[h2][b] Angel[/b][/h2] The bar had seemed like any old bar upon first glance. Located in the slummiest area of Riverbury, it was a hot-spot for criminal activity. Black heeled boots clicked against the cracked side-walk as a girl in black made her way toward her destination, the moonlight reflecting off her red hair which bounced gently behind her with every step. She had passed this way before months ago and the area had been a mess of gangs and robberies. Now there was only silence that filled the brisk air. Rock music could dimly be heard the closer she got to the bar. She pushed open the door with her elbow, moving in without a hesitation. The aroma of cigar smoke hit her hard in the face immediately. She could see the smoke twisting in its artistic way through the air, forming curls in the foggy atmosphere, illuminated only by the dim bar lights. There was a green-felted pool table nearby the entrance with a couple of thuggish dudes surrounding it. The ginger leaned against the wall, pulling a small lemon out of her bag and biting into it, peel and all. There were about four playing pool. Their outfits almost seemed business-like. She could spot quite a few expensive articles. Each of them had rather pale skin, which didn't surprise her at all. She had been expecting that this place was under new management so to speak. There was a woman in tight, skimpy clothing with a long black pony-tail working the bar. There was a whole bunch of people seated around the bar and the tables nearby it. Their voices were loud and indistinguishable from each other. She hated the sound of crowds. It gave her a head-ache. Everyone just happened to be very pale here with noticeably vibrant eyes. Maybe they lacked diversity here. She knew she was so wrong for hoping for that reasoning. She craned her neck and got on her tippy toes. Finally, she had found what she had been looking for. "Bingo."She whispered under her breath. Three people were tied to the wall behind the bar. Their heads hung limply and death seemed to be welcoming them with open arms. Their clothes were splattered with red and jars filled with liquid filled the shelves. She watched the bartender stroll up to one and secure a tube to the neck of one of the victims. With a grimace, the red-haired girl pushed off the wall and made her way toward the bar, gaining the gazes of everyone around her. She shrugged her black leather jacket off and tied it around her waist. Gloved-hands pressed against the edge of the bar as she pushed herself between a couple. "Excuse me." She felt as if every gaze in the entire bar had fallen on her. She glanced around and smirked, taking another bite of her lemon. "I'm kinda disappointed in the lack of options you got here. I was hoping to at least see a bloody mary on the menu. Any chance you know how to make one, blood-sucker?" Someone whistled. "You got some nerve, livestock." Some of the men started chuckling and the women were staring at her as if she were insane. "Do you have a death wish, kid?" She asked incredulously, craning her neck over the crowd to look by the door. "Who the fuck let this brat in here?" "You bet I have a death wish and it's for all you lousy, murdering pieces of shit. Give me the humans and tell me where I can find Lee or else no one is getting out of here alive." The bar broke into laughter. Some of them were even slapping their knees. "Oh honey, the only one not getting out of here alive is you." The barista opened her mouth, her sharp teeth emerging. The others began to circle around her like vultures, chuckling. Angel quickly moved back and reached behind her back. There were two sheaths crossed in the form of a "X" across her back. She pulled out two long swords with purple detailing on the handles. The sharp sound of swords being unsheathed filled the air and made everyone take a step back, confidence slowly dwindling. "Oh, fuck...She's one of them." "A hunter? Alone? What a fool." Angel twisted her body around and drew her sword roughly in a circle as she sliced an incoming attacker across the chest, simultaneously kicking another in the face. She landed her feet up on a table in her upward motion and kept her swords at her sides. The vampire fell to the floor, twitching slightly before finally going still. "Have you forgotten what our swords are soaked in?"She asked icily. "Sure you can probably outnumber me but the risk remains." She knew they were all so much stronger than her and she'd be stupid to think they'd feel threatened by her. Still, she knew some of them had to be cowardly when it came to risking their lives. Not all of them were soldiers prepared to battle. They looked at each other, mumbling. Some of them actually backed off while others seemed to just get more pissed off. The barista moved forward, drawing a sword as well. "It's worth if I get to feel your life slip away as I drink every last drop of your blood." Angel tilted her head. The woman was strong. There was a way that she carried herself in dress and in conduct that suggested her old age. The older the vampire, often the stronger they were. The problem was some of the other ones behind her looked just as strong. Some of them were trying to close in behind, ready to pounce. Sometimes Angel just liked to pretend that she was dumb enough to try and fight all of them. They bought it and they in return bought her time. She charged forward and made a sudden change in direction toward the power cord. She sliced it quickly and efficiently and the power went out. "Oh hell!" The barista ran over to turn it back on. Vampires could see much better than humans could in the light but the darkness was another story. Their sight was perhaps even worse than a human's in the darkness. They relied on their other senses more in the dark. She quickly moved from the cord and ran to the humans. She chucked one girl over her shoulder and grabbed the other two's arms. She quickly dragged them outside and sat them there. She ran back inside, shutting the door behind her as the lights came back on. She went charging at the barista, clashing both her swords against hers. "Miss me?" She hissed tauntingly in her face. "Tell me where Lee is or I'm going to-" "Silly."The barista interrupted and shoved her with sudden strength to the ground. Another vampire stepped on her chest as her swords clashed against the wooden floor loudly. "You're just livestock. That's all you'll ever be. If you can't hold a fight with a bar full of us then you're useless trying to pick a fight with Lee. He's three times harder than all of us put together... Just accept your place in the food chain worm." She began kicking hard in the gut until Angel coughed up a bit of blood. Each kick was a powerful force that made agony ripple through her body in waves like nothing she had felt before. It felt like everything inside her was bursting open.e The door swung open suddenly and a hooded figure came running in, swinging a giant, heavy blade hard against the barista's back. Her eyes widened and her lips parted in mid-gasp but no sound came out of her mouth. Instead, her torso slid off her body and hit the floor, her legs still weakly holding her waist up in the air. It crumpled after a couple seconds as well. It had been a clean cut through the entire body. Angel stared in horror but did not react vocally. Her head fell against the wooden floor and her eyes shut weakly. The figure scooped up Angel as if she were as light as paper and ran out before anyone could react. "God damn it Angel." Everything went black from there. However, it felt like it had been milliseconds later that she opened her eyes to white. Slowly, she rose her body up to rest on her elbows as she took in her surroundings. White sheets covered her lower half and white tiles covered the entire surface of the floor, not to mention the white walls and the white door and the doctor dude in the white lab coat at the desk to the left. She hated any type of health facility. They all looked the same and every time you woke up in one, it basically meant you got your ass kicked. She slowly tilted her head to gaze to the right of her. Evan sat there, his face buried in a book and his feet kicked up on the side-table. He was still wearing his black uniform. A few medals rested on the breast of his coat. She could spot a few blood splatters. "You waited for me to wake up."Angel stated though it was obvious. He looked up and sat his book down. His serious blue eyes bore into hers. His brown hairline was receding a tiny bit already despite his young age. "How many times does this have to happen for you to get it?" "Hey I usually kick their asses. I was just taking a chance with that one because this guy told me his sister was in the-" "I don't mean picking fights with vampires. I mean hell, that's our fucking job Angel and I've told you to do that as a priority. I'm talking about the fucking team work issues you got kid. You always go at it alone every time-" "Well you haven't exactly put me on a team. Holly and I are the only trainees right now and we're being trained separately. According to your rules, teams of two suck and we don't even talk to each other anyway. So I opted to go on my own and risk no one's ass but my own."Angel retorted, cutting him off. How could he sit there and chastise her about team work when she had no team? "Angel if you find out something you report it to me and we send in people to deal with it. One person isn't practical."Evan began exasperatedly. He ran a hand through his hair, looking deeply upset. "You could have asked your trainer, Niko, about it at the least. Going in by yourself is the most foolish, insane idea-" "But it usually works. Remember how I took on that vampire group on my own? They were no match-" "Angel you almost died this time, "Evan snapped, standing up. "They had to do so much work to make sure you lived. Vampire strength is so much stronger than ours that her kicks were doing internal damage. You're resting the next day or two then off to high school you go." "High school!"Angel repeated indignantly. She shot up out of the bed and he pushed her back down. "What the fuck would I be doing at a high school?" "Learning how to socialize and work with others. You have gone way too long avoiding social interaction and I'm throwing you into the midst of it. And guess what? I'm not even thinking about making you an official soldier unless you learn how to work with others. I'm not losing my troops to your foolishness." "But I've never gone before I'm years behind Evan please-" Evan waved her off, "Your grades don't matter. As soon as we see that you can interact with others functionally we will pull you out of there." She folded her arms, laying back down roughly. "I'm so fucking pissed at you. You can't make me-" "It's that or you can sit in my house all day staring at the wall wishing you could finally get your vengeance." "Fine."Angel said through gritted teeth. She kicked the blankets off herself and stormed out without another word. [h2][b]Zane[/b][/h2] Zane woke up with a start to the feeling of damp wood underneath his skin. Panting hard, he looked around the room around him, panic running through his veins for reason unknown to him. It seemed to be a stone-walled basement, with stairs leading to the next ground floor. It was furniture-less. He struggled to catch his breath as he glanced down at himself. He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and some sneakers. However, he lacked a shirt. A trail of dried blood covered his skin, leading up to his neck. A couple of garbage bags lined the back of the room. He gasped and began crawling backward on his palms when he noticed the puddle of blood he had been laying in. Where the hell was he and what had happened to him? He couldn't quite remember coherently. Last he remembered, he was out to dinner with some friends. He couldn't figure out what had happened no matter how he much he dug through his memories. It was all really blur and non-comprehensive. "Oh God..."He whispered as he struggled to get this feet. He had never felt so weak and light-headed before in his life. He immediately fell back to the floor upon getting up on his toes and laid there, head pounding. The creaking of old wood panels filled the silent air and made Zane stiffen. He slowly slid his gaze toward the staircase. A man had stopped half-way down the stairs to stare at him. "Holy shit. You're alive." He continued the stairs and leaned on his knees to bend over and stare at him more closely, amusement and curiosity twinkling in his eyes. "I never thought it would happen to me. How fascinating... Those eyes are something." "Wha-?" Zane asked drowsily. He rubbed his eyes and sat up on his palms. "What are you saying? Where am I?" "You're in my basement. You were my supper tonight but I guess I missed a drop. Very rarely does this ever result in [i]this[/i] though..." The blonde eyed him closely, tilting his head. He finally smirked at the confused expression Zane held. "Call me Micah. I'm what you would call a vampire. You had the unfortunate luck of being my meal tonight. You died and even more unfortunately for you, you're one of us now." "You're insane." Zane scampered to his feet, staring at him with wild eyes. This guy had to be the craziest guy he had ever met. His gaze searched back and forth across the room and he sped over to the bathroom faster than he had anticipated he would. He didn't ponder it. Hastily, he began washing the blood off his body in the sink. "How do I get out of here?" "Well. "Micah pointed to two wooden doors on the slanted ceiling, "You can leave if you want but I'm assuming you're going to be really hungry within the next hour. I can help you if you like." "Thanks but no thanks."He hurried over to the wooden doors and began climbing up and out. "Don't say I didn't warn you. "Micah said lowly. The dark night consumed Zane as he emerged from the wooden basement doors. He threw his body into a run without looking back, his sneakers loudly mashing against wet grass and dirt. The soil was saturated with with rain water, every step causing a temporary puddle. His socks quickly became moist and heavy, puddles forming under his soles. He heaved in and out loudly as he ran harder than he ever had before. He finally felt hard concrete beneath his feet and skidded to a stop, nearly trembling. He turned and looked over his shoulder at the area behind him. Rain hit his face like hard crystals as it fell fast and hard toward the ground. So much of it was falling that his visibility was clouded. It seemed as if there was a really large house with a whole lot of grass in between itself and the street. As the cold rain hit Zane with a determination, he began to wake up a tiny bit. Memories flashed by his eyes. Today there had been a new kid at school. His name had been Micah. Micah was the blonde boy who had just confronted him with the crazy nonsense. Micah had asked for tutoring to catch up and they went to Arby's. But then what...? Had Micah kidnapped him? A sudden burning sensation in his throat interrupted his thought process. Had he ate anything at all at the restaurant? He had never felt so hungry before in his life. A cool breeze made Zane shiver as he looked back and forth down the street. He was right by his house. Zane remembered passing this mansion now. It had its own little spot in the neighborhood, privately placed far from the rest of the houses and obscured by many trees. He had wondered a lot about it. However, not once had he heard about it being for sale. His stomach rumbled and famish stronger than ever before took over him. He needed food now. He thrust himself back into a run toward his house and barged right through the front door. Wild eyes searched back and forth rapidly the dark home, finally locking on the fridge. He ran over to it and began rummaging through packages of food, stuffing anything he can find in his mouth. After a few moments, he slid to his knees and leaned against the cabinet of the dimly lit kitchen. His stomach felt fuller but the yearning was still there and it was even stronger. His throat burned worse and worse with each second that ticked by. He got to his feet slowly and began fixing himself a cup of water when the most sweet aroma ever reached his nostrils. He dropped the cup in the sink, an animal instinct taking over him. He rushed back out of the house and into the streets, the rain hitting him harder than before. The torrential downpour sounded like rocks rapidly hitting the ground but it did nothing to stop the air from smelling so sweet. Cars in the street halted to a stop, screeching loudly as light brightly shone on him in the dark atmosphere. He had to have it. [i]Where is it ? Where is it? WHERE IS IT!?!? [/i] He took a sharp right turn into an alley and another turn only to halt in his footsteps. There was a young woman hunched over a limp, bloody body. She looked up at him with the most frightening eyes Zane had ever seen. They were completely black with bright red irises that had small lines that outstretched from the iris to the corners of the eye. He let out a shaky exhale in fear, stepping backward. "I was enticed by the scent of a corpse... "He whispered to himself. He fell to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks. "What are you doing?"She stood up and glared at him. "Are you trying to steal my dinner?" "N-N-No... I just..."Zane stammered, unsure what to say. He got back to his feet and stared with wide eyes as suddenly the woman's hands were around his throat. "I'm going to teach you a lesson bub. Did you think you could hunt on my feeding grounds and get away with it?" Her fist was a blur as sudden agony rippled through his body over and over again. She was punching him hard and fast to the point he could barely comprehend the movements. She stopped and grabbed his throat with both hands tightly, squeezing his throat. This was it. He was going to die this way.