Prologue:
I plunge the syringe into my arm willing the drug to hurry up, it won't be long before my foster father comes home and feeds from my blood for his nightly meal. I can't remember a time that he hadn't fed from me, I can't remember my previous life before as I was only two when I became orphaned.
I pull out the syringe and hide it in my satchel bag that is waiting on the lounge, ready for when I needed to run. I sit down at the kitchen table, pulling down the sleeve of my Brooklyn jumper as the jingle of keys become evident in the door. I calm myself as Chambers, my foster father, saunters through the door and he makes his way over to where I wait. I smile grimly at him as he plops down in the chair next to me, he looks exhausted from partying all night. He'd probably sleep for the entire day but I only have moments before my body is overtaken by the drug coursing through my body. I hold out my right hand, the one with the small syringe marks, he'd get more of the dose that way and will be out and high faster.
He bows his head over my wrists; the sharp stab of his fangs stings my arm. I focus on slowing my heart and slowing the blood flow, I need all the blood that I can get. I feel the energy slipping away as he takes the vital blood from my body. He is so consumed by the taste of blood that he doesn't notice as I pull back my left hand and knock him out cold, even if he recovers from that quickly he will be drugged up too much to pursue me. I grab my bag not taking my eyes off the slumped body, I had tried to escape three years ago when I was twelve, he had been cautious for two years, but he has been slipping up lately.
I make my way to the door and grabbing his keys, the only way to get out of the locked house is with keys, he had made sure of that.
"Good bye daddy." I sneer as I shut the door behind me, locking it tight.
I can already feel the effects of the drug and blood lose taking over my body, I force my eyes open as I make way to the dumpster at the end of our street. I toss the keys into a trash can and double back to our apartment area to make my way to the main road. My brain is working slower and not up to the usual alert self, it is too late when I notice a pair of Chambers thugs.
"Hey! The pet is out!" The podgy man with black dread locks cries, his dim-witted mate smiles stupidly as he saunters over.
"Did daddy say the Jezzy could go out tonight?" He cooees as he gets closer, I push past the pair ducking under their grabbing arms. I sprint using all the energy that I can maintain; I can hear their heavy thudded footsteps gaining behind me as I make my way to the main road.
My breath rasps in and out of my lungs as will myself to keep going, to stay awake long enough to live. I weave in and out of the many streets hoping to lose the tiring thugs behind, but I don't know how much longer I can last. The loss of blood is tiring on a normal day but mix that with an illegal drug and exercise it is sure to lead to disaster. I feel my body start to slow down, no energy left to even look behind me to see if the vampires are still following me. I am about to give up when I'm pulled back into a dark alley and pressed against a wall.
The stranger holds up a finger to her mouth to signal for me to be quiet; I take deep slow breaths trying to quieten down my thumping heart. The stranger quickly looks around the corner to make sure that my pursuers aren't anywhere in sight before hurrying me along the many alley ways. I make my way tripping and stumbling with the kind girl helping me along and eventually half carrying me. We make our way in total silence, neither of us with enough breath to check that the other is okay.
We finally stumble through a doorway into an abandoned apartment building; she guides me up the stairs and knocks three times onto an old wooden door, the white paint peeling off in strips. A dark figure opens the door and helps the girl carry me inside, they lay me down on a musky old couch as my eyes slowly close.
"Look after her Zen. I won't be back for quite a while." The strange girls says, now that we are in better light I can finally make out her features. Her dark red hair is loosely tied back and she is in a black tank top and cargo pants, I'm not sure whether it is because of the dizziness or whether it was real but I swear her tongue is forked like a snake. I don't think too much about it as I am used to seeing strange things, I watch the girl leave as my world turns to black.