Disclaimer: Regrettably, I do not own, nor will I ever own, the Infernal Devices, the Mortal Instruments or any of Cassandra Clare's wonderful characters. However, I completely own Gabriel and his family and any characters not recognizable in her series.

A/N: Since reading CA, I have been obsessed with Camille and her plight. I hope that you like this story as much as I need to write it. :)

Prologue

London, February 18, 1800

Lady Camille Belcourt walked the dark streets of London alone. Of course, it wasn't proper for a woman, Lady or not, to walk the streets alone anytime after dark. But the dark is what suited her best. Her silk skirts rustled and her heeled boots echoed across the empty storefronts as she walked. Someone, rather recently, had been by on stilts to light the gas lanterns on the street corners. But Camille kept to the shadows as much as possible. Soon, she would hunt. Camille wasn't a normal woman and hadn't been for quite some time. Her superior hearing picked up on the fact that she had no heartbeat. There was no blood rushing through her ears or adrenaline that would make her senses overly sharp. Her senses were already extra sharp. Her breath was nonexistent. She did not fear the cold since she was always cold. Her eyes could see for more than any mundane humans'.

She was vampire. Over the sound of her heavy sapphire earrings swinging in her ears, she heard the unsteady gait of footsteps following behind her. A sly smile crossed her full lips. She was ready and prepared for a fight. It just goes to show that you should be careful what you wish for. In the next moment, a scream broke through the night. A panicked scream from a young girl. If Camille had a heart that beat, she knew it would be racing. She blocked out the memories from a small French village long ago and ran towards the sound. Because she was vampire, her speed was as fast as a horse and sometimes, even faster. The storefronts whirled past her in a blur and her shoes barely even touched the ground as she turned a corner of an alley.

There she saw four big brutes advancing on a young girl. The girl may have been somewhere around ten and four. She was tall, slender, and had long golden brown hair that was currently flipped over her shoulder in a long braid. She had on a dark green dress of modest material and a very frightened expression on her face. Her green eyes were wide with her fear and her face was pale. Camille could hear the girl's racing heartbeat from across the alley as well as the hearts of those that stalked her.

They were big, dirty and drunk. And from the smell of their excitement, they were going to kill and do worse to this poor girl. Camille usually didn't think much of mundanes, the name given to the humans who could not see the Shadow World of which she was a part. But this girl's plight resonated within her memories and she would not allow this atrocity to happen again. "Excuse me," Camille said in a beautifully accented voice with a French flair. The four men stopped, stunned, and turned to look at her. She caught the wide eyed surprise of the young girl behind them. "I seem to have lost my way."

The brute nearest to the girl walked towards Camille. Of course, he was the biggest and that suited Camille just fine. He was ugly with brittle yellow teeth and muscle long ago turned to flab hanging over the waist of his breeches. His shirt was dirty with grease, dirt and sweat under a foul smelling jacket and he smelled like he hadn't had a bath in ages. "Well, looky here, lads," he drawled. "A real French lady has graced our presence, she has." The men all laughed and turned to sidle up to her.

She could still smell the fear from the girl in the back but thankfully, at the moment, all the attention was centered on Camille. She cocked her hip and put a slight hand on her blue silk covered dress. A sultry smile crossed her face. "And do I have four fine gentlemen here?" she asked.

"We're nothing like those dandies you're used to," said the brute.

Her smile, if possible, got wider. "That is excellent news."

The brute finally reached her and wrapped a beefy paw around her upper arm. She felt a small pang of regret of having his nasty paw on her black velvet jacket. "You're so cold," the brute muttered as he looked at her. "Maybe we can warm you up a bit."

"I was hoping for that, actually," she said with a dangerous smile. Two needle thin teeth suddenly appeared by her incisors. "I was hoping for that a lot." She watched as his eyes went wide in confusion and before he could open his mouth further to ask, she had pushed him against the wall with her hand wrapped around his throat. "Anything to get the blood pumping," she purred.

The other guys screamed in terror and ran. Camille didn't even spare them a second thought as the brute moved under hand. His beefy paws tore at her sleeve but he could not escape her. Her hold on him was like steel. She tightened her grip on his throat and watched in fascination as the blood in this head turned him purple. She could smell it, under the sweat and musky scent of him and hunger gnawed at her. But she could also smell the disease and just as easily it turned the hunger off. "If I ever catch you or your friends tormenting anyone in an alley again, I will drain you within an inch of your life and let you die in the garbage you so eagerly sleep in. Do you understand?" With his eyes bulging under his dirty hair, she felt him nod against her hand. She then threw him towards the mouth of the valley so hard that he tripped and fell over his feet. She could smell the fear and the urine. "You disgust me," she told him as she turned her back on him to look at the girl.

The girl stood staring, with her back to the wall and a pale hand raised against her mouth. Camille could see the girl's pulse beating rapidly in her neck and felt the hunger claw at her once again. Then the girl jerked and Camille heard heavy footsteps running into the alley. Her vampire teeth shot out as she turned in a blur to hit the brute behind her. She was surprised as she felt the displacement of air as the man jumped over her head.

She whirled back around to see not the brute from before, but a tall man in his late twenties perhaps. He had golden brown hair, broad shoulders and was dressed in simple black trousers, shirt and jacket. She inhaled the scent of him and immediately was poised for attack. This was no ordinary man.

"Evie!" the man called in a panic. His voice was deep and raspy. Some part of Camille that longed to feel like a normal woman again responded to the voice and it sent shivers down her spine. She shoved the feeling down and took in the situation at hand. The girl ran to the man and wrapped her arms around him. But the man turned with the girl behind him and glared at Camille with glittering green eyes. They were as hard and as sharp as emeralds.

"You will pay, vampire," the man uttered and as he did so, she saw his body shiver. "You will pay for trying to feed on my sister."

Camille rolled her eyes. And the young girl, Evie she was called, yelled for him to stop as he took a step towards Camille. "She saved me!" Evie told him.

That stopped him in his tracks and he turned around to stare at her. "She was about to attack you. Didn't I tell you there were monsters out after dark?" he barked at her.

"Gabriel," the girl said in a patient tone. "That woman just scared off four monsters. Four ordinary human beings. If it wasn't for her, I could be dead or worse." Camille had to give the girl some credit as she scolded her brother.

"She's not a woman, Evie," he told her in an exasperated tone.

"I'm not stupid, Gabriel," the girl replied. "I know she is like you."

At this, Camille chuckled which brought their attention back to her. "My dear child," Camille said in a low and husky voice, "I am nothing like this dog."

"But you saved me," the girl said in a soft voice.

"That is true. Do see that you are not out after dark again, little one. Or I may not feel as inclined to help your situation in the future." To be honest, she was stung by Gabriel calling her a monster. She did not see herself as so, but to have someone else so callously disregard her efforts and then to insult her was beneath her. She did not have time for this nor time to explain herself to a werewolf.

She turned on her heal to leave and was surprised to hear the girl say, "Wait." It made her pause long enough for the girl and her brother to come around and stand in front of her. "Truly, I don't want to seem ungrateful. Thank you."

The werewolf looked like he would rather swallow tar than say his next works. "It seems as if I am in your debt."

Camille's eyebrows rose. It seems as if the dog could surprise her twice in one evening. "Just make sure you keep a better eye on your sister so that the monsters aren't... tempted." Camille picked up her skirt to walk around them and was again blocked by the werewolf.

"I repay my debts," he said in a soft tone that hinted at an iron will. Camille had to tilt her head back to look him in the eyes. When she had a heartbeat, his stare would have caused it to miss a beat. Just as his voice caused shivers of anticipation to race down her spine. For the first time in over a century, she felt unsettled.

"Then kindly get out of my way before I make you," she told him in a soft voice edged in cold steel of her own.

He moved a step out of her way and as she passed, he wrapped a hand around the lower arm of her dress. She could feel the heat of him through the material and all the way down to her toes. She felt the blood pulse in his hand and heard the echo of his heartbeat. "We will meet again." His voice was a promising threat.

Camille shook him off and walked around the corner. When she was sure she was far enough of away, that his werewolf ears would not hear, she raised her skirts and ran until the darkness of the night swallowed her whole.

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A/N: Please let be kind and leave a review.