Prologue
One shot. Two shots. Three. She missed the third, but the first two hit the intended targets. She frowned. They weren't as accurate as she had hoped, which was unfortunate. Frustration swelled inside her and she felt her chest might burst. Irritated but determined, she held up the gun again, clutching it with both hands, and aimed.
"Akeni!"
Akeni sighed heavily, her shoulders dropping dramatically. "Mom! You couldn't wait a second longer?" She turned to face the house.
"You shouldn't stand outside when it's getting dark," Akeni's mother said from the front door. "Come inside!"
There is a kind of being who stands just beyond the light, in the shadows. A kind of being who enjoys the dark more than the sun. The kind of being who isn't human, but could have been once.
Akeni put her hands on her hips grumpily. "Mom, you know I'm not going to get much better if you're always interrupting," she said.
Her mother beamed at her from across the table. "You're out there all day, you don't need to be out when it's dinner time. Besides," she stood and checked the boiling pot, "I had something to talk to you about."
My mother told me stories about why I should never step beyond the door after sunset. She said there were such beings out there, waiting in the pitch black night.
"What is it?" Akeni asked. She picked up two of the three bowls and placed them on the table.
"Well, I was thinking," her mother said as she wiped her hands on her apron. "You don't get to go out much, and you're getting older."
Akeni laughed. "Mom, I don't like to leave, and the latter has been apparent for a long time."
"Oh, yes, yes, I know," her mother said sweetly, waving her hand up and down. "I just mean I was thinking about your education and wellbeing."
"You do wonders," Akeni said as she set the rest of the table. "And school does the rest."
"That's what I mean," her mother said as she spooned soup into the bowls.
"I don't think I'm following then," Akeni said with a puzzled expression on her face. She looked at her mother with clear blue eyes. "What are you trying to say?"
She said they'd come like shades to devour me if I wasn't careful. For the longest time, I thought they were just stories, the kind to frighten children, like monsters under the bed or in the closet.
"I'm sending you to Cross Academy!" her mother said happily, a beaming grin on her pleasant face.
"What? Why?" Akeni asked, feeling a bit dismayed.
Her mother looked at her with a pouting expression. "What do you mean, why? I want you to be as educated as possible. It's an important thing in the real world. You've got to learn to take care of yourself after all." She smiled again.
"But I can take care of myself," Akeni protested. "Why would I change schools?"
"Oh," her mother put the pot down on the stove again. "I think it would be good for you to meet new people, see new places. Get out of the house for a while. A girl needs to be independent!" Her mother practically danced with her last idea and threw her arms around Akeni. "My baby girl needs to be a strong woman!"
"Mom! Let go!"
Her mother complied after she heard the bell for the oven. "Think of it this way, dear," she said when Akeni sat down. "You'll get a chance to really make something of yourself without me hanging over you all the time. A chance to really grow."
"But Cross Academy? Why does it have to be there?" Akeni whined.
Her mother put her hands on her hips. "You know Cross Academy is a perfectly respectable school."
"The headmaster is a weirdo!"
"But he's a family friend~" Her mother beamed again, then looked suddenly serious. "Believe me, Akeni, this will be good. You'll enjoy it. And you'll get a lot out of it, I think."
Akeni looked at her, trying to workout a response to convince her otherwise.
"Mommy? Is dinner ready?" A little boy of six wandered into the room, rubbing his blue eyes sleepily.
"OH!" Their mother had him in a bone crushing hug in an instant, despite his squeaky protests. "You're soooo cute!"
But they are there, those beings who walk at night and sleep in day. They are stronger than humans. Faster. Smarter. Beings who survive on the blood of others. And so many have denied their very existence..
"Mommy! You're smothering me!"
"Oh! You're such a cute little mama's boy! Here! Give Mommy a big kiss!"
"Mommy! Stop! That's weird!"
Akeni stared at the table, despair filling her heart. She didn't want to go to Cross Academy. She didn't want to leave her family. She looked up suddenly as wind rattled the window and stared outside, at the shadowed world. She really didn't want to go to for one, very important reason, at least to her.
"Cross Academy," she whispered, "has vampires."
Yet they do exist.
Vampires always have.
End! Part 1! Hope you enjoyed!
