The woman's hand trembled. She brushed her hands through her long strands of chocolate brown hair. She could feel a lump forming in the back of her throat as her eyes fixed down on the text on her phone.

The words read You're already two fucking payments behind, and the boss isn't happy one bit about it. We need to talk in the usual spot. This isn't a damn request.

The words of the text message she had just received from the sender hit her like a ton of bricks. The worst thing about it was that she knew exactly who the sender was and what they were capable of, which caused the blood to curdle in her veins.

Each sentence seemed to play in her mind like a broken record. The longer she stared at the screen, the more she could feel her breath quickening. Her heart was pounding against her chest as she imagined what could possibly go down. She didn't understand why he sounded more agitated than usual.

Her eyes quickly darted to her right when she felt a gentle tug on her sleeve, "Mommy, what's wrong? You seem scared all of a sudden. I thought you were happy about your promotion?" her eight-year-old son said with concern welling up in his eyes over his mother's well-being.

She forced her lips into a smile before reaching out to ruffle his almond locks of hair. "Mommy's just a little tired from all the excitement. I promise it's nothing to worry about," she reassured him, lying through her teeth. A soft sigh of relief left her lips when her son happily nodded his head.

The crappy neon lights inside the restaurant spelling out, For Pizza's Sake Pizzeria, flickered ominously, casting an unsettling glow on the pizza slices remaining on the large plate on the table in front of them.

"Sweetie, hurry up and finish the slice you're eating. We need to go before it gets dark," she said with a smile, trying to mask the dire situation that could end up unfolding.

Like all the other humans in the city, the woman was well aware of what nighttime would bring each day when it came to the gang vampires roaming the streets. It was their favorite part of the day since a crime was a whole lot easier to commit at night compared to if it had been done in the day. Using the shadows as a cloak to hide their misdoings from prying eyes is what the vampires in the city thrived on.

"But, Mommm, can't I just eat one more slice before we get going?" he whined, unsure why his mom was rushing him since she had never done that before.

She swallowed her anxiety the best she could. "I'm afraid we're going to have to take it to go," she admitted with disappointment lacing her tone. Her eyes darted to the right, noticing how the sun was slowly descending downward. She knew if they didn't leave soon, they would end up running into his path since he liked to lurk around specific hours of the night.

Her son's enthusiasm died down a little, but he still gave her a smile since he didn't want to give her a hard time, "Okay, mom," he said as he finished the slice of pizza he had been eating.

The city of Rossen came alive at night for all the wrong reasons. It's when the vampires really came out to play. Each part of the city had a different vampire gang that owned it, and they didn't like other vampires sniffing around their turf. Let it be clubs or strip clubs; they owned it all, and no one dared oppose them unless they had a death wish.

"Let's go then, sweetie," she said with a forced, happy smile to hide the paranoid look in her eyes as she looked to the left and right when they exited the pizzeria.

She reached down, grabbing her son's hand as she led him down the street. Her heartbeat quickened with each step she took. She nervously looked at all the shady characters that started to stand on the corners as the sun's light gradually dissipated. It was startling how many suspicious figures emerged from the shadows that were nowhere to be found during the day.

The neon lights on the building gradually flickered on, casting the night in an electric glow. She felt a shiver move down her spine as she noticed the sketchy characters were starting to grow in numbers as they were preparing for the nightlife they craved each day.

"Mom, you're going too fast; slow down," the mother's son whined. But despite what he was trying to tell her, his mother ignored him since she knew that they were in trouble.

"Sorry, sweetie, you just have to walk really fast just this once, okay?" his mother urged. The boy's mother made sure to keep a tight grip on his arm to avoid losing him as they sprinted in the direction of where they lived.

It won't be long before we're home, she reminded herself as a million bad things that could possibly happen to the two of them raced through her mind.

"Sweetie, it's really important that we don't slow down even if someone tries to stop us, okay," his mother stated, out of breath as they continued going forward.

"Mommy is the reason why we're running because we're trying to get away from the bad guy, so he doesn't end up catching us?" the woman's son asked with concern, starting to well up in his eyes.

"Of course not; why would you think that?" the woman nervously lied in a tone that wasn't very convincing. The last thing she wanted to do was freak her son out since that would make the situation even worse than it already was.

"Just a little further is all we have to go," the woman encouraged her son, glancing down at him and forcing a smile onto her face.

Out of nowhere, something concerning immediately caught the woman's attention, which spelled impending doom. Her chesnut eyes locked immediately with a man's sapphire ones the second they were about to pass him by.

"Hey, Madeline, why don't you come in and relax," he said with a charming smile while his fangs creeped out from his upper lip. He waved to her, offering her to come inside the establishment he was standing in front of.

Madeline could hear the disappointment in the man's voice from behind her. "Aww, that's a shame when you used to be a regular." Despite him responding in such a way, she didn't care to turn her head back to glance at him. The only thing that she wanted for her and her son was just for them to both make it home safely.

Madeline didn't hesitate to shake her head, "I'm sorry, I'm busy," she shrugged him off while continuing to keep going.

I'll never go back, not ever, Madeline swore to herself. Unfortunately, her complicated past seemed to continue to haunt her, no matter how hard she tried to lock it up and throw away the key. She regretted her past self that had acquired an addiction to vampires feeding off her blood for a price.

Vampires feeding off humans or other vampires was something that they did to give one another a high. Sharing blood was considered to be a personal and intimate thing. But that had happened long ago. She was able to turn her life around for the better and was no longer the person that she used to be when she had developed such an addiction.

"Mommy, I'm tired, and you're walking too fast," her son whined, causing her to snap out of her thoughts and glance down at him.

"When we get home, we can both have a nice long rest and then you can have a nice bowl of ice cream. How does that sound?" I promise it's just a bit more. Please be strong for Mommy, okay," Madeline said with a sweet smile and pleading eyes.

"Okkkay, but only this time," her son pointed out before keeping up with her like he had before.

"Hey!" a man called out from behind them, causing Madeline's heart to lurch in her chest when she instantly recognized who the voice belonged to.

Madeline's eyes widened in a panic. Her heart raced to the point where it felt like her lungs were being constricted.

No...it can't be him! she frantically screeched inside her mind. In an attempt to lose him, thankfully, the street lights had turned green so she and her son could get to the other side.

Taking advantage of such a stroke of luck, she began to race across the street with her son at her side. But then her eyes widened in surprise, and she halted when she felt someone wrap their arm loosely around her shoulder.

"You weren't trying to avoid me, were you? Because that would be damn stupid of you to do, my sweet little blood bag," A man said with a fanged menacing grin. His electric blue strands of hair shimmered in the moonlight.

"Please just leave me alone. You said you would give me more time," Madeline pleaded, but she flinched the second she felt him grip onto her shoulder painfully.

"You said that last week and the week before. You really are terrible at keeping promises," The man stated. The air around him was suffocating; no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't think of an escape plan.

"The boss told me that guy named Lucian, all you humans idolize, killed his beloved baby brother," the man brought to her attention, which caused fear to appear in her eyes.

"So now he sent guys like me out to wreak havoc on the city who would rather side with his enemy," the man revealed with a coldness in his eyes.