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Short chapter introducing the main character.

A line of crimson hue dripped down the supple neck of a mere mortal. Two holes punctured into a throbbing vein only for the simple necessity of sustenance, but it was more than that. It was beauty, two souls who have lived their lives for this one moment, this one instance of life. Like two Olympians climbing to their peak destiny or the  magnificent view of a first snow; That kind of beauty and dedication is what I'm talking about. Blood was beauty, blood was immortal. The cool air bit at the wound around the woman's neck, it was to late for her anyway. She was already welcoming the eternal embrace of nothingness. 

The darkness of the park over took everything in sight, the streetlamps had never been maintained. The soft hum of wind blowing around snow was heard and then a thud. A body dropping beneath a shadowed figure. A streetlamp nearby flickered on and off, on and off. Revealing a man who perhaps looked in his thirties with black hair. Red smeared across his face with a smile that only drove people away. 

"You can't keep feeding like this. People do catch on you know." A female voice rang out.

The man shot glances all around, not being able to pin-point the exact location of this disembodied female voice. All was quiet for a moment except the rush of the wind. Then rushing footsteps of the man who was feeding off the already expired body. He cut through the forest next to the park, then tripped and fell into a small crease in the land containing a flowing stream. The man cursed, because he had been soaked.

"Remember this moment. For it is your last breath of this insanity we've called life." the voice whispered in the mans ear. A piercing feeling came so slowly in the black haired man, he recounted his past loves and his past grudges. He reviewed all of his mistakes in a microsecond as he felt the pierce grow deeper from his back into his chest where it tickled at his heart.

"I don't want to die." whispered the man in his final seconds. Then his body turned to ember, only to explode in a furious torrent of blue, freezing all the water around him into crystal. The scene fades on a woman in cloak with a cunning smile.

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Day emerges, everywhere is shiny and bright because of the sun reflecting off the snow. Birds sing and the wolves have stopped howling, the humans have started to stir. A man with red fire hair was dying to go to sleep, he was practically hissing at the sun to go away. Unfortunately Brock Leivan was stuck in the night shift at his job, assembling small electronic parts that go into random appliances. It was assembly line work, no one liked it, but it was worth it. 

The clock tick tocked and Brock was free to go home. He wasn't going to spend a single second longer there and rushed out. Brock was a man of routine, he always stopped at the same place, at the same time, two times a day. That was the convenience gas station located just outside of town called the, Viper Express.

The smell of fresh coffee was in the air, Ramone the clerk at Viper always made a fresh pot around this time just for Brock.

"Hey, your looking more tired than usual bud." Ramone commented.

" Yeah, it's been a long night, lots of boredom and bouts of depression for some reason." Brock reached out for a cup to fill with coffee. Finding one he began to pour some from the tap.

"Don't work yourself to hard man. The overnight shift can turn a man crazy. Ya know, you lose touch with people and sleep all the time." Brock chuckled at what Ramone just said. Brock hasn't slept in over three days so maybe, he's already crazy, Brock thought this to himself. The bell of the convenience store door rang and in came quite a site. Some person wrapped in what looked like three coats and a blanket, with shaded goggles and bandannas covering the entirety of their head, walked in. Granted it was winter, but this was overkill Brock thought. 

The stranger stared at Ramone and Brock for about ten awkward seconds and then began to browse the store. Ramone shuffled over to Brock and whispered to him,

"Five bucks, this guy is a shoplifter." Brock chuckled a little bit. The sun was barely out, shining bits of sunbeams into the shop. Ramone walked over to the strangely dressed individual and went to put his hand on their shoulder to ask them to kindly remove their makeshift mask. A hand went up with lightning speed and snatched Ramones hand and bent it at an awkward angle making Ramone cry in startled pain.

"Don't." muttered what sounded like a woman. She let go of Ramones hand and he backed off, shooting an alarmed glance at Brock while he cradled his hand. The woman snatched some triple A batteries off a shelf and left the store. Brock intrigued by this character wanted to follow. He paid for his coffee and Ramone told him to be careful as he left.

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The woman put the batteries into a coat pocket and started off down the street. The sun would be high in the sky soon and she needed to be elsewhere before that was the case. She walked into a shadowed alley and proceded to move a dumpster. She moved it effortlessly, revealing a manhole in the ground. She lifted the manhole cover and went down the ladder into the underground sewers not before closing the manhole. She spied a shadow at the end of the alley before completely closing the sewer entrance.

The underground sewer was like a maze, the woman was confident that if she was being followed that whoever it was would soon be lost. She took a right, left, left, right, left then another right. The tunnel opened up to a large room where the sewage hadn't touched. There were odds and ends everywhere, shelves, a bed, books, a desk. It looked like someone had been living here for awhile. The woman approached a lantern and turned it over, she wrestled the batteries she took from the store out of her pocket and popped them into the lantern. The room lit up with the lanterns glow, casting shadows all over the walls. 

She walked over to her desk, as she walked she cast off all her layers of clothing revealing a woman who looked in her mid-twenties with auburn hair and brown eyes. She sat down at her desk and sighed, pulling out a journal she began writing.

"Investigation of the park nearby reveals that another has been killed. By whom, I still don't know. It was during an interrupted feeding. No evidence except for a stake left behind. Perhaps a hunter has been targeting this area. It's the fourth one this week. I worry for my safety, but I've been keeping a low profile since moving down here." She sighed once more setting her pen down and rubbing at her eyes. 

"There is no hiding." a voice echoed throughout the chamber. The woman stood out of her chair startled.

"Who's there?" shouted the auburn haired woman. She scanned the room, but no one was in sight. She walked forward slowly on the defensive, but she seemed to have accidentally stepped on something. In that moment a rope wrapped itself around her foot and pulled her upwards slipping her. Her head came crashing down onto the floor as she was pulled upwards. Blood started pouring from her head onto the ground, she blacked out.

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Brock couldn't believe he was able to follow this woman with all the turns that she took. Hell, he should have given up as soon as she went into the sewer, but something just kept egging him on to follow her. Now with her bleeding out of her head hanging upside down he was in horror. A woman in a cloak made herself visible from the other side of the room. She was approaching the unconscious woman with an arm raised and what looked like a stake in hand.

Something took over Brock that was almost instinctual, he ran out and stood in front of the unconscious woman blocking her from the impending attack.

"You don't know what you're doing." spoke the cloaked woman. She continued advancing forward towards Brock.

"Stay away, I'm warning you! I'll call the Police!" Brock quickly pulled out his phone and glanced at it. 

"Damn, no service!" Brock thought to himself. Before Brock could continue figuring out his situation, he felt someone latch onto him from behind and pull him. The bleeding woman was conscious finally and had her mouth wide open exposing two fangs. She pulled Brock closer to her and without a struggle she bit into his neck. 

"AWAY FROM HIM, HEATHEN!" The woman with the stake lunged at the other woman. The vampire eyed the rope hanging her upside down and with a growl her fingernails turned into talons and she swiped at the rope, cutting her free and out of range of the woman trying to kill her. Brock stumbled a bit and blacked out.

Author's Note

ignore grammar problems