PROLOGUE

It wasn't supposed to be like this. The woman who looked nothing like me remained floating in her bloody bathwater while I stood watching her. The woman standing beside me watched with no more or less emotion showing on her face than my own, save perhaps for a small amount of confusion. She frowned after a moment longer and turned her head towards me to regard me solemnly.

"I wonder if the blood will stain? Do you think it'll come out of her deposit?"

I shrugged. You'd think I'd know the answer to that one, but hell... I'd never tried out the Blood Countess's beauty technique. It wasn't exactly my style.

Suddenly, or finally, it dawned on me to wonder who this other woman was. I was fairly certain I knew who the bather was, but the little blonde thing standing next to me was a mystery. Being caught standing in the middle of someone else's bathroom when you had no business being there was bad enough, but being caught there with a dead body was probably cause for alarm.

"Who are you?" I asked.

Her eyes widened, her mouth popping open. She looked alarmed. Maybe she'd forgotten her name.

"Jess. Jessica." She bit her lip and looked from the bather then back to me again. "And you are?"

"Alyx."

"Oh." She nodded, then stared at the dead woman again.

Her name didn't ring any bells.

"I still don't know you." I said rather bluntly. I was probably being rude, but the situation seemed to call for it.

"She's my sister." She didn't look away from the body this time.

"Ohh..." This time I bit my own lip. Awkward.

"I should probably call the police, huh?"

Ick. The police could make this even more awkward. Not that I had anything against the po po, but I tended to find myself just a tad uncomfortable when being questioned by them. Especially when there were bloodless corpses involved.

I giggled. Po po.

She looked at me and I sobered. Okay, I made every attempt to do so.

"That might not be a good idea, actually. They tend to ask a lot of questions." I nodded my head and gave her what I hoped looked like a meaningful look.

"Oh? Oh!" She looked from me to the body and back again. Her head swung back and forth several times and I figured she'd gotten the idea. I'd been wrong before.

"No, no, nonono. I didn't do this. I just walked in." She wrung her hands and looked terrified. It was the first emotion she'd really shown. "This probably looks bad. I should probably be screaming and freaked out, right? I am really freaked out, I am. It's just... it's a bit of a shock, you know? I don't think I'm thinking clearly."

She squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath before looking at me again.

"You don't look so good."

I frowned. Glancing at my reflection in the mirror, I expected to find blood splattered on myself or something. I didn't see anything wrong. A little insulted, I raised my chin and glared at her.

"I mean you look really pale. It's probably the blood. Maybe you should sit down."

I rolled my eyes.

"Hey..." She was biting her lip again. I stopped biting my own. Nasty habit, chewing your lip. She gave me a suspicious glance before her eyes darted out the bathroom door and gave the other room a quick, nervous look. "You didn't do this, did you?"

I bit down on my lip again. Some habits are hard to break, especially while in the presence of someone who shares your bad habit.

"I might have," I had to admit.

"You don't know?" I couldn't help but notice she was inching away from me. The bathroom wasn't that big.

"I don't exactly recall," I shrugged. It happened sometimes. What could you do? "It happens sometimes."

"I see," she backed away through the doorway, not bothering to be subtle anymore. "You're a crazy, psycho killer."

"Am not," I crossed my arms over my chest. "I hardly ever kill anyone, and I don't know if I killed her. I did come here to kill her, but maybe someone got to her before I did. And you know, that's just rude to kill someone when there's already someone else coming to do the job. It's a waste of my time, and you know, I was really looking forward to this. I don't think I'd have done it this way. It pisses me off. I don't remember anything, and now I don't know if I got to have any fun. If you're going to forget something, it shouldn't be the fun stuff."

I stamped my foot, fuming. I'd had things planned, dammit. This woman had things to answer for, and... questions to answer. I rubbed my forehead. I didn't have a headache, but I felt like one would be appropriate.

Jessica was making a hasty retreat towards the front door of the apartment. That probably wasn't a good thing. I gave the bather a dirty look for wasting all her blood. The entire bathroom smelled like blood, but it wasn't at all the mouthwatering kind of smell that blood should normally have. Not that my mouth waters, but... you know what I mean. This didn't smell fresh and it was watered down. So don't worry, you won't find me losing my mind and sucking up the bathwater with a straw. The idea doesn't sound any more appealing to me than it does to you. Actually, I don't know you. Maybe you would do that. But you're just a figment of my imagination, and I'm not one to judge.

Anyway, Jessica was getting the hell out of here. I needed to make sure that didn't happen. I wasn't about to get in trouble for a murder that I didn't even remember committing. I did the only thing I could think to do, and ran after her.