This was written several months ago, specifically for my friend, Ichobana Rose. I thought it would be interesting to try writing a vampire story, never having read one and never really planning to read one outside of what my friend has written. This story follows two lives. One, the life of an innocent girl in New York City, and the other, a vampire lord torn between the survival of his race and the destruction of his race.
Prologue
The silent, shadowed plague had begun nearly one hundred years before, with the immigration of people fleeing from the oppressive World War 1. It wasn't an expected plague, nor was it a natural one that mankind often faced. This pestilence came in the form of shadowed creatures, blending in so well with the night that one could scarcely see them in the shadows, not even underneath the eminence of a starry sky. These were predators, silent hunters, intent on surviving upon the life of others. They seemed not to care for humanity, not to pity the weaker beings that surrounded them. They snuck into the United States with cunning and craftiness, remaining hidden, and spent the next century roaming the alleyways and roofs of New York City, changing their styles and attitudes to match the changing times, but never seeming to grow older, weaker.
Now, on November 12, a dark and dismal night, three of these shadows raced across one of New York's back streets, moving faster than wolves, blending in with the darkness. They rushed quickly, leaping over any obstacles in their way, moving with a purpose.
A light, a glorious, brilliant light, following them through the darkness, drove them. They avoided this light with a passion, terrorized of it, for creatures of the darkness loathe and yet respect the light. Bats flew above them overhead, screeching and fluttering away from that brightness.
One of the shadows hissed as he turned a corner to see a police car waiting, lights flashing, ten policemen standing, waiting, in front of it. The shadows spun abruptly and ran in the opposite direction, only to be blinded by that light, that radiant, maddening light, blocking their escape route.
"Stop," a firm, female voice ordered. "You are trapped. There is nowhere else to go, unless you can fly, which I find unlikely."
"You endanger yourself, woman," the leader of the small band hissed, holding his hand up to his sensitive eyes, trying to see past the light to view the woman that stood before him.
Her white clothes were beaming with light, and her face was hidden behind the shine, making it impossible for the creatures to see her.
"How do I endanger myself?" she asked quietly, more policemen standing at her side, ready and waiting.
"You think you can just place yourself before our escape route?" the man snarled. "We have avoided captivity for hundreds of years. You think you and your puny force can stop us now?"
"I'm the only thing you cower from," the woman spoke, boldly taking one step closer. "And while I may not be able to harm you, I can certainly keep you from killing others."
She kept walking, and the shadows shrunk back as far as they dared to go.
"Stop!" the leader hissed.
The woman stopped, just far enough away to see under the man's hood. He had bloodshot eyes, glistening with piercing blue coloring. He was glaring at her; his teeth clenched, long, pointed incisors shining in the dull lighting. His eyes entranced her, and before she was given time to think, he coiled up, like a tiger crouching for its prey, and then sprang at her. She gasped as the police opened fire and a powerful body crashed against her, knocking her to the cold ground.
As the police shouted and the bullets fired, the woman lay pinned on the ground, the shadow's body pressed hard against hers. She choked as he put a cold, strong hand to her throat and held her down, his breath hot and lethal against her face.
"I warned you," the man growled. "We have warned you three times now. Threaten us again, my lady, and you shall know the venom we possess."
The woman shuddered as he let his cold fingers brush across her cheek and down her throat before the shadow leaped off her and raced into the darkness with his comrades. Voices called her name, but she didn't hear them. She lay there, gasping heavily, her eyes gazing up at the roofs that towered above her.
She saw him there, the true leader, gazing down at her, his cloak billowing about him and his hood covering his face as bats swarmed about him before they escaped off into the black sky. He was always there watching her, but never interfering with his men or the police. He was a silent stalker, and she knew he followed her, though she could never see him. He was trying to learn as much about her as he could, and she was doing the same for him. In the daylight, she could never find him, but night was his wake time, and he ruled the night.
One day, fate knew, the woman of light and the ghost of darkness would finally meet face to face. And on that day, the world of the vampires would rapidly begin to fade.