Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes

It had struck fast, almost as fast as he could fly telekinetically and yet had been so quiet he hadn't heard it. And so he went down in a heap the moment it struck. Now he was awakening without the slightest bit of pain. It tickled actually.

The vampire feasting at his neck was – for some unknown reason – totally oblivious to the fact he still lived or was conscious at all. So he enjoyed the suckling embrace, with nary a drop of his precious blood going to waste. She was a practiced blood sucker this one.

He had to resist chuckling because until two minutes ago he never would have even believed that true vampires lived. Well, you know, existed because they certainly didn't live.

He knew now why he'd never heard her. Neither her heart beat nor her lungs require breath. This blond vixen was completely undead.

Would she "live" forever if he didn't kill her? Was she attempting to turn him into a vampire himself?

The vampire caressed his neck and his torso tenderly, lovingly while he decided to surprise her. "How's the blood?" he asked.

She rose from what he supposed should be his corpse, levitating slightly, staring contempt. She didn't speak but snarled instead.

"Ooh," he said as the puncture marks on his neck closed. He noticed her confusion. "You didn't expect that did you?" The vampire slowly started floating away from him, but he didn't believe it was afraid of him. That very thought intrigued him. He began to levitate and follow her. "So, now that you've had your snack, um," he paused, for once actually lost for words. It was only temporary as he quickly recovered. "Do you have a name?"

"Paula," the lady said with only the smallest fangs noticeable as she spoke. Her head was cocked to one side. "Are you an immortal," she asked.

So there were other immortals, not just him and Claire. Thank goodness! he thought. "I am but I'm not a vampire like yourself." He chuckled and looked – really looked – at what made this girl a vampire.

The solution was just about to reveal itself to his scrutiny when she pulled a dagger from her belt and threw it at him.

He stopped it in mid air but only after the sharp blade had touched the middle of his forehead.

Now he knew; the reason why there were so few regenerating heroes in the world was because vampires knew how to kill one. Most of them anyway. He felt a smile creep onto his face as the vampire lady frowned and threw three more daggers his way. There was no way he could let these get anywhere near him.

He strongly suspected that should she survive this encounter he'd be hunted by other vampires until they finally figured out a way to kill him.

"It was nice to meet you Paula," he said, and bowed, before he sliced her head off.

He'd guessed she couldn't die from a simple decapitation and he was right. He asked, as he telekinetically held both her head and her body in place against a wall. "Do I have to ask how to kill you or will you kindly return the favour of trying to kill me, repeatedly?" He smiled brilliantly.

"Never!" Paula hissed.

"Suit yourself." He stretched out his hand and sliced the scalp clean off the vampire's head. Unlike his many human victims – those he didn't surprise of course – this one never struggled or screamed. It was nowhere near as fun but he was definitely curious.

Paula just kept talking as he analyzed her brain.

"That doesn't hurt you know," she said. It was the only thing she'd babbled that had even remotely interested him.

He nodded and said, "What about this?"

With a defiant smile on her face that clearly said, "Bite me," she let out a blood curdling scream.

He poked and prodded into her lifeless brain until blood restarted to flow, returning to liquid form from having been congealed for what appeared to be 2053 years. He closed her up and said, "You know Paula, you're old."

Paula began to choke, unable to speak. Sylar smiled once more as he helped her to breathe with a few sharp jabs to her mostly dead but reviving diaphragm. "Breathe."

After two minutes Paula was once more very much alive. "What did you do? How did you reverse it?" She seemed happy beyond belief.

She was very beautiful but a tiny spark alerted Sylar to something else that was special about her. "You have a power." What a rare and uniquely powerful gift it was. He stretched his hand toward her and once more lopped off her scalp even as she had been ready to give him a huge hug and quite possibly a mad humping for being returned to life.

None of that mattered; he relished her screams as he took her power.

It was the first vampire he'd ever met. On a hunch – one that proved correct – he was no longer interested in hunting humans with powers. Sylar, from that night forward, only hunted vampires because all vampires had powers.

And they were good: his personal favourites were being able to see in the infrared and a little supernatural charm.