She ran.

Though the forest's branches were usually green and lush, it was winter now. White surrounded her, and cold snow whipped against her face as she ran through the forest. Her head caught a thin, low branch and the snow was shaken off, trickling down the back of her shirt. A chill shot up her spine. She was concentrating on not stumbling, because if she fell, she lost the race.

She had met him three years ago, back when she was just thirteen. He had entered her home, killed her brother, and said:

"Run, girl. Run, and when I catch you, you die."

She remembered his red eyes; so devoid of emotion, cruelly empty. He had black hair, and he was tall. Thin. She closed her eyes, wishing that it had never come to this. Just yesterday, when she had come home from school, he had been there. He smiled a crooked smile and said:

"There you are, little bird. I found you. What now?"

She had turned on her heel instantly and ran away. She ran away from him, from her home, from school, from her friends – carrying only a lightly packed backpack and the clothes on her back. She had felt his gaze on her for a long time before he looked down and said:

"You know it's no use, Tenten."

Tenten pulled her collar up around her face. The adrenaline pumping through her veins kept her going, running through that endless white nightmare. She knew she couldn't last forever, yet she pushed herself to keep running, always keep running.

God damn him. God damn all vampires.

When she finally stopped running, Tenten found herself by a straight stone wall, a cliff going far up. She sank down by the rough stone, feeling each fracture in the surface like a claw in her back, until cold snow met her and she was sitting. She breathed heavier than she ever had before, and her legs refused to move, quivering and hurting. She winced when she tried to pull her knees up, and quickly aborted the attempt.

Memories flashed by her inner eye as she sat there. She slowly slid sideways until she was lying on the cold ground, staring blankly into the forest.

The vampire had said more. His red eyes had found her brown ones, and he had said:

"He's not here to protect you this time, little bird."

Tenten didn't know who "he" was. She had ransacked her brain over and over, but couldn't find any memory of anyone ever protecting her from the red-eyed vampire.

She sat up and tore her backpack off her shoulders to clutch it in her arms. She opened it, finding the remains of her school lunch. She didn't usually eat much at school. There was always some left over. She thanked the heavens for that as she ate it all within a few quick minutes, wolfing it down like there was no tomorrow. Afterwards, she sank back down to the floor, hugging her backpack tiredly.

Her last thought before drifting off to sleep was:

"He's coming."

He didn't come that night, however. When Tenten regained consciousness, she found that the sun was once again hitting her face. She pulled herself out of the snow, feeling the resistance of frost on her clothes. That had been dangerous. She knew not to sleep outside in the snow. She was okay, but she could've died. A less life-threatening worry was the uncomfortable position she'd slept in. Her limbs were stiff and her back hurt. Tenten sat up and stretched, feeling the bones popping in her body.

In a world where humans and vampires coexist as equals, what had she become? A chased animal; prey. She shuddered at the thought of the blood on that vampire's fangs as he had finished her brother off. Vampires were supposed to be just like regular people. Regular people didn't murder. Regular people weren't like him.

She staggered to her feet, still clutching her backpack. She was freezing. Her dark blue jacket didn't provide much warmth, and she had just slept outside in the snow…It was a miracle she was still alive. She swung her backpack onto her back and looked around. She was in a rather open area; it had been stupid of her to stop there. She had no shelter from the elements, and she would have been easy to spot if the vampire had come by. Looking back into the forest, she started walking along the wall. Tenten saw nothing in the forest but darkness. She shuddered and sped up, heading towards what was hopefully the end of the cliff.

Maybe she was stupid for running. Maybe dying had been her best option from the very start. The race wore her down, more and more, until finally she was so tired it was hard to even wake up in the morning to keep going. In retrospect, she saw that this fatigue was the reason her body gave up in the end. Looking at the past, she understood that nothing could've kept the vampire away for long, and that running was just stalling the undeniable.

She just lied. She said nothing could keep the vampire away. Well, there was one thing.

Him.

She hadn't known him at the time. He had come into her life uninvited and unexpected. Looking back, she realized he wasn't like the others; however, she hadn't noticed that until the story was drawing close to the end. He had been the first of them to pierce her skin with his fangs, and she had let him do so willingly. It had been her own choice.

In retrospect, there were a lot of things she could have done differently. Heaps of words that would have been better off unspoken. Actions she would have recalled if she could. But shining through the mistakes and the pain was the story about a girl being chased by a monster, and the vampire who rescued her.

It's the story about Tenten, the girl with no last name.