A bone-chilling wind swept through the deserted city street. It was dark and quiet, with nothing but moonlight and a flickering streetlight illuminating the surroundings.

The breeze caused the man’s already messy red hair to dance while he pressed the pad of a long, pale finger to his lips in an attempt to soothe himself. He pulled his hand back and looked at the red splotch shining dark on his fingertip. His gaze shifted to the yellow rose bush sitting proudly beside the porch. He glared, jade eyes stinging with pain behind glass panes. He adjusted his glasses and sat down with a sigh.

“Dae, please hurry up.” The man mumbled.

His best friend, Dae Jeong, was inside the brick house scrounging around for the box of bandages his mother had just purchased only a few days prior.

He continued to eye the blood pooling on his finger, chewing on his lower lip in frustration while faint notes of a rock song played from the headphones around his neck.

Red orbs gleamed in the distance; just out of the failing light’s touch, the owner engulfed in shadows, unseen.

The man, Eve Williams, looked up; having a foreboding feeling of being watched. He spotted those red… eyes? He thought they were eyes. They looked like eyes, complete with thin, sharp pupils.

He sighed softly and looked away. The kids in the city loved to play pranks- spurred on by their grandparents' tall tales of monsters lurking in the shadows. Stories passed on from generation to generation of those unseen creatures, so the younger people loved dressing up and masquerading around to scare anyone out alone at night.

Eve thought nothing more of the matter, this was just another silly prank, right? Thus he responded simply

“Go away.” The man huffed softly.

The figure basked in the shadows, however, drew closer, until when Eve looked up he could see some of its- or rather- his features.

The figure was male, probably around six foot two in height. He has a faded pink dye job, the man's dark roots had grown out quite a bit. His long hair was pulled into a haphazard ponytail that fell off-center. Moles painted the man’s pale skin, dotting his face like an artist had meticulously placed them there.

Eve thought the man was attractive, but he was thrown off by those red eyes, pointed ears, and the sharp fangs that peaked out as the man spoke with a voice as smooth as honey.

“Hello.” The man called, “May I ask your name?” A slight accent that Eve couldn’t name touched his voice.

Eve looked at him more carefully, and he took a small step back, frowning.

“I’m Eve, Eve Williams, and you are?”

The man offered a small smile, “My apologies, it is rude to inquire about a name without offering one in kind. I am Justin Yalkov. I am from Stolace.”

Eve hummed a bit, “Right right… Stolace… that’s uh... Really far from here.”

Justin chuckled softly, “Maybe, though I’ve lived here a long time.”

Eve looked back up at the man, eyeing his pointed ears, a bit of uncertainty collecting in his gaze.

Justin tugged on his ears a bit, shifting on his feet uncomfortably, “Please… don’t be scared.”

“Just… what are you?” Eve asked, taking another small step back, “And why exactly are you here again?”

Justin sighed, “I’m… well, I think it’s obvious- but- I’m not going to do you any harm- err… well I can’t promise none, but I don’t want to hurt you- I just- we just… we could use your help, please. It’s your blood, it’s vital to our operations-”

Eve frowned, “Oh I see, this really is some prank, huh. Okay, well I have to say, you had me fooled for a moment. Nice costume Justin, I’m going inside now.”

Justin rushed forward onto the porch; reaching out and grasping Eve’s wrist. The dark blue sleeves of his university uniform bunched where slender pale fingers wrapped around his arm.

“What are you doing?!” Eve yelped, tugging his arm away fruitlessly, the man had an iron grip.

“Let go of me! Dae?! Dae can you get out here?!” He yelled, still struggling against Justin.

The man flinched as Eve raised his voice.

“Eve, there’s no need to yell- please hear me out. There is a war going on in the outside world. Every moment that passes, HE gets closer to winning- we are running out of time.” His grip tightened on Eve’s wrist, “Your blood- it’s AB negative- it’s extremely rare-”

Eve visibly became uncomfortable and Justin frowned, “Don’t look at me like that- I’m not crazy, nor am I going to eat you. Look, Eve, not a lot of people know this but a Vampire is more powerful the rarer their blood type is-”

Justin cut himself off and his ears twitched. His red eyes scanned the area, his expression growing serious.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Eve took this chance to yank his hand back from the man’s grip and stepped away from him, “Dude, please just leave me alone- I don’t really want any part of the weird game you have going on. If you want to kill me, just do so.”

Justin looked back at him, shock evident on his face, “Uh… Eve, I definitely don’t want to kill you. Look, someone dangerous is coming this way.” He gave a small sniff of the air and his gaze landed on the dripping bead of crimson on the red-heads finger, “You’re drawing them in. We have to leave-”

Eve stood resolutely in his spot, “I’m not going anywhere- and even if I, hypothetically, did decide to go with you- I don’t want to leave Dae.”

“The one you called for earlier?”

Eve nodded, taking yet another step back,

“So, if you aren’t going to kill me, perhaps, whoever is incoming will- then what would happen?”

Justin huffed a bit in annoyance, “Look, please, let’s just go, I can explain on the way, come with me… or I’ll… uh- make you.”

Eve glared defiantly, “I’m still bleeding, wouldn’t that attract people to you?”

This made Justin stop and consider for a moment.

“Then… forgive me-”

“What do you me-”

Eve was cut off as Justin’s fist connected with the side of his head through a left hook.

“I’m sorry.” Justin whispered as Eve crashed onto the ground, groaning in pain.

Justin knelt beside him and tugged the white collar of Eve’s uniform, exposing a pale neck.

He grimaced, “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to do this- not yet and definitely not without your permission… but you’ve left me no choice.”

Justin used one hand to pin Eve down, and the other gently held his face as he bent down.

He sighed softly and a cool breath traveled across the spance of Eve’s neck.

“Don’t tense.”

Justin spoke in a low voice before sinking his teeth into Eve’s carotid artery. His fangs easily pierced the skin with surgical precision, and a warm metallic taste filled his mouth; one that had an almost sweet undertone to it.

His face scrunched up as blood filled his mouth and his grip on Eve tightened.

The front door of the house burst open loudly. A short, blond man ran from the doorway, hurtling toward Justin, “Get the fuck off of him, jackass-!” The man yelled as he barrelled his five-foot-four-inch body into the vampire, knocking him off the now unconscious redhead.

Justin’s fangs dragged against Eve’s flesh and dark crimson blood flowed from the two gashes. Justin stared at it wide-eyed for a moment, then glared at the blond, “Are you a fucking idiot?! I could have killed him! For fucks sake- stay out of this- so many fucking interruptions-”

The blond man stood his ground and hissed through gritted teeth

“Get off of him and get off my property. Now, freak. I’m going to call the cops”

Justin groaned,” Gods damn it all. You’re Dae, aren’t you?”

The man seemed startled, “How… How do you know my name? Are you a stalker?”

“Of course you are- fuck me in the ass-” Justin grumbled to himself with a sigh. With that, he sent out a kick that connected with the side of Dae’s head with inhuman speed. The blond man went flying to the side and collided with a pillar of the house.

Justin winced a bit himself, “Ooo- that had to hurt. Oops.”

He stared gloomily at the blood slowly trickling from Eve’s neck.

It looked worse when it happened, now it almost seemed like it healed itself.

Justin hummed softly and gently nudged Eve onto his shoulder. He then walked over and awkwardly shuffled Dae onto his other shoulder and he quickly ran away from the house.

He made his way outside of the city; where someone was waiting for him.

He greeted his sister, AnnaLeise Ivanov, and offered a small smile.

She took a look at the blond man strung over Justin’s shoulder and frowned.

“What happened to just grabbing the one? Who is this? We cannot just bring in whomever we please. Justin, you know we don’t have many extra resources.”

The man gave a soft sigh, “Anna… I know. There probably wasn’t much of another way- I panicked. Besides, Eve probably wouldn’t help us without him.”

“Eve?”

“The redhead. The one we came here for?”

“What kind of a name is Eve? You know what, never mind.” AnnaLeise sighed and held out her hands, “Give me the smaller guy, you look rather uncomfortable.”

Justin laughed a bit, “I suppose it is a bit awkward carrying around two adult men on my shoulders. Thank you, Anna.” He gently deposited Dae into his sister's waiting arms, who promptly threw him over her shoulder.

Justin adjusted Eve into more of a piggyback position and firmly held him in place by the legs.

“You guys are rather gentle on those humans, more so than I would be. Though it reeks of blood-”

A breathy feminine voice spoke up from behind the pair.

Dread filled their eyes as they turned around and came face to face with Seira Wagner, daughter of the head of the vampire clan.

The woman was tall with a rectangular build. Her long green hair was tied in a low messy bun. She wore a light brown leather jacket over a pink crop top and washed-out blue jeans, her golden jewelry glimmering in the moonlight.

Justin offered a strained smile, “Seira Wagner, fancy seeing you here, that’s for sure. Doesn’t your family hunt elsewhere?” He asked, cocking a brow.

She shrugged, “Well, yeah- but I just… thought I might go and do this on my own.”

“Your dad made you stop leeching and hunt for yourself, didn’t he?” Justin asked bluntly.

Seira’s face flushed a bit with shame and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, “That’s not it at all!” The woman exclaimed, her bushy brows furrowed.

Justin glanced over at AnnaLeise who just shrugged, trying not to laugh.

Seira sighed again, “Oh, whatever. Just follow me, and we can go home together.”

The woman spoke as she began to walk, gesturing for the siblings to follow.

Justin and AnnaLeise stared at each other, uncertain.

“Ah-” Justin began to speak, “We were uh, hoping to walk alone… we have some family issues to resolve.”

Siera scrunched up her nose, “That can wait. Just come on, I know a shorter route to get home.” She glanced over her shoulder at the pair. The woman shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket, cocking a brow expectantly.

“Well? Come along now, don’t just stand there so suspiciously.”

Justin sighed heavily, “Fine, whatever, we’ll go your shortcut.”

The woman offered a smile and then turned around, continuing their route.

Justin and AnnaLeise walked quite a few paces behind her, speaking very quietly amongst each other in their mother tongue.

“What exactly should we do with these two? We can’t just-” AnnaLeise started before being cut off by her brother

“I know Anna, I’ll figure something out, just trust me. Hush for now.”

After the trio had walked a good twenty minutes an old abandoned school came into view. The building was tall and layered with bricks. The yard was full of luscious greenery, vibrant against the bleary backdrop. Each window had its blinds pulled up, allowing the moonlight to filter in the dimly lit building.

Seira spun around and spread her arms wide, a large smile on her face.

“Wee? I speak nothing but the truth. Much quicker. Now, let’s go drop your prey in the stronghold then we can go to the mess hall.”

Chap 1- Thornes at night [what lies beneath] end