Well in the spring leading into the summer of 2008, I found myself jumping on the vampire bandwagon. This led me to create my own characters in preparation for a book, beginning with a version of myself that evolved into my main character's father. Two years before the events of the story, a girl named Alex goes missing, causing her family to move. This leads my main character, Jane into a depression that lasts for a couple years, since she was best friends with Alex and her brother Dave, and dated their older brother Dan.
Fast forward two years later, Alex's family comes back around Christmas and they have mourned and moved on. Over this time, Jane has distanced herself from friends and family, and has become extremely powerful for a vampire her age (at this point all the younger characters are freshmen in high school). Her spirits begin to pick up now that she has her friends back. Things start to get weird when a girl named Stephanie who look disturbingly similar to Jane transfers to the school. Over the year the group gets into it with Stephanie and her clique, eventually leading to a slip of the tongue that Stephanie knows something about Alex's disappearance. Further investigation leads to them discovering that Stephanie is actually a physical manifestation of Jane's earlier depression, which has taken the for of a dark entity in Stephanie. Stephanie's clique is also revealed to be doppelgängers of Dan, John, and Dave.
Over the time leading up to the big reveal. Jane and Dan grow closer, and begin dating again. John (Jane's twin brother) and Dave finally admit feelings for each other after years of repression, to everyone's relief. Another character, Ricky's, parents die in a car accident and he moves in with Jane's. He had been in love with Alex before she disappeared and through use of human magic, managed to pinpoint her location. The only problem was he couldn't access the dimension she was in.
Enter Renee. Renee is the mother of Dave, Dan, and Alex. She is a vampire who excels in using human magic, but breaking into locked dimensions is something even the most experienced witches can do, let alone a vampire. Through sheer force of will, she manages to break in, but passes out from exhaustion. The more powerful adults enter the dimension, but are overwhelmed by the monsters there, the teens try to provide support, but are taken to a separate area, where they encounter Stephanie, her group, and Alex.
This leads to a battle, with all the doppelgängers being defeated and Stephanie's body being destroyed, with the mass of dark energy escaping. The group rejoices at finding Alex, who was being used as catalyst for many spells due to her unique hybrid physiology. Ricky is reunited with her, and in the final weeks of freshman year, it is revealed that Alex is pregnant.
Fast forward four and a half months, Alex gives birth to a child, Mariah (vampire pregnancies are twice as fast). Everything is going fine, until the mass of negative energy that created Stephanie possesses Mariah, claiming to be the Ixirian, or Destroyer, and attacks everyone. The original plan was to beat her into submission and exorcise her (not in the traditional sense). However, in a freak accident, Jane's fire powers activate (until then she was just an earth user), and Mariah is thrown into it, killing her.
Obviously, this hurts everyone, especially Jane who faults herself. After an emotional breakdown at Christmas, it is decided that the teenagers will be sent to an island where humans and vampire live alongside in peace, for a change of scenery as well as better, more vampire appropriate education.
Thats where the real story begins...
Believe it or not this is the short version. I didn't even touch on all the characters that I wanted to, but I wanted to get the main stuff down.