I: Beginnings…

She could taste the cold mildew in the back of her throat as she took deep, labored breaths while she ran through the darkened floor of an abandoned warehouse. It was meant to be empty, save for the rave happening on the first floor that now masked her killer’s intent as he slowly walked towards her. No power ran through the warehouse. What few working lights existed within the building were brought there by the zombie-like party goers and hundreds of glow sticks they used. It was much colder on the second floor. Several broken windows allowed the brisk autumn winds through that carried the warning of an impending storm.  

‘Mom always said that chasing down a story would get me killed. I just wish it wasn’t in some random party in some shitty building’ she thought. She was getting short on floor space to run on and could see the broken windows approaching fast. In her panic, she looked over her shoulder at her killer and at that moment a bolt of lightning struck so close that its light flooded the warehouse. In the brief moment of brilliance she could see him more clearly than when she first discovered him feeding in that darkened corner of the first floor. The flash faded just as quickly as it had arrived and the only barely visible source of illumination had once again become the fading glow stick hanging from his neck. Overpowering the pulsing music a floor below, the thunder quickly followed and caught the distressed woman by surprise, such was her focus on the man.

The noise worked against her, causing her to momentarily lose her footing as she ran over a puddle. Falling felt like it took an hour and as she hurtled toward the floor, her fear and all thoughts of escape were replaced by a serene emptiness. Then the panic resurfaced, driving her to get up again. But it was already too late. He took the opportunity, moving quickly, taking only seconds to be on her as she tried to recover from her mistake.

With an impossibly strong grip, he grabbed her, making her let out a cry of panic. Face to face and raised just high enough off the floor, she was finally able to see what he really looked like. His face was mostly smooth, save for an odd cluster of scarring on his left temple that looked like a spider’s web. He had short, dark hair and his eyes drew even more attention than the scar. She already knew he was a vampire: the leads she had been following spoke of vampire attacks in Nova Flats. If she had harbored any doubts, though, his eyes would have erased them.

You could always tell a vampire before it opened its mouth, simply by looking at its eyes. They all have glowing, vibrant irises. Looking at his eyes now she could tell that he was a vampire, though the glow was only in the right. His left was just a red orb.

The autonomous city was meant to be free of vampires and completely separate from the human’s governing body per the end of the Blood Wars that had taken place nearly two centuries earlier. So when random bodies started to turn up in and around areas where there had been raves, the draw of the story was far too strong for her to fight and she. Stranger still was that none of the major news outlets had reported on it, only the tabloids seemed to have been reporting the murders. It would have just been another trashy story on a cheap rag if one of her friends at the coroner’s office mentioned that a couple of John Doe’s had come through with broken necks and drained of blood.

She had to begin investigating. Going to every underground party she could find. It took her weeks but here she was, now being dragged by her arm towards the broken window. She wished she hadn’t taken that picture that started the chain of events. Her cries for help were drowned out by the din below. Frantically trying to free herself, she managed to grab onto a small rusty pipe. Thrusting the jagged end at the hand that held onto her like a vice, she struck him and drew blood. For a moment he let her go and she fell to the ground but the next he quickly kicked her side in retaliation. She cried out in pain and coughed. Not once did his cold expressionless face change. His hand now crimson, he grabbed her again, lifting her from the neck as he stood in front of the tall, broken window. In one quick motion he launched her through the second story, breaking what little glass was left.

For the second time in one night, the world crawled to a near stop for her. She could see everything moving in slow motion as shards of dirty glass fell with her. Just like before, emptiness filled her mind as she fell to the dark alley. The impact happened abruptly, ending the eternity that it took for her fall . Her body felt numb as she laid on the cold asphalt, the taste of blood filling her mouth, finally washing away the one of rot that she had been experiencing since entering the building. Looking up at the cloudy sky, she felt a sorrow and guilt. Sorrow because she knew she was dying there in that alley. Guilt because she would give her only family, her mother, such heartache.

‘How could I do this to mom? I was her only family left. I must be the worst child to have lived to have made her mother bury her only child’ she thought as a torrent of tears ran down the side of her face. Tears that soon were washed away by the rain that began to downpour from the skies. It became harder for her to think as the edges of her vision started going black. Her mother in her thoughts as she died, she saw the outline of her killer overlooking from the second story. Then there were no signs of life left in her eyes as another lightning bolt streaked across the stormy skies.