"I hate this city. It's cold, dirty, and soulless. I guess we have that in common, but I still hate this city. Living in the country would be preferable, but with fewer people around, it's easier to get noticed. Small towns are the places where everyone knows everyone else, so it's harder to hide what I am.

Cities are a perfect place for a predator. Most people think the cities are safer as there are more watchful eyes, but people nowadays don't look out for each other like they once did. Neighbors in apartment buildings can live for years next to each other and never learn the other person's name.

It's strange when you think about it. People in small towns can live several blocks from each other and still be friends, but those in the city can live next door to strangers. You would think the closer proximity would lead to more association, but it seems the opposite is true. Humans in cities are more isolated than ever.

People barely speak to one another, buried in their cellphones and their own interests. I can't tell you how many times I've stood at this window and watched the crowds on the sidewalks. They pass the same people every day, sometimes walking alongside them or taking the same subways, but they never speak. They don't care about those around them. If one of them were to be absent the following day, it's doubtful anyone would even notice. It's certainly made my work easier, but it's a terrible way to exist, for me and them.

It's raining again. Forecast has it scheduled to continue the rest of the week. It's hard to see the rain at night, even with eyes like mine. Sure, you can see it near the streetlights, at least near the ones that still work, but above the small tunnels of light, the rain stays invisible, impossible to see until it lands on the unsuspecting humans below, taking them by surprise.

Have you ever heard the city referred to as a concrete jungle? I picked up the term somewhere, but I can't remember the specifics. It's truer than most know. Towering structures of steel, concrete, and glass compose the forest of civilization, but predators still stalk the landscape, watching the prey, looking for weaknesses to exploit and those who stray from the herd far enough to be picked off with ease.

It has been said that people who are constantly looking for threats are paranoid. Do you know what they call people who don't look for threats? Victims. This is the way the world has become.

Civilization is a sham. Humans pretend to be honorable and noble, but how many turn on each other? Some take greater motivation than others, but anyone will turn on anyone else if the circumstances are right. Perhaps someone broke the law, and their friend, under the guise of doing what is in their friend's best interest, turns them in. Convoluted circumstances, I know, but it has happened. Numerous reasons exist for the betrayal of one's own. Jealousy, revenge, greed, and hate are some of the most common, but you would be surprised how many turn on each other while thinking they're doing the right thing for the other person. Do the reasons really matter? It's still a betrayal, still a violation of trust.

As I said, civilization is a sham. People are predators, fighting and killing to be supreme. They try to hide their true selves behind laws and codes of morality, but when their lives are on the line, how often does adherence to those high minded principals go out the window?  Everything is fair in love and war, or so the saying goes. Morality seems to become suspended during a time of war, but if you can lay aside your conscience, can you ever claim to have had one? Clearly it wasn't very important if you can throw it away so easily.

In ages past, before a war would begin, the leaders of each side would meet in the open space between the two armies and discuss their differences one last time in an attempt to prevent the bloodshed certain to follow if they could not resolve their conflict. Today, such would not be possible. A leader going out to meet the enemy would be killed dead before he uttered a single word. Perhaps he'd be killed by a bomb planted in the shadows by someone who'd already fled the battlefield, or maybe he'd be eliminated by an unmanned drone flying out of sight in the distant skies. Honor has no meaning as winning and survival have become the only things of importance.

Most humans don't think of themselves as killers, but let's be honest, if their survival were on the line, how many would fight to live? They would claw, bite, and kill with their bare hands if necessary. My kind are hunted by humans because we're a threat to them, and when we feed on humans, we kill to prevent them from alerting the hunters. You see? It's all about survival. If you don't kill the thing that's a threat, it will eventually succeed in killing you.

Survival at any cost is a concept I'm familiar with, intimately familiar. It is the basis of all animal instinct. Animals are indifferent to the ideas of good and evil; there is only survival. Kill for food or to keep from becoming food; fight to ensure the future of your family line. It doesn't matter what lines are ended as long as yours endures. There is no malice or hatred, only the will to live for another day.

You may be wondering why I'm bothering to tell all this to someone I've tied to a chair. I've enjoyed our conversation, even though it was a bit one sided with you being gagged and all, but I wanted you to know my actions are not out of any hatred for you or humanity. I'm a survivor, and I'll survive at any cost required, including the taking of human lives. This does, unfortunately, include yours. This is simply the way of things. I am a vampire, and you are food."

In a flash, the vampire moved from the window and descended on his helpless victim, biting down with sharp teeth upon the man's neck. Pain lasted only for a moment. As the blood flowed out, all sensation went with it, draining away with the man's life until everything was gone.