My name is Alastair Rashkel and I'm a big and tall Black man living in the city of Brockton, Massachusetts. Anyone looking at me sees a regular-looking brother, and that's cool with me. It just means that my disguise is working like a charm. You see, I'm no ordinary brother. I'm actually a Vampire. Been one all my life. Vampires do exist. We look like normal people, we hold jobs, pay taxes and live our lives in the open. Sunlight doesn't bother us any more than it bothers the average human being. The Vampire Community is thriving, in part because of the sheer ignorance of Humans.
These days, I work as a Corrections Officer for the State of Massachusetts. It's an okay job, I guess. Although I was born and raised in the Southern city of Atlanta, I've grown to love it in the Northeast. I moved to Massachusetts as soon as my college days began, and I haven't left it since. After graduating from UMass-Amherst with a bachelor's of science degree in Criminal Justice, I thought about going to the Boston Police Academy or Suffolk Law School but ended up taking the first job I could find.
The Department of Corrections was hiring and I was both overeducated and overqualified for that job. The pay was better than I expected, though. Couldn't look a gift horse on the mouth. It is a Recession, after all. Working in law enforcement makes me particularly useful to the Pride, as the Black Vampire Community of America is called. Lots of Black male and Black female Vampires out there work for the police, the department of corrections and the courts. We want to make sure our brethren stay out of trouble. Secrecy is key to a Vampire's survival. And unfortunately, there are hotheads in every community. And I seem to be a magnet for them.
Relationships suck whether you're mortal or immortal. No way around that. I recently ended two relationships. After graduating from college, I met this pretty young Black woman named Madeline Rydell. She was tall, curvy, busty, dark-skinned and big-bottomed. Just the way I liked my women. Madeline was a nascent Vampire, and she was new to the city. She moved to Brockton, Massachusetts, from Detroit, Michigan. We had a good time hunting Humans in the big city and also hitting the club scene. Madeline was a lot of fun. Still, she forgot to tell me that she was married to Adam Luther, a handsome Black male Vampire who's one of the Princes of the Underworld in Detroit. Adam Luther came to New England for his wayward bride-to-be. And this marked the beginning of the end for Madeline and I. Females lie, folks. Doesn't matter if they're mortal or immortal. They lie to men. They lie to women. They lie to themselves. And they're damn good at it. Yeah, I had to let Madeline go. She was hot, great in bed and had a fantastic ass but she wasn't worth losing my eternal life over.
My next relationship was with this gorgeous Black Vampire named Harrison Thomas. He's a member of the Massachusetts State Police force and looks so good in his uniform, it ought to be a sin. He's tall, dark and handsome. Everything I liked in a man. Even though I've considered myself bisexual all my life, I haven't done much exploring in the world of male to male sex. Harrison was a really cool guy. The kind of man who knows what he wants and goes for it. He's openly bisexual, and has a wife and two sons. His wife is a lovely African-American schoolteacher named Miranda who knows about her husband's bisexuality and is fully supportive. Aren't Black female Vampires awesome? Harrison was leading the kind of life I wished I had. And I was really drawn to him. We had some spectacular sex together. We would go camping in Vermont and swim in Cape Cod. He even took me to Martha's Vineyard on his boat. Is the guy cool or what? Like most good things, our relationship wasn't meant to last. Harrison was great in bed, but he was looking for a permanent fuck buddy while I longed for someone who could love me. I've looked for that with Madeline and couldn't find it. I thought I had found it with Harrison but I was wrong. Thus, once again, I was forced to move on with my life.
Some people have everything handed to them in this life and it tends to turn them into monsters. Take my sister, Julia Rashkel for example. She's a six-foot-tall, athletic and fine-looking young Black woman. Beauty, intelligence and immortality. She's got it all. All those things made her the apple of our parents eyes. My folks, Atlanta City Mayor Julianna Kingston Rashkel and State Senator Roger James Rashkel made their daughter into a real-life BVP. What is a BVP? Simply a Black Vampire Princess. They spent a fortune on making her exactly that. They sent her to Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, for her undergraduate studies and later she attended Georgia Tech. All on our folks dime. Me? I had to win myself an academic scholarship to UMass-Amherst because my folks doubted my worth as an asset. Sounds harsh but it's true. Vampire families assess their offspring as potential assets, special projects or liabilities. For most of my life, they had serious doubts as to which category I fell into.
I guess what's true with the Humans is also true of Vampires. They value their daughters and treat them like princesses while treating their sons like dirt. That's why males across the world aren't doing so good academically, socially and physically. The world assumes we're made of rock and seldom offers us any help. That's the plight of many men and that's the plight of this Black male Vampire as well. Oh, well. I left the city of Atlanta behind and didn't look back because as far as I was concerned, there's too much drama down there. The Pride runs the town, and since I was the ultimate outsider, I'm pretty sure my opportunities for advancement in both the Human and Vampire worlds would have been limited. I was just glad to get away from my family. Unfortunately, sometimes the past can catch up with you. My sister Julia came to Boston with some of her girlfriends, and these Undead ladies decided to have themselves a good time.
They descended upon the city of Boston. My sister Julia Rashkel was the leader. Her second-in-command was Ramona Ruiz, this tall, booty-licious and curvy, gorgeous young woman of Black and Hispanic descent. Then there was my old flame, Cynthia Varela. A tall, curvy and big-bottomed, absolutely gorgeous African-American Beauty Queen who took my breath away the moment I laid eyes on her. We go way back, Cynthia and I. Her father, Antonio Varela is one of the most powerful members of the Black Vampire Community of Atlanta. He's powerful in the Human world too, where they know him as a Georgia State Supreme Court Judge. For a summer job, I worked as an errand guy for the Judge. He took a liking to me and invited me at his house once. That's how I met his daughter Cynthia. Folks, it was love at first sight. Black women are strong and beautiful, and Black female Vampires even more so but Cynthia was something else. She had a body better than that of Black superstars like Beyonce, Ashanti or Alicia Keys. A big booty finer than that of actresses Jennifer Lopez or Queen Latifah. And a face that the infamous songbird Rhianna herself would envy. Yeah, she was all that and then some, folks.
Cynthia Varela was an exquisitely beautiful young Black female Vampire. Her bloodline was particularly strong too. All Vampires have superhuman strength and speed, and we don't die unless we get beheaded, staked or burned to ash. However, the Varela clan excelled at many forms of martial arts lost to both Humans and Vampires. They were skilled assassins, even though most of the world knew them to be bureaucrats and businesspeople. When we first met, she wasn't what I expected. Most of the Black Vampire Princesses I knew were cold-hearted, ruthless and self-absorbed. Cynthia was actually very nice and friendly. And even though her father clearly intimidated most people, including me, she dared to challenge his wrath by becoming my girlfriend. My first girlfriend. The day she agreed to go out with me was one of the happiest days of my eternal life.
Cynthia and I had a wonderful time together. She was an expert huntress. One night, we went on the prowl and surprised a middle-aged White couple we caught making out in the park. Basically, an aging lawyer was having an affair with one of his wife's lady friends. Usually when I hunt, I simply catch the Human and drain him or her. Then I dispose of the body using a flesh-eating corrosive agent called Eraser, a miracle of Vampire technology. It can reduce a human body into a tiny pile of ashes in minutes. Most Vampires do the same thing. Cynthia was different. She liked to toy with her food. First, she killed the man and drained him. Then she tortured the woman for some time before draining her blood. She was the most beautifully sadistic Black female Vampire I had ever seen. I was absolutely in love!
Yeah, Cynthia and I had a good time together. I introduced her to my family and they loved her. Why shouldn't they? She was gorgeous, smart, sophisticated and wealthy. Definitely the kind of woman any male would love to have as his mate. Unfortunately, first love doesn't last forever. In the end, our differences drove Cynthia and I apart. After graduating from school, I asked Cynthia to be my mate. She said no. And I guess her father rejoiced. I left the city of Atlanta forever. It's been five years since I graduated high school. I'm living in a new state. I've got a new job and a new life. Yet my past continues to haunt me. How else would you explain how both my sister and my ex-girlfriend now threaten the city I've sworn to protect?