The Vampire's Tainted Mate

Chapter 2: Prying Eyes

Gwen stared at Logan from the booth she was sitting at, nursing her drink. He was extremely tall and built compared to her and the drawing online had done him no justice. Her gaze took in his dark hair and how it was longer on top and shorter on the sides. She noticed how his black button-down shirt contoured to his body and had the top two buttons undone to show off his muscular pecs and collarbones, how his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and accentuated his sculpted forearms, and how his midnight hued leather pants contoured to his muscles. He was gorgeous, broad-shouldered, massive, and she watched his golden eyes lock onto her again.

She looked away and took another sip from her drink, focusing on the way the people around her danced, drank, made-out, and so much more. She was surrounded by vampires feeding off humans and entranced humans begging for more. She slowly began to drink from her cup until it was gone.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she realized that she would have to walk up to Logan again. The man she had come to see and the reason she even came to The Vixen. She licked her lips and stood up, taking her glass with her to the bar and letting her heart carry her over her feet.

“Miss me?" Logan flipped a cup in the air over and over, catching it.

“Ha-ha, you're funny. No, I came to close my tab." She pulled out her wallet and he touched her card when she held it out.

“Don't worry about it. Did you have fun?" Logan put the cups away.

“Well, I came here for something specific and had my fill. Does that count?" She leaned on the bar and glanced up and down his body.

“Sounds good to me," he shrugged, and she chewed on her bottom lip for a moment.

“I had a question for you from before when someone stole you away," Gwen sat down on one of the upholstered stools again.

“Shoot," Logan took someone's card for them to pay.

“Why don't you need prey? You mentioned you don't need it." Gwen searched his gaze and tapped her fingers on the top of the bar.

“Mortals never satisfied me," he smirked and slid another order to someone.

“Never?" Gwen was surprised that he had said that. “You're telling me not one human ever satisfied you?"

“Not in that way, darling," he winked at her with a smirk that made one of his fangs spark in the light.

“Oh my god," Gwen burst out laughing and shook her head, “not what I meant."

“Although, been a while for that too," Logan laughed and walked over to pay more attention to Gwen over the rest. “But you didn't need to know that. For all you know, I'm lying to you, and I have several girls in my bed a night."

Gwen shook her head and laughed, gesturing at him, “You're not making it easy to stop talking to you."

“You don't want to get mixed up with me, trust me, you're too full of life. I'll only bring you death and chaos and no one wants that," Logan leaned on the bar, “most that is."

“And if I do?" Gwen sized him up for being so small compared to him and his eyes flashed crimson with interest at her spitfire personality.

“Then I gotta say you must have lost your d*mn mind, darling." He smacked the bar with his red towel.

“You really think everyone in here is sound of mind? No one sane is here asking to be a victim to an immortal." Gwen refused to leave, ignoring the way he had acted like he was telling her to go with his actions alone.

Logan sighed and leaned on the bar with his forearms rested on top of each other, “Well, you're here, aren't you?" He peered at her through his messy black hair. “Or are you batsh*t crazy too?"

“I mean... I'm crazy for bats." Gwen giggled and sighed, staring at him.

“Would explain why you're here," he nodded and shook his finger at her. “It's getting late. Wouldn't want you to get eaten by a predator outside."

Gwen raised an eyebrow at him and his words, “What about inside? Seems this place is full of them."

“Not wrong, but again... I won't ruin you or have you be tainted on my watch." Logan shook his head and went to walk away from her.

“Hey," Gwen called him back and he stopped in his tracks before walking back towards her.

“What?" Logan searched her gaze with interest.

“Can't ruin me if I'm already ruined," Gwen smirked and watched his lips slowly curl up on one side in a smirk. She crossed her arms over her chest, “not to mention, I can handle myself."

“Say that now, but if you really knew what I was capable of, you would be saying the latter." Logan shrugged and made another mixed drink before serving it.

“How long have you been a vampire?" Gwen didn't want to leave. She wanted to know everything about him. She wanted to talk with him longer.

“I don't kiss and tell," Logan gave her a lame excuse and she rolled her eyes before locking her gaze onto the rose tattoo on his neck.

“Cool tattoo," Gwen tried to get him to talk more about himself, but nothing was working.

“Thanks," he gave her a smile which was enough compared to what he was doing before. “I like yours too. Where'd you get them done?"

“At Ray's down the way from here." Gwen spoke over the music and nodded towards him, “You?"

“A girl in my clan named Trix. She designed the whole aesthetic of this place too. It was her idea to go with matte black walls and steel accents with the pop of red. She thought it would add class. I could care less. It's just a den for vampires and humans to create taboo acts in a safe place." Logan shrugged his shoulders.

“She sounds awesome! Do you have a lot of people in your clan?" Gwen watched him clean more glasses.

“Quite a few. Some of them are out traveling right now for business and some are still around. It depends on what their objectives are." Logan shrugged.

“Objectives?" Gwen raised an eyebrow with a curious expression.

“Well, some have different jobs like everyone else in the world. Most mortals don't appreciate working with an immortal because they don't agree with what we represent. It takes a certain type of individual to allow a vampire to work with them and to look past what we do. Most humans that come here to be donors are judged by the everyday mortal as if they have some sort of moral high ground. There is a reason most humans are apprehensive and intimidated by us." Logan shrugged and she nodded.

“Right, makes sense. I thought you were gonna say they did illegal stuff or something with the way you said it." Gwen awkwardly laughed at her own mistake.

Logan laughed with her, “I don't know about that. Either way we're all doing night jobs."

“Makes sense with the sun and all." Gwen laughed and Logan passed her some water. “Thanks."

“So, what do you do?" Logan began to wipe down the bar again.

“You're going to laugh," Gwen shook her head and blushed, spinning the glass in her hands.

“Doubt it," Logan brushed her off.

“I actually stream video games online," Gwen searched his gaze.

“Wait, people pay you to do that?" Logan was surprised to say the least that they paid well enough for her to live off it.

“Oh yeah, believe me," Gwen touched the straw in her glass and swirled it around, while watching him. “And they will pay me well depending on what I'm streaming. It's not always games and it didn't start out as lucrative. I was working odd jobs before it took off."

“Call me impressed that you have such a following." Logan rushed off to help someone who was getting irritated and impatient at the bar to order some drinks.

Gwen took out her phone and looked at her notifications, wondering if she should head out for the night or not. She wanted his number so badly, but it didn't seem like he was going to give her it. She sighed and put her phone away, watching him run around the bar like a hummingbird.

Logan finally made his way back to her and grabbed the nozzle from behind the bar, tossing it up and catching it before squeezing his massive fist around it to spray water into her glass. Her gaze locked on the way his knuckles turned white beneath his skin and she watched his forearm flex and become more sculpted.

“Are you sure you just work a bar?" Gwen watched him as he pushed the water closer to her.

“Maybe, maybe I do something a little more," Logan smirked at her and put the sprayer back.

“Like..." Gwen tried to pry for answers.

“Now, now, can't give all my secrets away on the first night. How else will I get prey to keep coming back?" Logan teased her and she gasped at him with parted lips.

“Oh ok, so that's your stick. You don't impress a mortal; you just make them wonder what mysteries lurk behind your honey eyes." Gwen teased him back and shook her head, laughing. “I see you."

“Mmm... you don't. And besides, you don't need to be here." Logan placed his hands on the bar and hunched his shoulders, making him look bigger as his muscles flexed.

“Why's that?" Gwen leaned forward to challenge him back with a serious expression, looking him up and down.

His eyes flashed red, and she watched him lick his lips and took note of his Adam's apple moving with how hard he swallowed. She wondered how hard it was for him to avoid taking from her. How hard it was for him to resist dragging her onto the bar and feasting from her like she was his vice.

“I've explained why. I'm never satisfied." He detached himself from the situation, making her feel as though everything between them had died.

Gwen watched him suddenly treat her like the night hadn't mattered. He walked away to help another donor, too worried about them and not about her. She knew that he felt she was too close to life, but so were a lot of these people in this club.

Logan came back and tapped the bar, “Have a good night and be careful out there. We're not the only predators that exist in this city." And just like that he was gone and tending to another donor at the bar, pouring himself into work and no longer into her.

Gwen wanted him to hand her his number and she had hoped that he had slipped her it, but he never had. He never had even so much as hinted at it and by the end, he had gotten weird. It was like the mere fact they were getting along was too much for him. She felt like she had nearly gotten his full attention and number, but then suddenly it was all ripped back from underneath her.

Gwen nodded and took off out of the noisy nightclub, finding the parking lot busy with people talking and trying to get inside before last call. She wondered how many more of them had a chance with him. Which mortal would he choose for his donor even though he had told her he didn't need one. For all she knew he had lied to her. He didn't owe her the truth about anything he had said.

She crossed her arms as wind rushed past her and put a chill in the air that she hadn't expected. Goosebumps ran from her head to her toes as she felt the atmosphere thicken around her like a dense fog. She felt like someone had run their claws up her spine and pressed one into the center of her shoulder blades, boring a hole into her back before leaning closer. The weight of someone surrounding her and staring into her soul overwhelmed her and made her pulse quicken. Someone was scanning her body and a part of her wished it was Logan, but she knew better. He was inside tending to the bar and trying to handle the mass amounts of people coming for a good time and a chance to escape something.

She shivered not just from the wind, but from whatever prying eyes were on her. The feeling and thought of someone with their claws pressed against her shoulders to bring their lips near her ear to growl in a low tone made her flash a glance over her shoulder. It was just loud enough for her ear to catch it, but there was no one there. Gwen shrugged it off and headed to her car, deciding that maybe someone just happened to glance her way while catching up with their friends.

It took her a moment to open her car door and climb inside. She grabbed her rearview mirror to adjust its position when she noticed a figure in the reflection. The pitch-black shadow was tall, broad, muscular, and had a muzzle like a wolf. She watched its jaws slowly open to reveal shadows of sharp fangs before it vanished as soon as it had appeared into the woods. She gasped and clumsily jammed her keys into the ignition, missing the mark a few times before making purchase into the opening. She put her car in gear and raced home to her apartment with her heart pumping in her throat.