One Night at the Moonlight Lotus Cafe

[Odin]

Odin locked the office door and headed toward the mall exit. It was still early in the evening and he decided he'd stop in at the Moonlight Lotus Cafe and check in on things, then maybe chill out a bit. He walked north for several city blocks, took a right at the station, then a left, and continued on to the cafe.

The cashier looked up from her book when the door opened and flashed a quick smile at Odin. He nodded to her and headed to the north-west corner. Of the two chairs at the desk, one was already occupied. Odin sat in the other. He glanced around the room to see who else was visiting the cafe and noted several familiar faces - not that he knew these people personally - but they were regular patrons.

He did not recognize the girl sitting next to him. She seemed to be rather focused on staring at the screensaver on the computer. He noted she looked a bit pale, even for around here. The fact that she was trembling didn't go unnoticed either.

This is not good.

Odin figured he'd better assist her before some well-meaning human decided to approach her to see what was wrong. That situation could turn real bad, real quick.

"I can help you," he said in a low voice, as he rested a cool hand on top of hers.

She turned her attention from the computer screen to Odin. He thought her eyes looked almost haunted, frightened.

"I can help you," he repeated. "I know things," he grinned and gave her a wink. "But we can't talk here," he whispered.

Though his last statement was true, he also wanted to get this unstable-looking Vampire out of the cafe in case there was any proverbial **** getting ready to hit the fan.

"Come with me," he stated and wrapped his hand around hers. She stood up, a bit shaky on her feet, and followed him.

Odin walked to the back of the cafe, past the lounge area, and entered the Moonlight Warehouse. As expected, no one was in the room. He brought her over to the large steel desk and had her sit down in the chair, then blunted stated, "You need to feed."

The young lady, whom Odin figured was in her early twenties, looked up at him and said, "You're one of those?"

Odin refrained from rolling his eyes and replied, "And it would appear that you are as well."

Upon him stating the obvious, her shoulders slumped and she looked as though she was going to start crying. Instead she stammered out, "Y-yes. But I can't do this. I'm not good at it and..." her voice raised in panic, "I don't want to get caught."

Well, at least she has the discretion thing down, even though she doesn't exactly sound like Vampire material.

"It is a fact, you need to eat, so here is what we are going to do. I'll make sure you don't get caught tonight, there are ways to go about feeding discretely, not to mention I have two words for you - blood bags."

She looked at him quizzically. This time Odin did roll his eyes.

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?"

She shook her head back and forth.

"No matter," he said, "We'll go over that later. We will do this the proper way tonight. For now, you just sit tight. I'll be right back."

Odin got a feeling the person they passed earlier, who was sitting on the large tan couch in the lounge, would give him the answer he wanted to the question he was going to ask. He had seen her in the cafe before, and she seemed to have a rather well-known reputation. Of course he could have easily called Marta, but this would be more entertaining.

He strolled up to her and flashed a wicked grin. "How are you doing this fine evening?"

"Pretty good," she replied, and smiled back. "And how are you?"

"Ah, much better than good," he stated, then asked her for her name without offering his. He grinned again, leaned closer to her and said, "So Samantha, you wanna go party?"

"Sure," she said as she closed her notebook. "Lead the way."

Upon entering the warehouse, Samantha saw the young lady sitting across the room and asked, "Oh - her too?"

"Well of course," he replied, "It's going to be a very good party."

Odin locked the door, then walked to the white couch. He sat to one side and patted the cushion.

"Ladies?"

As he expected, Samantha took a close seat next to him. The other Vampire sat on the other side of Samantha.

Odin slowly traced his hand down over Samantha's neck, and collarbone, then cupped her breast. After a moment he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, planting a kiss on her lips.

With his other hand he motioned to the other Vampire to lean in. At first she was nervous, but as her teeth grazed against Samantha's neck, the blood-lust kicked in and she sank her fangs into the other woman's neck.

Odin pulled back from Samantha to give the other Vampire room to maneuver. He stood up and walked closer to the fledgling. After a few minutes he rested his hand on her shoulder.

"That's enough, you don't want to kill her."

He was pretty sure she actually didn't want to kill her, not to mention the fact that he didn't need to deal with a dead body in the warehouse.

She didn't respond to his request, so he squeezed her shoulder tightly.

"Enough."

She released Samantha and leaned back in the couch. Odin quickly grabbed his key card from his wallet and opened the storage room. He wet and wrung out a wash cloth, and returned to Samantha who was still sitting on the couch in a daze.

"Let's get you cleaned up," he said as he wiped a few blood streams from the side of her neck.

He tossed to cloth to the other Vampire and told her to wipe off her face, then grasped Samantha's wrist and helped her into a standing position. He handed her the notebook and led her toward the door.

"Thanks for joining the party," he said with a grin. He unlocked the door and guided her out, then shut it and locked it again. He didn't know how far she'd wander, not that he cared if she simply sat her *** back down on the couch or ended up across town.

Turning to the young woman he said, "Are you feeling better? You're certainly looking better already."

She nodded her head yes.

"Okay, good. Now, about the blood bags..."

Odin explained where she could purchase the bags, and how much they were and what to expect. After getting her banking information, he went to the ATM and transferred $10,000 into her account.

"And it's about time you should be going." he stated. She smiled and thanked him.

"You're a really nice person. I appreciate what you did for me."

Odin almost cringed. He simply didn't want a scene in the cafe with a Vampire who wasn't looking all that great.

"Don't mention it," he said, and added, "Here is my card if you have any questions or need anything." He placed the business card firmly in her hand.

And if you call, I'll be sure to introduce you to Alexandrea

He was sure the lovely blonde would become good friends with this one. Then Alexandrea could help the fledgling. Babysitting was not on his resume.

Odin unlocked the door once more. The young lady thanked him again, shook his hand, and left.