The Vampire Music: Beginnings

September 17, 2092

Subtle flashes, fragments of memories of my fifth birthday are all that remain from before the crash. On that day, an agency tested my blood. My parents tell me the geneticists discovered a mutation. Now I must either train and try to qualify for the Ceremonial Guard or serve two years in the mines as a locator. My parents chose to have me prepared for the Ceremonial Guard. My great-grandmother said the laws requiring the testing begin after the recovery from the black typhus outbreak of 2028. The bout nearly ended everything.

Now that I am seventeen, a subject much more exciting and not imaginary, or so I try to convince myself, is the connection between an older man Wes Ashby, and me. He is nearly a full year older than me. We have only met once, and the memory of the spark that happened between us at a concert stirs my blood as if it were a delightful broth swirling in a cup.