I slipped through the shadows of the ally, stalking my pray. A young man, lost in the dark maze of streets. fool I thought. I was about to act when I felt another vampire's aura.

"Tyler, why do you hide from me?" I called. "Are you afraid of me?"

"I would never fear you, Nesika" Tyler emerged from the shadows. "Just keeping you on your toes."

I glared at him. "What do you want?"

"Me? I want nothing. It is Zarha who request your presence."

"You may tell her I am busy." I snapped.

"Tell her yourself. I'm not your slave." Tyler growled.

"No, you only take orders from Zarha like a good little lap dog," I countered.

"You better watch it, Nesika, I am stronger than you." With that Tyler disappeared, a power few vampires have.

I stared at the spot Tyler was. It was true: he was stronger than me, but I refused to kiss his shoes because of it. Appetite spoiled, I returned home to find Zarha sitting on my bed.

"I've been waiting for you, Nesika," Zarha commented. I said nothing, just look at her wryly. Zarha was my blood mother. She was the one who had pulled me from my innocent human life and given me power.

"We need to talk." Zarha's voice jerked me away from my thoughts.

"I'm not in the mood," I replied.

"Fine, but I'll be back tomorrow. You can be sure of that." She disappeared. I sighed and laid down on my bed. I quickly fell asleep. Like most of my kind, I did not dream.

I awoke at night fall. I remembered not feeding last night and was very thirsty. I disappeared to feed.
After I fed I brought myself to the outskirts of New Mayhem. I entered The Den of Shadows, a small and quite bar. I much preferred it over the noisy crowd at Los Nochos. I didn't order anything, just sat there thinking.

"Troubled, Nesika?" I looked up to see Jagar.

"Hello, Jagar. Yes, I 'm troubled, but I always am now," I said.

"Aren't we all?" He said, sitting down besides me.

Just then Kristifer burst through the door carrying Lennet, who was badly hurt. I jumped up to help.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Dominique Vida. Ambush," Kristifer managed before he collapsed. I cursed. Dominique Vida was a vampire hunter, and a good one.

I knelt over Lennet while Jagar helped Kristifer into a chair. I started to heal Lennet but she was to badly hurt.

"Jagar, I need your help!" I called and in instant he was there. Together we heal Lennet. It was hard work, but we managed.

Unlike Jagar, I was not used to using this much power at a time and fainted from exhaustion.

When I woke up I was on the floor of the Den of Shadows. Jager was bent over me and I could hear the moans of Lennet in the back ground.

"Are you alright?" Jager asked me.

"Yea, I'm fine. I'm just not used to healing like that," I answered. "Is Lennet okay?"

"Much better, but she's saying that her head really hurts. We're not sure what happened." Seeing my worried face he added, "Don't worry, she'll be fine."

"Okay," I said, smiling at Jager.

I sat up. I felt fine except for a small pain in my back. I didn't really care because strong vampires had a high tolerance for pain. I was very strong, but Lennet on the other hand... I glanced at Lennet on my way out of the bar. Once outside I deiced that I would like to walk home.

At the very edge of New Mayhem I paused in front of a bush. This wasn't any bush, for it was covered in black roses, the vampire's symbol for as long as anyone could remember.

I stared at the roses remembering the day I became a vampire... I had struggled in Zarha's grasp but it had done no good...

"Nesika, wait!" I heard someone call. Instantly I knew who it was.

"What is it, Jager?" I asked with my back still to him.

"I just wanted to tell you that you did a good job back there. You're good at handling crisis." I turned to look at Jager's face. I could tell that wasn't the thing he wanted to say.

"Thank you," I said. Then I disappeared.

Jager's POV

Jager stood there for quite a while after Nesika disappeared. He wished for nothing more than for her to come back and let him hold her in his arms. Why was he feeling like this? He had never felt it before.

Why did he love her? The one who wanted nothing more to do with love, and for a good reason? Why…?

Jager sighed before disappearing to his own house.