Prologue, Returning

Vampire Crayons

I was human once, as we all were. So unlike these warm blooded creatures dallying in the sunny streets of the modern world of today, as I walked along in the shade of the alley ways, observing: Young and old stumbled, skipped, and hobbled in their heeled shoes while carrying steamed coffees and mouthing the words chanting silently on their music players.

So long ago, I remember, my own mortal friends blushing and smiling coyly at the city's handsome bachelors, twirling their hair and smoothing their skirts. They had such short lives, living and dying after one another. But I was never part of this quaint time. I was born, died, and reborn again two centuries before them, yet I am timeless. With my forever pale and seventeen face and graceful figure, I was everywhere, every time, fearing and wanting all.

There was no hiding the truth of what I am from myself, but, yet, I tried. For a long time I ran away from all those familiar faces, frozen in beauty, like mine. I cloaked myself in the living and the latest styles, imitating those around me. I memorized the music playing in all the popular shops, danced like the television stars, and talked in the young ones' slang terms. For awhile, I felt like the top of the world rested under my feet, until they aged and I couldn't hold on anymore. I fled; I just wasn't them anymore- the soft fleshy lovers, none of them mine.

But I was past that phase of newborn angst, now. I know, and could admit what I am: Isabella, beautiful, eternal, and cunning. And here I was, coming to face where this started. Home again, Voterra, the city of the Vampires.