Bonus Material - A Tour of Vampirerotique Theatre - Episode 2
I’m deep in vampire territory, standing in a double-height black-walled room behind the scenes at London’s premier vampire erotic theatre, Vampirerotique, and I’m about to embark on a tour of the building with a very sexy Spaniard as my host.
Javier fidgets with the cuff of his black shirt beneath his designer suit jacket, pulling it back to reveal a very expensive Montblanc watch. I had always suspected he was loaded and now I know. Not every man would be able to drop an insane amount of money on a timepiece.
I feel more at ease around Javier than I do the other vampires in the theatre. Javier is in charge of the staff, and there are humans who work here as well as vampires. He’s the least likely to bite me if I say something wrong, and prides himself on being able to manage both humans and vampires.
“She is late.” His lilting accent even makes him sound incredibly sexy when he’s worried. The late woman in question is Lilah, his mate. She was supposed to meet us before we began to the tour, and we’ve been waiting for her since Antoine kicked me out of his office.
I’m still angry about that, but I’m planning my revenge, and it involves Snow. I’m sure the premier attraction amongst Vampirerotique’s owners will be more than happy to help me make his younger brother blush. He’s bound to have something embarrassing he can air in public.
Javier rakes long fingers through his messy sandy hair, tension radiating from him. “She is never late.”
“I’m sure she just got held up and she’ll join us later.” It’s my polite way of mentioning that if we don’t get the tour underway, I’ll end up late for all my other appointments at the theatre tonight.
Javier nods, and turns towards the double doors that lead into the main theatre. He freezes with his hand on the handle and Lilah appears, coming down the stairs off to my right at a dead run.
“I’m late!” she says and almost trips over her feet as she hits the ground. Javier turns to face her and she holds her hands up, her golden eyes flashing crimson at the edges in warning. “Don’t start. Chica needed a hand with something and your bloody brother is off doing something with Payne.”
The brother in question is Javier’s younger one, Andreu, who came to the theatre to help out when Javier and Lilah were going away to get married.
Javier does exactly what I expect him to in any situation where Lilah is flustered. He gathers her into his arms and brushes a tender kiss across her brow. The slender brunette pulls back and looks at her mate with eyes sparkling with affection. I clear my throat before this turns into one of their regular moments of heavy petting.
“Shall we?” I echo Javier’s earlier words to me and he releases his mate and pushes the double doors open.
Lilah loops her arms around mine and walks with me. She whispers, “He was very excited that you chose him as the one to show you around.”
Javier’s shoulders stiffen and I stifle a smile together with Lilah. Lilah loves to tease Javier, and her easygoing and fun-filled nature is infectious, tempting me to do the same. He leads the way into the beautiful theatre. Stalls of red velvet seats cover the expansive area to my left, with the black stage on my right. The heavy curtains are open and one of the star performers, Victor, is on the stage talking to a few of the newer recruits. Thankfully, everyone is clothed. Victor flashes me a smile meant to devastate but it fails to work on me. He’s handsome, even now that he’s cut his dark hair close to his scalp, but he’s too conceited.
Chica, a succubus with a naughty streak who recently moved into the theatre, appears behind him on the stage, blows a raspberry at his back, and disappears again. Victor tenses and growls, his eyes flashing crimson and his lips peeling back from enormous fangs.
Javier sighs emphatically again. “She will get caught one day. Andreu has told her countless times not to tease Victor.”
Andreu is Chica’s mate and the only one strong enough to withstand her kiss. Since moving into the theatre, Chica has made it her personal mission to scare the hell out of Victor whenever she spots an opportunity.
“Are you can see, we cater to both sides of vampire society,” Javier says as he sweeps his hand around in a theatrical arc, drawing my attention away from Victor and the vampires on the empty black stage and to the elegant boxes that line two sides of the theatre. “We are proud to be the only theatre with both elite and aristocrat patrons and attendees.”
I know that’s a big deal to everyone here, and it’s part of the reason this theatre is the top one in London for vampires. Elite and aristocrat is a posh way of saying mixed-blood and pureblood. Javier is an elite, because his family has turned humans in its ranks. Two of the other owners of Vampirerotique are aristocrats, meaning they only have pureblood vampires in their family tree.
“Do aristocrats ever sit in the stalls?” I can guess the answer to that question, and the dark edge to Javier’s brown eyes as he glances at me confirms it.
“No. The aristocrats prefer not to mix with the elite.”
“No, the lah-di-dah lords sit in their private boxes and look down on the elite in the stalls. It’s ridiculous. I hate it. Javier is still a vampire, and he has a noble lineage, but just because some members of his bloodline evolved out of their snobby attitude and fell for humans, bringing them into their family, he gets treated like a second class citizen.” Lilah practically growls the words, earning a dark look from Javier.
“Hush, now... I am not treated like a second class citizen, and not all aristocrats are snobbish, as you keep telling me.” Javier reaches over and sweeps his fingers down the curve of her jaw.
Lilah grumbles, “Well, Snow is nice, when he’s sane... and I suppose Antoine is alright.”
I take to looking around at the carved cream walls that curve around each box lining the theatre. Gold accents add to the sumptuous appearance of the theatre. “I take it the reverse is the same and elite never sit in the boxes then?”
“Only me and Javier, or others here at Vampirerotique sometimes.” Lilah seems to have put aside her gripe about the class division between aristocrats and elites.
“But then you could say that some aristocrats do watch the show from down here in the stalls.” I point out, and specifically indicate a spot close to us, near the double doors we entered through. “Antoine watches every show.”
“True,” Javier says. “I had not thought of that.”
“Is it time yet?” The deep male voice comes from close behind me, causing me to jump out of my skin and whirl on the spot, my hand flying up to my chest as my heart lodges in my throat. Payne grins at me, his dark grey eyes bright with how amused he is by startling me. He’s worse than Chica. As part incubus, Payne can teleport like the succubus.
I can definitely wipe that smile off his face. I slap him hard, snapping his head to one side, and he scowls, his eyes burning with a mix of red, gold and blue, a sign of his dual natures. He rubs his cheek.
“Why do females always slap me?” he grouses and looks over my head to Javier. Judging by his sour look, he doesn’t get the supportive response he expected to receive.
“Maybe you deserve it... and no, it’s not time for you yet, so poof off somewhere else. I’ll be with you soon.” I regally wave him away, perfecting my Antoine impression, gaining a stifled chuckle from Lilah.
Payne’s scowl darkens and then he disappears.
“Why don’t we go backstage next?” Lilah says and hops up onto the now vacant black stage. It seems Victor has had enough of being out in the open where Chica can poof in and make him jump to amuse herself. Javier easily leaps up onto the tall stage, leaving me eyeing the four feet high deck I need to clamber on to.
“Hands,” Javier says and leans forwards above me, and I offer them to him. He wraps his cool hands around my wrists and effortlessly lifts me onto the stage. I sometimes forget these vampires are extremely powerful, and that Javier is over six hundred years old.
I follow him and Lilah beyond the swag of the red curtain and into the dressing room at the back. It’s empty right now, the seats in front of the illuminated mirrors all vacant. On a night when there’s a show, I can imagine it gets very busy out here. Javier leads us through to another room right at the back of the theatre. This one is green and has luxurious leather couches lining the walls.
“This is where the thralls wait,” he says.
The thralls are the humans that the theatre employs to participate in the erotic shows with the vampire performers. I’ve learned since I started working with the vampires here that the humans aren’t killed in the shows these days and it’s a very civilised process behind the scenes, with contracts and payment for the mortals. The audience thinks the human dies though, adding to the excitement they gain from the debauched acts and the bloodletting.
It’s the first time I’ve been where the humans are kept during the performances. There isn’t much to look at, but it seems very comfortable. There’s even lockers for their clothes and facilities.
Lilah tugs on my hand. “This is dull. Come on... we should keep moving or Payne-in-my-backside will appear again.”
“That’s not very nice.” It surprises me to hear Lilah speak like that. Normally she’s much sweeter, unless someone has annoyed her.
Lilah’s dark eyebrows rise. “It’s not my nickname for him.”
She points surreptitiously at Javier behind us. It’s hard to believe that Javier would have a reason to give Payne such a nickname, but the part incubus vampire can be hard to handle at times.
“I called him it once... when he appeared in our apartment uninvited... and I believe you called him far worse.” Javier takes the lead again, flashing a wicked smile at Lilah, who blushes a thousand shades of red.
I don’t want to ask. I can only presume Payne appeared in the middle of one of their marathon sessions. The two tend to go at it like bunnies.
Javier’s long stride eats up the black corridor and Lilah and I hasten to follow him. He halts in the double-height room. “You already know the offices.”
He turns and is walking up the stairs that Lilah rushed down earlier before I can respond, taking us high into the theatre. The first floor we stop on is busy, with vampires coming and going between the rooms. Not just vampires I note.
“Some of the staff here are humans,” Javier says and smiles affectionately at Lilah.
Lilah was human once, and Javier was her boss. Now that she’s a vampire, it seems she’s the boss. Javier would do anything she commanded. I’ve never seen a man more deeply in love.
He continues up the black painted stairwell to the next floor. The long corridor is very elegant, painted black with gold detailing, and there are four mahogany panelled doors, two on each side. The apartments of the owners. Javier’s is at the end on the left, opposite Callum’s. The two doors closest to me belong to Antoine, on my left, and Snow, on my right. Snow’s door is ajar and he’s talking to someone. I can’t resist poking my head in.
“Hi,” I say and give him a little wave.
He wiggles the fingers of his right hand in my direction and manages a smile for me, even though he looks tired. The chains attaching his restraints to the steel posts of his bed rattle as he moves, and I feel sorry for him but know better than to show even a trace of pity. He hates that more than anything. Aurora, his pretty raven-haired female, is sitting on the bed beside him. She turns her head and smiles at me, her green-to-blue eyes bright with it.
“He had a rough day,” Aurora says, her voice soft and lyrical, and pats his knee, drawing Snow’s heated gaze to her. “Just a precautionary measure.”
“You’ll be okay for our interview still?” I say, glancing at Snow, and he nods.
I turn back to Javier and Lilah. Lilah beams at me and slips her hand into Javier’s, linking their fingers.
“Have fun with Snow,” Lilah says and tugs Javier towards their apartment at the end of the black and gold corridor.
“Thanks for the tour,” I call after them and Javier holds his hand up, his gesture that of ‘no problem’. I don’t need more than one guess to know why he’s in such a hurry. I just hope they get their hungers under control in time for my appointment with them.
I look back into Snow’s black apartment. This should be fun.
Related Bonus Material:
Characters:
Notes:
The Vampirerotique Tour episodes are a series of first person story-style interview pieces written about the theatre and characters featured in the Vampire Erotic Theatre romance series.
