First of its Kind

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.

We stick together in the worlds of business, finance, politics, education and science. We band together to defend our livelihood from the predators who threaten us. We can sense the Inimicus. We know them the moment we look at them. And they instantly know what we are the moment they look at us. I can't explain it. I guess our two species have a unique relationship. Like that of mongooses and snakes. We can't stand them. And they hate us. Only one of us will see the end of the twenty first century. These days, we're playing for keeps. And we're risking far too much. We can't afford to lose. Especially since the Inimicus aren't the only threat we got to deal with these days.

Ever find yourself puzzled as to why some of the most evil people in history seem to inspire such loyalty in otherwise decent folks? You see it all the time. The evil CEO whose henchman is a kind-hearted, devoted and God-fearing family man. The Queen Bee who enjoys destroying the lives of those around her just for kicks and yet seems to have the devotion of the nicest and most wholesome girls in school. The diabolical mastermind who leads courageous heroes to their unnecessary deaths yet always saves his own skin. These people are the Inimicus. They have no conscience. And they're charming, intelligent and ruthless. The Inimicus have created a group of humans among the Mundanes who exist exclusively to serve them. The members of this group are known as the Familiars.

What is a Familiar? A man or woman who exists only to serve the sociopaths, psychopaths, remorseless monsters and megalomaniacs of the world. This person seems otherwise smart, able and decent. You often find yourself wondering how can they serve a master of darkness or mistress of evil with such zeal. What's wrong with them? Why would the wife of a serial killer help him get away with multiple murder? Why would the policeman husband of a nurse convicted of poisoning hapless patients help her get away from justice? Why do the underlings of the men and women of the Senate make their masters and mistresses dirty political messes disappear? Why do corporate entities hire big-shot lawyers to defend those corporate men and corporate women who are clearly guilty and feel zero remorse? The answer is that they're the Familiars. Helping their masters and mistresses get away with stuff is what they do. They're ready and eager to take the fall for these evil creatures. Every day of the week. It's eerie.

The Familiars are everywhere. They're the foot soldiers of the Inimicus. They carry out their masters and mistresses dirty work. They provide the alibis. They make witnesses and evidence disappear. Every Inimicus on the planet has at least one Familiar working for him or her. How did the Familiars come about? When an Inimicus mates with a Mundane, most of the time the offspring is another Inimicus. A man or woman without conscience who will grow up to terrorize, bully, manipulate and destroy human beings just for kicks. However, sometimes the offspring of an Inimicus and a Mundane isn't another Inimicus. Sometimes, it's a human being who is attuned to detecting the Inimicus and has an inbred psychological need to serve something or someone greater than himself or herself. The Familiars make for great lackeys and toadies. They always do as they are told. And they almost never ask questions. In the movies, they appear as tragic figures and comic relief. In real-life, they're deadly. The Inimicus use them to carry out hostile operations against the Kin when they simply cannot be bothered.

At the place where I work, I feel quite alone because I'm virtually the only Kin. The owner of Dale & Anderson Inc. is an Inimicus. I'm sure of it. Fortunately, I don't see Miss Jennifer Dale too often. A tall, good-looking but harebrained Paris-Hilton type of female who's worth mega millions but prefers partying and traveling the world beating up her assistants and sleeping around with different men as well as women to actively running a corporation. Her life makes great tabloid fodder. Not all Inimicus are brilliantly twisted masterminds. Some are quite dumb guys and dumb chicks who don't give a damn about anything or anyone and just want to have fun. Selfish clods with very little in the way of aspiration. How I despise them.

I'm twenty four years old and I'd like to think I did well for myself. I graduated from Winston College's Business School with my MBA a little over a year ago. I got hired by Dale & Anderson Inc. and pushed myself as hard as I could. I live in a nice townhouse located in Boston's Back Bay. My parents live in the nearby town of Milton. I don't see them too often. They've taken to traveling to the Caymans quite often as of late. I don't mind. I love my folks but I really like having them out of my hair. They've been asking me about my personal life. Not a discussion I care to have with them.

Among the Kin, parents are always pressuring their offspring to be successful and then to be fruitful in the Biblical sense. I don't care much for marriage at the moment, thank you very much. I like my freedom. The life of a married man isn't an easy one anywhere, regardless of what gender issues activists might tell you. When I enrolled at Winston College, I found myself transported into another world. This was a school which deserved to join the Ivy League, if there was any justice in collegiate America. Winston College was a private Catholic school with about twenty five thousand students. They had two campuses, one in Boston and the other in Hollister. I was accepted on a student-athlete scholarship for Cross Country. Winston College's Department of Athletics sponsored Men's Baseball, Basketball, Rugby, Fencing, Water Polo, Cross Country, Football, Swimming, Gymnastics, Wrestling, Golf, Tennis, Soccer, Ice Hockey and Volleyball along with Women's Softball, Water Polo, Basketball, Rugby, Cross Country, Field Hockey, Fencing, Gymnastics, Swimming, Tennis, Golf, Wrestling, Soccer, Ice Hockey and Volleyball. They compete in the NCAA Division One.

I joined the school mostly because I had heard many of my kind attended. The rumors proved to be true. There were eight hundred and seventy nine Kin men along with nine hundred and sixteen Kin women among the student body. Members of my species like attending college in the state of Massachusetts. It's a progressive and liberal state. I ought to know, I grew up out here. We formed a top secret community at Winston College. The elite of the student body. We were naturally smarter than the Mundanes and our only competition were the Inimicus and the Familiars on both the student body and the faculty. Collegiate politics is a thriving environment for men and women with high ambition and no conscience. It was in this cutthroat environment that I met the so-called love of my life, Athena Bradshaw.

How to describe Athena Bradshaw? A six-foot, pretty-faced, athletic and voluptuous young woman with dark brown skin, light brown eyes and long, lustrous black hair. She looked gorgeous in her blue and gold Winston College Women's Varsity Rugby letterman jacket. Athena was smart as a whip, majoring in Criminal Justice. Oops, I almost forgot. The gal was finer than fine, and had a fine, thick round booty which porn stars would envy. Pardon my French. I ran into her in my Business Ethics class during freshman year at Winston College. She was smoking hot, and very smart. This lovely young lady was Kin, something I could sense a mile away. Still, that's not all that attracted me to her. There was an aura of power about her. During a heated debate about ethics in the corporate world, we kind of clashed. Our eyes met and from that moment, I must say I was intrigued. Fortunately, the feeling appeared to be mutual.

I approached her at the library after class and learned a bit more about her. This Kin woman hailed from the city of Los Angeles. She was a transfer from UCLA. Like me, she chose Winston College because of the high concentration of our kind on the student body. She was the daughter of Ernest Bradshaw, the Chief of Police in Los Angeles. Her brother, college basketball legend Jimmy Bradshaw left UCLA during his junior year, opting for a career in the NBA. Like her father, she aspired to work in law enforcement. I was impressed. When I asked about her mother, she darkened. I bit my lips. Had I asked the wrong question? Athena gave me a sad look, then answered my question. Her mother Kyria Johnson Bradshaw was dead, shot by a Familiar. I shook my head. So many of our kind have been slain by these Familiars. How I despise them. Humans allied with monsters against us Kin, we who once protected humanity for many menaces in the olden days.

I looked at Athena as she perused through a Forensics book. This young woman was very interesting. I was seriously thinking about asking her out when some guy walked over and she kissed him. I stared at the newcomer, nonplussed. He was tall, lean and blond-haired, with alabaster skin that looked like it hadn't seen daylight in a decade. I was half-right. The newcomer was John Sampson, of the Winston College Men's varsity Football team. Athena noticed the look on my face, smiled and introduced me to Mr. Football Guy. As I had sensed the moment he sat with her, he was Kin. Sampson shook my hand, and asked us what was going on. I looked at Athena. She bit her lips and said we were just working on something from class. Sampson clapped my shoulder in an overly friendly gesture and said something about his girlfriend being the smartest person he knew. I looked him up and down. Clearly he should get out more. Of course, I didn't say that. Pissing off female Kin can be hazardous to one's health.

As I tried not to give in to the urge I had to deck Sampson, Mr. Football Guy went on and on about his latest accomplishments. Something about his coach telling him he might make it into the First Round of the NFL Draft this year. Athena beamed and hugged him, by way of congratulations. I couldn't take this anymore. I congratulated Sampson on all his success, shook Athena's hand then said something about needing to get to my next class. Athena waved me goodbye. Sampson wasn't quite ready to let me go yet. He said something about his team mates having a little get-together at his residence hall tonight at seven. He said I was welcome to come along. I smiled icily, said I'd think about it then hurried out of the library. I can't recall the last time I felt more embarrassed. I should have known a gorgeous female Kin like Athena wouldn't stay single for long.

I busied myself with schoolwork and tried my best to avoid Athena and Sampson, though it wasn't easy. They were the golden couple on campus. My buddy Jake from the Cross Country team ribbed me about losing the girl I liked to a white guy but I just laughed it off. Plenty of fish in the sea, I told him. Well, I was half right. The thing about Kin men and Kin women is that we don't play around the way humans do. Most of us mate for life. The best-looking, most intelligent and most capable male Kin had been picked off one by one by eager female Kin. Among our kind, the females chose the males and not the other way around. Everyone was pairing off left and right.

For the most part, I didn't care. I've always been at odds with Kin society. Why does a male Kin have to be married to a worthy female in his early twenties or be considered the male equivalent of an old maid? Some aspects of our society really irked me. But I couldn't say that to my parents for fear of being cast out of the family. It's not that I didn't have offers from female Kin. There was a lovely young woman named Isabel Hawthorne in my Automated Accounting class. She was tall, slender, with red hair, alabaster skin and pale green eyes. This lovely lady hailed from Washington and looked like a young Julianne Moore. Unfortunately, she didn't light my fire. No one did. Don't think I was moping over Athena. She was free to be with whatever man she chose. That's Kin law. However, I just wasn't ready for the responsibilities of husband and father. I wanted more freedom than that. So I remained single until graduation, and beyond.

The life of a Kin man who's had the responsibilities of husband and father thrust upon him isn't easy. For starters, we're a species that's constantly at war with elements within humanity that wish us harm. No female Kin will choose a male who isn't smart, savvy, strong, and financially dependable. Also, he must come from a good lineage genetically. He must be ready to support a wife and offspring from the get-go or she'll move on to the next Kin man. Since these are times of war, no female Kin will allow herself to be impregnated by a male Kin while living in a territory that's filled with our enemies, be they Inimicus, Familiars or simply hostile Mundanes. It's sort of like the prerogative of a female wolf who doesn't let a male wolf mount her because she doesn't want to give birth to her pups in bear country. Bears and wolves aren't friends. Neither are Kin and Inimicus.

Kin prefer to have families in small, quiet towns. We do very well for ourselves in places like rural Maine, the backwoods of Canada and so on. You get the idea. We don't like big cities because they're crawling with Inimicus and Familiars these days and our young are especially vulnerable in them. A male Kin who chooses to marry and sire offspring in the big city has his work cut out for him. He's gonna have to defend a family from the constant attacks of the Inimicus. Our war wages on right underneath everyday humanity's noses. I fight my people's enemies in my own way. Since I joined Dale & Anderson Inc. I've gotten rid of many Inimicus and Familiars among the company's bigshots. They've had fatal accidents. I've gotten quite good at fighting the enemy. My natural ruthlessness has helped me a great deal. The battle isn't over yet and I intend to win it by any means necessary. Maybe someday I'll meet a female Kin with progressive ideas and start a family with her. But that's about as likely as meeting a unicorn since my people are so rigid. Here's to hoping for change, hey?