C1 Prologue

It's a tepid night in late winter and the air hums in foreboding. The night is still, the moon declining its place among the stars that fill the dark sky like a million speckles of white paint. Gray clouds shroud the silver gleam of the moon, but when its half-crescent shape takes its form in the sky, it is visible from every porch in this small suburban community.

It is quiet. No sounds of little kids screaming as they run around. No cars driving by. No dogs barking. Everyone has long gone to bed and every door is shut and lights are out except for the overhead lamp that glows bright white on every porch.

A sharp dog bark from one of the houses breaks the silence. It's the creepy house. The one next to the woods the county refuses to develop. A light snaps on in the top room of the house. Then another. Voices raise—a man and woman. A husband and wife arguing. Their voices rise and rise until their neighbors can pick apart their words. The dog barks again, with three loud yelps. A door opens and slams shut. The husband steps out. Loud cussing follows. A piercing scream that has the neighbors clutching their pillows to their ears rings out. The lights go off.

He storms off in his indoor shoes. He wanders down the street, sneering at the perfectly mowed lawns and the neatly manicured hedges. He snickers at the identical houses, similar except in choice of porch decor and paint color. The moon lights his path.

The husband isn't the only person outside. A man hides in the shadow of a tree. He heard the raised voices but unlike the neighbors didn't turn around and go back to sleep. He watched as the husband stormed out and now watches him stomp along the street.

Crimson saliva dribbles down this man's chin. He is parched, and the iron-rich smell of the husband's blood calls out to him. His gnarly nails scratch his throat as he gulps. Only the thick red liquid, flowing into his mouth will quench the thirst rippling through his body. But he won't go to him. He still has enough left of his mind to think. He will wait.

The husband arrives at the smoking zone and fumbles in his pocket for a cigarette. Even with his ire, he can't help but obey the rules of the community, which he recognized with frustration. He is fumbling for a lighter when he feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns and is surprised to see a man before him.

At first, he notices nothing strange about the man, and thinking he also came out for a smoke extends his lighter to him. The moon creeps out from under the clouds and his eyesight is improved by the moonlight and he sees the blood stains on his face. He sees the dried blood around his mouth and nose. His eyes train on the saliva trickling down his chin and follow a drop of blood-stained saliva to the floor. His hands turn clammy and begin to shake. When he looks back up, the man is grinning and he sees his teeth.

Terror barrels through his body. He tries to move, but the hand never leaves his shoulder and now holds him in place. He opens his mouth to scream but no sound comes out, as in that exact moment the man's teeth sink into his neck, and his vocal cords freeze.

A dog barks. Another answers. Suddenly, barks rise from every house. Their growls reach the sky and create a cacophony. His vocal cords unfreeze and he screams, his mouth hanging open. A fiery breeze blows on his face. The dogs bark louder.

Blood fills the other man's mouth. His eyes glisten as he drinks, and with each swallow he craves more. If he could just....drink deeper, suck better, get a better angle. He tears off his flesh in his hunger. He spits it out in disgust and drops the man's almost limp body.

He walks away leaving the man writhing in pain and soiling the green of the ground with blood.

The moon shines on.

* * *

The Audi stops in a back alley next to the back entrance of an old building in Brooklyn and Kai steps out. The sun had since changed from orange to red and then disappeared in the western sky, so he doesn't see the puddle of water until his shoes are soaking in it. It is pitch-black, save for the light from a single lamp above the entrance.

Beyond the alley, the city is alive, its congested highways and people-filled streets pulsing with one massive heartbeat. But back here, the city's sounds are muted. Replacing these are the sounds of raccoons, rats, and God knows what else scurrying around, hustling for their meal. He waits for the car to leave the alley before he proceeds to the building. The stench of rotting trash from the large bin next to the door assaults him. He crinkles his extra sensitive nose, whipping out the handkerchief in his pocket to cover his nose. This does nothing to stop the smell. He knocks.

The door is thrown open a second later by two buff men. They step back as they see him, their faces which were set in grimaces softening and then falling in apology when he covers his nose. He steps across the threshold and the door is closed, keeping away the odor. He carefully removes the handkerchief.

"Sorry, Alpha." One of the men says sheepishly, "for appearances." He angles his head to the door and gestures in the general direction of Kai's face.

"Alpha." The other one greets, his voice low in veneration.

"Where is Alastair?" Kai asks, looking around.

They stand in a dark hall, but he could almost perfectly make out the curl of Dax's mustache and his bald head. His enhanced genetics give him the ability to see in the dark, just like his ancestor would.

"This way, Alpha." The second man says, gesturing forward. His name is Dax. He had been a marine until he got injured and retired. Now he works as Alastair's bodyguard and right-hand man.

Dax leads the way, and Kai follows behind him, the other man Nic, proceeds Kai. They move silently along the dark hallway, their footfalls quieter than a snake slithering on sand.

Silence surrounds them, as though outside the building the hustle and bustle of New York are non-existent. They turn a corner and are suddenly awash by light.

Dax stops and reaches into his pocket. He pulls out individual packs of gloves and masks. "You'll need these." He says handing them to Kai.

He looks down at the items in his hand, a thousand questions swirling in his mind. He has little information of why he was here. Just a curt email from Alastair two hours ago with an address. Why he had come here without grilling him, he wasn't sure. Deciding it was too late to turn back, he puts them on.

After a quick look to ascertain whether Nic had on a mask and gloves, Dax continues on his way.

They are almost at a closed door when a guttural cry rings out, like an animal being beaten. It bounces and echoes in the walls around him. Heavy footfalls follow the scream, then a scuffle. The walls shake with the force of something slamming into them. It is coming from behind the closed door. Kai pushes past Dax and throws the door open.

Alastair is bent over a bed, his arms pinning someone down. He covers the upper part of their body and only the lower is visible to Kai. The person trashes their legs or at least tries to with their feet shackled to the bed frame. The bed shakes as the person struggles to get free, rattling the metal handcuffs snapped around ankles so pale, the blue crisscross of the underlying veins is visible. The white sheets are stained from their grime-coated feet.

Alastair lifts off the bed at the exact moment that Kai moves closer, giving him a better view. Kai stops mid-stride.

A man is strapped to the bed. His eyes bulge from his skull, rimmed with very visible red veins. They seem to roll around his head as his neck snaps to every part of the rim. His lips are bloody and pulled back over his teeth. His teeth are red, with pieces of flesh stuck in them.

He lunges for Kai and immediately his head slams back on the bed. That's when Kai notices the thing around his neck. He moves closer.

"Careful." Someone says.

His head is bloody, bald patches where hair used to be, and they are scabbed as though they were forcefully pulled out.

A man in a white coat moves nearer and injects something into his handcuffed wrist. His head snaps to him and he draws back in fear.

"Someone better start talking." Kai grinds out.

He appraises the rest of the room. It is a good-sized room. With wooden floorboards and walls ingrained with dirt and thick with grime. Wooden crates and damaged furniture are against the wall. Aside from the bed where the man lies, there's another bed in the room with someone covered and when Kai goes closer to it, he is greeted by a stench. He lifts the cloth and the sight of the woman underneath has him dropping it immediately. Her entire face is bloody and raw like it was gnawed off by an animal. Her eyes bulge out of her skull, unmoving and unseeing. But her breathing is steady.

"She's unconscious." Someone offers as he steps away from the bed to the middle of the room where Alastair stands with two other men in white coats. Dax stands some feet away by the door watching them. Nic is nowhere to be seen.

The sedative injected does its job and the man's struggles cease. It is now quiet save for the beeping of the electrocardiogram.

"How did you manage to capture him?" Kai asks.

"We received a tip. A hybrid sighted him upstate." Alastair starts rubbing his forehead. "We couldn't find his victim."

"What the hell is going on?" Kai barks. He pins Alastair with a stare.

Alastair stares at him for what seems like minutes before he sighs and his face drops. "Hell if I know." He says, "It looks like rabies"