And together we’ll wait for the time when there will be no more prosecution of our kind. We have time on our side.”

Instinctively, Thomas knew what Kasper was proposing.

“I can give you eternal life. Don’t you want to live in a time when queers like us will be accepted? When nobody will give a care about who we fuck? When kissing a man in public won’t land you in prison?”

Thomas finally found his voice again. “You don’t know that such a time will ever come!

They’ll always look at us with disgust!”

Kasper shook his head, smiling. “How wrong you are, my friend. My sweet Thomas. If only you could believe that the future will be bright.”

“How can I when all I see is pain? When I have to hide from everybody who I am? When even my sisters would recoil from me if they found out?”

Kasper caressed Thomas’s neck. The touch soothed him more than he liked to admit. Maybe his lover really could help him. If only to forget his troubles.

“All I ask for is a little trust. And patience. Our time will come. We will rise together. And in the meantime, we’ll wring every last drop of pleasure from each other.”

“Why me?” Thomas searched his lover’s eyes for an answer.

“Because you have potential. You’ll be strong. As strong as I am. And powerful. Together we can rule. But you’ll have to become like me.”

Thomas stared into Kasper’s eyes, their darkness pulling him in as if he were being hypnotized. “You mean become a vampire?”

“Yes, I will drain you of your blood and give you mine. You’ll be part of me. Strong, powerful, invincible. All you have to do is say ‘yes.’”

Unable to tear his gaze away from Kasper’s eyes, Thomas moved his head closer, his lips now hovering only an inch over his lover’s. “Do you truly believe there’ll come a time when we can be free to express our feelings without fear of punishment?”

“Yes. Soon that time will come.”

“Yes.” With a breath, he sank his lips onto Kasper’s and kissed him, wrapping his arms around him and dropping back onto the floor with Kasper on top of him. “Do it while you make love to me so I won’t see it coming.”

“Whatever you wish, my sweet lover.”

4

Today

Thomas pulled his motorcycle into the spot in front of Al’s Motorcycle Parts and killed the engine. The one good thing about having to go shopping at night was that he almost always found a parking spot close by. The area south of Market Street was pretty much deserted by this time of night, and only clubbers were out now, most of whom didn’t bother driving but instead took taxis or walked to the clubs in the area.

Al’s was always open late. In fact, the shop only opened its door at sundown, even though Al could have easily opened during daylight hours. After all, the shop was windowless, and he would be safe in there even at daytime. But like many vampires, Al kept to the hours of his own species, shunning daylight.

He’d been coming to Al’s shop for many years now, just about every time he needed to find a rare part for one of his motorcycles. Only recently, he’d completed the restoration of a WWII BMW, and Al had been a great help in sourcing some of the parts that Thomas had needed to replace. There was no place like Al’s if he wanted to get authentic parts for his antique bikes.

Where the guy found the genuine parts, Thomas didn’t know, and Al had certainly never divulged his sources. It didn’t matter. Thomas was prepared to pay a premium just so he could continue with his hobby.

Thomas pushed open the door to the large building and entered, accompanied by the sound of the chime above the door. The interior was well-lit, the endless shelves well-stocked, and the smells familiar: oil, solvents, and paints. He lifted his gaze to the counter, expecting the usual greeting from Al, but was instead hit with a wall of silence.

The man behind the checkout counter that was covered with faded linoleum wasn’t Al, nor was he one of Al’s employees. He was a vampire, all right, but Thomas had never met him. Had Al hired somebody new? It wasn’t like him. Al didn’t like change and hadn’t taken on a new employee in years. Most of the time he worked by himself.

The vampire nodded at him. “Help you?” he asked brusquely.

Thomas crossed the distance between him and the counter, letting nothing in his gait betray the fact that he was curious. “Yeah. Al around?”

The vampire shook his head. “No.”

“Will he be back soon?”

“No.”