Chapter 1 - Prologue

As she waited for the traffic lights to change, Yoanna reached out and turned off the radio with a frustrated jab of her finger. Silence fell over the interior of the car while she focussed on the beat of the town she was searching instead of the beat of the music.

Carefully adjusting her sunglasses to cut down on the headlight glare from the other cars, she looked surreptitiously at the drivers and occupants of the few vehicles around hers. McKinney, Texas was a medium sized town at best so luckily the traffic wasn't too heavy. As it was a Friday night though the people within their air-conditioned metal cans and walking the streets were celebrating the end of a week by drinking and partying like it was their last night on earth. Which for some of them would be true if they didn't take more care of where they stepped, Yoanna thought as she watched a group of giggling girls spill out of a club and walk straight into the road to be greeted by a hail of car horns and screech of brakes that didn't even slow them down as they continued on their drunken way.

Their lives were so short and yet some of them were so frustratingly eager, or willing, to cut them even shorter.

Hearing catcalls from the ridiculously tricked out pickup to her left, Yoanna lowered her glasses with the tip of a painted nail and fixed the teenagers within with an ice cold glare and let her hunger and power fill them. Lights from the bustling clubs and cars reflected in her eyes and she knew the moment the otherworldly metallic sheen of them finally broke through the beer haze as they sank quietly down out of sight like whipped dogs trying to avoid attracting too much attention. It was maybe a little petty and foolish of her too risk exposing herself in such a way but she wasn't in the mood for that kind of foolishness at the best of times. And right then was nowhere even close to being a good time.

Reigning in her power, Yoanna pushed her sunglasses back into place to block the street glare from her sensitive eyes and block any accidental flash of power from anyone. With most Vampires the metallic glint in her eyes would have meant a lust for blood. But, she wasn't like any other Vampire walking the Earth. And while she was hungry, hers was caused more by the power that ran through her.

If she hadn't been trying to find some wayward yearling Vampires that had been causing trouble in the area, she could have been enjoying some time alone. Or even sipping from the neck of some willing young thing instead of driving up and down street after street looking for them.

As the lights started to change, Yoanna put the music back on and pulled away. Even for a town of that size it was getting too rowdy for even the dumbest of Vampires to risk doing anything to attract attention. She decided to change tactics and try the outskirts for a while and check out college campuses or anywhere a private party might have sprung up and then work her way back in once the night quietened down.

It wasn't a task that would normally have attracted her attention but there were, strangely, no elder Vampires in the area to pull the youngsters back in check. They were already attracting far too much attention just when negotiations were taking place in secret that would protect Vampires and give them the legal right to exist in America. Rights that were already in place around much of the world. And as she wasn't being 'allowed' to participate in case the negotiations were a ruse, Yoanna had found she had time on her hands to pay attention to the small things that would have normally been beneath the Vampire Queen.

She chuckled wryly to herself. She was one of the first vampires in existence, born a Vampire and not created by another. She had seen the world at war, she had seen nations rise and empires topple. There wasn't much she hadn't seen or done and yet the title of Queen still felt pretentious to a girl that had been born to a simple life in far simpler times.

That wasn't to say that she didn't enjoy the finer things in life though. The kind of things that her powers and title made easy if she was so inclined. Sometimes though she just wanted someone to be with her instead of them wanting everything else that went with her title. And she was sick of everyone trying to closet her away to keep her 'safe' because of the belief that if she was killed, her bloodline, every Vampire created by her directly and all their children, would die with her.

Stuck at yet more lights, this time at the edge of town, Yoanna's attention was drawn to a car ahead at the front of the line of traffic. She was too far back to see the occupants but there was just something about it, an energy coming from within, which convinced Yoanna that she might have finally found the troublesome Vampires she was looking for. Just to be sure though she decided to hold back a while longer and follow them. If it was them, with any luck they would stay out of trouble and lead her back to where they were hiding out. Then she would decide if they were worth confronting in person or if she would just alert someone else to take care of them.

A flash of light in her side mirror drew Yoanna's attention away from the car. At first she thought it was a car waving and cutting traffic but she soon realised it was a motorbike. One that looked far too big and powerful compared to the size of the rider, who looked to be a teenager. And, alarmingly, as there was someone riding pillion, it was acting very strangely.

Time and again the biker revved the powerful engine to a squeal that grated on Yoanna's sensitive ears and dropped the clutch so the bike jumped forwards as the tyres gripped the road in a cloud of smoke and stench of burning rubber only for him to slam on the brakes and almost tip him and his passenger over the handlebars as the bike laid down another stripe of rubber on the road as it lurched to a halt.

Whatever was causing his poor attitude, Yoanna could see that his young passenger, who was wearing shorts and no helmet… wholly unsuitable attire for being on a bike… was scared and obviously less than impressed by what he was doing. And his dangerously erratic behaviour was keeping her a prisoner on the back of his bike.

As the bike came to a screeching halt alongside her car, Yoanna looked up at the young woman and had to learn how to breathe again as their eyes touched and locked. She was young, less than twenty years, but she was so beautiful with shiny black hair and dark green eyes that had Yoanna longing to just gaze into them and see them full of love for her, or just anything rather than the fear and anger that was in them right then.

Her face was just as beautiful, still holding the softness of youth with the promise of the stunning beauty she would become as she aged and grew into her high cheekbones and the slight cleft in her strong chin and jawline.

As the bike started to rev up again, Yoanna was sorely tempted to reach out and pluck the beauty off the bike, carry her away and protect her. And going by the look of burgeoning sexual desire and interest in those stunning green eyes as she looked down from her elevated position into the car at her, Yoanna didn't think there would be much protest from her if she did. But the bike shot forwards again, snatching the girl out of reach. As the bike screeched to a halt again at the front of the traffic with a dangerous wobble, Yoanna realised that the green eyed beauty was looking over her shoulder at her as though she was as mesmerised by her, as she herself had been.

"Oh no," fear flowed through Yoanna for the girl as the guy who's bike she was stuck on turned and shouted a dare at the driver of the car she had marked as carrying the Vampires she was hunting down and they started revving their engines against each other.

She could see the beauty with the green eyes shouting at the boy and start as though to get off but the lights started to change and she was forced to cling on to him as bike and car shot forwards through the lights before they had even changed to green. They nearly clipped the backend of a truck that was still going through the junction before racing down the road that led out of McKinney.

Dodging traffic, Yoanna followed them at a safe distance in case her pursuit panicked them at all as they raced out of town. She almost gave up and had started to slow her car down when the other car pulled up alongside the bike and, in the move that looked very calculated and deliberate to Yoanna, it clipped the bikes rear wheel and sent it spinning and tumbling in a terrifying, grating, scream of metal, and a shower of sparks and dust as it careered off the road and out of sight amongst the trees with a muffled THUD. Birds disturbed from their sleep took to the air, their calls echoing out over the silence.

Braking hard, Yoanna brought her car to a halt at the side of the road and gripped the steering wheel in disbelief and horror as she watched as plumes of black smoke billowed up as the car spun around and raced back to where the bike had gone off the road. Any hope that they might be about to help disappeared as five figures climbed out of the car and over the distance she heard their excited laughter as they raced across the road.

She felt the weak flicker of their power that marked them as Vampires.

Believing that no one could have survived such a crash, Yoanna debated leaving them to it and confronting them later once they had fed. But the stillness of the night air was torn apart by a high pitched masculine scream and a dying gurgle as it faded away.

The memory of those beautiful green eyes had her leaving the car and racing forwards before she even realised what she was doing. If there was a chance that the woman, the girl, was still alive she just had to protect her. And if she was dead she couldn't leave her body to them.

Leaping down the embankment that the bike had flown down, Yoanna sprinted through the trees and jumped over the smoking twisted remains of the bike. Quickly her eyes raked the scene, taking in what was happening.

Four of the gang were hunched over the remains of what Yoanna knew to be the boy only by his clothing. She could tell by the scent of blood, gore and meat that hung thickly in the air that he was dead. Not satisfied with taking blood though they had ripped his body apart like a pack of wild animals. The other Vampire was walking across the clearing towards the still body of the woman. A twisted, maniacal laugh falling from a mouth already smeared with blood as his hands worked, unfastening his filthy jeans.

Grabbing him by the neck she threw him with all her might at his companions to get their attention and followed it up with a blast of furious power that ripped their skin apart and flayed them down to the bone as she advanced on them.

Picking themselves up they ran for the road and their vehicle with her power lashing at their every step but Yoanna didn't care that they got away. Or rather that they thought they had. They could run all they wanted, she had a taste of them now and there was nowhere they could hide where she couldn't find them and make them pay for what they had tried to do to the young woman.

With dread in her heart, Yoanna made her way over to where the young woman lay at the base of a tree, her body broken and twisted. She was so still that Yoanna felt sure it was too late but above the scent of meat from her badly mangled left hip, Yoanna could smell the fresh flowing scent of blood that only came with the beat of a heart to pump it.

Despite there still being a heartbeat though it looked like she was barely hanging on to life and Yoanna could tell by her breathing that she was rapidly giving up and slipping away. Gently, afraid to hurt her further, Yoanna placed her fingers to the woman's throat and felt her pulse through the blood flowing down her face from the deep gash on her unprotected head where she had either struck the road or one of the many rocks strewn around.

She was so far gone that Yoanna felt it best to help her drift away and ease her suffering. Even though she didn't know the woman the thought of losing her was terrible and made the back of Yoanna's eyes sting with tears that threatened to well up and fall down her cheeks. The thought of tasting her sweet blood, even under such circumstances, made Yoanna's jaw ache in anticipation like it never had before as she leaned closer.

Her eyes opened, dark and smoky green, filled with pain and confusion shining up from the mask of red blood and capturing Yoanna anew with their beauty. Yoanna touched the fingers that brushed across her face, painting blood across her cheek like a blind person seeing through touch. The pain left her eyes briefly as she seemed to focus on her and remembered seeing her before. Then pain flooded her eyes and they rolled back in her head as a moan of agony burst from her lips.

As before, Yoanna acted without even realising she was doing and bit down on her own wrist. Blood filled her mouth as her teeth cut into her vein. Cradling the young woman against her, Yoanna gently lifted her head, tilting it back as she placed her wrist to her mouth and willed the raven haired beauty to drink from her.

Her mouth closed around the wound upon her wrist and Yoanna felt the gentle, hesitant suction of the young woman's mouth as she drew upon the blood that flowed and filled her mouth. It felt good and right, almost euphoric. She wasn't taking much blood but Yoanna watched from a place of bliss, almost drifting above herself as the blood stopped flowing from the cut on the girls head and the edges of the wound pulled together like magic.

Yoanna held the young woman closer, rocking her gently as her mouth grew still and fell away from her wrist. Her eyes were still shut but her face was no longer etched with lines of pain and Yoanna could still see her wounds healing. Running her tongue over her own wrist, Yoanna healed her wound. A soft moan fell from Yoanna's mouth as she tasted her green eyed beauties blood mixed with her own. Even with that small amount, Yoanna could taste the power within it triggering a long forgotten memory that felt like home.

Leaning down, Yoanna felt the woman's mouth stir beneath her own as she stole a soft kiss and another taste of her blood and the power trickling through it. It felt like something clicked together inside of Yoanna that had been broken for far too long. A scent teased Yoanna's senses, lime, violets and leather rising up through the coppery scent of blood that covered everything as Yoanna's own power rose and flowed with hers.

Hearing a engine drawing closer and slowing down, Yoanna gently lowered the woman back to the ground and made ready to protect them both just in case she needed to fight anyone off. She realised that the engine wasn't the same as the one she had heard peel away with the Vampires inside. It had stopped though and she could hear footsteps getting closer. Whoever it was she could tell by the scent that it was a man and that he was all too human.

Kneeling down, Yoanna checked the woman one last time and saw that those beautiful green eyes were flickering open once more. Yoanna didn't want to leave but she was covered in blood, even her mouth and face and she knew it wouldn't look good if she was found standing there covered in the woman's blood amongst the scattered remains of a torn apart body. That was the kind of thing that would involve the police and lots of questions she didn't want to answer, and all the time she was wasting dealing with that, the Vampires that were responsible would be trying to get further away.

Standing up, Yoanna darted out of sight as the man entered the clearing. She couldn't see what he looked like as he kept his head down and his collar up as though hiding was instinctive. The carnage around him didn't seem to faze him one bit and he calmly nudged at the remains of the boy-man with his boot before walking over to check on the woman. His calmness troubled Yoanna even more as he checked the woman over and she realised that he had a gun ready in his hand.

Fearing anew for her green eyed beauty, Yoanna took a half step out of cover and then froze as she heard the wail of sirens, police and ambulance, getting closer. The man put away his gun as they drew up and as he called them down to where he was, Yoanna stepped back out of sight, entrusting her to their care as she made her way back to her car and drove off into the night.

No matter how many miles Yoanna put between them she couldn't get her mind off the woman, the girl. She was so beautiful and the attraction Yoanna felt for her was strong… and seemed to have been returned but she was too young.

Of course, everyone felt too young to Yoanna. Sometimes, the joy of seeing well over six thousand years was sometimes feeling every one of those years even though she herself only looked to be in her mid to late twenties. She knew she needed to stay away from the girl and give her chance to grow and find her own way in the world. But, gods! As well as that beauty it was her power that called to Yoanna. It had been a long time since she had felt anyone with that amount of raw power and she had never had one taste of anyone's blood and power call to her like that.

Tightening her grip on the steering wheel further, Yoanna resisted the growing urge to spin the car back around. She needed to find the rogue Vampires and make them pay for everything they had done… and only then would she think more on what needed to be done, if anything, about the girl and what her power meant.

Yoanna knew what she was, what she was more than likely being trained for. Maybe though, there was still time to try and turn her away from all that. Yoanna hoped so as she really didn't want to imagine that she could be well on the way to losing her heart to someone that would only see her as the enemy.