Mythiological stuff

Cara and Ramon stood up from their seats a while after. She smiled at me before leaving with her men. Ramon's eyes escorted them until they were outside, after which, his faked smile instantly vanished. Immediately Cara had left, lots of other ghostly pale individuals jam-packed the club. It was like they were waiting for her to leave. I internally marveled at how many customers Alexia had during the night shift. Most of the men who entered acknowledged Ramon with respectful nods, some of them even bowed. But Ramon didn't appear to take to heart the respect that he was being showered, he ignored most of them in fact, like he was used to it. Ramon's followers intermingled with the other customers freely in a sociable cheery way, they appeared to know each other.

Ramon took a big chug of the drink in his glass before walking over to the counter.

"What should I get you boss?" I asked when I noticed that he was coming directly my way

Silently, as if I didn't just ask him a question, he popped up behind the counter. He palpably ignored my existence as he reached for a jar of thick red wine on top of the shelf. Made sense because he owned the place.

He proceeded to sit directly opposite me and whilst he sipped from the jar, he gazed at me, eyes unblinking. To be honest, I had grown used to the prolonged stares I got from most people but Ramon's, his seemed terrifying. It was like he could see through my skin and bones. I ignored his gawk and continued cleaning the shots glasses.

After a couple of minutes, once I had attended to about a dozen customers,

"John Steward" Ramon called in his deep but radio-perfect voice

"Tell me, when you look around, what is it that you notice?"

I was perplexed by the question but still looked around. I inspected everyone and a new reality dawned upon me. The way they sipped from their glasses, it seemed like they just transmigrated from a royal family in the sixteenth century. Some even wiped their mouths with handkerchiefs after drinking, which to me, was an insanely weird thing for a drunk person to do. And the way they sat, backs straight and not leaning on the support of their chairs, it was uncanny. I also noticed that half of them possessed different accents, like they came from different parts of the earth's geographical locations.

"Different" the word popped out of my mouth

Ramon chuckled

"No, what is the common divisor when you look at everyone?"

"You mean physically?" I quizzed "well, you all seem a little…under the weather"

"Pale" he said

Was it a condition? I asked myself

"Cold" he continued "like we lack enough blood in our system?"

"Uhm" I was unsure of what to say

"I noticed that you were flirting with my girlfriend Angela back there" his expression turned serious

"I promise I wasn't" I quickly replied "I was just being grateful to her for…"

"She is beautiful, right?"

"I…I promise I…"

" It's not a trick question John Steward" he snapped

"She is" I sighed after some seconds

"You are new in town yet you seem to have made some big friends" he said "even Hannah here likes you, she hasn't stopped looking at you since I came here"

I turned to see Alexia who was at the moment watching us intently.

"Give me your hand" he ordered, and from his tone, I was a hundred percent sure that it wasn't a request.

Gripped by his pale white fingers, I felt a stinging cold, like he had just dug his arms out of a deep ice sheet. They were really cold, colder than the ice cubes we used at the counter.

"Did Hannah tell you about us?" he asked, his eyes intently gazing unto mine with unmistakable otherworldly gravity. I felt compelled to sincerely answer his question as my eyes were momentarily tranced by his, lost in the faint red in his pupils. I felt like I was being hypnotized but I could do nothing about it. Not mentioning that I had lost control of my limbs.

"No"

"Do you know anything about us?"

"No"

"Have you ever been bitten?"

"By a dog and a cat, yes"

A prolonged silence

"Perfect, here is a knife, "he handed me a silver dagger "now, I want you to slice your arm, just a little cut. Can you do that?"

Against every ounce of my will, I took the dagger and proceeded to do as I was ordered.

Before the sharp edge could pierce through my skin, I felt a gust of wind blow before another hand suddenly grabbed mine. I was instantly shaken out of my trance as I quickly dropped the knife. I turned to look at Alexia who was now standing defensively in front of me.

"Get back to work Hannah" Ramon ordered, the seriousness on his face not quivering a bit

"You can't feed on him"

"Feed on me?" I shrieked "what the hell man?"

"You forget your place Hannah, "he said "I'm not going to repeat it"

"I'm sorry sir but you can't"

Ramon scoffed and with a snap of his fingers, two men flashed towards the counter. And when I say flash, I mean like literally, at the speed of lightning. I widened my eyes and gulped, fear already starting to creep unto me. I was for a moment frozen in place, unmoving and unsure of what to make of two men moving at the speed of bullets. Before I even knew it, Alexia was pinned on the shelf, so roughly that bottles with drinks on it crashed on the floor.

"Let her go" I said, concern overwhelming my fear

One of the men had a splintered glass positioned at the edge of her throat but even in that state, Alexia didn't appear a bit terrified. She even struggled unsuccessfully to get out of their hold.

"Pick up the dagger" Ramon ordered

Fearing for Alexia's life, I quickly picked up the dagger and placed it on the palm of my hand. Of the things I feared in this world, pain was the least of them. I enjoyed it in fact. So in an instant second, without a second thought, I made a cut, my face showing no emotion.

All of a sudden, everyone in the club turned to gaze hungrily at me, in a feral kind of way. It reminded me of a hungry wolf staring at a slab of meat. Some of the men flashed over to the counter, surrounding me in every direction. Never in my life did I ever imagine something like this ever happening to me, not even in my dreams. I now understood why Alexia gave me the day shift, why she always wanted me to leave before night set in. Now everything was all clicking into place, I was starting to understand.

Ramon's gaze did not peel from my arm, not even for a second.