Hey readers, re-works for the first four chapters are in-progress right now, so i hope you can bear with the next couple chapters being hard to read.

I looked through the first couple chapters and noticed my bad habit when i first started this novel, and it seems to die down mostly by the beginning of chapter five.

Anywho, here's the re-worked Prologue+Chapter one.

Hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment and suggestions on it!

---

Blood red pupils reflected in the puddle of black blood, it’s source fallen limp at the man’s feet. The black liquid slowly dripped from the blade's tip into the liquid, echoed as the only noise within the large hall. A hushed crowd, fangs bared and faces veiled, dared not go near the man.

His hand swept over his wine colored hair, and the black blood left streaks within it. His mouth heaved and his shoulders drooped, fatigue visible in his stature. A slow clap from up high brought the attention of the crowd that surrounded him, and the hushed dead grew ever stiller.

His own eyes caught sight of a throne on the far side of the room, a woman seated with her legs crossed. He walked her direction slowly, the crowd in front of him parted to let him through.

The blood red eyes swept over the woman seated on the throne before him, voluptuous yet dangerous at the same time. The air about the woman seemed heavy and domineering, which set the man on edge and guarded.

“Welcome, my dear friend.” The woman stated, her hand waving outward toward the crowd. “It is good to finally meet you. Do you like my welcoming party?”

The man chuckled slightly, the display a joke to him.

“No.”

“Oh, well that’s too bad. It’s not every day you get to meet another ‘Sin’ in such a big world, now is it?” The woman questioned, her hand playing with a crystal ball fashioned to the throne. “I will have to do better next time, then.”

The woman’s hand swept to the attendant beside her, lopping the head off in one slow motion. Dark blood spilled onto the floor as the head rolled, landing at the man’s feet. He grimaced at the sight, not expecting the sudden action.

“Can’t have my pride being hurt too much, now can i?” The woman stated as she licked her fingers clean. “I always aim to please with what i offer, so it’s a sad day when it’s not up to par.”

“Who are you?” The man asked as the grip on the blade tightened in his hand.

“Oh?” The woman’s brow shot up in wonder, her back arched as she pushed off the throne. “Someone who does not know of me?”

“Just answer the question.” The man stated, anger building in his gut.

“Ah, where are my manners.” The woman motioned for a servant waiting nearby. “Fetch the man something to drink.”

“I don’t want anything to drink. I want answers.”

“--and you will get them, Alexander of the Rosemary lineage.” The woman stated in a harsh and demanding tone. “--But we must first toast to your awakening. It’s not every day that we get another ‘Sin’ that is a male.”

“...What does that mean?” Alexander asked, his curiosity had won over his risen temper.

“Oh, it’s such a bore the way things work with this. Did you know that most of the ‘Sin’s’ are almost always female?” The woman scoffed in annoyance at the thought. “It’s almost like some god out there is playing tricks on the world and laughing at us women. Men sin just as much, if not more-”

“I was told you’d have answers for me, not this shit!” Alexander yelled, his temper had finally reached its peak. The blade in his hand stabbed toward the woman, her demeanor unchanged.

One finger was raised as she looked at the crystal ball, and the blade flew out of Alexander's hands and into the wall across the room. An invisible force pressed against his body that pushed him backwards, landed next to the severed head again. His chest heaved in anger as his eyes pierced the woman with a cold glare, impatience further solidified.

“We have all the time in the world to talk, Alexander.” The woman stated solemnly. “I’d prefer you don’t throw that away just for your ‘answers.’”

Alexander stood silently as he calmed his temper, knowing full well anger wasn’t the answer to his problem. His chest heaved a sigh once again, the fatigue setting back in.

“Fine.” He stated as he looked the woman in the eyes. “I’ll play your little game for now.”

An elegant smile spread across the woman’s face, her eyes barely peeling from the crystal ball to take notice of the man.

“Good. Then where should i begin?”

---

A small pair of eyes looked out over the garden behind the glass, with an undeniably curious glint. The eyes darted back and forth between the garden and the figure next to it, seemingly unable to hold its attention on one or the other. The mouth of the figure, obscured by a strange black film, moved silently as it spoke. The eyes caught a glimpse of a boy in the glass world, a reflection of his own obsidian colored pupils within them.

A silhouette caught the boy's attention as it danced amongst the flowers in the garden, beautiful wings fluttered in an array of hues he’d never seen. Small particles of dust flew off the wings that changed every flower it touched, the colors mixing and the flowers blooming rapidly. The world outside the glass was magical and colorful to the boy, a stark contrast to the dark and dead one he lived in.

His hand lifted again and again to grasp at the glass, but it seemed to warp and bend just out of reach.

An endless abyss of black, was all he could call his own.

The silhouette stopped its dance on the other side as a tear streamed down the boy’s face. It’s hair flowed beautifully down its back that faced the boy, a divine white that blinded him just to look at it.

It turned its head slowly toward the boy; but all he could see past the colorful wings, and the beautiful hair.

Was a hole as black as night, where its face should have been.

---

Alex awoke to a pool of his own drool on his office desk, seeping into some of the case papers beneath him. His mind was still half asleep as he peeled his arms off it, but a few of them held on in protest. He shook them off with groggy gestures, his motor functions not quite ready to handle precise movement.

‘Not this dream again…’

The dream had been a recurring one for some time now, one that always left him with questions. Was his brain trying to tell him something important? Regardless, he felt he’d never know the answer to the strange dream. He’d sooner move on with his life than ponder on it like a monk from some temple in the mountains.

A shuffle could be heard in the cubicle to his left, through the thin foam walls that separated each worker. Several curses at a stapler floated by as he wiped the drool from his mouth, which now had a smirk on it as he listened to the man next door. Alex had gotten to know the man by the name of Griev that was currently cursing up a storm at the stapler, though only slightly. The short and stubby man had as foul a mouth as a sailor in the old tv shows from ages past, curse spewing every chance he got.

Alex found it rather entertaining as he listened to the rather diverse plethora of curses Griev knew; many of which he’d never heard from another mouth before. The deep baritone voice of Griev’s belied his small and innocent looking figure, which only amused Alex all the more.

“Rosemary, have you seen my case files anywhere?” Griev asked suddenly over the cubicle wall, his voice with a hint of anger.

Alex sat several seconds wondering if he should respond, but mostly hoped Griev would just continue his work without the want to bother him. His hopes were dashed when Griev’s head popped up over the wall, a full on scowl on the baby faced man.

“Rosemary.”

“Hm?”

“Rosemary!” Griev yelled, which snapped Alex out of the groggy comma he had pretended to slip into.

“Yea?” Alex asked, eyes half open as arms dangled to the side sloppily. This part of his act was real, as he had indeed only just woken up.

“Have you seen the ‘Slasher’ case file twenty-two-seventy-three of mine anywhere?” Griev asked as he heaved.

“No, not seen ‘em.” Alex stated, barely more audible than a whisper as he wiped the sleep from his eyes.

Griev stared at Alex for several seconds, but seemed to give up his train of thought and turned around. Glass shattered on the linoleum floor, which brought upon the surroundings another plethora of curses form Griev’s already worked up state.

Griev was always an angry man in Alex’s view, but never one that intimidated him. That was most likely due to the fact the man had the body of a ten year old boy.

Alex stopped his mind from its wonder and focused on the papers before him, his eyes adjusted to the light. A file, plain and simple in all black, was labeled with a single word. ‘Ruby’ was written across it in bold, golden cursive; it was likely the chief's daughter had practiced art and decided to make the cover, as it looked too professional for his line of work.

The case files never had more than numbers or scribbles on them.

“Alex~” A seductive voice assaulted his ears with his name as he flipped the cover open, which prompted him to close it again. He slowly twirled the chair around to find Maya, posed seductively as best she could against the flimsy door. She looked more awkward against it with the heavy lab coat that was about to fall off her shoulders though, so he only sighed and twirled back around.

He wanted to ignore her, but that wouldn’t be so easy; she always made sure of that.

Long, curled hair fell over Alex’s shoulders as she leaned into the back of his seat. The scent off the jade colored hair smelled of peaches, which made Alex realize he couldn’t remember the last time he ate.

“Your monthly physical needs to be done by tomorrow.” She whispered, her lips an inch from his ear. “...No, wait, today is tomorrow.”

She lifted her body off his chair as he looked at the clock on his computer, almost seven in the morning. The sun would come up soon, and that was usually when he went home to get some sleep.

Alex remembered when he first started being a night owl, back when he lived with his aunt in the countryside. The memories flooded back, of the time’s her and uncle Rick would cookout on the back porch; it was a fun eight years, a time he missed every now and then.

“Oh, but if you want...” Maya stated in thought, which brought Alex out of his own. “...I could come to your apartment and we could have our own ‘physical’ there.”

Alex heard Maya giggle as she walked away, and knew the wide smile on her face was there even with his back turned.

“No, Maya.” Alex stated, annoyance in his voice. “Go back to work.”

“Too bad.” Maya stated, her voice on the other side of the wall. “I look forward to the day i can.”

Alex’s face blushed, and had to admit the thought of her in bed enticed him a little. He’d even take her up on that offer, if it wasn’t for the fact he’d be taking advantage of her. She was a ‘zombie’, as the internet liked to label her race, and took medication to calm the ‘hunger.’

The best researches could do so far was to change it into a messed up lust, and even then, there was no way to tell if they would never eat you after they were satisfied in bed; It was too big a risk for him to take.

Maybe he was backed up after going to the sperm donor clinic so often, and wanted a change of pace. In the end, he didn’t have a choice of whether to go or not; a life literally depended on his sperm now, something he hadn’t had a hand in happening.

It embarrassed him just to think about the incident, and left a bit of anger in his stomach.

“Oh! Griev, what happened to your office?”

“Nothing, vile woman.” Alex heard Griev shove Maya aside. “Leave me be.”

“Hmph. How rude.” He heard Maya state a she stomped off in her high heels. The click against the linoleum no longer audible meant her exit from the vicinity, which gave Alex room to breath again.

He opened the case file for ‘Ruby’ and went over it to look for any missing files, but everything was there and in the order he left them. He cleaned his desk up a bit as best he could, and then threw his jacket on to leave.

He contemplated if he should head to the break room for a donut, but that was a big no; Maya had somehow sensed him in the break room and sat down with him to talk all the time.

He timed it, and forty minutes was the shortest time he found a way to get away from her ramblings and sexual innuendos.

He shook the thought away and headed toward the scanners up front, the latest technology in civil protection; or so they say.

The woman at the desk was half asleep and waved Alex through easily, the employee door used rather than the scanners themselves.

‘Wouldn’t this place be easily infiltrated if they tried hard enough?’ Alex would think every time he left through the employee door, but the woman at the desk usually smiled at him every time he thought that.

It was like she could read minds, which made him feel awkward whenever he entered or left the building.

His car, the beat up piece of shit it was, waited in the spot he left it. The old maroon ‘dinosaur’, as he liked to call it, was still mostly intact; mostly, as in missing several inside pieces that didn’t hurt the function he used it for.

He unlocked the car as the cold morning air sent a shiver up his spine. He got into the car and quickly started it up, the heater turned on to warm up.

The morning drives home were always boring and uneventful, but he didn’t feel in the mood for the radio; so quiet driving it would be.

---

The car sputtered to a stop as he parked in his usual parking spot, number seventy-two, which was also the apartment number.

He liked the coincidence, and tried to take this spot every time he got the chance; unfortunately, a giant black truck found its way there half the time before he got there.

He fumbled with the keys as he slowly ascended the metal stairs to the second floor, where his apartment was currently located.

‘Sixty-nine...heh...seventy, seventy-one...’ Alex thought, a smirk across his face at the first number. He knew it was childish, but the internet had scarred his young mind with idiotic knowledge when he was younger.

He didn’t have much time to surf it as he used to anymore, but his life wasn’t a bad one.

He found his apartment door and checked for any new mail, even when he knew the mail didn’t arrive till about midday. He placed the key into the lock and twisted, only to find no resistance from it.

‘...Did i leave it unlocked?’ He thought, but quickly dismissed that. He’d been at the office for two days straight, and even slept there on his desk, but he could have sworn he always locked up. A pit was created in his stomach at the slight chance he really did leave it open to anyone and anything.

He turned around and scanned the area, the cars quiet and the highway nearby sparse with activity. Patty’s place across the street, ‘Patty’s Pub and Grub’, had several cars as well, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

He breathed a heavy sigh at his incompetent memory, and readied his gun to fight off anything that would be ready for him. He turned the handle and pushed the door open; it creaked as it slid to a stop, a slight echo reverberated from it into the apartment.

Whatever was in the apartment likely knew he was there now as well.

He entered the small shoe area and noticed a new pair, one he hadn’t seen before. He wouldn’t be so on edge if it was a pair he had seen, as he knew of one such person that loved to enter uninvited. This pair of shoes, however, were not the ones she wore.

He closed the door behind him and chose not to turn the light on, his eyes better adjusted to the low light. It was one of the perks of a vampiric lineage, even if he was mostly human due to a strange birth ‘defect’.

He hated that word.

He walked slowly through the small hallway, hugged up against the wall on his left. It was better positioned for being less visible from the kitchen, a likely area the homeless or hungry would be if they rummaged through his sparse cabinets.

He peaked around the corner as he reached it, surprised there wasn’t a light on in the apartment. There were very few races that could see in the dark, and even less that would live in it. He listened for any noises from other areas of the house, but there didn’t seem to be anyone there after waiting for a while.

He soon gave up and lowered the gun in a sigh, the culprit likely someone he knew that left the shoes in the hallway. She could have left on a mission, or gone to the grocery store, but it was very likely her.

He walked toward the bathroom door after he realized he had to go. His eyes scanned the island counter in the middle of the kitchen as he passed, his feet slowed to a stop after he noticed the shadow. It was only slightly visible through the moonlight that entered through the window, but it was distinct enough to give him pause.

He turned slowly toward the living room, and his eyes quickly met another pair on the ceiling. They were big, amethyst colored pupils that stared into his soul, and watched his every move.

He brought the gun up as fast as he could to fire, but the figure was on top of him before he realized it. A playful smile crossed the figure in the dark, likely where it’s face should be.

“Well, aren’t you home late?”