A break from the hunger

The monsters sat in the darkest corners of the bar. In the shadows they looked almost human. Those who dared sit in the center where the light was brightest were all human, mostly humans who didn't believe in vampires and came here to play at being monsters - or victims.

John was not quite strange enough to be relegated to a corner, but his table was near the wall. He sat alone. John was a common enough name, as it had been when he was born in the late eighteenth century. That wasn't his problem. He spoke American English, but people spoke it differently now. He had learned the idiom