B007XKEWAE EBOK by Nicola Lawson Page A

from the ceiling. As Fulton watched a vampire lowered the cage to the ground. It was rapidly surrounded by a crowd of vampires and when it was raised up again the human inside had been shredded by dozens of sets of fangs. The victim remained bleeding from sliced veins and arteries spraying the crowd below with blood.
    Well over a hundred vampires danced on the floor. There were no inhibitions in this place and some of the dancing that was going on could only be described as explicit. After a few minutes of watching Fulton noticed that when the moves got to a certain stage the couple, or more, involved would head out of a doorway to the side. This was watched by another well built vampire who only let couples or groups through. Fulton had casually approached and he saw a lone vampire walk up to the door.
    "No watching," The well built vampire said. "Find a partner."
    At random intervals vampires would return through the door and rejoin the party. More often than not they abandoned the partners they returned with and moved on to another.
    The rock music cut off as the band emerged onto the stage. They were all vampires and a raucous cry went up from the crowd as they started playing. The gloom was broken by the rhythmic pattern of strobe lighting. The dancers now seemed to be moving in slow motion as they revelled to the music.
    Fulton mingled with the outskirts of the crowd as he scoped out the interior. There were more vampires than he had expected, and that was only on this one floor. The layout of this level didn't provide many places of cover so when he didn't see Francesca in here it wasn't like there were many places she could be hiding.
    But Fulton needed to have a look at the other floors which he had to assume could be accessed through the guarded interior door. Francesca could still be up there.
    Fulton sniffed the air. There was something amiss that he couldn't quite place. He could smell vampires. He could smell freshly spilled blood, the air was thick with it. And he could smell the humans in the cages stinking with fear. But there was something else.
    Fulton took another sniff of the air and another. He could smell more humans than just those in the cages. He could smell many more, and they weren't afraid. They were aroused .
    Fulton looked across the crowd again, this time using his nose as well as his eyes. Now he saw them. Outnumbering the vampires there was a vast number of vampire wannabees. Some of them fitted the stereotype; Gothic dress and pale face make up except for black rings around their eyes and black lipstick. Some had extensions on their teeth to mimic fangs and some drank blood from wine glasses and golden goblets. Others were dressed more normally but they all fawned over vampires. They had absolutely no idea of what they were getting into. They thought this was something from an Anne Rice novel. They had been brainwashed by the romanticized vampires portrayed by attractive Hollywood actors or on TV. They were attracted to the scene and the myth of the vampire but had only the slightest idea of how the reality would be.
                  He had to get a look upstairs. He had to find Francesca. He had to.
    Up until then Fulton had kept out of the bulk of the crowd, but now he moved into the mass of writhing bodies. He had to get upstairs and the only way to do that was with a partner, which he would be without as long as he kept himself detached. Actually, he could probably have killed the vampire watching the door but that would have served little purpose other than to have the rest of the vampire bouncers kill him in turn.
    So Fulton mingled. He had never been into the whole Goth scene to begin with, let alone one that had taken it so far and seemed to revere and worship vampires.
    He was looking out over the crowd for a potential partner when he saw another couple enter from outside. The male was a vampire and on his arm was a human girl maybe sixteen years old all kitted out in the