October 2026

A Vampire Joins the Playboy Club by LindaAnn LoSchiavo

Dressed in black like a mourner, he’s shrouded in deception and mystery, dazzling diamond cufflinks winking wicked starlight across the ballroom, where he drifts in circles, observing the passing ingénues who snap to attention, rosy cheeks as velvety as a ventricle. Which woman might hold him at the edge of thought longer than she should? Which one is so reluctant to worship the wrong deity again that her eyes have taken the shape of deep longing? He understands longing as well as the mousetrap of wealth, the moment when his true intentions will swoop, black and frightening, across the hotel bed. For now, he sashays, surveying the crowd, aware of the curiosity a newcomer arouses, a slender bachelor of indeterminate age in bespoke evening attire, handmade leather loafers making less noise than a handful of grit tossed into a grave. He’s mastered the art of hunting like a nobleman, preening, slathering himself in the buttery balm of entitlement, emancipated from conscience as the prey inches ever closer. Afterwards, satiated, he will shape-shift into a bat, engineer a sly retreat. But at this moment, he is impeccable, aloof, unruffled, unknown, the image of what every international playboy aspires to be: inescapable.