Vampire Greek: The Burning King
Chapter 1

When Roman was little, his mom always lectured him about replaceing the right girl. He was too busy being an outcast to actually need her advice, but today, he thought he found her. It was late January, the sky was still bleak and the air was still cold, but nothing can stop a human from having fun. He went to the Pixies club on Cupertin Drive late that night, looking for something to drink.

Pixies wasn’t anything special on the outside, but the inside was amazing. There was a huge bar to the left side of the club, which Roman frequently visited. The dance floor moved and spun around slowly, so people were never standing in one corner all night. It never moved fast enough to cause motion sickness either. It was flush with color, depending on the mood, song, or festivity. The only time it was ever lit with plain old white lights was when police did raids and searches.

The type of crowd at this club wasn’t all that special though. Mostly normal people, which disappointed and surprised Roman because he expected there to be lots of vampires to go after easy bait. Young girls and guys, drunk out of their minds, eager to go home with whoever, and to do what with whatever. It was a freak’s paradise, and if Roman had more motivation, he’d have a ball.

Roman never came to these clubs for fun, though the liquor they served did get to him now and then. He sat at the bar that night, wondering which of these humans were worth his time when suddenly, a tall girl appeared out of thin air. he looked around, every other human acted oblivious like she didn’t just poof in out of thin air. She wasn’t a ghost, a fairy, or a witch. Roman had dealt with all of those before. This girl was an entirely different being, and he was determined to replace out more about her. His eyes followed her with laserlike focus, watching from head to toe how she moved, the way she walked, and where she was walking.

She got stopped by an older guy, who looked like he was pushing his forties. Roman finished off the rest of his drink in a big gulp and lumbered in their direction.

“Yea, this my first time being out here, in this type of scene.” The man continued, though he noticed Roman walking forward with a tipsy smile on his face, eyes slightly unfocused.

Roman tapped the girl on her shoulder and she spun around, with a look of shock on her face. He was about o say something funny but the worried look she had stopped him in his tracks. What’s wrong with her? he wondered. It can’t be obvious what I am. She must think we’re both going to hurt her or something

“Watch out buddy,” said the older guy, slapping his hand down on Roman’s shoulder. “You’ve had one too many. You should go sit down.”

Roman stared at the man’s hand on his shoulder, then turn back and glared at him. Roman was thinner, less than half the size of the big old guy, but he didn’t flinch one bit. “I didn’t get up from my seat to talk to a fat guy with a potbelly, and I’m sure she didn’t come here for an old ass man. I think you’re the one that needs to sit down.”

He took his hand off Roman and got up in close to his face.

“Anything else you wanna say to me?” He said menacingly.

Roman smiled to himself and looked over at the girl.

“So you’re not gonna break this up?”

She shook her head and backed up a few steps.

“This is exactly why girls look for older guys. This little punk expected you to save his ass. What type of guy does that? You don’t want to mess with me boy, I’m a retired cop. I’ve handled plenty of criminals and kids who thought they were tough, just like you.”

The older guy tried to shove him aside, but Roman wouldn’t budge. Roman grabbed the man’s arm and sank his nails in deep. The older guy dropped to his knees in pain and howled until Roman said something under his breath. The man went silent, and his eyes turned red until blood dripped like tears from his eyes.

“What’s your name, old man?”

There was no fear or anger in the old man’s eyes. Every emotion that he could have felt, that he should have felt, was gone. His eyes remained locked on Roman’s and Roman’s were locked on his.

“Chris Carver,” said Chris, the blood started to drip off his chin. The music skirted to a stop and the people at the bar backed away. The drunk party goers stopped dancing. Some complained about the music. The rest pulled out their phones to record the fight.

“Hey! You two! Cut that out or get out!” The security guard was bulldozing people, pushing his way toward Roman, Chris and the girl.

Roman paid him no attention. The club was nearly silent besides the hushed whispers from people watching.

“Pick yourself up.” Roman mumbled under his breath. “You’re going to go to the bathroom, clean yourself up, then walk out of here, and get hit by a car. Got it?”

Chris nodded, causing more blood to drip off his chin. He stood up, dusted off his pants, and made his way to the restroom, ignoring the people asking if he was okay.

Roman started to walk back towards the bar, but the security guard stopped him.

“You need to go.” He said, blocking Roman’s path.

“Someone go check on the other guy and make sure he’s alright.”

Roman looked at the blood on his hand and bit his lip. His eyes started to twitch and his forehead beaded with sweat.

“Fine. I’ll go. Just let me get my drink first.”

The bodyguard pointed to the door and stepped even closer.

“You’ve had enough to drink. You’re going back to the bar. Get out.”

Roman’s breathing quickened and he smiled slightly, almost enough to show his fangs.

“I wasn’t talking about alcohol,” He said, grabbing the bodyguard’s shirt and lifting him up off the ground.

Before the bodyguard could become a snack, the girl grabbed Roman’s arm and pulled him back.

“Let him go. Get out of here.” She said sternly.

Roman set him down and laughed.

“So now you want to be the voice of reason? Where were you when I told Chris to get himself manslaughtered?”

“I was trying to figure out what you are,” She spoke quietly so only I could hear. “Now I know. You need to go.”

The bodyguard took this opportunity to take a shot. He gave Roman and mean right hook, swinging so hard he almost lost his balance. Roman’s head turned, but he didn’t move a muscle

Right before Roman was going to retaliate, she pulled his arm and his attention turned towards her again, fangs bared.

“You can’t stop me from killing him. Let go of me!”

He yanked his arm free of her grasp, and turned around to see the bodyguard shaking and twitching, his neck snapping and bending at odd angles. Growing and screaming, he took two steps back and turned around.

What the hell? Roman thought, watching in shock.

The bodyguard’s body seemed to expand, his torso getting bigger, his shirt ripping revealing a very hairy back underneath.

He kept growing and growing, and if the girl hadn’t snapped him out of it he wouldn’t have noticed the entire crowd was transforming too.

“Idiot! I’m trying to save you from them!” She pulled his ear and motioned towards the others that had begun to surround them. They were shapeshifting into all sorts of hideous creatures, snake-like people, gigantic troll looking monsters, and canine looking beasts that resembled werewolves, but they couldn’t be. Roman would have smelled them.

“What type of magic crap did you do?” He demanded, looking it her.

“Me? What? Are you insane?! They’ve been here the whole ti-”

“FINALLY!” A deep voice boomed, quieting the sound of shapeshifting creatures. Roman turned around and was staring face to face with the ass of a enormous black stallion. Raising his gaze slightly upward, Roman saw that instead of a horse’s neck and head, it was the upper body of the bodyguard he had just planned on killing, now three times the size he was a minute ago.

“Maintaining a human form is so exhausting.”

He looked over his shoulder to stare at Roman, his eyes now twinkling with vengeance.

“It’s much better to deal with flies at full strength.”

His upper half leaned forward, and before Roman could process what was happening he was kicked in the chest with both of the bodyguard’s hind legs, sending him flying not just through the crowd, but through the wall, out onto the street in the fraction of a second.

The crowd of monsters looked at the girl, but she quietly turned and ran to help the value vampire.

Great. She thought to herself, running towards the door and ignoring the gaping hole the vampire exited out of.

Finding someone different shouldn’t be this hard.