I lift my leg up and wedge it between me and my erstwhile murder. I can’t use it to lever myself free (since he’ll take a good chunk of my trachea with him if I try) but I do manage to slip my right hand into my worn, black, leather boots and pull out a ten-inch blade of folded steel and silver. Working silver between the folds of steel gives the blade the added oomph required for dealing with post-human physiology. Before you ask, yes. They are special order.

I slip the blade in past his ribs and penetrate his heart without much effort at all, in fact; it’s SO effective he dissolves in a heap of dust I tumble to the ground, coughing amid the ashes in the middle of

downtown at midnight.

It’s not wise to linger in the area after a kill (because here’s another fun fact: vampires always sense

the death of one of their own) so I start moving quickly toward the river. Haven is wonderful; bounded by hills

in the west and divided neatly in two by the river. On the opposite bank the valley flows eastward until it abuts mountains that graciously provide excellent ski slopes during the mild winters and hidden lakes for summertime recreation.

Before the Unveiling, I loved how peaceful Haven felt in comparison to the other cities I visited with my parents.  Afterward…the city was one of the few that survived without almost any rioting, looting, or other infrastructure-damaging social unrest. So Haven was made a stronghold of humanity, and stragglers from the countryside (those that weren’t insane, and some that were) poured in and filled in the gaps left by those that…chose not to continue in a world no longer run by humans.

Personally, I think it was unfortunate that when the vampires revealed the truth about the world few were willing to accept it. Humanity had grown weak and fearful, too accustomed to comfort and coddling by the government to actually deal with any kind of upheaval to the status quo, and even though few were willing to accept the knowledge, fewer still were able to live with it.

It’s kind of funny, actually. The vampires had to intervene because their food supply was dwindling too rapidly to maintain their numbers if they didn’t. So they gathered the little groups of humans remaining in the ravaged cities and desolate countryside and relocated them to mid-sized cities like Haven that had weathered the Unveiling relatively intact.

In those first chaotic, five years I was too busy growing up to worry about the rest of my fellow humans. I was too busy to care what the vampires “really” were. Or that there was something terribly wrong with the world—something that started before the vampires revealed themselves—and it had been wrong for much longer than almost anyone realized.

My musings bring me to the riverside and I head north toward the bridge I want. In the two months since I destroyed the Beast that called itself Vampire Master Jarvis I’ve been hunted almost relentlessly by the vampire covens. They’ve even gone so far as to make fliers proclaiming:

WANTED:For Questioning Related to the Fire at Greystone Ridge

[INSERT WASHED-OUT MUGSHOT FROM MY DRIVER’S LICENCE HERE]

Solaine

Please report any and all sightings to ####-####

I can’t believe it’s in anyway “just questioning” that they want me for (but I still tore down as many posted fliers as I could find) so in addition to my pseudovampire-transformation I cut my hair really, REALLY short and no longer bear any resemblance to the woman that half the city is looking for. However, every night brings more strangers to the city’s streets with one purpose; find me and kill me.

I’m sick of this, I realize as I come to the base of the bridge. Instead of making my way up the utility ladder to the cross-bracing under the bridge where I’ve hidden my climbing tent and spare gear, I stop, stare out across the water and make my decision.

No more running. No more hiding. I decide to take the offensive because I’ve tried playing nice for two months now and it certainly isn’t working. I refuse to do it even one moment longer.

Why did I run at all? I wonder as my feet take me, swiftly and unerringly into the heart of the college district. Why did I even pretend?

We were waiting… Mirari whispers to me and I’m shocked to hear her voice again after months of silence.

Waiting for what? I ask, but…as before…Mirari’s unsettling laughter is all the reply I receive.