Chapter One

I walked slowly down the streets of Los Angeles. It was a beautiful moonlit night, and my boots clicked perfectly with every step I took on the pavement. I heard the lustful calls of the bums and drug addicts on the sidewalk, and I chose to ignore them for the most part. Heroine addicts and dirty bums often tasted horrid, and I was not in the mood to scrub my mouth from the terrible taste. Also a girl can’t help but to notice when a man is calling her a ‘hot piece of a*s.’ I so badly wanted to turn and say to him, “I did not know humans partook in the eating of donkeys!”

 

I refrained from speaking my sarcastic remarks aloud to the men along the sidewalks as I continued on my way. I had two more blocks to go before I reached my destination. The Saint Mark Hospital. I had a friend there named Santiago. She often gave me pints of blood from the blood bank when the delivery truck came in, and tonight was the night it arrived.

 

I hated feeding from humans. They were just too complicated to seduce and then tamper with their memories. It was much more simple to get blood from the hospital. One more block to the hospital was all that was left, but I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. A black car was traveling at walking speed just behind me. A normal human wouldn’t notice this, but my kind would.

 

I didn’t bother turning to look at the car, I simply picked up pace. I was in front of the hospital as soon as I had time to worry about the car. I just hoped that the council wasn’t looking for me. They are always a hassle to deal with.

 

I entered the hospital and walked towards the nursing area just as I always had done. “Hi, I am looking for Santiago,” I informed a nurse with dark hair. I never had the chance to experience the mystery of being brunette, because I was unchanging as ever.

 

“Yes, she is expecting you. She is in back with the loading van. We’re not supposed to let you back, but she told us to let you through as soon as you arrived,” the nurse gave me the same speech weekly.

 

“Thanks.”

 

The lights flickering in the dimly lit, very creepy, and I would imagine very cold hospital hallway did not seem right. I wondered what was going on, at first, because nothing had ever happened like that.

 

“San, are you here,” I called in a human tone, but I got no response. I stopped and forced my eyes to focus down the dark hall. Slowly my predator-like senses began to kick in. I could see clearly all the way down the dark hall as if it was broad daylight.

 

“Santiago,” I whispered, but I knew I wouldn’t get a response from a human that time. I breathed in the air, and all I could spell was the stench of too much jasmine and vanilla. To a human it would smell sweet and draw them in, but two my kind it is a stench that one must get used to. It was the odor of vampire, and that was a scent I knew all too well.

 

There are two types of vamps in this world. Number one, is my kind. We were made into vampires in the older centuries of the world at just a young age. Most of us look like we are about eighteen to twenty years old depending on the clothes we wear, but the other kind is not so fortunate. The second kind of vampire are the born vamps. They have the smell of jasmine and vanilla instead of just pain death, which in my opinion smells a hell of a lot better. They come from male vampires like me who have decided to play with their food. Then they reap the consequences.

I sniffed the air, like a blood hound, once more. It was there, I was sure of it, but there was only one vampire. I continued along the hall a little more quickly. I could hear muffled voices but I was not in the mood to focus to hear what they were saying. That’s the bad thing about being a Noble (older) Vampire; we have to focus our abilities if we want to use them at all.

 

As I approached the sounds, I decided it was time to try saying her name again. “Santiago! Are you here,” I called a little too loudly.

 

“Yeah, Rose, I’m right here,” she called back. I rounded the corner to see her shaking the hand of a man. Not just any man, he was the vampire I had smelled. I didn’t have to focus to smell him from this distance; he was standing about three feet away from me and he smelled so awful!

 

“Thanks for coming by sir,” she finished up with the man. I turned my back towards him and held my nose. I didn’t need to breath, but I had practiced it until I could go out into public. Unfortunately now it was a habit and I could smell everything because of it.

 

“No, thank you,” the man answered in his rugged voice. I turned back towards him slowly. I noticed that he wasn’t like the other vampires. He had dark skin where most of our kind had pale skin. He had shaggy chocolate hair that hung down to his shoulders, and his eye were the most beautiful shade of green that I had ever seen. He was covered with a long light brown colored trench coat that made him look older than what he probably was. They were like emeralds only brighter somehow. He took a lingering glance at me before he turned and ran, but to San it would have looked as if he disappeared.

 

“Thank you, Rose for never acting like a true what you really are around me,” She sighed as she started to unpack the boxes.

 

“Who was that, anyway,” I asked curiously as I grabbed four of the boxes and hoisted them out of the van for her.

 

“I don’t know. He just walked in here like he owned the place. He said, ‘I’m sure you know what I am, and I have a favor to ask you,’ and then he started to set up a deal similar to ours,” she explained as she pulled out another box.

 

“Yeah, but I work for mine,” I laughed as I pulled out more boxes.

 

“That is true. Maybe I should have made him stay and help,” she laughed.

 

“Oh what is that,” I asked as I lifted out a box that took my breath with its delicious smell. Suddenly I caught a background scent that smelled similar, but not as sweet.

 

“You can’t have that, sorry, that’s rare blood. AO- is not something I can just give you without someone noticing,” she laughed.

 

“Yes, well that was part of it, but there’s something else,” I spoke as I inhaled the air. I knew that smell. It was sickeningly flowery, just like a fresh grave.

 

“I don’t know then, Rose,” she answered as she stopped loading. I grabbed as many boxes as I could, and that unloaded about half of the van.

 

“I have to go! So, um, yeah I think I’ll take the usual,” I spoke in a rushed tone. I focused my hearing, and I could hear the engine of the town care just outside of the entrance of the hospital.

 

Santiago looked at me puzzled but handed me three pints of A+ and B- before I ran. I didn’t know who was after me, but whoever they were, they were old. The older the more focus a vampire has to have, but the older vampires also have more power. Especially if they have turned humans and taught them the code of Draco.

 

“Please do not talk strange men, and do not answer any queries about me. Whatever you do, please my dear friend, cover your neck,” I half begged as I turned on my heal and began to run. I was sure that they would hit every town on the western coast searching for me, I just hoped that it wasn’t anything that I couldn’t handle.

Author's Note

The more ratings and the more comments I get the faster I get new updates

Reviews

[Global Norskie]

Ooooh! I loved it! Pulled me through to the end wanting more. I thought the a*s comment in the beginning was hilarious.

To be contructive, I managed to catch a couple of things: "More simple" should be "simpler", and there are a couple of instances where you go back to present tense - e.g. "They (council) are always a hassle to deal with."

Overall an exciting start - look forward to reading more :)

[ebur™]

Great start to the story, you balanced it well, not too rushed. There were a few grammar mistakes, but everyone makes those, and nice dialogue, felt as if I was watching a little movie in my head. Keep it up :)