Bonus Material - A Tour of Vampirerotique Theatre - Episode 3
I’m in vampire territory, visiting Vampirerotique, a London theatre catering exclusively to vampires, holding erotic shows that often feature bloodletting from humans. I’ve already spent some time with one of the aristocrats who run the theatre, Antoine, and now it’s time for me to chat with his older brother, Snow.
I step from the black and gold corridor into a very black apartment. Everything is drenched in sombre darkness. From the wardrobe, bedside tables, and dressing table, to the tiles in the bathroom. The only accents in the room are the steel posts that form the corners of the large bed. Those steel posts are as thick as my arms and secured to the ceiling and the wooden floor by huge steel plates that are bolted in place. Some of them have dents in them that tell me that even solid steel isn’t a match for Snow when he’s lost to his affliction.
Snow is a man with bloodlust, and over the centuries of his life, it has mastered him and left him at its mercy. He’s done terrible things and has lived through times that have tortured him, and he still has to fight the bloodlust now, battling it to keep it at bay every day so he can attempt to lead a normal life.
I glance at the immense and devastatingly sexy white-haired male where he reclines on his bed, his wrists secured by heavy steel and leather restraints. His black t-shirt and jeans blend into the black covers of his bed. Sitting beside him with her slender hand on his knee is his woman, Aurora. Her raven hair curls playfully around her shoulders and her long white dress is a stark contrast to the grim obsidian around her. Her green-to-blue eyes sparkle at me as she smiles.
“He won’t bite.” She offers Snow a teasing smile when he raises a silvery eyebrow at her, his pale blue eyes relaying how unimpressed he is by that comment.
I venture further into the apartment and close the mahogany door behind me. I feel like I’m stepping into a place that is a dream location for many people out there. I know countless readers who would love to be the one standing in my place and in the presence of Snow. He’s captured hearts by the hundreds.
Aurora slips from the bed and draws a wooden chair away from the wall near the bedside cabinet. She sets it down near the bed and pats it.
I take the offered seat and smile at her. “Are you adjusting to life at Vampirerotique now?”
She nods, her smile holding, and even growing in warmth. “I love it here... with Snow.”
Snow smiles at her. It’s strange to see him smiling and to see warmth in his eyes rather than the cold sense of finality he used to have.
“How has it been for you, Snow?” I shift my gaze to him. “I bet Aurora being here has changed this whole place for you.”
His smile broadens and my heart beats a little quicker. The vampire is gorgeous. “I feel blessed to have her. Before I met her... things weren’t good for me.”
“This place was like a tomb,” Aurora says, a sombre note in her voice, and she frowns at the room. “I still hate the colour.”
“So we will paint it.” Snow looks as though he wants to squeeze her knee to reassure her that those days are past him and he’s content now, but all he can do is move his hands an inch and rattle his chains. He glares at them.
“Here,” Aurora kneels on the bed and undoes his right hand. She leans across to undo his other one but he catches her around the waist and presses a brief kiss to her lips.
“Leave it,” he says as he draws back. “Just in case.”
I can see the nerves in his icy-blue eyes. He’s worried he might lost control and the bloodlust might take him, and he may end up hurting both myself and Aurora.
Aurora sighs and strokes his cheek, love shining in her colourful eyes. “You would never hurt us. You have been doing so well recently. It was just a bump in the road.”
A bump in the road that has Snow shaken enough to chain himself again. I have it on good authority that he had been doing well in his fight against his bloodlust recently. Maybe the bump was because he knew I was coming to the theatre. I hope that didn’t push him into thinking he was a danger to the world again.
“You’ve been here since the theatre opened, haven’t you, Snow?” I say and he nods and relaxes into the black pillows again. He uses his free right hand to tug the overlong lengths of his white hair out of his face, the action causing his muscles to bunch and tense. Delicious. “You must have seen your friends and Antoine change a lot in that time.”
“Never as much as these past few years, but it is good that they have found their mates now.” His gaze slides to Aurora and darkens with desire, turning heated.
Aurora smiles across at him, and I can’t help smiling at the unlikely couple. Out of everyone in Vampirerotique, it was Snow who needed something good in his life most of all. He needed someone to love him and help him break the hold his bloodlust had on him, and I can see that person is Aurora as I look at them. They look so happy, and so ridiculously in love. At least they’re not pouncing on each other like Javier and Lilah probably are right now.
“I think it’s good you’ve found your mate,” I say and they both look at me. “You seem so much better already. Antoine was right. Finding your female has been wonderful for you.”
A blush creeps onto Aurora’s cheeks. “I wasn’t exactly wonderful for him from the start though.”
That’s true. These two had a rough journey to where they are now, but I’m still thrilled to see them together at last. They were meant for each other.
“I do have a few questions about your romance... if that’s okay?” I slide a glance at Snow, trying to gauge whether he will be okay talking about everything that happened because I know he went through a lot of stuff that unsettled him and allowed his bloodlust to leap to the fore more than once and seize control of him. I don’t want to tip him back over the edge.
His eyes remain cool blue, no trace of red. “Of course.”
I thank him with a smile and Aurora squeezes his knee, a touch of pride in her eyes that tells me she’s happy that he’s able to talk about his past and the things that have happened to him now without fearing something bad will happen. She leans over and kisses him, and Snow grasps the nape of her neck and tugs her closer. He deepens the kiss and I glance away, looking at my questions on my phone and hoping none of them will push Snow over the edge, because I’m sure Antoine will be having words if it happens.
Fingers crossed it doesn’t!
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.
