The setting sun had once meant something. It had once been a signal, the start of another day of war. She had once lived for the night. The shadows had been her home. It was a time that was hers - a time of conquest and victory. But such a life was far from her now. It had been twenty-one years since her world d been torn asunder and her life had been torn from her.

Life now was far from what it had been. She had spent most of her day hauled up in a library, passing time among books and sitting at a computer. For a time she had even met up with a group of classmates, trying to piece together and finish a group project. The rest had been spent putting together a long winded essay. It was times like this that she found school to be a waste. Citations and research were tedious things. However, she had made a decision to make something of her human existence. So if she had to spend her time locked up among books that remembered history a bit differently than she did, then so be it. 

The last rays of the sun slipped below the horizon when Elizabeth finally immerged from the library. It was far later than she would have liked. Her trek to her apartment wasn’t too far. However, there was too much to do with her day to let the hours of sleep pass by. Walking down the street, the shadows grew more abundant as the darkness of night began to spread. While she no longer lived for the night, the darkness was an old friend.

A chill down her spine stopped her in her tracks. Slowly she turned on her heels, jumping in surprise as she came face to face with a vampire. White coated her vision as her head slammed into the concrete of a nearby wall. Desperately she shook her head as she tried to regain her vision and orient herself with the world. Since the day she had become Elizabeth Wright, she had never expected to be attacked by a vampire. Perhaps today was one of those days where she should have just never climbed out of bed.

---

The Order was chaotic.

That very thought was enough to make the man smirk as he wandered through the halls of the high-rise building. It was early in the night, the start of the day as it were. The building was usually calm, the front of a business simple enough to hide the truth that was underneath. The only time the guise seemed to crack was at night when women and men rushed here and there. For as much chaos that the Order tried to contain, one wouldn’t expect anything different. He had been a part of this world for a while, but there were still things that baffled him.

“Mark, you’re needed in the field,” the raspy voice of an older woman called to him.

The man turned to face the woman who had addressed him. Her lips were pressed in a thin line, gray hair poking out from the tight bun it was wrapped up in. Within her frail hands she held an envelope out to him. 

Mark offered her a smile before reaching out to retrieve the item, “Thanks, Mrs. Bowman.” The older woman gave a quick nod, before leaving the man behind. He glanced down at the envelope before letting out a small sigh. “Never a dull moment around here… maybe I should go rogue.”