The next evening Justin was gone before everyone else was up and conversing with each other about what they planned to do that evening. Nobody thought twice about Justin being missing, figuring that he was away being punished. If anybody knew that he was actually off signing the papers for the farm that he didn’t technically own the night before, he might not come back with a head on his shoulders.

AJ and JC were sitting in the common living room and were feasting on a human the hunters brought in. Per the sheriff’s orders, the hunters were only allowed to bring humans that were not natives from these parts. He didn’t want a riot to start with the local township. It was becoming more and more rare that they are able to dine on actual humans. Kevin had been wanting to run pararral with humans since it was announced that they truly existed several years ago. Many vampires do not want to be equals, they think of themselves as higher than the mortal humans but follow their sheriff’s orders. Usually they drink blood from animals though there is news that fake blood might be on the market soon as humans are in fear that the animal blood won’t hold the vampires over for very long. Plus the PETA activists are growing in numbers to fight against the “cruelty” of sucking animals dry of their blood. They aren’t fighting the vampires right now in fear that they will be the vampires’ next meal but they are planning a protest soon.

“How are you healing?” JC asked, looking over at his best friend after he had his fill of human. AJ shrugged and continued to feed. He would need much more than JC to replenish that of what he lost during his fight the previous night. JC leaned back in his seat and just waited. He would watch his best friend for a moment and then look around the room at the others finishing up on their feed.

“I want you to come with me,” AJ finally. His lips were covered in the thick blood of the human, his tongue darted out quickly to bring the last few drips in. He was done and feeling much better, much more refreshed.

JC crossed his leg. He put his hand on his calve and stared hard at his friend. “Come with you where?”

“To the human bar.” This is where AJ knew he hit a brick wall. JC would never agree. “I want you to meet him. Please, do it for me.”

“You are out of your fucking mind, you know this right?” JC asked. His voice had raised a few notches and some others had noticed. Their heads turned and JC leaned in closer to AJ across the table where their drained human was still laying. With his voice lowered, he said, “You’ll be lucky if you get out of the mess you got in last night when you jumped Justin. Now you want to jeopardize things with heading into town to visit a human at a human bar. What good will it do? How do you know that Kevin doesn’t have Joel and Benji following you? His security will be on your trail making sure you aren’t starting more with Justin where Kevin can’t see. He is his child, don’t forget that.”

“I don’t give two shits about Justin,” AJ said in a low stern voice. JC knew this, he didn’t argue the fact that his best friend hated his brother with such passion. “I want to see the human because I need something good in my night. If I am punished, I won’t know the next time his beauty will cross my eyes. Please, just do me this one favor. We will go. I’ll say hi to him and then we’ll leave. I promise. I don’t even know if they have animal blood on order so if we start to get hungry, we’ll have left long before anything happens.”

JC stared at his best friend. He always got talked into things and he was very aware of this. He sighed, as he tended to do when he gave in. It was agreed, they would go and AJ would say hi then they’d leave. Without much notice for anybody else in the room, the two rose from the seats and headed for the front door. Someone will come along in a few minutes to remove of the drained corpse and dispose it in the furnace in the back of the house. It was designed perfectly for disposing of dead flesh. Being brought in without human eyes following, the vampires had perfected its creation over the coarse of a hundred years. The furnace won’t give off any unpleasant odors to alert the villagers as was the case in earlier production stages. Kevin didn’t want anybody rushing the front door with stakes and silver chains.

The two made it outside unseen and headed towards the gravel driveway. AJ’s car was parked on the far side of the area that resembled a parking lot. Once inside, JC was obviously rethinking this idea but didn’t have a second to say a word before AJ hit reverse and they were pulling away from the nest. It was a short drive to the outskirts of town. AJ had made his way down the road several times. He could have done it with his eyes closed. Once parked outside of the bar, he looked at his best friend. There was an uneasiness written all over his best friend’s face. AJ had to move and move fast if he was going to get JC inside that bar.

“Let’s go,” AJ said turning the engine off. He shoved the keys deep into his pocket and climbed out of the vehicle. JC was soon to follow.

Only AJ had been to the bar and it was only once before. He had been looking for the human but hadn’t had any luck that night. Hoping that tonight he’d have more luck, AJ opened the door and ushered his best friend in. The two vampires looked around at the humans mingling around. Some stopped what they were doing to stare as many hadn’t seen a vampire yet. Others that had seen them, turned back to what they were previously doing. They knew better than to draw attention to themselves when a vampire was present. AJ tipped his head in a nodding fashion as he met the eyes of an older gentlemen and walked over to a booth to sit down. Whispers could be heard all over the establishment about their entrance.

“So is he here?” JC asked quietly, looking across the booth at his friend. AJ’s eyes went back across the room and light up once he saw Nick Carter at the pool table with a few others. They hadn’t noticed the vampires and AJ had the urge to walk over. He wanted to talk to the tall blonde once more – just to say hi like he promised. Drawing his attention back, he nodded his head. It was enough to cause JC to turn his head and begin to look around. He had no idea what this human looked like but the way he was looking around would seem as if he’d have a sign over his head that read “it’s me he wants”. Looking back at AJ, JC lifted an eyebrow in question. He wanted more to go on. AJ was about to explain which one was the human when he was stopped short by a man walking up to their table.

“Hello there,” The stranger greeted the vampires. He flung a towel over his shoulder and put his hands down on the table to lean in. Obviously he wasn’t scared to confront them – at least that is what his appearance portrayed. “My name is Brian Littrell and I own this bar. I know it’s illegal to kick you out and if you are a paying customer I have no problem with you being here. I just don’t want any trouble you hear? From you, or any of the regulars.”

It was a typical warning and both vampires were used to it. AJ nodded his head and reassured the bar owner that they weren’t there to cause trouble. Once Brian was satisfied, he left their table and headed back behind the bar. The servers were pretty much drawing straws to see who had to go ask them if there was anything they wanted to drink. One was decided and she was about to go in their direction when she froze. The two vampires rose from their booth and made their way towards the pool tables. They stopped by an unused table and waited a few seconds. AJ wasn’t getting the attention he wanted and finally he had to set everything in motion.

“Hi Nick,” He said coolly. The group of pool players all stopped. Nick was about to make a move, cue stick in hand but stopped when he heard his name. He rose his head, saw the vampire he had met a few nights before and then raised his head. He put the pool stick down then leaned on it a little. He wasn’t responding.

“It’s me…AJ,” The vampire said, studying the human’s face. “We met a few nig..”

“I know who you are,” Nick stated, cutting off the vampire. “What can I do for you AJ?”

AJ was taken back by the attitude but let it pass. Perhaps Nick was an avid pool player and was upset his game was interrupted by his rudeness. AJ would have to study the human more to find out but right now he must carry on with his plans and his promise to his best friend.

“I wanted you to meet someone,” AJ pointed out JC to Nick. “This is JC. He’s been my best friend for a few hundred years. He just moved into the area. I wanted to show him the bar.”

Nick continued to stare at the vampires. He had no idea why this guy had been randomly popping into his life lately. There was something strange about it, something that was tugging at the back of his mind. He couldn’t figure it out. So he swallowed away the uneasiness. He stayed where he was, still leaning on the pool stick and met the eyes of JC.

“Nice to meet you,” He said simply. It wasn’t a warm greeting, there was no handshake offered yet it wasn’t exactly cold either. JC picked up on this. He gave a nod and said it was nice to meet him as well. He then turned to AJ and said that they should let them continue with their game. AJ reluctantly agreed. He was pretty much ushered out of the bar and back into the car.

As soon as the car lights were on and the vampires were headed down the street, Nick let out the breath he seemed to be holding. He knew there were several sets of eyes on him but he didn’t have time to explain. Just as he was about to take his move on the table, he was interrupted once more. It was a server – more importantly one of the most annoying servers Brian had ever hired.

“Nick!” Lance said, pratically gushing. “The vampires…what did they want? What did they say?”

“Why do you care?” Nick asked, not bothering to pull the stick from the table. He wanted to finish his turn and get this game over with so he could head home.

“Can’t you tell…” One of Nick’s friends said, laughing. “Bass here is a vampire fucker.”

Lance blushed at the words that were used and tried to keep his eyes on Nick. He just wanted to know what was said so he could go back to the rack of glasses he was told to dry for the dishwasher who had to leave early.

Nick rolled his eyes and said, “He wanted to introduce me to his friend. That was it.”

Lance’s smile grew. He started to ask Nick a few more questions, dying to know why they wanted to talk to Nick and only Nick. All these questions Lance had, Nick didn’t have answers too. Having had enough, he threw the pool stick hard onto the table. It gave a loud crack as it nearly split in two.

“I’m out,” Nick growled and headed for the front door, then down the steps to his truck.

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