Blood-Red Tear Read Free

kitchen, knowing my mother would be there, the same as she was every morning, making breakfast. It seemed kind of pointless since everyone in my family, beside myself, were vampires, but she insisted on keeping things as normal as possible for me, the only human in the household. To most people I supposed it would seem terrifying, but after a group of rogue vampires had attacked and killed my birth parents, they had taken me and raised me as their own. They were the only parents I had ever known and aside from a few subtle differences, like needing blood to nourish them, they were like any parents. They attended PTA meetings, open houses, and all of the important events in my life. Of course normal, human parents didn’t live forever, or look like movie stars even upon waking, but they made the effort for my sake and that is what counts. No child had ever been more loved, and I had grown up knowing what they were, so it didn’t matter to me if they were human or vampire. I loved them with all of my heart.
    Besides , they kept their vampire side well hidden. The fear of being found out was always prevalent, so I was a little clueless about most of the things they can do, but I do know they were not the monsters books and movies made them out to be. For example, they didn’t accost humans to get the blood they needed to survive; they got it from bags from one of the private blood banks my father founded many years before. He owned many such facilities around the world so vampires could acquire what they needed without feeding directly from humans. It was mutually beneficial since humans were paid for their donations, kept healthy by a battery of doctors my father kept on staff at his many facilities around the world, and vampires received the blood they needed to survive without harming anyone. In fact my father’s method had become the accepted way of living amongst most vampires, who genuinely liked humans and wanted to coexist with them peacefully. I knew though, from eavesdropping at his office door, that not all vampires felt that way. There were some who preferred the old ways and still hunted for blood the old-fashioned way, and that thought reminded me of my nightmare, causing goosebumps to rise on my skin and my body to tremble.
    “Good morning , Katie,” my mother called out with a warm smile as I entered the kitchen. She was beautiful, forever thirty, with long honey-blonde hair that hung well past her shoulders, liquid brown eyes like melted chocolate, pale skin of the finest porcelain, and a petite, curvy frame that made her appear fragile and innocent, belying the vampire power that I could feel flowing under the surface. Yet, I had never felt a moment’s fear in her presence. She was one of the most gentle, loving parents I could have hoped for, and I never felt more wanted than when she hugged me and told me how grateful she was to have found me, which was often. 
    “Good morning, ” I responded, kissing her cheek and taking the plate she offered me before walking into the dining room where my father sat at the head of the table, reading his morning newspaper. He looked up as I entered the room, his smile as warm as my mother’s had been, and I was struck by how truly good looking the man I called my “father” was. His dark hair was short and tapered, and his green eyes twinkled with happiness as he watched me approach. The charcoal-grey designer suit he wore emphasized his fit physique and made it easy to see why all the moms flirted shamelessly with him at school functions and around town despite the fact he made it clear my mother was the only woman for him.
    We were extremely close , probably closer than most fathers and daughters. He had told me many times he had never expected to have children and that when they had found me I had been the answer to their dreams. I supposed that was why he always made an effort to spend time with me no matter how busy he got. Paul, who came to them shortly