Blood As My Wine

I was just another ordinary girl, in an ordinary city. I had gone to school like anybody else. I had a job like anybody else. My family was as normal as anyone else's.

Was. One year, that all changed. I changed.

Night...what homework never teaches you about. What people never explain, never accept. But I know all these truths. I have to.

I am a predator.

I hunt my kind to protect my kind. I'm the one who covers up cases, erases tracks, and leaves no foot prints...

My name is Vye. I am a fox in nature. I don't make mistakes. Mistakes cost me my life, the life of others. I can't make mistakes.

At the moment I am wandering through the dark streets of downtown L.A. meeting my two colleagues. It's a cold night, around me, people are living their lives. There are sirens in the distance; a gunshot. Sadly, nothing new. I walked past the metro station, located in the center of downtown. A loud steamy hiss erupts from the staircase. I walk into it, looking at the crowd of people; all innocent, ignorant, unsuspecting people.

In the back of the crowd, I see my two partners. I walked to them swiftly, my long jacket flowing out behind me. People automatically step out of my way. This was good. They knew I was dangerous...instinctively, at least.

Aero and Nigel we're waiting for me. We had a mission tonight. A particularly important mission. There was a group of herders just outside the city limits, waiting for tourists to cross their paths. They ensnare them with lies and promises and use them for feeding fronts and trade. There were five herders. Five more vamps that we were going to have to take down.

Aero and Nigel were among the top class of our business, for lack of a better word. I was automatically with the best. I was half vampire, a human hybrid. My vampire father had impregnated my mother and ran off, eventually getting murdered. My mother died after giving birth to me. They say I look a lot like her. I have her tame red hair, and wild green eyes, and a ferocious will, stunning smile, and dangerous intuition. So much like my mother, that my father's side didn't kick in until puberty.

I was at six feet by the time I hit sixteen. My body was hard, not just toned, but hard. Like, in my world, there was no such thing as a paper cut. In my world, getting hit by a car just left a big, ugly, annoying bruise. As in, in my world, I could not go to just any hospital. My temperature was lower than average, a mere 88.9 degrees. My nails are transparent. My teeth are dangerous. Blood lusts came and went, as well as human cravings. It was a very rough adolescence. But I'm twenty one now, and my life is frozen. It thaws more and more each year, but only just. I heal faster than a human, but slower than a vampire. I have all of the vampire strengths, and none of the weaknesses.

I was lucky.

Aero nodded in my direction as acknowledgment, and Nigel smiled at me. "Looking as fine as ever, Vye. You ready?"

"I've been ready, Nigel. Let's get this over with, I have business to take care of back home."

"Business, huh? Is that what they call it now?" Aero laughed.

I blushed. "That's none of your business. Let's just go."

We headed out, and it was hard to keep pace tonight. I wanted to rush through this. This petty human charade I put on, after the vamp chromosomes kicked in, I had to work pretty hard to look normal. My foster parents were suspicious, sometimes thinking I was abusing drugs or alcohol. I was always in some sort of mood swing. But it was far, far worse than my parents had ever thought.

I'm better now, after years of practice. We stopped at the border of town, and split up. I turned on my headset and waited. After a while, the earpiece cackled a "herders spotted."