Back to the club

David walks the streets, lost in thought. His mind has become clearer since he fed, and he faces an inescapable truth.

I am a vampire.

His mind no longer focused solely on his hunger, he is better able to recall the previous night. He remembers how he had broken up with his girlfriend of two years, Helen, that morning. He remembers how he met Charlotte at a club while looking for a one night stand. They went home together. They had (incredible) sex. She bit him. She **** fed him her blood. She bit him again.

Charlotte was a vampire. She made me into a vampire too.

David knows it sounds crazy. It is crazy! But he can't deny what he has become. David is slightly perturbed that he doesn't feel more unsettled by his transformation. Deep down, he likes it. He feels strong, revitalized. All of the sadness, the anxiety, the rawness of his breakup with Helen is gone. The tempestuous emotions have been displaced by lust and hunger. Feeding on Dara, as much as he regrets killing her, was an amazing sensation. He can't put it into words, the feeling of her warm blood coursing through his body as he drained her. As he walks down the street, he replays the kill over in his mind. David eyes the people he passes on the street thirstily.

Who should I drink next? He thinks. He smells the humans. He hears their hearts pumping blood just below the surface of their skin. He salivates. David remembers Charlotte's note. The advice, "Don't drink in public", now has more context.

David has so many questions. No sun seems important. But what else should he know? Does he have powers? Is he immortal?

David decides to return to the club from the previous night. He wants to find Charlotte, to talk to her, and he reasons that the club is his best chance of finding her (even if unlikely).

David enters the club from the night before. As before, it is quite dark, but he is amazed at how clearly he can see in the darkness. His hearing allows him to isolate individual conversations over the music. The smell of the crush of humanity is overwhelming, but having fed not too long ago David is able to stay focused. He'll figure out his dinner later. David smiles himself, fantasizing about his next meal.

He scans the patrons: no sign of Charlotte. David asks the bartenders are waitresses, but they can't recall the woman that he describes. Well, this was a long shot he thinks to himself. David is disappointed, but recognizes that the blood club doesn't have to be a total bust.

Music is thudding in his ears. The club is filled with attractive people. David looks around the club, like a pensioner at a buffet.