Aleria awoke with a start. It was dead quiet and as black as ink, two things which were very uncommon for her small apartment bedroom. She should be able to hear the sound of cars passing by with their horns blaring, see the annoying glow of the neon sign from the store across the street penetrating the two sets of black-out curtains she had hanging over the large window behind her bed. For a brief second she couldn’t remember where she was. She tried to sit up in her bed only to hit her head on the top of her modified coffin. She yelped more in surprise than pain, feeling the panic settling in for a split second before that morning’s events came flooding back to her.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down as she fought against the claustrophobia threatening to take control of her mind. She felt around in the dark until her hand came across the hidden lever inside her coffin. She flipped it, the entire lid sliding back silently. She bolted out of the contraption, her heart lurching over oddly inside her chest. She stood up, stretching as she looked around her new room. Her “coffin” was a solid metal box built inside a regular four-post bed sitting at one end of a large, rectangular room. There was a huge walk-in closet on one wall, a vanity and mirror on the other along with a few chest of drawers and an entertainment center. The floor was antique brick, as were the walls. The entire placed looked like a seventeenth century English castle, except this one had been built underground inside the abandoned subway tunnels of Abyss City. She even had her own balcony looking out over a yard filled with plants which grew in the damp darkness of the perpetual twilight they lived in.

She yawned as she walked into the closet, surprised to find a few outfits which actually fit. It wasn’t her usual metal-meets-Goth style, but it would do in a pinch. She grabbed the clothes and strolled over to the bath, eager to clean off the previous night’s dirt and grime. She was half-way through her shower before she realized she hadn’t turned on any cold water, ultimately causing a few burns on her back which healed nearly as quickly as they formed. Feeling refreshed, she donned a pair of ripped jeans and shirt, walking aimlessly out into what passed as the back courtyard of the establishment.

If it wasn’t for the absence of the moon and stars, she would never have known she was still underground. She expected the air to be stale, but there was a light breeze blowing, no doubt created by the large ventilation fans built into the tunnels. Vampires didn’t really need oxygen, so she had no idea why they would do this, unless it was just another attempt for them to pretend to be as human as possible.

She pushed on, passing by a large water fountain, several flowering vines, and a colorful array of bushes, plants, and assorted foliage. The garden eventually became dense vegetation which resembled miniature flowering trees, their limbs barely hovering more than a foot above her. This small forest gave way to a clearing some hundred plus yards from the main house. A mild grunting sound caused her to pause as she entered the back portion of the courtyard.

Aleria approached the area with caution, wondering if someone were hurt, or worse. She honestly had no idea who, or what all could be down here. Gnash hadn’t warned her against staying away from any area within the tunnel, but she also hadn’t exactly asked before she began exploring. Any number of things could be lurking within the walls of their manor, her mind running wild with thoughts of what could potentially be down here with her. There could be a pack of mutated pet werewolves only a few feet away ready to maul her to death for all she knew.

Moving forward, her foot slipped over a precipice, and she suddenly discovered herself lurching forward into an inky, black abyss. She gasped, her newly formed vampire eyes kicking in and the formerly unseen chasm gave way to a lightly lit twenty foot by thirty foot rectangular hole a good fifteen feet deep.

She righted herself quickly, staring with her mouth open at what lay at the bottom of the depression. The entire length of the thing was filled with various traps and hurdles, everything from swinging logs with metal stakes sticking out of them to shooting arrows and spinning saw blades which came up out of the makeshift wooden floor. She could smell the stale, metallic vampire blood which clung to some of the metal spikes, the entire scene causing her to shiver.

The young man standing at the bottom of the hole turned, staring in astonishment at the female who had appeared out of thin air right above him. A tiny click sound came from somewhere within the torture chamber, causing the young man’s head to turn quickly. Aleria opened her mouth, trying to warn him of the shooting spike which shot out at him, but she was too late. The man merely side-stepped the object, his body moving so quickly he was but a blur for a brief moment in time before reappearing exactly where he had been less than a second before.

“Who the hell are you?” he asked, his voice deep as he bent his knee slightly and jumped, propelling his body up and out of the cavern. He landed silently a few inches from her.

She gasped again, her body jerking uncontrollably as she watched him, his movement so quick he literally disappeared and reappear instantaneously right next to her. Knocked off balance, she nearly fell into the pit. His hand reached out to steady her. She looked at him sheepishly as she shoved her strawberry blonde hair out of her face.

Stolen novel; please report.

“You’re new,” he said as he righted her back onto her feet.

She tried to smile, but it came off looking more like a grimace. “Yeah, I just got here last night – err, this morning?”

“No, I meant you’re new as in a new born vampire,” he said with a chuckle. “But yeah, you’re new to the family as well.”

She laughed with him, the two of them grinning at each other. “I’m Aleria,” she said as she held out her hand. “Fresh off the flesh train.”

The young man looked at her quizzically as he took her hand and shook it. “I’m Ruroni, but everyone in the family just calls me Ru.”

“Oh, so you’re Skitz’s childer,” she said.

“Yeah. Who do you belong to?” When she just stood there looking at him with an odd expression he elaborated. “I mean, who embraced you? Who is your sire?”

“Oh!” she said, suddenly looking embarrassed. “Sorry. You’d think I would be used to the slang jargon by now. Gnash embraced me, just last night, or rather, just this morning, right before sunup.” She tucked her arm behind her back, fidgeting with the belt loop on her jeans, something of a nervous habit.

Ru stared at her for a few seconds before he whistled real low. “Damn, can’t believe he finally broke his own rule. Took him long enough. Unfortunately, looks like I lost the damn bet.”

She looked at him blankly. “I don’t follow.”

He laughed. “Gnash has always had this rule about embracing humans. He’s never done it for two reasons – the first being he promised Skitz when they were bound that he would never have sex with anyone else, and two, because he didn’t want the responsibility which comes along with embracing a new vampire. The entire house has had a running bet for years now as to when he’d cave and embrace someone. I said closer to three hundred years. I was so far off it’s not even funny.”

“Oh,” she said as she blinked at him before shaking her head violently. “Oh, no. No, no, no, you got it all wrong. We didn’t, he didn’t, that is, it’s kinda a long, complicated story-”

Ru held up his hands. “No need to explain. We are very well aware of how other vampires are created. But if you have any hang-ups about having sex with random strangers, then you really don’t need to ever taste real blood. We do get the occasional prude, not that you are a prude mind you, but it’s just another reason to develop a taste for the substitutes instead of the real thing. But I’m gonna warn you, it’s a lot harder to kick the habit once you’ve fed. So if you have any doubts whatsoever about sleeping with a whole shit-ton of random people, do yourself a favor and just go for the fake stuff right off the bat.” He paused, a surprised look on his face. “Wait, I’m telling you all this under the assumption you know about vampire feeding habits.”

She smiled. “Yeah, I’m very well aware of them. I’ve worked at the L&L Club for eight years, so yeah, no surprises on most of it.”

He nodded. “So that’s how you met Gnash?”

“Yeah. He’s been a regular for years now. We started talking one night while I was tending bar and just hit it off. Felt like I’ve known him forever.”

Ru raised an eyebrow, and she groaned. “Not you, too,” she said as she rolled her eyes. “Look, he comes into the bar, we talk. That’s it. But over the years we’ve talked a lot about a lot of things. Earlier this morning he had way more to drink than usual. I left several minutes after he did, on my way home - alone. I rounded the corner of the back alley and found him bleeding from the head and being wailed on by two other vampires. He was still so hammered, I was scared they would kill him. I sprayed one of them with vampire mace, managed to smack the other one with a rock. But before I could get Gnash back onto his feet and out of there, the one I beaned with the chunk of brick snatched me up and had me drained in less than two minutes. I was dying, end of story. For whatever reason, Gnash chose to embrace me. It’s really as simple as that. We both acted on instinct. Now whether or not he’ll come to regret it, well, we’ll see won’t we?”

Ru stared at her for a second before he nodded. “That sounds a lot more like Gnash than him guilt-embracing someone after he had fucked them and nearly killed them.”

She grimaced. “Yeah, I can’t see him being the type.” She looked down into the pit he had been in earlier. “What is this thing anyway?”

“That?” he asked as he glanced back at the hole. “That’s the training pit.”

“Looks dangerous.”

“Yeah, but we’re mostly immortal so no harm no foul.”

She snorted. “Yeah, okay, if you say so. You’d have to be nuts to want to actually go into that thing.”

“Well, if you are going to be part of the Clan of the Fallen, you are going to have to learn to defend yourself. It’s kinda the rule these days.”

“Why is it a rule?”

“Haven’t you heard? There’s a rival coven trying to take over the city. The lead vampire is gunning to take over as the master of the city.”

“Really? Yeah that’s news to me. Gnash hasn’t said anything about it, and I haven’t seen any new vampires in the club in weeks now. No news in the underground either.”

“Huh, that’s strange. You’ll have to talk to Gnash about it. Bottom line, these idiots are trying to move in and take over. The master vampire is a real dick to boot. He’s hardcore.”

“Hardcore? What do you mean?”

“Hardcore like seriously old school. He’s more than a millennia old. Let’s just say he hasn’t really changed with the time. He still believes in taking humans without their consent, embracing whomever he wants. His considers the donors and companions of his coven to be property and anyone caught trying to escape or going against him is marked for death. He chooses who lives, who dies, who leaves, who stays, and who he adds to his ranks. No one goes anywhere or does anything that he doesn’t know about it. He’s got spies all over the city, so just be careful who you talk to. Never tell anyone where our coven is located, and never divulge any family information. You never know who could be one of his spies, just waiting to take one of us out first chance he gets.”

“Great,” she said with a sigh. “Just what I need in this brand-new immortal life of mine– more jackasses trying to kill me.”