Kane scowled as he got dressed for the evening, after six-hundred plus years of being it still galled him that he couldn't go out during the day. Although born a vampire, he hated his life; he wanted to be human more than anything that he could think of. He wanted it even more than finding his mate, the truth of it was this; he didn't want to find her. He wanted to grow old and die alone; he was at a loss as to why he hated his life so much and why he had never accepted it. His only comfort was that he could eat human food, he didn't care about the whys or how of it, it was the one thing that kept him sane.
He was honest with himself, he was a bastard. He used women indiscriminately; he didn't care what they looked like or even if they were with someone. From his point of view, if he had to live forever it was going to be on his terms and no one else's. He usually had a different woman every night, it kept things simple and eliminated the possibility that one of them would fall for him.
Most of his friends and family had given up on him a long time ago. Tired of his excesses and his lack of regard for the needs of others, "Fuck em" he muttered as the memory of the last time he had spoken to his brother came back.
He ran his hands through his long blond hair and smiled at the reflection in the mirror. He wouldn't have any problems picking up women; he never did even when he didn't use compulsion. All he had to do was give that lopsided grin that women found so appealing and it was all over. It was more than that though, women were also drawn to him because of his height-he was well over six feet six inches tall in stocking feet and was muscular, not body builder muscular but he looked like he spent a lot of time in the gym.
He felt particularly horny tonight and decided to use a driver, why go to a hotel when he had a perfectly good car that would do nicely. He picked up the phone and called George who was one of his very few remaining friends and driver.
"George, thirty minutes." he said and hung up.
Kane's favorite place to pick up women was the karaoke bars; he himself was a singer and liked to look out over the audience to select the woman who would provide his entertainment for an hour or so. Once he spotted her, he would sing to her and place a mild compulsion on her to follow him outside, then he would remove the compulsion giving her the option to stay or go, most times they stayed. Tonight he was going to a new place; it was just as well, the other places were getting to know him a little too well.
Carla slowly dressed for the evening, she really didn't want to go but her Friends Dina and Mary had insisted; they were tired of her crying over Justin who had dumped her for a prettier, lighter skinned and much smaller version of herself. He wanted to remake her, he didn't like her size or the clothes that she wore, he hated her glasses, he wanted her to quit her job and make him her only priority. The final straw had come when she found him searching the internet for skin lightening cream.
"There's nothing wrong with my color!" she had screamed at him.
"Come on baby, a shade lighter is all I'm asking." he replied.
When she refused, he left and a week later was spotted with someone else. That had been a two months ago and Carla hadn't been out since. Now as she fixed her hair which she cut after Justin left she took in her appearance. Halle Berry she wasn't, twiggy she wasn't but she wasn't by any means ugly, she toyed with the idea of contacts but couldn't imagine sticking something in her eyes. She wore very little if any makeup; she had little patience for that kind of thing. At the last minute she remembered to put on her lipstick.
Thoughts of Justin popped into her head, and she pushed them away; her friends were right. If he had really loved her as he said he did he would have accepted her as she was dark skin and all but he hadn't and now... Before Justin, Carla had been fun loving, dancing and karaoke were probably her most favorite things to do other than reading a good book and watching movies. Tonight, her friends were hoping to bring that part of her back. The last thing she did was put on a little perfume, which was something else that Justin had dictated.
"It makes me sneeze." he complained.
A car horn beeped outside, Dina had insisted on picking her up afraid that if they trusted her to drive herself that she wouldn't show up. They were right she admitted to herself as he grabbed her purse and house keys.
Kane surveyed the bar; it was a nice enough place he decided as he sipped on a rum and coke. He hadn't spotted anyone that drew his attention but the night was young. He had already looked at the list of karaoke songs and made his selections, he tended toward the seductive and sexy songs that catered to his smooth baritone but could sing about anything if he chose to. He found a table toward the back that faced the door, he wanted to see who came in, and he took another sip of his drink and wondered what his first lay of the night would look like.
"Carla come on! We just got here!" Dina said pulling on Carla's arm.
'I know but I don't think I'm ready for this." Carla protested.
"That's what you said last week!" Mary said taking a hold of her other arm and pulling her toward the door.
"Fine but can we at least sit in the back?"
Dina and Mary looked at each other and shrugged.
"Fine, but just so its not too far back, its hard to see anything especially if there's a bunch of tall people in front of us." Dina said.
Carla chose a table in the middle of the room satisfying everyone, just as she sat down; the nape of her neck tingled, someone was watching her.
Kane almost choked on the sip of rum and coke that he had just taken, his head snapped toward the door where three women had just walked in, his vision locked on the one in the middle automatically dismissing the other two.
"No." he muttered to himself, "damn it no!"
Whoever she was, he didn't want her not even to fuck.
"NO!" he screamed silently as he watched her sit down with her friends.
Carla looked around the room to see if she could spot whoever it was that was watching her, seeing no one; she shrugged off the feeling and ordered a long island iced tea. A few minutes later the emcee was on the stage welcoming everyone.
"Who's going to be out first singer for tonight?" he asked.
"Get up there!" Dina urged Carla.
"No! It's been too long." Carla replied.
"It's like riding a bike, you don't forget so get up there!" Dina said raising her hand for Carla.
The emcee saw her and nodded.
"Folks, we've got our first singer for tonight! Come on up here sweetheart!"
Dina made Carla stand up and pushed her forward when she tried to sit down.
The emcee held out his hand to Carla.
"Come on sweetheart, don't be shy,"
Having no other options or so she thought; Carla made her way up to the stage.
"What's your name honey?" he asked.
"Carla." she replied softly.
