Katherine's Story Part 1

Let's get something straight here. True facts, right out of the gate. 

Vampires are monsters.

They are fiends, they are creatures of death and destruction. They may be demons, jury's still out on that. They live on blood and thrive on gore. They are not sexy, they can not be saved by adding a soul. They do not sparkle. 

Vampires are monsters, and they want you dead. Preferably dead and bloodless, by their own teeth.  

If you're willing to accept that, all of it, and move forward from there... consider this your invitation to my world. If you're insistent that love conquers all, that there's no such thing as evil, only evil actions... Please leave now. Take your things, we'll wait.

Still with me? 

My name's Katherine. I kill vampires. This is my story.

Vampires are predators, and have been since the dawn of time. They prey on humans, and nothing else. The blood of a rat or a deer or a pig will not sustain a Vampire. Without us, they wither and die. 

Vampires are not immortal. Close to it, yes, and very hard to kill. Modern technology has evened the playing fields a bit, but still the Vampires hold their ground. They use our blood to draw the lines of scrimmage.

There are two types of vampires:

The Born:
Vampires can breed with each other, but not with humans. Only Born vampires can breed at all. Their breeding cycle seems to work on the magnitude of years and decades, as opposed to a humans gestation of months and childhood of years. There are not many of them, the Born ones, but they're trying to change that. The females choose mates based entirely on their ability to breed healthy children. The males use what choice they have to make alliances, to run the politics and network. There are perhaps 500 Born Vampires in the US. Perhaps 10,000 in the world. 
In far flung corners, they are worshiped as gods, sacrificed to, sustained by the humans they live among. In the US they are not so well loved, but perhaps only because there is so much competition from the human government and media.  
Born Vampires can not tolerate sunlight, although they do not 'die' or become incapicitated during the day. They do tend to sleep when the sun is up, because it is convenient. They don't eat human food, because they don't need it. If they are forced to, to keep up the human charade, garlic does not bother them. Neither does any other root vegetable. 
One myth has held true over the centuries. The Churches were concerned that as their power faded, so would the magical barriers that keep Vampires from homes they have not been invited in to, however it has become evident that anyone with faith enough in themselves or in any higher power, can keep a Vampire out. 

The Made:
Born Vampires need to eat once a day. Generally, they kidnap someone and hold them, feeding on them until they die of starvation, malnutrition or blood loss. 
Made Vampires are a little different. Occasionally, a Born Vampire has a bad day. Things get out of hand, or a sudden hunger possesses them. Possibly, they're just bored. They grab a human and drain them, all in one go. The result, 90% of the time, is a corpse. 
10% of the time, it's a Made.
Mades are more dangerous, in the short term. Mades can go out in sunlight. Not truly dead, they eat and drink like the rest of us. They live out their human lifespan.  Drug addicts, alcoholics and the mentally ill are their favorite prey, just like most predators, which doesn't make them easier to spot. 
Mades don't need to feed on human blood at all. They do crave it, though. More than food. More than money. More than sex. Food, money and sex become paths to lead them to blood. 
Sometimes a Made is.. made.. lives and dies in the span of a week. Sometimes it takes months for them to meet a Killer, like me. Occasionally, it takes years. The craftiness of the Made is the equivalent to the intelligence of the human bitten. Really smart people rarely find themselves in dark alleys with Born Vampires in the middle of a rage. As a result, Made Vampires tend to have the social skills and status of the local drug dealer. You've probably met one. 

And me? 

My name is Katherine, and I'm a Killer. Some of my compatriots use the term "Vampire Killer", to differentiate between someone who murders humans, and someone who kills vampires. I don't. Not anymore.

I was born in a small town, and grew up right. I wasn't the Homecoming Queen, but I was on the court. I got good grades, I was the president of my Sorority in college. I go home for the holidays, I go to church on Sundays, I say my prayers every night. I don't have tattoos. I drink little, smoke not at all and don't do drugs. When I date, I wait until the third date before I sleep with the guy, and then I use a condom. 
I'm a good girl. 

There's no trauma in my past that egged me in to the life I live. My siblings (one sister, one brother) are fine and well, as are my parents, not murdered under suspicious circumstances. I didn't fall in with a bad crowd in High School, and loose a gang member to a Vampire. 

I went to a job fair. Senior year of college, thinking I might like a nice position in a Wall Street firm, or maybe a publishing house. An office with windows, a dress with heels. On a lark, I put in a resume with what I took to be a government agency with letters for a name. A spy job would be fun, I thought, and then promptly forgot about it. 

6 weeks later, the day after I graduated, They called me.  The anacronym agency I had thrown my resume to so cavalierly was interested.  Three interviews, a psych test, and a background check later, I had the job. I'm not sure why they chose me, even ten years later. I can't imagine doing anything else, though. I don't love it. I just can't imagine doing anything else.

I'll write more soon, unless I get killed.