Chapter One

A shadowy figure moved along the streets of the dark rural neighborhood, his leather shoes beating against the hard pavement with every step, the winds guiding his path down the empty road with their gentle push. His black, hooded, zip-up sweatshirt was fastened up to his neck, the slightest hint of a formal white shirt behind its zipper. His head was down as he stalked along, his lone shadow dancing against the edge of the dimly lit streetlights on either side of him.

The air was cold, chilling to the bone as the air rushed through the streets, on a path to its next destination. However, that didn't faze the man that walked down the road. He was not cold; he wasn't even affected by the dwindling temperatures. His path was straight and set, and the jacket he wore wasn't to protect him from the early spring temperatures. It was easier to stay hidden in the dark when he matched the night, and the more hidden he was, the easier it was to live another day without being noticed by the humans.

Further along the street, Adelina sat silently on a bench under another streetlight, waiting. Her friends were already an hour late to pick her up and she was only supposed to be out until two...

She bounced up and down in her seat, both from excitement and to keep her body from numbing in the cold; but the smile she wore still occupied her lips as she became more and more excited with every beat of her heart. The face of her watch read 12:34 a.m. as she checked it for what seemed like the millionth time and looked back out onto the deserted street.

Normally, she would've been asleep, but hey, going into the final year of high school meant something, didn't it? These were her first parties of her last year, and she deserved a reward for making it through the daunting first three!  This was the party of the year, she had been assured, and she was left sitting alone in the dark, the illumination from the light and the bright full moon her only company. Her mind ran as she looked down the abandoned road, the cricket's song silencing as if they themselves were frightened of the dark.

This is creepy... she thought to herself and shivered as a swift, cold breeze passed by her, sending chills up and down her spine. Her optimistic expression turned deathly serious as shadows flickered at the edge of her vision.  

"H-hello?" She asked out into the dark, her voice wary and guarded. "Is anyone there?"

She was greeted only by silence, but the man who had been walking through the neighborhood froze, the his breath stopping in his lungs.  He waited a few beats, standing perfectly still.  The predator had found his prey.  His lungs never burned for air, he never felt the unending urge to inhale a deep breath full of oxygen to sustain him.  The girl’s voice had disrupted his thoughts, and with a quick movement and he hid in an alley-like patch of grass in between two identical houses, and he was reminded this century was a God-awful time with no originality as his eyes were thrown full of white aluminum siding and carefully trimmed hedges that ran on either side of him.

Judging by the moon, he easily guessed it was around half past midnight, and his sensitive eyes zeroed in on the helpless female on the bench, from which the distinctive voice had come from.  Medium build, he noticed, it will be relatively easy, relatively simple matter to take her down.  But that wasn't the type of vampire Lucian was.  The hunt was far too interesting to give it up and trade in for a simple moment of temporary calming of his inhuman thirst.  He watched her, quickly deciding upon which route to take and slowly walked from his hiding place, his shadow again brushing against the enlightened patch of concrete in front of the girl who let out a short gasp at his appearance.

As he stepped in front of her, his blond hair billowed behind him in the breeze and his dark eyes immediately captured Adelina's.  Clad in all dark clothes, he was the polar opposite to her small denim miniskirt and pink t-shirt.  She looked at him, furrowing together in confusion. Where did he come from? She wondered, blinking to clear her mind.

"Um...  Hi there," she tried to say as politely as she could, trying to remember she had no reason to fear this stranger.

"Hello," Lucian spoke lightly, an almost amused tone lacing his soft, smooth voice.  A light accent, a slight tribute to old English, traced his voice, barely noticeable, only by ears that would have recognized it anywhere.  He stood downwind from mark, her scent leading away from him, and he couldn't help but become excited by the possibility of her scent: creating possible smells, varieties, and even tastes, wondering what her type was in his mind. Not yet, he warned himself, remembering that that kind of excitement would only shorten his game.  "What are you doing out here in the cold night, by yourself?" He asked the girl, the corner of his mouth showing the slightest hints of a smirk.

This man...  He was hard for Adelina to take in.  He was beautiful to her, something almost surreal. "Waiting for my so-called friends," she said plainly, looking away from him for a moment. "And they seem to have forgotten me."

"'So called friends' appears to be a correct statement, then." He said, his form moved closer to her, his heels made no 'click' now as they stepped on the cement of the road, no crunch into the rock and debris that lined the street, no indication that he'd moved at all, besides the shift of the light behind him. "You shouldn't be out here at night all alone; there are psychos out there," Lucian was surprised she was, his exploits had covered the papers, and you name it had given him splashing the headlines.  Three murders in four days, each as gruesome as the last.  The police had no leads, and all the humans could do was to do what always did, and tried to explain that which had no explanation.

"The Lady Killer", that was the alias the human press had given him, and he found hilarity in the irony of it.  How could a responsible parent of a young girl let her out at night when the killer such as this was out on the loose?  Lucian couldn't find an answer but was thankful to the girl's parents for their contribution to his meal.

In Adelina's eyes, this guy was insanely silent and kind of creepy, something about him seemed...  Otherworldly.  And that feeling made her anything but comfortable.

"I can take care of myself." She stated evenly as she looked up at him, trying to decipher his true intentions. "I've got no reason to be scared."

And as these words came out of her mouth Lucian managed to plaster a smile on his face, his dark eyes smiled with him as they locked onto the sight of her face. Simply gorgeous...all the better. His internal voice matched his intentions.

"Very good," he practically purred, placing his hand in his pockets. "I hope that's true." I need a good fight; all of my other food has been so very...boring.  Screaming, pleading, all just too normal...  Oh how I would love a challenge.

Even stranger about this man still, Adelina could tell that the man seemed oddly pleased with her. Something seems too odd about him... She thought.  She shook the idea away with a smile.

"Yeah," she said and raised a hand to shake her hair out nervously.  But as she did so a wind lightly blew through the streets again as if her fingertips beckoned the air force.  It pushed her scent along Lucian's path and his eyes widened microscopically.  The smell shocked him; he wanted to forgo the fight then, take her and satisfy himself now.  All of the best lessons he'd been taught about control seemed to be out the window now, the smell, woodsy, sweet, tender...  It was enticing.  

But not now, he knew it will be worth the wait.  If her blood would taste as good as it smelled, then his plans would be that much more fruitful, that much more interesting... and the taste? Oh, the taste would become all the better, knowing he'd earned it.  He pushed away the forces of his body that told him to take her now, and forced himself to speak.

"Well, I hope your home is in too far from here.  It is a cold night to be walking by yourself, isn't it?" Lucian asked her, his fingernails were digging into the fabric of the jacket he wore.

"Not far," Adelina eyed him warily and spoke again, her voice was cautious.  "In fact...  I-I-I should probably get going." Adelina stood grabbing her bag and began to stand up, a slight wind whipping hair around once more.  She took a step forward away from a bench as Lucian's muscles tightened, they wanted to pounce on her, and now.

The predator within him growled deeply, pushing his elongated teeth from his gums painfully, drawing them down over the teeth that already sat in their space.  His hands balled into fists as he forced the thirst back, the wind threw her smell into his nostrils and every aspect enticed him in more ways than he could identify.  He wanted to savor it, he wanted to appreciate it, just wanted to devour it.  He couldn't decide what he wanted to do with her blood, but one thing was certain: he wanted it as his.

"Allow me to escort you home," Lucian suggested, getting close to her.  His fangs pushed harder through his sensitive gums, tearing the tender flesh like knives. He tried not to grin in anticipation. Get her away from here...then you can have her.

A dark shiver went through Adelina's arms. Something's wrong... she thought, very, very wrong... She balled her hands into fists and her eyes widened when she felt her fingernails elongate. She immediately put her arms behind her back and hid her hands from him.

"No, it's cool," she said nonchalantly, though her face showed the panic that was making her heart race. She had to get home, and it had to be now. She turned on her heels, ignoring the expression on the man's face that looked at her and walked as quickly as she could. The hair on her arms was growing longer, forcing itself through her skin and feeling like a thousand pinpricks coming from within. She began to run, her heels clacking against the hard concrete of the road.

She didn't have much time left, sprinting, she flew over the back fence, and the man was all but gone from her mind in the panic as she scurried through her window, letting her shoes fall as she hurried to the little mini-fridge in the corner. The first waves of pain had passed, and now she could feel her spine begin to collapse upon itself. She jerked the door open and took out one of the little clear tubes that sat inside, filled with a thick, black liquid. Popping the top off, she gulped it down as hastily as she could, feeling the effects almost instantly. Her claws began to retract; the thickening white hair on her arms shed to its original length.

She panted heavily, gripping to the fridge. Her eyes darted across the room as if searching for an invisible enemy that had caused this sudden change so quickly.

"What...the hell was that?"