Prologue from Dark Longing (#2 Pure/ Dark Ones Series)

Vampire.

That is what I and my Kind are called.

Bloodsucker. Demon. Devil’s Spawn.  Fiend. Incubus.

Monster.

I cannot say whether I am or am not these things.

I suppose it depends on one’s point of view.

To the humans whose blood, and sometimes souls, I take for survival, I suppose I might appear somewhat… dangerous.  But it is all a matter of perspective.

So allow me to give you mine.

I was born.  I was not made.

Nor am I a Pure One who chose the so-called Darkness over an excruciating death when they surrendered their love to the wrong person.

I am simply, and always have been, as I am.

There have been times, oh so many times in the millennia that I have lived, that I resented, raged, railed against my existence.

To the Goddess.  To the Heavens.  To the Universe at large.

But it wasn’t always that way.

I was born into privilege and luxury.  Royalty, even.

There was a time, all those thousands of years ago, when vampires ruled the earth.  Pure Ones were inferior chattel and humans were our livestock.

And then the Great War reversed the balance of power.

History, as they say, is written by the victors.

And now I and my Kind are hunted like vermin by the very creatures who used to kneel at our feet.  There are also human factions who know of us (or at least think they know) and target us for extermination, torture, experimentation, even just for the sport of it.  What was once the most powerful civilization the world has ever seen is now in crumbled ruins, its noble citizens degenerating over time into renegades, thieves, lawless parasites.

Few of us True Bloods remain.

Most have either perished in the Great War or in the Purge of the aftermath.  Over time, Pure Ones who have lost their faith joined our ranks.

And in this new era, vampires can also be made.

It is this last type of predator that we should all guard ourselves against, for they have no compunction, no morals.

Only thirst.

Never-ending, unquenchable thirst for the blood and souls of others.

But this is no longer my concern—this galactic battle between Good and Evil.  I ceased to care which was good and which, evil, the day that he betrayed me.  I only live for my daughter and son.

My beloved Dark Ones…