I took the knowledge of Louise's death with me as I left, and I may have well been shrouded in a cloak of misery.

Beatrice was blowing bloody snot rockets at the wall outside the office and turned to look at me, her half-clotted globs of blood-snot painting a slow and disgusting trail down the wall. I was shocked to see her previously swollen eyes were just now black and blue. Her open wounds were closed, vicious red lines on her face the only sign that they had ever existed. Her broken teeth were jagged though and I wondered if she would have to pull them out and if they would grow back.

"Beware the Drunken King," she whispered to me and I wondered just when she had lost her goddamned mind.

"Beatrice! Get your ass in here!" Harry roared, and she waggled her fingers at me.

"I'm gonna go bleed all over his carpet," she said as she backed away into Harry's office. "He loves it when I do that."

The door slammed shut behind her and I was left alone in the hallway with my misery.

"Mister Diego?"

I turned, startled and the skinny intern in the thousand dollar suit who had snuck up on me like a goddamn fucking ninja, stepped back, aware that I might just hit him.

"The fuck did you come from?"

The intern led me out of the office, talking all the way to the elevator as if this was such a great day. I tuned him out even though he was saying things that sounded important, the only thoughts in my head being those of Louise in a definite state of dead. Memories of the times we'd spent together came unbidden and I found myself fighting back actual tears, fighting back the misery that threatened to roll over me and crush me under its weight because it was all because of me that my friend was dead. It was all my fault and this asshole was talking to me. How dare he? I considered taking a bite out of his jugular just to shut him up. He didn't know about Louise, and if he did, she'd meant nothing to him and he didn't care and I hated him for it.

"What happens when we die?"

That caught him off guard and stopped him in his tracks.

"What? What do you mean?"

"If I killed you, would you come back?"

"Maybe you should talk to your mentor about that. She should have given you some pamphlets, some reading material about it. I have some of them here if you'd like. Harry seemed to think you needed them—"

"What? Like the 'Benefits of Becoming a Vampire' and 'Welcome to YOUR After Life,' pamphlets like that?"

The prat thought I was serious. He looked mildly amused as he led me over to the elevator as he rifled through the folder in his hand and handed me an stylish black envelope that looked more like a set of documents you'd get from signing up for a chequeing account at a bank.

"Well, you got the titles wrong, but yes, pamphlets like that. You'll find the materials in here, standardized agreements, rules, a little bit of history—"

Okay, I was definitely not in Kansas, or even OZ anymore. What in the sweet name of Aunt Bessie was this idiot on about? They actually had pamphlets on how to become a vampire, like it was a fucking country club or something equally stupid and elitist. And this stupid gentleman's club mentality, these stupid rules was why my friend had to die?

The intern must have seen the look on my face. Or maybe he saw the vein that was violently throbbing in the side of my forehead. He started to back away slowly.

"Maybe we can mail them out to you instead—"

"Fuck off you prat. My friend is dead, and you're talking to me about pamphlets?"

"I'm sorry for your loss—"

"NO YOU'RE NOT! YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HER, SO DON'T STAND THERE AND TELL ME HOW FUCKING SORRY YOU ARE!"

It seemed to get through to him. He nodded and tried on a smile that didn't quite fit. I felt sorry for him. Dude was just trying to do his job and here I was yelling at him.

"I lost some of my friends too. I know how it is," he said and now I felt like shit. He might be a vampire, but he was still human first, and last I checked I still felt like a human myself. Just an extremely fucked up one right now.

"Sorry, I yelled at you. I just... I really don't feel like talking."

He rode down to the lobby with me and I recognized that he had probably been instructed to make sure I left the building, but I was too tired to care. In the lobby, he gave me a couple of printed glossy passes. I recognized the HTDK logo instantly. It was the hottest club in town and had people lining up around the block to get in. And then they had other areas inside that were even more exclusive. The black plastic passes, like the ones I had just been given, were probably worth their weight in gold, especially on eBay.

"I am sorry that you lost your friend," the intern said.

"I'm sorry too."

"When you get a chance, come on down to the club. It will give you a chance to meet a bunch of us."

"What do you mean 'a bunch of us'?"

The intern looked surprised, then let me off the hook.

"We own the place," he said. "Welcome to the club."

******** AUTHOR'S NOTE **********

The book is now AVAILABLE in Hardcover, Paperback and Ebooks. It's going to live here free on Wattpad, but if you love the story and want to support your awesome author (me), grab a copy from one of the lovely retailers below. Who knows: maybe it can become a bestseller with the help of you lovely WattPadders

Amazon - http://bit.ly/Amazon-SIMBAV

iBooks - http://bit.ly/iBooks-SIMBAV

Barnes & Noble - http://bit.ly/BarnesNoble-SIMBAV

Indigo - http://bit.ly/Indigo-SIMBAV

Check out the website: http://www.bobthevampire.com