Lost in Shadows

Chapter One

Night had settled on suburbia. Lights were off in houses and people slept, clinging to the hope that monsters would only visit them in nightmares. If they ignored the horror of the world, they would never experience it. Not everyone could indulge that way. A long time ago, I was ripped from the unaware population. I would never be able to look away again. Now another soul had become acquainted with the harrowing reality of our world, and I was the only one who could help her.

But she didn't want my help.

"I don't want to talk to him."

The whispered words thundered in my ears, but I pretended not to hear. A young woman stared at me, hatred and fear burning in her eyes. Little trembles went through her as she struggled to conceal her terror. It was such a slight movement that most would miss. It had been some time since someone reacted that way around me and left me feeling uncomfortable.

Another woman, a witch named Jordan, looked over at me. "Luke?" She let out a light laugh. "Don't worry about him. He's not like the others, Charlotte."

That clichéd assurance made no impression on Charlotte. "Don't give me that bullshit. They're all monsters."

I was the most unimpressive monster in the world, but I doubted Charlotte would believe me. I wasn't even supposed to hear since they continued speaking in hushed tones. The two young women sat on patio furniture, heads bent as they argued about me. Jordan was a familiar sight, with her dark curls dancing in the wind as she gestured in her animated way, trying to convince the other woman to speak with me. Charlotte was a stranger to me. She had a curtain of brown hair and couldn't have been older than twenty-two. Far too young to be tangled up in this nightmarish world. I stood a distance away in Jordan's backyard while Charlotte insisted she wanted nothing to do with me. If I didn't owe Jordan a favor, I would have disappeared into the midnight shadows.

Jordan sighed. "This is the only way to find your sister. Luke knows their world better than anyone else. At least talk to him!"

Charlotte let out a groan of frustration that I took for agreement and I walked over to them. Patches of light streamed out from Jordan's house and when I neared them, Charlotte frowned. The fear was still there, but I wasn't what she expected. I haven't seen my own reflection in over one hundred years and had to rely on what others told me about my appearance. Light brown hair with a perpetually young and average face. Even after all these years, I slumped and avoided gazes. It was worse when I was around someone who feared me.

Not that it happened much.

An awkward moment passed as Charlotte studied me. "He's... one of them?"

I shrugged. "If you were expecting Dracula or Lestat, I'm pretty much the opposite."

I wasn't even a Nosferatu. The first vampire picture I had ever seen, long after I left the living, and it had terrified me. Not the plot, but the idea mortals would see me that way. After years in the shadows, I now laughed about that foolish thought. I wasn't even as memorable as a fictional monster.

Charlotte flinched when I addressed her. I had kept my voice soft and nonthreatening, but she still looked at me like I was planning to devour her. "No. I know you're nothing like s-stories." There was a quiver in her voice and a hint of vulnerability, even as she attempted to glare at me. "I saw one of you once. When I was seven. It had red eyes and blood all over its mouth. It was holding the heart of m-my mom."

No wonder she was scared out of her mind. I fought the urge to apologize, as if I had been the one to snuff out her mom's life. "Red eyes are only when we feed. I don't feed much."

That sounded more helpful in my head. From the sound of her heart pounding, that hadn't worked the way I planned.

Jordan glared at me. "What he meant to say was that he doesn't kill humans. And he only takes the blood that he needs from people who consent."