Shift tø Black {ON HOLD}

Prologue

Humans are fascinating.

I love to just watch them, from every abrupt emotion change, to every irrational decision. The only thing I really don't admire is how they make a big deal out of nothing... all of the time. Random examples my mind drags from the mist, being:

"This isn't the latte I wanted!"

"I told you 6:30!"

"I never want to see him agai-oh hey, babe! I was literally JUST talking about you!"

And New York? Full of the dramatic creatures. The perfect place to just sit back and laugh at their ways.. and size. Though they look like my kind, they typically cannot even carry over 200 pounds; a surprisingly pathetic number when compared to their egos. I gazed at them from the 5th story window of my apartment, just watching the busy streets below.

A woman and little brunette girl gaze admiringly through the window of a particular chocolate shop. A man in a suit hails a boring yellow taxi out of the booming street chaos. A teenage girl with bright red jeggings hurtles out of a bus a hundred miles an hour, landing on the sidewalk and almost dropping her books as she darts down the block.

My my lips, contorted into a weird twist of confusion, slowly melted into a casual smile as a breathy laugh escaped me. This girl clearly knew nothing of the concept of time - one of the only things humans ever seem to care about.

I watched her flaming red jeggings bounce around the block and fade out of sight. I sighed, doodling pictures of flowers onto the fogged glass with a glossy red nail.

What would it be like to be so simple minded - with only ever having one goal to my entire existence - and STILL not even know how to tell ti-

My back stiffened, eyes sharply darting from my fog-rose masterpiece to the large clock suspended above the couch.

Shit!

Heart leaping into my throat, I ripped my cheek from the window and hurled myself into the bedroom, tripping on a chair still covered in protective plastic. Great. Fantastic. Splendid. Wonderful. Now I will most likely die a horrible death from a raging boy named Kol. No problem.

A few colorful words escaped my mouth as I threw on a red blouse. Arm still fighting through the hole, I stumbled back into the main room and was about to turn and bolt for the door, when something out the window caught my attention.

In a dim alley down the street, a dark shadow stood. The figure was obviously male, and as I looked closer, I knew immediately something was off. He casually leaned against the building across from mine, dressed in all black with a hood that concealed his eyes. Then he suddenly straightened himself and walked out onto the sidewalk, hands in his pockets, and into the morning sunlight.

I didn't see it at first, all I could glimpse were the obvious fluid motions in his stride, too fluid - familiar even, and the slight shimmer against his jawline. But then I did. Oh I definitely did. I watched, breathless, as he glanced at an elderly woman... and smiled. My heart immediately leapt into my throat, hammering wildly as recognition finally struck me. Still twisted awkwardly into my blouse, I swiftly dropped into a crouch and slinked up to the edge of the window as low as possible, trying desperately to stay hidden. I saw them. I saw them.

I saw his fangs.

It wasn't just his canines though, it was every tooth, each individual one sharper than a razor and glinting in the sunlight. But the elderly woman didn't see it, she even smiled back. In fact no one saw it, and I didn't expect them too either. He walked like nothing happened, as if he thought that he was one of them. The humans.

I glared at him through the large glass window, teeth instinctively bared and hands curled into fists at my side.

Leave them alone, you fucking bastard.

But of course he didn't. He just kept on walking and smiling at the people he passed, his eyes only a glint in the shadow of his hood. When he reached the end of the sidewalk he stopped abruptly, causing a few grunts of annoyance from the swarm following too closely behind.

Then he did something unexpected.

His head snapped up to my window with inhuman speed, his piercing glare slicing toward me through the shadow over his eyes. My heart stopped and I let out a panicked exhale, fogging the glass. He smirked at me and tilted his head upwards so I could see his eyes as they glinted with both pleasure and amusement at my fear. His eyes were the same shocking bright amber as they'd always been, yet the once beautiful embers, which used to stand for something so light and good, now represented something else entirely, a paper thin vertical line for his pupil confirming this.

His signature scar ran from the bottom of his left eye all the way to his jaw, almost in alignment with his disturbing pupil. With my enhanced vision, I could even see the flecks of gold in his irises, and the trace of cleverly hidden scales all along his jaw.

I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, all I could do was stare. He stared right back, smirking the whole time. Then, with a cock of his head, he vanished into thin air.