Vampire Choice

Prologue

I have lived a basic and boring life in this city. North Dakota doesn't have much to offer when it comes to this average sized city. There's no fame here, nothing of importance. Nothing exciting really goes on around here. Most of the populace has little concern considering the name of the city where they go to work, shop, and raise their kids. Me? I think that the city is aptly named. Mt. Delusa hasn't been, from what I know, well known around the nation.

This place has the rumor that it's a good city. Honest people, hardworking, and kind. I really don't understand how they can continue to lie to themselves and each other. I guess to them, the city is as good as they believe. They honestly believe that the people around here are good. Decent people, who care about another's emotions and feelings. I haven't seen much truth in this. I haven't witnessed this. At least not yet. I have seen friendship from others around me. I have seen it displayed in movies or shows. In stories and poetry.

I don't see the appeal. All I can see is the lies. Fake acts, lustful desires. Strong people prey on the weak instead of helping them up. They beat them down and feed off their pain and misery. So, I feel that I have to repeat what I said before. I find this city perfectly named. A little of the history that I have learned placed this city in an area of a tribe of men and woman who had powers such as magic, strength beyond the normal means, speed, reflexes, and those who lived for centuries or those of eternal life. It took me a while to come to terms with the fact that these rumors, these facts about the past were actually true.

I soon came to the realization that there was a lot about this world that I didn't know. A lot of forces, both good and evil, that I didn't realize. I just thought that people were good and evil, not that I found much good in them. Yet, I soon had to endure the trials of seeing good and bad in the humans and the others who lived among us. I hoped throughout my life, I would find the good in the world around me. I did everything I could to remain under the radar. To hide from the people around me. most of the time, I did a fairly good job.

The two biggest people in my life that wouldn't allow me to disappear, my two biggest bullies and the two biggest people in my world that forced my life into darkness and chaos were my stepbrother and stepfather after my mother married and then vanished. She left me when I was ten years old. After she left, I wasn't acknowledged as a person all that much. I was mostly just a burden. Someone who did chores and did everything that they could do to not be attacked, beaten or belittled. Sometimes it worked, most of the time it didn't.

That was the life I was forced to live though. It wasn't until I was about to turn seventeen, my junior year of high school, that the events of my life drastically changed. My stepbrother Tom soon got a girlfriend, Amy. They were my biggest tormentors at school. They were popular with wealthy and respected business families in the city. I was just the boy who was married to a parent who abandoned him. No one, or so I believed, would come to my aid. I didn't think anyone would want to. I never thought I would be worth their time, or energy.

One person came into my life. He showed me that I was worth loving, worth fighting for. I didn't know that someone could care for me. Zal proved that everyone deserved love, acceptance, happiness. He brought a good group of people in my life that made me feel wanted and fought to protect me. The best way I could help them was by going along with their goals and path. I had to choose to be good like them. To value and protect life as they did. I wanted to follow their example, but currently didn't have the power or strength to do that. I needed to learn from them. I needed to be able to help them.

A lot of people were against me, especially considering I was human. They couldn't deny the fact that Zal was drawn to me and I to him. That's something they couldn't argue or deny. They couldn't refuse their goddess. Selene, who also chose me. Vouched for me. Spoke to me. They despised me because of that. They hated how much she seemed to guide and accept me. They knew she existed and knew that Selene was there for everyone, but she valued certain people more than others and seemed to put more value in a group of selected few.

Everything changed so fast in a short stretch of time. I didn't think that the world was full of so much magic, energy, supernatural beings. Some were good in the world, helpful. I liked to consider that the ones who choose to help and protect others fight on the side of light, peace and control, while the balance in the world has to be shadow, evil and chaos. These are both two sides of the same coin. I have always wondered, looking back, if I would be part of the good side, or the evil. I had always believed and hoped that I was a good person, but sometimes, given the events that seem to transpire in my life, I couldn't help but wonder if I would soon reach my breaking point and choose the darker side of the people around me.

So much kept happening. So, many things can shape and define us. We never know what event, what one minute thing would alter our path. I keep holding on to the people I have met, those who have entered my life who fight for light and to protect people. On that path I hope to keep traveling and hope that I can hang on to the goodness within my heart. So much continues to define us. I hope to hang on to that which makes me a good person. I would hate myself if I ended up becoming a mockery of who I always believed I was. Twisted and dark. Murdering and leaving those who were helpless to themselves. Watching as they suffered. I hope that wouldn't become who I was meant to be.