CHAPTER 1

"You Leech!" The older 'model' threw another shoe at me. 

I dodged it, lighting my cigarette, "what? Did you think I would sleep with you?" 

"why else would you come to my house?!"

"Two words, free cigarettes" 

"Leech!"

"whore." 

She threw an empty beer bottle at me, it shattered against the wall behind me, nicking my ear. 

"alright, that's it, I'm leaving" I rolled my eyes. 

I'm sure she kept throwing things at me, at least until I was out of sight. I went over to my car, the definition of a shit ride. It was blue and well... It looked like shit, imagine the worst car you've ever seen, and you've got a good idea. 

I looked in the mirror at my ear, it was bleeding, the spot right above a scar I had gotten from a similar situation. I sighed, taking a long drag from my smoke. 

Then someone landed on the roof of my car. Great. Like it needs more dents. Another person came up from behind and next thing I knew, I was pinned to the wall...by two night walkers. 

-

Let me explain one thing, there are two cities in the exact same spot, NYC, and the UC (underground city). The UC is run by vampires or 'night walkers' and is where I spend my days. There underground races are like a sport, and I am currently at the top...well close... No one knew it was me, but I drove the most known car, The Streak, because of the zero loss streak, and the deep orange line streaked down the side of the otherwise pitch black car. Now, back to me being a midnight snack for some blood fuckers....suckers...whatever.

-

Well, the two fucks had me pinned to the wall, and a third one approached. I was trying to get my cig to my mouth, and the guy took it and let me take a drag. Then he took it away, I reached my head out for it, and then bam. I felt a stinging in my neck, he bit me. What an asshole. The other two bit into my wrists, and I quickly felt light headed. 

"can...I...have...my..smoke?" I asked slowly, careful to not slur my words. Who would want their famous last words to be a slurred mess? 

He gave me my smoke back with a chuckle, I took a long drag, then promptly passed out. 

CHAPTER 2

I felt someone press two fingers against my neck, checking for a pulse. 

"Nothing" 

"Are you sure Jim? He could just be...passed out drunk or something" 

"James, he never drinks, and he has a high tolerance anyway. I didn't give him a drink last night either." 

It was the James brothers. James and James (Jim) they raised me for the past 6 years. James owned the bar across the street, Day Drinks, and Jim was the bar tender. They found me smooth talking people to buy me some smokes when I was 11. And they took me in. 

I sighed and sat up, slowly opening my eyes, it was daylight, but thankfully I was in the shade of the alley because I had a major headache. 

When I sat up Jim jumped back, a look of shock on his face. He and James were practically identical, with short black hair and brown eyes, Jim, being a few inches shorter, wore glasses and was quieter of the two. He and his wife were kind people. James however, had a major RBF (resting bitch face). 

"Lee, did you pass out drunk?" James asked, crossing his arms as he raised an eyebrow at me. 

Lee was the name they gave me, as before all I was Carter...just Carter. 

I shook my head, checking my pockets for the pack of cigarettes the woman had given me. "No, I had one drink, non alcoholic." I furred my brows as I couldn't find my smokes. "Those fuckers stole my smokes-" I muttered. I looked at James with a sigh, "I was smoking at the bar last night when miss skel-"

"Suzan" Jim interrupted. 

"when miss Suzan came over and said 'my ex left a fresh pack of smokes if your interested.' Free smokes, yes please, so I went home with her, she got pissed I wasn't going to sleep with her...shes like twice my age man! Anyway, yeah she started throwing stuff, nicked my ear. Then those blood fuckers jumped me and stole my smokes!" 

Honestly, most people would probably be like 'why am I not dead?' But someone took my cigarettes. I need those, so my anxiety was going through the roof and I was unable to think logically about the situation. 

The two shared a look, "did you get bit?" 

I nodded, pulling out my old pack of cigarettes, I had 2 left. I lit one, taking a long drag. "Yeah, three times...I can't believe they stole from me...I ain't got another race for a week." 

"Lee..."

"I don't have any cash, or enough to last me an hour let alone a week" 

"Lee!"

"they stole a whole pack."

At this point my leg was shaking like hell and I was breathing faster than normal. 

"Carter! " James took the cigarette from me. 

"Alright old man. This means war!" I stood up, ignoring the pounding in my head. No one took my smokes, I was heavily addicted with major anxiety and a short temper, someone takes them and I lose my shit. 

"Lee I think your dead" James was holding my cigarette just out of my reach. 

"The hell I am! Give it back!" I reached for it, only to hiss in pain from the sun burning my hand. "Fuck!" I shook my hand glaring at the sky. 

Like a 'fuck you sun, eat shit' glare.

"Yeah...I'm sorry Lee...your a nightwalker." James sighed, handing me back my cigarette.

I stared at him for a long moment, if I was alive my heart would have stopped in that moment, realisation hitting me like a tidal wave. 

"Lee..." Jim spoke softly. 

I started to panic, "I can't be. ..." 

"Lee calm down."

"I'm stuck like this forever? 17!? I'll never be able to buy my own smokes-" 

"Lee!" James spoke that time.

"Fuck man I was still supposed to grow another 4 inches, I still look like a kid...I had a whole life ahead of me-"

"Carter!"

"where am I going to live now? I can't stay with you-" 

"Carter Lee James!" 

I shut up and looked at him, "James...." I spoke softly, barely a whisper, I felt I couldn't breathe.

"I know kid" he handed me my inhaler, "you had a good system. And when it gets fucked with, you get ancy." 

I took a puff from my inhaler, letting it calm me down. 

"but we can figure something out" he continued, "I am sure Smith will let you stay with him." 

Smith, Laura (Jim's wife)'s brother, owned the underground version of James' bar. 

I nodded, taking another puff of the inhaler, putting it my pocket. 

"Lee I know this is hard...and a lot at once... But look at it this way, your career is in the UC..so you still have that." Jim shrugged, trying to comfort me. 

"Jim, take him to Smith's, I have work..." James sighed. 

I had to get an umbrella out of my car so I could cross the street without being fried. 

We took the elevator in the back of the bar to get to Smith's. 

CHAPTER 

CHAPTER ?

“Say, what’s a kid like you doing working here? Freshly turned?” A man sitting at the bar in front of me asked.

“You could say that” I shrugged, cleaning a different glass.

“You’re Carter James, right? Charlie’s kid?”

I stared at him blankly for a moment “who?”

“Charles Lee James, went ‘missing’ 10 years ago”

“Why would you think that?”

“You look like him, got his wife’s eyes, but you look like him”

“It could just be a coincidence”

“Look, how ‘bout you tell me what you know about him disappearing, and I’ll tell you where to find ‘em”

“You want me to tell you about a missing person so you can tell me where this missing person is?”

“You know he didn’t leave you, not by choice, so what’s the harm?”

So I told him…. 
“My dad’s name was..is Charles Lee James, but he goes by Charlie. He disappeared when I was 7, leaving me with my grandmother who was losing herself, and my uncle who hated me. People told me that he left me, that he was a shitty person, but honestly, it's not like he went to get the milk. He had gone to work, taking me with him. I loved watching him race. He was a racer, and a damn good one, one of the reasons I race. So, I was sitting in the tent where the official people were. I didn’t like them then, don’t like them now. Anyway, my uncle had come into the tent, and took me home, he said my dad had left. Which that didn’t make any sense…he loved his family, he wouldn’t leave. I grew up under my uncle's care until I was fed up with his shit and ran away at 10. I made my way to the city, as we lived in the outskirts of the UC. The James brothers found me, raised me, and then I got bit a few weeks ago and here I am”

The man nodded slowly, “sounds about right, but I can’t tell ya’ what actually happened. You’ll have to ask Charlie.” He slid a piece of paper to me. 

I looked at it, it was a zip code and mailbox number. “That’s it? No street name?”