Avatar the Last Airbender is not mine and neither is Zuko. They both belong to Nick, the lucky bums.

"Mommy mommy mommy, look what I can do!" A young blue eyed, mocha skinned girl of six hollered at her mother. She was jumping up and down waving her arms and the water behind her mirrored her motions. The tall, dark woman walking up to her, suddenly froze in her tracks, the smile on her face shattered and an expression of absolute horror spread across her face when she realized what her daughter was excited about. The young girl stopped her wild movements and ran towards her mother.

"Mommy, mommy, are you okay?" she asked, eyes wide with fear.

"Katara," her mother kneeled as she whispered "Never, ever do that again as long as you live, you hear me?" She was staring directly into Katara's eyes. She could see the tears in her mother's eyes and the look of horror was still there.

"Now be a good girl and go play with Sokka, okay," she said in a strained voice. The tiny girl nodded, as her mother's trembling hand tucked the dark strand of hair behind Katara's ear.

"I'm sorry mommy," the little girl squeaked as she wrapped her tiny arms around her mother's head unsure of what she had done to make her mother cry. Katara kissed her on the head and then turned around and trotted off to play with her brother.

Katara's mother knew benders were considered dangerous mutants in the South Pole and that the punishment for water bending was death. She was not afraid of her daughter's abilities but everyone else would be and thus she had to keep Katara's abilities hidden from the village for as long as possible. How long that would be, she did not know.

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"I don't understand father." A surly looking eight year old boy asked as he propped himself onto a plush, red chaise covered in soft, fluffy pillows.

"Why do we have to kill the humans? All we need is their blood. What is wrong with just drinking it and leaving them unconscious, or drinking the blood of animals?" He asked in a flustered tone.

"I have already told you Zuko, this is the way it is. We are the hunters and they are the hunted. It has been this way for millennia. Besides once a human is bitten, they become…half alive."

"What do you mean half alive?" Zuko was obviously puzzled by this statement.

"It means they are no longer human," a sweet, gentle voice answered from behind them. Zuko turned and saw his mother standing in the doorway, genuine sadness radiating from her face.

"They can't eat food like other humans, and their skin begins to burn when they go out into the sun." She told him gently. Zuko crossed his arms and clenched his jaw.

"So how are they different from the lower vampire classes?" He asked in confusion. His mother walked around the chaise and kneeled before him gazing into his yellow eyes.

"It is…painful for them, Zuko," she said. "Their bodies lose the ability to heal and so they slowly rot but they are not dead." She emphasized the last word.

"But why don't we just buy blood from them? That way we still get what we need and they don't get hurt?" Zuko asked innocently.

"Because then it would be no fun, brother," Azula answered condescendingly as she walked into the room.

"Azula!" her mother hissed. "We are not to make light of this subject."

"I'm just kidding mother," she retorted, her last word dripping with animosity.

"I can't wait until I get to kill my first human" Azula spoke animatedly. Too animated for Zuko's taste. "I already know how I am going to do it too." The evil gleam in her eye deeply unsettled Zuko. Azula had a gift for violence and was always talking about how to cause the most amount of pain with the least amount of effort. Feeling sick to his stomach, he decided to excuse himself for the evening. This rite of passage was still years away. He would worry about it when he had to.

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A/N

This is just the prologue. There are two casts, the daywalkers and the nightwalkers. The Fire Nation Royals are all daywalking vampires.

Any questions or comments, please feel free to shoot them at me.