There is Blood in The Water (bxb)

I.

/FINALLY, here comes a vampire story. I've been trying something like this for a few years now, but I think I can finally put out something that might actually work. For any of you, who liked the Make Me series, this book is pretty much for you. /

The first time I have seen the moon, I was already twenty-two.

Sure, I've looked at it before, walking out at night - but the very first time I've actually understood, what to see, and how... It was on the cold, December night in 1856.

I recall, I decided to take a stroll in the city, and somewhere along the line, I've decided: It was a perfect night to die.

Christmas was coming up, and so the lampposts and the benches were decorated with pine benches and mistletoes completed with a few bells jiggling around in the wind. It was supposed to create the holiday spirits, but instead, it brought to life some sort of night terror, a depressing whine of a ghost. In the dark, even this adornment looked soulless - everything did, on the eastern side.

I've decided to make my way to the nearby bridge - the one which separated the two sides of the city... It seemed poetic to jump off of that, but by no means was I the first one to think of it; bodies were washed up weekly of those, who couldn't take this anymore. Desperate souls often found themselves wandering around these waters.

It wasn't just that this side of the city was extremely poor - it was, don't get me wrong - but other than money, we lacked... hope.

As for me, I don't exactly know, how this idea came to me. It's the kind of thing that lingers around your mind for a long time, before it solidifies, and becomes final. I've made up my mind, and I've decided: It was time.

In the light of where I was going, my peaceful stroll might have appeared tone-deaf. There was nothing dramatic about me or my expression... I was just enjoying the night, bathing in the beautiful moonlight...

... There was something about her tonight. Something extremely glorious, something extraordinary that was always there, but I've never noticed it before.

I've decided to settle somewhere around the middle of the bride. It was quiet and empty, not one soul was walking out, even though, usually they did. Drinking in pubs, maybe restaurants or diners - but not tonight. Everything was perfectly still and silent.

I climbed up on the railing and got comfortable, my eyes wandering down into the abyss below me. The waves were rushing furiously.

People called this river cruel. Maybe on some nights, I would agree, but now, looking down at the merciless stream, it appeared so placid, and calm. There was clear, there was nothing malicious about the water, nothing bad... Sure, it was too cold for any edible fish to live in it, or any children to enjoy it on a summer night, but you can't judge a river, on these sort of petty, mortal things. It had no ill intentions, it was just untamable and unusable, and people don't like things they cannot use.

I took a deep breath and tore my gaze from the river, glancing up at the clear sky - what a night to die.

What a mesmerizing night, to lose everything.

"She's beautiful tonight, isn't she?" a voice called out to me, but at first I wasn't even sure it was real. It was booming and in some odd way, enchanting. Yet, initially, I thought, it was some sort of hallucination; the ghost of Christmas, my soul, the devil - whichever, just not real.

Might have never turned around to see who was approaching me if not for the thick, irony smell of blood all around me. There was something immensely suffocating about the scent, I couldn't help but glance behind my back to see, whom it came from.