have burnt down without Murphy to turn off the hob used to make a late night snack; he’d have fallen down the stairs and broken his neck without his son to turn on the light as night fell. As it was, it had been a car accident. Murphy hadn’t been home to lock away the car keys and Kevin had gone out to find cigarettes and collided with a woman driving her teenage daughter home from a party. Kevin had died, the two women had survived but the daughter had broken a leg.

But there was still a hole. Now when he went home there wouldn’t be anyone passed out on the sofa. He wouldn’t have anyone to clean up after. Murphy hadn’t been in a proper relationship for years. He hadn’t wanted anyone to be subjected to that, to having to come into that house. And now… it wasn’t that he had no one, but no one he wanted to subject to his mood.

He could have called Ben. Murphy was sure the vampire would have shown up if he’d called, but Murphy never liked bringing other people down so he hadn’t called or texted Ben since that night and he‘d ignored the texts from the blonde. He’d called work just to let them now the bare details and that he needed some time off, but that was it.

But now he had what he wanted. His father was out of his life. The house was his and so was all of Kevin’s money. He could sell the house, find somewhere else, or stay there and make it his own. Redecorate everything, pull down walls, fix it up. Or just leave it as it was. Whatever he wanted.

Murphy lifted the whiskey with a frown, eyeing it up. He didn’t like alcohol, the affect it had on people, the taste, any of it. But everyone else seemed to like it. This was what his father had been drinking the night he’d died, it had been in the passenger seat of the car, completely unharmed. This was what was left. Maybe Kevin had been planning on picking up some more booze when he’d gone out. Planning ahead.

The brunette twisted off the lid and took a long swig of the golden liquid, his nose wrinkling up in disgust but not stopping him. Maybe it would help. He didn’t want to feel this empty any more.

Ten minutes later Murphy stood up, leaving the empty bottle on the bench and he walked steadily a few street along. The alcohol hadn’t hit him yet and Murphy wanted to get started on his plan before it did (a plan he’d set upon just a few moments earlier). He would go to Risk. There would be someone there who would make him feel wanted for a couple of hours at least.

When he reached the club the music was already thumping and there was a short queue, which was the best the human could have hoped for any night of the week. It didn’t take long for him to reach the front and the demons let him in when they had turned away the couple in front of him. The music hit him around the same time as the whiskey did and everything seemed to start spinning, but it wasn’t too bad. It made everything a little more exciting, but nerve wracking too, especially for someone who didn’t usually drink.

Murphy wanted to dance and find someone to help him forget everything, but he found himself leaning against a wall facing the dance floor, texting Ben quickly, if imperfectly.

Sorry didn’t reply b4. Been busy. Dad gone. Risk not so much fun w/out u. x

As he pressed send Murphy took a deep breath, tipping his head back against the wall, trying to stop the world spinning before he pushed off, pocketing his phone and heading into the middle of the dance floor. His body moved to the beat and Murphy quickly found a partner to dance with although he didn’t even pay any attention to who it was. The vampire he was with was strong, firm, a man he didn‘t know, cold to touch. Exactly what Murphy wanted right now. Someone who could help him feel again, even if it was just physically.

[WorstEvangelist]

Coming to a new city brings with it a plethora of new stimulations that both assault and invigorate. At first a creature cannot help but feel the unknown’s seductive pull that first tempted man to creep from the safety of his warm cave and into the night. It is the same dangerous magnetism that draws the ignorant into a virgin city, whispering arousing promises of adventure waiting to be unravelled from its tangle of unexplored streets and alien sites. What is perhaps even more attractive to this stranger in a strange land, however, is that a new city casts away the individual’s identity. Just by dissecting the ‘what was’ and replacing it with the unfamiliar a man might free himself of all responsibility. And all hurt. This is what humanity sees in the vampire, and what they in turn share with their partner’s pleasure.

Amidst the blurring strove of the club, the air heavy with the heat of bodies moving to the time to the beating of their own hearts, was a figure dressed all in white, his broad shoulders rising above those dancing around him. Vlad parted his moist lips a fraction allowing Peter, standing on his toes, to lift a glass of still warm blood past them. The tall raven haired man half lidded his eyes as he relished the delicate flow of crimson fluid running down his throat. The boy, Peter, trembling with restraint removed the glass when it was empty. Vlad smiled down and let one of his long fingers tentatively stroke the throat of the young risk goer, delighting in the fluttering pulse of the carotid artery. With an absent thought the vampire sent the boy away.

He made a striking figure, with his stainless formal wear and vermilion tie. This was a new city after all and he was amidst a crowd of strangers. He’d no reason to keep a low profile, he didn’t even have a profile and was free of any and all inhibitions. Vlad ran a teasing tongue around the lobe of Amber, the new fledgling who’d thrown away her mortal name after her siring. Goose bumps tickled her flesh at his heavy breath in her ear, and when he swept by she immediately latched onto the closest human to slate the beautiful hunger he’d left within her. Yes, he possessed a freedom that few could even begin to dream of. For some it was as easy as satisfying your nightly desires, and for a creature like himself consequences were only for those who woke to them with the dawning of the unforgiving sun.

Vlad’s thought’s weren’t all his own however, after all he was a generous creature. They wormed their way into the minds of those near, infecting them with his relishing lust to be free. Like Murphy, confused, whose chin he now held elegantly between his fingers.

[pinkroses]

Murphy’s dancing stilled as the cold fingers grasped his chin and his hazel eyes, which had been half lidded, gradually opened properly and lifted to eyes up the imposing figure before him. Murphy wasn’t short, but compared to this well dressed form, he was a dwarf, like just about everyone else in here.

His head was spinning as he reached out to gently grasp the lapels of the creature’s flawless white suit, responding to his touch. The influential fingers weaving into his mind already had a lot to work with, Murphy wanted to be free and he had recently been given freedom he’d hoped for with guilt and self loathing. Now he had it and he had no idea what to do with it so he’d run to what he knew and combined it with what he didn’t - alcohol was something he’d always avoided like the plague, but before those fingers had delicately grasped his chin, the human had been considering one of the overpriced drinks they served here.

Those thoughts disappeared as he gazed up at those amazing, slightly terrifying eyes and Murphy swayed back and forth, the height difference putting him slightly off balance.

A smile slid over Murphy’s face as he realised this vampire, who he was sure had been attracting a fair amount of attention in the club, had paused by him. He had actually stopped, not just cast a glance in his direction and then moved on.

It had been a while since Ben had fed from him, and even longer since Murphy had really been physically intimate with anyone. So suddenly being touched like that sent a thrill up Murphy’s spine.

“Hey there,” Murphy said, not realising he was already pressing his body up against Vlad’s, a slightly goofy grin on his face.

[WorstEvangelist]

Ah, the alabaster vampire pushed back a lock of midnight hair as he fed off Murphy’s self destructive desires. He’d been like this human once, maybe, but he’d not been burdened by the stinging sin of regret. It sat there, nagging at the back of the human’s mind behind the gauze of alcohol. His statuesque lips curved ever so fractionally in amusement. It was curious how men put limitations like heartache on their passions, they were a constrictive prison which bred a culture of fear. Fear that their own self imposed wounds would open up again, fear of the unknown and the darkness that lay in each of their hearts.

Vlad leisurely slid his grip from Murphy’s chin, around his throat to gently cradle the back of his head. The clean shaven human unconsciously responded by pressing his body up against Vlad’s broad chest. The warmth of Murphy’s blood and breath leached into Vlad, the two separated only by the flimsy flesh of the mortal’s body. The proximity reminded the vampire of the beating life which the young man nursed within his chest. He looked deep into Murphy’s hazel eyes and saw what was reflected there. It was an exquisite hunger.

Nothing made this one any different form the scores of others jumping around the club like so many fleas, Murphy himself was the kind of creature Vlad would have otherwise ignored. He began to withdraw his hand from the human, running an enticing finger down Murphy’s backbone as he started to pull away.

However Vald was still new to the city and had not yet explored its depths. Instead he’d been taking his time slowly familiarising himself with his newfound territory. There were advantages to be indulged in with Murphy, who’d lived in the city for his whole life. ‘You where who you new’ after all.

The stately vampire, instead of retreating, rested his tracing hand on Murphy’s hip. Those hungrily burning eyes had not yet relented, though they tempted encouragement. His sculpted features smiled down at Murphy, while Vlad stirred around in his mind helping the alcohol to block off the right receptors while he teased certain others.

When Vlad spoke, his voice was a deep, creamy baritone with just the tease of an accent “Tonight my friend, find solace in sweet release.” With a mental flick Patrick and Amber were suddenly by their side, their bodies stirring sensually to the music, each thrilled at the summons of the charismatic man in white.

[pinkroses]

Murphy\'s cheeks flushed red with the heat of the club, the alcohol in his system, and the pleasure at seeing a smile being aimed in his direction by a fucking gorgeous vampire whose hands were all over him. Murphy was spinning, but he had definitely noticed that.

"Sounds good to me. Every form of resistance to a complete release should be abandoned, or so I‘ve heard," Murphy said, slurring his words a little but managing to get the quote he was thinking of correct, as he pressed against the vampire, so entranced by him that he barely noticed when the vampire\'s companions appeared beside them. He managed to spot them as they swayed close to the pair and he glanced sideways at them.

“You come as a trio?” he asked, reverting his attention back to the giant before him, frowning slightly. He didn\'t want anything complicated and when someone could have Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee show up so easily it wasn\'t quite right. And right now he had enough to think about without considering the consequences of his actions with three other people. Fuck, he didn\'t even want to think about it for himself.  

"I\'m not interested, sorry," the human said, stepping away from the vampire and turning unsteadily towards the crowd as he went, not even stopping to think about how the vampire might react to such an action, which was quite unlike him.

[realworldweirdo]

Orias wasn\'t moping. He wasn\'t. He refused to mope and, quite frankly, he thought he\'d outgrown the urge decades or more ago. However, he was dancing quite sullenly at Risk, having been driven out of his studio by the hunger for blood.

That, and when he saw what he\'d been creating when he withdrew somewhat from the moment, he was horrified. Something had to change. Gene had left him, yes.

Gene had left him extremely suddenly, yes. Anger hammered at his chest, then was subdued by remorse and depression. Still, he was hundreds of years old and Gene was human; what difference did a decade or two really make, before he lost Gene one way or another? Still, it didn\'t feel that way. It stung, it hurt; he\'d only been trying to keep him safe, and this is what Gene chose.

As a result of his mortification at the grotesque sculptures he\'d been making, he\'d forced himself to shower for the first time in weeks, grateful that he didn\'t have the body odor humans developed, and put on a tight white tshirt and a sky-blue polo over it. He\'d also changed into tight dark blue jeans and a pair of white tennis shoes and fixed his hair. Being attractive helped with getting an eager donor at Risk, which was the easiest place for him to feed given his lack of telepathic ability.

He didn\'t realize that he\'d stopped dancing until someone bumped into him and Orias held out an arm to catch the person reflexively, worried that they would fall.

"Are you all right?" he inquired, also automatically, of the man he\'d accidentally captured. He smelled like whiskey, but otherwise clean. It almost reminded him of Gene. Nothing else was the same, though. That pang, though, made an emotional connection that he was at least self-aware enough to put a strong damper on.

[pinkroses]

Murphy blinked in surprise as he somehow managed to turn out of one vampire’s arms straight into another’s and he grasped at the arm instinctively, kind of wishing he’d stayed by the wall where he’d been fairly comfortable and not buffeted by so many people when the world didn’t seem to want to stop moving.

But at least this one spoke more sense and not in riddles like the last.

“Sure,” he replied without thinking about it, but then he stopped, lifting his eyes from the arm he was holding to meet the vampire’s gaze and shook his head. “No.” Fuck, no. Since his father had died he’d been lying to everyone who’d asked him that, giving the answer they wanted to hear, but he didn’t care if this guy knew he wasn’t coping.

“Um…” Was it always like this? When people drank? The music seemed louder, everyone seemed closer and his mouth felt dry. Half a bottle of whiskey was probably not the best way for a teetotaller to start a night clubbing.

“I banged into you. Sorry. Are you alright?” Murphy finally managed to get out, a concerned look in his eyes although there was little chance he would have been able to hurt the vampire. He might have spilt his drink or something though, or knocked his human out of the way. Murphy glanced around in a jerky movement, trying to see if the brunette had any kind of drink spilt on him, or an angry looking donor beside him but neither were leaping out at the human.

[realworldweirdo]

"I\'m fine," Orias replied, following the human\'s eyes around to see what he was looking for. When nothing seemed to be the object of his search, he mentally shrugged it off.

Bringing himself back to the subject at hand, he lifted an eyebrow at his new acquaintance. "So you\'re not fine, you say. I suppose I\'m not either, come to think of it."

[pinkroses]

Murphy gave a tiny nod as the vampire said he was fine, barely noticing the echo of his own words when the declaration was retracted. He stiffened up a little, not letting go of Orias (he didn’t want to risk falling over or stumbling into someone else) but watching the brunette warily.

“Because I crashed into you?” he asked, hoping he hadn’t managed to upset another vampire in Risk after just rejecting the other who had disappeared into the crowd now.

[realworldweirdo]

"No, it\'s not your fault," Orias replied, trying to sound easygoing but aware that his tone fell short, somewhere in the lukewarm friendly range. "Just had someone very dear to me go out of my life."

It was surprisingly easy to talk about it, but that might be because it felt like he was lying. Covering up his feelings of abandonment and loss with a casual phrase about the situation was almost painless. Besides which, he\'d had some time to vent on some unsuspecting raw material; most of the more urgent emotions had been released in the process.

"You look like you need to sit down," he commented, observing Murphy\'s trouble with staying perpendicular to the floor. "Would you like to join me? I\'m Orias, by the way."

[pinkroses]

“Ok, I’ll believe you this time,” Murphy said with a curt nod as Orias assured him it asn’t his fault and a smile returned to his face until the vampire said what was wrong. Fuck, was everyone miserable tonight? Murphy wanted to forget everything, he didn’t want to sit down and have someone spill out their woes and then expect him to take him turn doing that too. He didn’t like telling people bad news, why spread the misery?

“Hi Orias, I’m Murphy,” the human said, giving a small wave before returning his grasp to the vampire, but this time  his shoulder, facing him a little more. “And I’m not a big drinker usually, but I’m fine,” he added, slurring his words in a way which might have indicated otherwise. “And I would love to join you for a dance?” he added with a hopeful note, pressing his body more closely against his support and giving his hips a little wiggle in a cheesy way Murphy doubted he would ever do again.

[realworldweirdo]

"Hi Murphy," he replied, smiling a little bit when this Murphy individual moved in closer. Instead of directly responding to the question about dancing, he simply began to dance again, this time with Murphy against him.

After a moment, the songs changed and Orias\'s hunger picked up on the more predatory feel of the new music. Putting a hand between this new mortal\'s shoulder blades and one on the small of his back, he drew Murphy a little closer to him, regardless of Murphy\'s feelings on the situation. Orias tilted his head close to the crook of the human\'s neck, ostensibly to speak into his ear.

"Are you sure you wouldn\'t like to come sit down with me?" he inquired, loud enough to be heard when speaking directly into a human\'s ear but still with a (for a nightclub) low and suggestive tone. The hand on Murphy\'s lower back slid down slightly lower and the hand between his shoulder blades slid up. Orias wasn\'t quite grabbing Murphy\'s butt, and he wasn\'t quite holding onto his neck.... but the intention was clear, especially with his mouth so close to the pulse in the drunk man\'s neck.

Orias hadn\'t been drunk in a long time, but tonight felt like the night.

[pinkroses]

Murphy made no attempt to resist Orias’ urging them closer - in fact he’d barely noticed it as they danced until the vampire’s face was so close to his ear and he was making his offer again. But this time it was in a way Murphy much preferred the sound of. Murphy felt his heart rate pick up at the thought of Orias biting, fuck sitting down, just here, in the middle of all this, with their bodies grinding together in the midst of the crowd. But unlike some of the people who came to Risk (although it wasn’t as bad as it used to be) Murphy was not an exhibitionist, even with half a bottle inside him.

“Sure, lead on,” Murphy murmured with a giddy grin, letting the hand which had lifted to curl through the back of Orias’ hair drop down to twist behind him and grab one of the hands the vampire had around him.

Take me upstairs, take me home, do whatever the hell you want with me, drink, but I want more too, I need more. His mind raced as he followed Orias through the crowds, staying pressed close to him and weaving his hot fingers through the cold ones he held.

[Trillian]

Ben had heard the message tone on his cell beep when Murphy\'s text came through.  He\'d not immediately gone to it, finishing off the paragraph he was writing in his journal.  He\'d re-read some of his earlier journals and found some threads of research that he\'d never pursued - specifically some familial vampire bloodlines steeped in legend.  Transformation had always been a topic of interest to him, and Kerr had told him it was a possibility, so he\'d never entirely put it out of his mind even though he knew it was currently out of his reach.

After a few minutes passed, he finally left his desk and laptop to check the mobile that was plugged into a socket in the lounge.  He kept his charger in there because it was the centre of the apartment.  It had been intended as a central location in case he had to do a runner for his phone (and celerity still evaded him most times).

Picking up the cell he saw that there were three messages.  Two of them we old ones from Kerr that he hadn\'t yet bothered to delete, and the newest one had been sent by Murphy.  He opened the message and read it quickly, chagrined that his friend was at Risk alone. He didn\'t miss the context of the message either, but felt it would be bad form to discuss such a thing over text.

He quickly shot a reply back, and hung around for a few minutes, to see if there would be a quick return to his message.  All Murphy needed to do was provide a single answer.

I can be there in twenty minutes.  Do you want me with you?

[pinkroses]

“Oh, sorry,” Murphy slurred as he bumped down onto the low sofa beside Orias, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he felt it vibrate. He stared down at the text for a moment, taking in a slow breath to steady his fingers (and vision) so he could take it in, propping one foot up on the low table before them.

Ben would be great. Ben would know what to say to comfort him, to sympathise and to get all his emotions out, someone who would listen and they could chat. Maybe Ben would drink from him, but he might not whilst Murphy was in a state like this and he had Kerr so it wasn’t like they could do anything else that Murphy wanted.

Can I come round yours in a couple of hours?

He took a little longer to reply than he realised, but as soon as he pressed send and put the phone away again he turned back to the object of his attentions for now. Ok, so maybe he wouldn’t go home with this guy - Osiris? Orion? Orias, that was it - but there was plenty they could do here. In fact he was a little disappointed they hadn’t gone straight upstairs, but didn’t let it show on his face.

“Sorry, that was just a friend. I messaged him just before I crashed into you, so… not like a boyfriend or anything, just a friend,” Murphy spilled out, talking quickly as he twisted towards Orias, dropping a hand to rest on the vampire’s thigh, squeezing gently.