“Drive.”

“That-that’s it? I’m just supposed to drive you to places?”

“That is the gist of it.”

Sophie can feel her patience slipping, “I spent years of my life dedicating myself to the police force to be a taxi driver?” she asks in a tight voice.

“That’s your own fault. Shouldn’t have pissed people off with whatever you did.”

“That is bullshit.” She declares. “I only ever did what I thought was right.”

Caleb sighs, “I said I’d pity you, not empathize with you. Now keeps your eyes on the road.”

“Well,” she mutters darkly, “now I see why no one likes you.”

“Haven’t even scratched the surface, love.”

“Fine, will you tell me who we’re going to be interviewing at least?”

The car suddenly becomes devoid of any noise as Caleb debates the affects of his answer. “… My husband.” He finally says quietly to his own reflection in the window.

“Uhmm, you don’t sound exactly happy about this. Is there something I should know?”

“Nothing that concerns you.”

Sophie purses her lips and nods and decides to just focus on driving.

~

There is always twenty-four purebred vampires alive at any given point in time living within a strict hierarchy. The highest of the vampire purebreds are the members of the high council, below them are the members of the lower council, and below them are the children. There are always eight on each level and only up to four purebreds will live in a singular city.

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Caleb and his husband Marcus are children in the hierarchy of the purebreds, Caleb’s mom who runs a powerful business is the resident member of the lower council, and living in the vampire embassy controlling all aspects of vampire life for the entire North American continent is the high council member Aurelius.

The cities where vampires live and work from are different from other cities. Large sections of the cities are cordoned off and privatized and allow vampires who contribute to vampire society to live in high wealth. Marcus’s home is the penthouse of an apartment building that he owns twenty stories up. There are no other tenants in the building besides Marcus, a small staff of workers, and his familiars.

Sophie has never once been to the vampires’ private sector. The only humans allowed in are the ones escorted in by vampires. Caleb himself rarely ventures into the private sector. He owns a house that predates the city on the more homely side of town. Sophie is surprised though to find it not much different than the normal parts of the city. It’s quieter with less cars, but every once in a while she’ll see people walking along the sidewalks—some in plain clothes others in business attire or work uniforms.

“It’s strange, I thought it’d look different…” She muses aloud.

“Why?” Caleb asks incredulously.

“I don’t know. You guys claim to be a superior race so I just thought there’d be more… I don’t know futuristic cool stuff. My grandma used to tell me stories about this part of the city before it was cordoned off. It looks almost exactly the way she described it.”

Caleb roles his eyes, “You do realize that we actually built the entire city right? Just because we decided to have our own private sector in it doesn’t mean we’re going to demolish

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the hundreds of years of history we built here to make it more ‘futuristic’ than the rest of the city.”

“I guess.” Sophie gives him. As they turn the corner Sophie is briefly stunned by the sight before her, “Is that…?” She stares at the large mass of greenery, more green than she’d ever seen in her entire life.

“Central Park.” Caleb names it for her. “The largest park in the city.”

“It’s beautiful.” She murmurs quietly at the sight of all the trees and blooming flowers.

Caleb only sighs, “Watch the road please. Marcus’s building is just up ahead try not to hit any of the pedestrians before we get there, they’re not all immortal.”

Marcus’s apartment complex is one of the tallest buildings in the city. The fact that so few people even live in it is just a testament to the level of excess that purebreds like him live in. The reflective glass glimmers and shines in the blinding afternoon light.

Sophie pulls up to the curb and debates her next moves. Caleb without hesitation unbuckles and gets out of the car, but Sophie hesitates. She’s unsure whether or not she’s meant to follow Caleb or not. Her adventurous side urges her to ignore his coldness and forge ahead, the cautious side of her though warns her to move carefully so as to not anger him. Sophie’s thought process is interrupted though by a loud sigh.

“Are you coming or not?” Caleb stoops down to look in at her through his window from the sidewalk.

“…Am I allowed?” She asks quietly.

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“No, I’m asking if you’re coming because you’re not allowed.” Caleb’s voice drips with sarcasm as he shakes his head and turns to leave her.

“Oh, sorry.” Sophie hurriedly unbuckles her seatbelt and rushes to catch up with Caleb as he walks ahead to the building entrance.

Sophie is in awe at the lavishness of the interior. The first thing to catch her eye are the large, ornate chandeliers hanging from the vaulted ceilings. The ceilings and walls are painted white with gold trim, dark oil paintings hang periodically along the wall to break up the white monotony, the flooring is a deep white and gray marble with flecked gold that reflect the afternoon light pouring into the lobby from the large windows, pushed against the walls are old-fashioned couches carved from wood with padded cushions with detailed floral patterns.

Caleb doesn’t seem impressed by any of it and even ignores the front desk clerk to go straight to the elevators tucked to the side.

“Do you live in a place like this?” Sophie asks once the elevator doors have closed. Even the elevator oozes with richness. A single gold bar wraps around the interior that is plated in reflective chrome and the buttons are gold as well.

“No. I live in a house in a suburban neighborhood. Not in the sector.”

“Oh, what made you decide to live in that part of the city.”

“I didn’t. The city decided to live around me.”

“Right, I just keep forgetting…”

“That I’m old?” Caleb inspects his reflection in the elevator walls. He doesn’t look much older than a college student, maybe twenty-five years top.