Eponine remembers the first time she saw blood. She was eight years old, and she still lived in Montfermeil .

She and Azelma had been running around the inn, before her father opened up at night. They were never allowed downstairs at night. Their mother said it was to dangerous. Then, Eponine thought that unfair. She was perfectly capable of looking after herself. Now that she thought about it, she couldn't. She's sixteen now, and up until now, she still thought she was. Now that she looks back on her life, she never was.

Eponine ran outside, and made sure to close the glass door after herself. She had thought it was terribly clever. Azelma would assume the door was open, see Eponine, and run outside to catch her. Eponine figured Azelma would run into the door, then realize it was closed, open it, and their game would continue as usual.

Their game was called "catch me". One person (they rook turns) would chase the other one. The chaser would chase the other person until the chaser succeeded in catching them. Once (or if) the chaser succeeded, the other person became the chaser and so on. When it was time to go to bed, and their game ended for the night, the last person to be chased was the chaser the next night. The game was simple, and it amused them .

Eponine waited until she heard her sister's footsteps, and then stepped onto the large porch in front of the inn, so that Azelma could see her. Eponine peeked around her shoulder to make sure it was Azelma approaching, and not Cosette. It was Cosette. Upon seeing her reflection, Cosette realized the door was closed, and opened it. She had a bucket in her hands. Most people, upon seeing the thin girl dressed in rags struggling with a wooden bucket, larger then her own arms, they would run to assist her. Eponine just stood there, without looking at the poor Lark, and looked out onto the dimming streets. It would be dark soon, and as always, Cosette was going to the well to get the night's supply of water.

Cosette was the only one out of herself, Eponine, and Azelma that was allowed downstairs at night. That was because number one, the Thenardiers weren't worried about her safety, and number two she had to be on hand in case of any sudden chores that had to be taken care of. The well was a long way from the inn, so by the time Cosette usually returned, the inn had mostly filled up for the night.

Eponine soon saw her sister rounding the corner and pretended not to notice. She stared into the streets as she had done when Cosette passed her. Azelma was going so fast, she failed to notice the reflection of an identical girl running towards her. I'm not saying that Cosette was smarter then Azelma, because both Eponine and herself were sure that they were the more intelligent of the three. Azelma grinned to herself. She was going to catch her unsuspecting sister, and win the game. Azelma ran full speed, and stuck her arm out to grab Eponine .Eponine heard a crash ,she turned around and screamed. There was Azelma, with blood running al the way up and down her arm. Stuck in her arm at random placed, were shards of broken glass. Azelma cried so loud, she nearly woke up the entire town. Eponine was in a place between disgust and amazement. She had never seen fresh blood before, though there were large portions of the floor covered in dry blood, but never any fresh , red, shining blood. Then again, Azelma was her sister, and if too much of the beautiful blood spilled from her, she could die. Still, Eponine remained motionless, as if she was under some kind of spell cast by the shimmering blood on her sister's arm .

Eponine came to her senses and grabbed her sister's arm to pull her inside. Eponine grins now as she remembers how soothing the warm blood felt between her figures. It was so terrifying , and yet the blood seemed to comfort Eponine. Anyway, long story short, Azelma lived. She was taken to the hospital, the glass was removed, and the bleeding stopped .

Eponine never forgot how beautiful the blood was. When she was ten, she found herself wanting to see it again. Eponine snuck into the kitchen early in the morning and made a long deep cut across her palm. She then realized that with the beautiful blood, came pain. She decided blood was much better when it was someone else's. She'd sit on the stairs at night, hoping to catch a glimpse of fresh blood in a drunken fight.

Now she watches the blood poor out of her hand, and decides that blood isn't so pretty after all.

"M'sieur Marius!"

A/N: Couldn't you tell this was written by a person in the middle of reading Dracula?