Better off Red – Prologue

PROLOGUE

It was a little after ten, which meant there was a lot of night left, and that was good because Lysette needed to find somewhere to sleep before dawn. She wasn’t even sure how it happened, it all felt so fast. All she knew right now was that vampires did not have it any easier now, she believed that very much. Two years ago, they had been outed to the public and it had… not gone well. While the war was over, the damage certainly remained. Some thought this new change brought hope. There were after all Vampire Rights Activists and safe zones and things being done to protect vampires and help them integrate into society. But that was not the norm. Intolerance, she had found, was always more common. Most people did not believe that vampires could ever be successfully integrated into human society, and that included Lysette herself. Not because people would always see them as monsters, but because—plainly—they weren’t people.

It sounded cruel, but it was what she believed. Lysette did not consider herself bigoted, but she was realistic. A different set of rules applied to them, in certain situations. If they were supposed to be a normally functioning part of society, where were they supposed to do their shopping when most places only operated during the day? The questions ran deeper than this. When people thought vampires might be monsters, they weren’t entirely wrong. Killing was part of their nature and while it wasn’t something most of them took pride in, it was something they had to accept. How were living humans supposed to accept this when most vampires could not?

None of it mattered now. Now, Lysette was cold and alone and mental philosophical debates could wait. Brady was gone. He had found out what she was and he had left her, their less-than-subtle interaction had caught the eye of her landlord, and now she had no apartment. She was alone and, worse, she was hungry. The night was not warm, and the hunger made the coldness inside her—something that came along with vampirism—even harsher. Lysette lit up a cigarette in hopes of warming herself a little bit. It helped, but barely. She scanned each person that walked by. While her boyfriend had been human and she had loved people (except the ones she hated) she could only see meals when the hunger hit. If they were close enough, she could even hear their heartbeat. Lysette was starting to shake now. But the rules dictated she was not allowed to live.

The law still had no idea what to do with vampires. They supposed they had to give them the right to live, but there was one issue they knew they had to clear up right away; so they had passed a law that vampires were not allowed to feed. Killing was murder and biting someone doomed them to death and resurrection; people were going to die either way. She had just come from a club for vampire wannabes, one of the best places where someone like herself could go to find willing blood, someone to cut themselves and let the vampire feed. It was virtually risk-free. But tonight she had no luck, which meant she had to go hungry. Lysette remembered a time when she was not so concerned with the ethics of her actions. That didn’t help to think about either.

No one there had taken an interest in her tonight, which also hurt her. Now she’d go sometime without willing food and even a willing sex partner. But this was all pointless. All that mattered—all that should matter—was finding somewhere to spend the night.

She noticed the car turn the corner behind her, but did not want to think it was following her. She thought about the first time Brady had told her he loved her, adding “even if, or maybe because, you’re so mysterious all the time.” He loved her dark hair. He loved her auburn eyes. Her lips. Her frail figure with an unexplainable strength. Right up until the strength had been explained to him, he loved her. Lysette finished her cigarette and flicked it out onto the street. She heard it crush under the car’s tire as she turned into an alley.

Now she couldn’t help but turn around. Sure enough, the man inside the car was watching her. It was either a man with a vampire fetish, which was common these days, or a vampire hunter, which was far more common. She had no desire to run into either. Not tonight.

“Excuse me, miss?”

“Please, I don’t want any trouble,” she started to say, trailing off as he rolled with window down and she saw the very sincere smile on his face. He was older, he seemed gentle. They usually weren’t.

“Nor do I, Miss. Nor do I.” He stepped out of the car. “My name is Thurston Redding. I’ve seen enough to know what you are and I was wondering if you were looking for somewhere to stay the night.”

Lysette rolled her eyes. “No thanks, Pops. I’m not in the mood for anything like that tonight.”

“I’m afraid you’ve got me all wrong. I’m a man of faith. A preacher, in fact, and a man of good principle. I admit my kind and yours have had our differences, but I believe in helping those in need when they need it. It doesn’t much matter who or what they are.”