First Draft Prologue

Note of Introduction. This comes as a collaboration between me and a friend. Characters are shared from both her stories and mine. Note this is a prologue, and it's a first rough draft, so please keep that in mine.


Valeria leaned against the concrete wall of the alley. Her breath was shallow and harsh. Sweat coated her brow, and stained her shirt. She pushed her self from the wall, loosing her balance for a second, stumbling slightly, before coming to a solid stance. She looked down at her feet, seeing the corpse of what had just attacked her.
Through it’s heart was a long metal bar, that had been twisted by the creature, and used against her only minutes before. She cursed her self for letting it get any sort of upper hand, even though she got away from the attack without any real damage. She kicked the corpse again, making sure she had aimed right and killed the thing.
“Damn Vampire…” she cursed under her breath. She slowly started to walk away from the corpse, her body stiff, and subtle waves of pain moving through her body. Emanating from her chest and arms, where most of the creature’s blows were centered.
It was late, and she was tired, but still work needed to be done. Valeria made her away about a block and a half down the road to find a small café she liked to visit. It was open twenty-four seven, and she found it a comforting home away from home. She ran her fingers through her straw-berry blonde hair and sighed as she entered, knowing she must look a horrible mess.
The café itself was mostly empty, tables to her left were empty, except for a girl with a stack of books, a particularly large one open inches from her nose. The clerk behind the clerk was a man she knew, Gabe. He was alright in her mind, but kind of dull, and a bit slow on the uptake.
Valeria smiled walking up to the counter. “Hey Gabe, slow night.”
He just nodded, looking her over once. She ignored it. “Yes it is.” He said simply. “What would ya like, Ria?” he asked.
Ever the conversationalist, Valeria thought, smiling to herself. “Just a coffee, something to wake me up.”
Gabe just nodded and went about his work. Valeria slid her hands into her pockets, feeling for money to buy the drink. It took her a moment to feel a hole in her right pocket. She cursed yanking her hands out of their pockets and felt along her jeans, wondering, hoping, that the money was just trapped inside.
“Four bucks.” Gabe said, putting the cup on the table.
“Uh…” Valeria said, wondering what she would do.
“I’ll take care of it.” A voice from behind Valeria said. She turned and saw the girl put the money on the counter. She smiled at Valeria before going back to her books.
Valeria laughed softly and picks up the coffee. “Yeah…Thanks…” she said to Gabe and walks over to the table. “Thank you,” she said with a smile, sitting at the table. “It was very kind.”
The girl looked up from her book. “It’s not a problem.” She smiled. “My good deed for the day.”
Valeria smiled. “So, what’s your name?”
“Noah, and…Ria, if I heard correctly.”
Valeria nodded. “Well, Valeria, but only my brother calls me that. Most just stick with Ria.”
Noah smiled. “Well, I’ll keep that in mind.” She looked back at her book, reading.
Valeria leaned over and looked at the text. “Medicine huh? Going to be a doctor?”
Noah nodded, and blushed slightly. “Yeah…I’m trying.”
“That’s good…”
Silence came over the two. Valeria gently sipped her coffee and looked around the café. “Not very busy…”
Noah laughed softly. “I find places aren’t at one am.”
“Well, some places are.” Valeria smiled. “But I know what you mean…”
The silence returned. It became heavier, and more uncomfortable between the two. It was hard for Valeria to talk about anything. This was just a normal girl. Nicer than most, sure. But she couldn’t really relate to her.
“I…uh…should be going.” Valeria stood slowly. “I’ll see ya around, okay?”
Noah nodded. “Alright…” she blushed softly as Valeria left the table, leaving her alone again.