For Lisa, The Cliff was just one more bar to visit, one more competitor to gauge on her way to opening her own club. The verbal abuse unleashed on her by a patron is unexpected, but not entirely unusual: as a vampire, she has been called worse than 'killer' or 'thing' before. What is new, on the other hand, is the intervention of the bar's owner. Lisa isn't used to humans trying to protect her, and she finds Brett strangely endearing.

For his part, Brett isn't all that comfortable being around a vampire, but now that he has thrown out the lout who was insulting Lisa, he can hardly ask her to leave. After getting to know her a little, however, he starts seeing the woman beyond the fangs, and when she returns the next night he's ready to share a dance with her... or even a little more...

(24,000 words)