Title: Child of Darkness © 1999 - 2004
Author: slaysvamps
Warnings: Adult Situations & Language
Disclaimer: Vampire: The Masquerade, Vampire: The Dark Ages, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Werewolf: The Wild West, Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade, Mage: The Ascension, Wraith: The Oblivion, Wraith: The Great War, Changeling: The Dreaming, Hunter: The Reckoning, Demon Hunter X, Kindred of the East, and The World of Darkness are registered trademarks of White Wolf Game Studio Inc. I do not own nor do I have the rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, La Femme Nikita, The Monkees, The Backstreet Boys, or any other familiar celebrity or story line used as a template for any original character or story in my fiction. I have used these items purely for entertainment purposes and have in no way intended insult or injury to the owners of those rights.
Summary: Eliza is Dhampyr, the child of a vampire. When things with her foster mother get too hard to handle, she hits the road, eventually hunting the fiends from which she had been born. Along the way she finds and loses her true love, then realizes she still has something worth living for.
Author's Note: Although Child of Darkness was actually written after Coming Out of the Dark, it should be read first. Child of Darkness was written to flesh out Eliza's character so I would have an easier time playing her.
Prologue
I'm not the kind of person you say hi to in the store and get to know as a casual friend. I've never lived a casual day in my life and I sure as hell don't have many friends. Normal people look the other way when they see me coming down the street. I've been told that there's something about me that puts most people off, makes them uneasy. I'm not surprised.
Maybe it's the way I watch my surroundings, like I expect trouble from everything and everyone. I do. Maybe it's because I move like I could win a fight with anyone that tried to take me on. I might. Maybe it's the anger that burns inside of me, waiting like a beast crouched in the darkness for a chance to spring to life. It does, sometimes when I least expect it to. Or maybe it's the haunted look in my eyes, the knowledge that I once had a chance for a much different life, a better life, but I lost it at the whim of… something, fate maybe.
But you know, I'm just a regular girl. I have wants and needs just like everyone else. The only difference between you and me is that you probably still believe in the American Dream, while I live in reality.
If you're squeamish about reality, you probably shouldn't read any further. If you don't believe in the things that go bump in the night, you'll most likely think this is a passable work of fiction and go on believing that your world is the true reality. If that's the case, stay in your own warm and fuzzy world, and don't waste your time reading on.
My life hasn't been an easy one, but I've dealt with the things that have made me what I am and I live the best way I can. I don't want you to pity me for the story I'm about to tell you; I certainly don't pity myself. I've made mistakes and I pay for them just like everyone else. I won't make excuses for that. All I ask is that you try and understand my side of the story, the dark side.