Chapter 1
“It was like seeing a dead gaze suddenly rustle to life. I had thought his eyes bright before, but now they were savage with light. I could not speak; I could not look away.” Elizabeth Kostova
Warnings: scared sim, vampire, suggestive references, simulated blood, one occurrence of bad language.
The woman ran for her life, pausing momentarily to recover her breath and look behind her to see if she’d managed to shake off her pursuer. The summer air was muggy, which only added to the discomfort she felt after running so far across the deserted park. In the distance she could see her car, parked sensibly in the bay closest to the street lamp.
“Yeah, really sensible,” she mumbled as she willed herself forward, “if I wasn’t so stubborn I would have been safely tucked up in bed by now.”
“Keep going, you’re almost there,” she thought as her energy began to wane once more in the heat.
Two hundred yards and she’d be safe. All of a sudden she heard a noise behind her, losing her footing as she turned her head to see if he’d caught up with her. The car keys flew out of her hand and landed just out of her reach, but any hope of retrieving them in time was futile. He grinned down at her, a satisfied smirk spreading across his face. 
Reaching down, he grabbed the top of her arm and dragged her to her feet.
“Take my car! I haven’t got any money!” she cried as he continued to gaze at her.
“It’s not your money I’m interested in, sweetheart,” he chuckled, snaking one arm around her waist as his other hand lightly brushed her cheek, “what I’ve got in mind is much more satisfying.”
She froze as his hand moved down her neck then towards her chin. He tilted her face so that she was looking straight into his eyes - were they red or was the fear making her lose her mind completely? Her limbs felt heavy all of a sudden as his lips touched hers, ice cold as they moved with increasing urgency along her jaw and down her neck.
His grip around her waist tightened as his other hand cradled her head, his lips and tongue never ceasing in their exploration of her neck and throat. She was powerless against him; she couldn’t cry out or scream. At first she didn’t feel the stab of pain as his teeth pierced her skin. Her mind was swimming and her body felt anaesthetised; all she could feel was the slow tug of his lips as he suckled her neck. Her eyes gazed up at the stars as he continued to feed, the pain hitting her suddenly as the last drop of life flowed into his mouth.
He shuddered as he licked the final traces of blood from her neck, and kissed her lips once more before gently lowering her body to the ground.
“We could have had so much fun,” he sighed, “but a man’s got to feed himself, sweetheart.”
Retrieving her keys from the path, he glanced at her body once more before disappearing into the night.
Yay! The story has begun! It was an excellent first chapter, I’m definitely hooked. Your description of the vampire feeding was interesting–very sensual and yet horrible. Nice cliffhanger too! Gah! I’m so looking forward to the next chapter.
Comment by Kara — December 7, 2007 @ 6:38 am
Wow, I wasn’t expecting the integration of some of Maxis’ own sims–that’s pretty cool. So is this set within ‘game canon’ or separately? I noticed Loki and Circe aren’t their usual crazy selves.
Interesting that a vampire is ratting out another. I’m sure that’ll go over well. Though I probably would, too. I mean, you need to cover your tracks better! You can’t just let the cattle lying about where everyone can see it! Sheesh.
Comment by Mao — December 7, 2007 @ 7:51 am
Thanks for reading you two, and I’m over the moon that you enjoyed the first chapter
Kara: I have to admit to enjoying the feeding slightly more than I probably should have *blushes* But with that particular vampire I’m hoping for a ‘love him and hate him at the same time’ effect, so I’m glad you thought it was sensual and horrible
Mao: From day one I had Loki and Circe in mind for this story as they’ve always been my favourite Maxis sims
This is separate though, and I did give them both a personality transplant (i.e. added some nice points) which is why they’re not as crazy! They’ve also moved away from Strange Town, which I deleted, so perhaps the move has done them some good 
I’m not sure if you realised that Nervous is playing the part of Neil Specter? He also got a personality upgrade and lives with Rebecca and his mum, so he’ll be easier to spot in a later chapter. As for the vampires, there’s quite a lot of history between them …. 
There’ll be some background in Chapter 2, and more in Chapter 3 - that main chunk has been simmed since July or August so that I could move a whole bunch of downloads out once I’d finished with them LOL!
Hopefully I’ll be able to get Chapter 2 online just after Christmas, as I’m still working on my royal kingdom
Comment by Tanya — December 7, 2007 @ 10:51 pm
Hi, I saw your post on SimScribes and here i am reading your new story. Nice work i must say, your description about the feeding really interesting. And Carolyn look pretty. A vampire running around killing women and leave their bodies there? Kinda careless or maybe overconfident if you ask me. I’ll be waiting for next update!
Comment by karen — December 8, 2007 @ 12:23 am
Great beginning! I will leave you more detailed comments at the Hangout.
Comment by Ava — December 8, 2007 @ 1:45 am
Thanks for the comments Karen and Ava
Karen: I have to admit that the vampire who killed Eve does have a lot of confidence - maybe more than is healthy - but without giving anything away he had his reasons for leaving her body in a place where it was easy to find ….
Ava: Seems like ages since I’ve spoken to you! Just to go off topic for a moment, I will finish Forefathers eventually
Glad you enjoyed this chapter! See you at the Hangout 
Comment by Tanya — December 8, 2007 @ 6:00 am
Very interesting story, the kind of story that kind of makes you feel as if you’re a witness and I can smell a good story from more than a mile because i’m an avid reader. Can’t wait for the rest. Princess
Comment by Princess — December 9, 2007 @ 8:46 am
Thanks Princess!
Comment by Tanya — December 11, 2007 @ 6:42 am
Great start! I can’t wait to see where this is leading.
Comment by Nvrrdy — December 17, 2007 @ 1:39 pm
Thanks Nvrrdy
There’ll be a few hints here and there in the next couple of chapters, but I’m trying to make them subtle so that you don’t realise that they’re hints. In fact there are a few different things going on that all tie in with the main plot ….
Comment by Tanya — December 20, 2007 @ 6:20 am
What a fantastic end twist. I finally finished this chapter!
I love that Circe and Loki are in this. I am seeing them in a whole new light and you already know how sensual I thought that feeding was.
Tanya: YAY! Well done for reaching the end
Loki was an instant choice of character for this story, as I don’t think any of the other Maxis sims would have worked. There’s something about him that seems to fit just right, and he ties in nicely with one set of vampires and their origins ….
The feeding seems to have been quite a hit with a few readers, and I certainly enjoyed writing it
Comment by Anghard (bohemianscribe) — March 7, 2008 @ 9:35 am