Contrarily to what most people seem to think, not all those who are different lead dreadful lives. Some of us have it good. We're not what you think. Not all of our kind anyway. My name is Edward Malveaux. In the eyes of the world, I'm a successful businessman. I work for an investment firm located in Boston's Financial District. Anyone looking at me would see a six-foot-two, well-dressed and neatly groomed, burly man in his early twenties with sharp, handsome features. My skin is light brown and my eyes are amber-colored. My father Franklin Malveaux is a black man from Haiti and my mother Elisabeth Steinbeck is biracial, of African-American and German parentage. I have several siblings. My elder brother Alphonse is a State Police Officer in Hartford, Connecticut. My big sister Rachel is a State Representative in Trenton, New Jersey. We're all high achievers. Like me, they are Kin.
What is the Kin? A secret society of men and women who are genetically different from the rest of humanity. Our thought patterns differ from those of ordinary humans. We think differently. We also think faster too. Physically, we're not that different from them. We can be tall or short, fat or thin, pale or dark. Due to our genetic makeup, we are immune to most diseases which affect the humans. AIDs. Cancer. They are the threats humans fear but they're nothing to us. Thanks to centuries of selective breeding. We are no stronger or faster than most humans. We're simply more resilient. We're not creatures out of science fiction whom are nigh invincible. Far from it. A bullet to the head does to me the same thing it does to you.
We are everywhere. The Kin are originally from Africa, birthplace of the human species. Over the course of the past few thousand years, we've diversified. There are Kin in Asia, Europe, Australia and America. We live among the Mundanes, as we call the ordinary humans. However, we're not like them. Kin don't marry humans and vice versa. We don't care for mixing and matching, most of the time. Why? The humans are barbaric. Dreadfully afraid of anyone who is different. And we are different. Even though we look alike on the outside, we're two completely different species. As different from humans as they are from chimps and gorillas. Still, sometimes Kin and human do interbreed and the result are the Half-Breeds. They're few in number and don't last long. They feel dreadfully lonely because they assume they're alone in the world. We never let them know about us.
These days, it's hard to be a Kin. You see, life is not all fun and games for us either. We have enemies. Our main enemies are another group of genetically mutated humans. The ordinary humans call these men and women all kinds of names. Sociopaths. Psychopaths. Freaks. Serial killers. The truth is that they are far more than that. They're as different from ordinary humans as we are from them. We call them Inimicus, a Latin word meaning "enemy". These things are popping up everywhere. They can interbreed with others like themselves as well as ordinary humans. They tend to dominate whatever area they live in because they're a particularly aggressive subspecies of humanity. They're no stronger or faster than the Mundanes, the ordinary humans. However, they're extremely intelligent and ruthless. They have no conscience whatsoever. They feel no remorse. They appear to be charming, outgoing and seemingly bolder, braver and more interesting than those around them. It's all part of their repertoire. The truth is that Inimicus are genetically designed to be murderous, treacherous, power-hungry and vindictive. And they outnumber us. Why? They reproduce quickly.
Since ancient times, we the Kin have been at war with the Inimicus for dominion of the planet Earth. The war is fought right underneath the nose of the Mundanes and they don't even know it. I was raised to always be on my guard. The Inimicus are everywhere. They're police officers, doctors, lawyers, scientists, judges, politicians, soldiers, construction workers, executives, actors, musicians, gangsters and entertainers. These things make life hell for my species. Since they have no conscience, they tend to be extremely seductive and attract lots of potential mates. They breed with these numerous mates, creating many more remorseless monsters like themselves. The offspring of a remorseless man ( the Inimicus male) or remorseless woman, even when sired with a Mundane, still has an enormous chance of being one of them. The genes of the Inimicus are dominant. That's why there are so many of them.
We the Kin on the other hand live differently. Our lives are violent, dangerous and unpredictable but we take the time to enjoy it. We live longer than most humans, or Inimicus, for that matter. But no one lives forever. We consider life to be precious. We've always been the guiding force behind revolutions in art and music as well as human thought. We led the humans in a golden age in the past, back when we outnumbered the Inimicus. It wasn't that long ago. I wasn't there but I remember bits and pieces of it, thanks to our racial memory. We're a family-oriented bunch. Nothing matters like family in the lives of any Kin, whether male or female. Even while family values crumbled in the Mundanes world, we preserved ours. I grew up in a household where father and mother are valued equally in the lives of their offspring. I'm not saying my parents never had any disagreements. Still, it was a far more stable household than that of most of my human friends.
We the Kin can't afford to attract attention to ourselves. At any time an Inimicus might come after us, armed with a gun. Or any other means he or she plans to use to do us lasting harm. So we live carefully. Kin men and Kin women don't go around sleeping with lots of people. Being sexually adventurous is a surefire way to attract the attention of predators. And most human-seeming predators are actually cleverly disguised Inimicus. Only unity has saved us thus far from our enemies. We live in clans. Groups of families living in a certain territory. The leader of a Clan is the Master. He or she who leads all members of the Clan. The survival of our kind rests on the shoulders of the various Masters. Once a year, all Masters from various Clans gather for a meeting in a hidden location. We scheme, and plan for the survival of our people.
