Her name was Avalon. She was a researcher for an underground city that recorded the lives of vampires or "Night Walkers." For thousands of years the society had only let their secret out to those being brought into the society. Avalon's family had been very close to the top of the researcher society. Unlike many others, they'd owned their own library with files of almost every vampire living and dead for the past thousand years. Avalon had studied, like her brother and sister, so she could take over the research once her parents died. Although she studied hard Avalon hadn't been the prized daughter of the family, for she had betrayed the society and fell in love with a Night Walker.

Her people hadn't cast her out, but most respect had been lost for her and her family. Now that the family no longer existed, however, they didn't have to worry about Avalon. No one had escaped the fire, so of course Avalon had died as well. No one would investigate what caused the blaze; the debris was cleaned up the night after the fire. It was as if a house had never been there. It was as if the family had never existed in the first place.

…Avalon…

Avalon had escaped into the night, leaving her dead family and burned house in her past. It took her an hour to reach her families library on foot, but when she did she praised the moons for it was safe. The library was in the middle of a cemetery and disguised as a mausoleum. She walked in and down the stairs that led to nowhere but a solid wall. Avalon sighed and knocked on the wall twelve times rhythmically. Something clicked in the ground and she reached down to pull open a trap door. She jumped into it and closed it upon hitting the ground.

She was glad to be in a place that she knew as home. There was a spare room in the back with a bathroom, shower items, and clothes for each member of the family. She looked around at all the bookshelves that spread out in every different direction around her. They all reminded her of time she'd spent walking them with her family. She could remember running between the shelves when she was a child. She shook the thoughts of her childhood away, turned to her left and ran to the back room.

She peeled off her ash and blood covered clothes and ran to the shower. She turned on the water and welcomed the freezing cold beads that fell to her skin. She scrubbed at her hair and body for most of an hour before she turned off the water and stepped out into the cool air surrounding her. She picked a brush up off the sink and stared into the mirror above it.

Avalon had never been an unfortunate girl when it came to anything. She had jet black hair that fell straight down her back, and had misty gray eyes that people described as "captivating", and her skin wasn't pale, but it wasn't dark either, sitting a fine line in between the two. Her personality drew people in, but kept them far enough away that she felt comfortable. She'd been well off with money for most of her life, and had a great education. Up until recently, she'd also had a great boyfriend that she loved dearly, but that's where her luck ended.

"I don't need to think about any of that." Avalon told herself, pulling the brush through her hair and tossing it back onto the sink counter.

She was still hungry, and it was getting to her. The simple fact that she wasn't hungry for human food made her feel sick to her stomach. She turned towards the toilet, bent over it, and stuck a finger down her throat. She dry-heaved until she was certain nothing would come up. She stood straight up and sighed, disappointed that she still felt stick. Avalon walked out into the main room once more and pulled open a lone dresser that stood against a wall. She found a simple outfit of a black button-up shirt that had been her brother's and black slacks that had been her sister's. She pulled on a pair of black boots that had been her brothers. They had steel toes and fit her perfectly.

"I'll never forget you guys. Not ever." Avalon raised her head to look at the ceiling, but spoke to the sky.

She ran back through the library and pulled herself back through the trap door in the ceiling to escape into the night, alone forevermore.

She crossed the cemetery and started her long trek across and out of town that would lead her to the vampire society that no mortal soul ever knew about. Not even the researchers knew about it. It's where her boyfriend had been from, and he'd taken her there only once. That's when she'd met the girl she was going to see now.

The girl owned a café in the human city and a club in the vampire one. No one seemed to notice when Avalon walked into town, but she could tell people were watching her from the beginning. She made her way to the club and was surprised to find a note on the door. It read 'FOLLOW THE MUSIC OF THE NIGHT.' Avalon didn't hear any music. She narrowed her eyes, kicked the door and fell backwards. When her head hit the ground her world beat red. Music flooded her ears at that moment.

She rubbed her head and stood up. She was confused, but all the same followed the music to the heart of the vampiric city. The heart just happened to be a small wood that grew around a stone statue of the goddess of paradise, Morcherry. Avalon followed the path into the wood and was shocked to find most of the city gathered there, dancing to the music that was coming from people playing on a giant stage surrounding the statue.

Avalon searched the crowd over. She saw the woman that she wanted to talk to standing to the side of the crowd with a smaller band of vampires that were talking instead of dancing. Avalon made her way towards them. She was about five feet from them before they noticed her.

A girl in a flowing black dress pointed at Avalon and narrowed her eyes. Avalon didn't care about the girl though; she cared about the one standing next to her. The woman named Kirima. Kirima gasped when she saw Avalon and told the others to leave them at once. No one argued, glad they had an excuse to get away from the girl that they all hated.

"What are you doing here Avalon? Without Jack here to protect you, you could easily be killed. I'm not sure how you found this place anyway, but we have to get you out of here quickly. Your family will worry if their daughter ends up dead." Kirima lectured.

"You don't have to worry about my family missing me, because they're all dead." Avalon mumbled.

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean, they are all dead. Our house was burned down around us while we were sleeping."

Kirima gasped again, she truly seemed appalled that something like that could ever happen to anyone. She grabbed Avalon into a hug. A moment later she pulled back and an odd expression plagued her face. She leaned in again and sniffed Avalon.

"You aren't human." Kirima stated.

Avalon chuckled sadly and nodded. She wasn't human and she was hungry. She was so hungry her stomach was burning. She felt like she'd die if she didn't get something to eat soon. But Avalon knew that she wouldn't be eating something, she'd be eating someone. She wasn't sure she'd be able to handle that.

Kirima seemed to know what Avalon was thinking and took her arm, "We can't do this here, but I know someone who can help you. Despite what you think, not everyone in the town hates you. The people Jack was closest to know that he loved you to the very end and never regretted a single day with you. We respect that. You have a few allies in this city darling, not many, but a few."

Kirima led Avalon out of the woods and back to the club where Avalon had first tried to find the woman. Kirima tapped on the door with a fingertip and it sprang open instantly. She pulled Avalon inside and sat her down at a bar across the room from the entrance.

"Wait here." Kirima commanded before she disappeared.

A moment later Kirima appeared again with a young man beside her. He couldn't have been more than thirteen years old. Avalon looked confused until the boy began to speak to her. "Hello, you must be Avalon. Jack didn't introduce us before he met his end, but I see that you are every bit as beautiful as he described to me. I hope your personality matches his description as well. If it does, you might just be perfect." The boy concluded with a chuckle. He was a vampire, most likely much older than he seemed.

Kirima led the boy over to stand next to Avalon. He took her wrist and felt for a pulse. He shook his head and looked up at Kirima with doubt in his eyes. Kirima hopped behind the bar and pulled bottles from the shelf. She carefully concocted a drink and set it in front of Avalon. Avalon just stared at it, not sure what to do with it. It was as if she'd never seen a drink before. Kirima motioned for her to drink it.

She looked reluctant, but picked up the beverage and tipped the cool liquid into her mouth. The moment she tasted it she knew it was blood. She had to force herself not to spit it out, but to drink it. Unlike every other time she's tried it, it wasn't that hard to do. It went down smoothly and the pain in her stomach dulled the tiniest bit.

"What was that?" Avalon asked to be sure.

"Well, it was a mix of a lot of things. It was all blood, but you know, not all the same kind. How did it taste?" Kirima asked.

"It tasted horrible, but my stomach liked it I think." Avalon admitted.

"That's good. So you really are a Night Walker as you researchers like to call us." The boy sighed.

Avalon was about to ask who the boy was, when he put out his hand and introduced himself as Edaniel. Avalon shook it and introduced herself as well. She smiled at the boy, completely figuring out that he was much older than he looked to her. He took a seat next to her at the bar and Avalon watched his feet dangle several feet above the ground. She was tall for being fifteen, but she hadn't been that short since she was seven.

"He was turned when he was eleven." Kirima smiled.

"Oh, I wasn't going to ask." Avalon blushed.

"You were wondering about it though. You're eyes are easily read my dear."

"I'm sorry, I've just never heard someone so small talk with such authority before. It scared me a little bit."

Edaniel laughed and asked Kirima for a drink. It wasn't until they all had glass sitting in front of them that someone started talking. Kirima and Edaniel were trying to figure out who would have changed the girl that was sitting in their midst, but never thought to ask her if she had any ideas.

Avalon sat quietly sipping at the metallic tasting liquid that slowly dulled the pain in her stomach. She was wondering if the pain would ever fully go away, or if she'd have to deal with it for the rest of her waking days. Her thoughts wandered back to Jack, her first and only love. Where they'd met, how they'd started to get along, when he showed up at her school asking her to go on a date with him. It was all before she knew he was a vampire. If she'd known how much grief and pain it would bring to both their lives, she would have never agreed to go on a date with him.

"Avalon?" Kirima asked shaking the girl's shoulder.

"What? I'm sorry I missed that." Avalon hadn't been paying attention, so she hadn't realized they'd asked her a question.

"We asked it you knew who did this all to you. We can't figure it out." Edaniel repeated.

"I don't remember anything. All I know is that when I woke up, I had blood on my lips. That and my bed and I were the only things to escape the fire that killed the rest of my family and tore my life to shreds." Avalon explained with a pained expression haunting her face.

"Arson, I know who it is now. Only one person would do something like that. You should know too Avalon, since you're supposed to be a researcher." Kirima sighed.

"I was never the child they wanted. I did after all date a Night Walker. No one was ever able to let that go, so I never had a lesson after that day. Everything had gone to the back of my mind about the studies I used to do." Avalon told them.

"Does the name Marcus mean anything to you?" Edaniel asked.

"You mean Jack's brother? He didn't really like me, but he didn't hate me either. That's what Jack told me." Avalon remembered.

"Well, maybe he didn't hate you when Jack was alive, but since it was technically your fault he was executed, that couldn't have strengthened his feelings for you. When he changes someone, he burns down the building they're in and leaves them there. If they are strong enough, even in sleep their bodies will put up a shield around them to protect them from danger. If they aren't strong enough, they die in the blaze too." Kirima explained.

Avalon thought about it, and memories of her sister tutoring her flashed in her mind. She sort of remembered something about a vampire who liked to do that, but she didn't think it was Marcus. Who else could it be though? He would, of course, be the only one to care that much, considering Jack was his brother in life and death. Why would he change her though? Shouldn't he have just killed her instead? If someone had touched her family members, they'd be dead.

It hit her them, harder than it had all the other times. She was going to have to avenge their deaths no matter what it took. If they were sure who had killed them, she wouldn't hesitate when she saw Marcus. She thought about hunting him down and killing him as he slept. It was tempting.

"Don't try anything. In the state you're in right now, you'd be lucky to kill a fly." Edaniel laughed.

"Don't be mean. Listen, I can see by the bruises and feel the aura around you. Once you feed to kill, you'll be stronger than a lot of vampires here. Until then though, you have to be careful. I can tell by your mindset that you don't want to kill a human, but let me tell you something important. That pain that you feel in your stomach won't go away until you feed to kill. It will be dulled, but it will grow again. You can't fight it off forever, I know, because about three hundred years ago, I tried." Kirima clarified.

Avalon could tell by the look on her face that she wasn't kidding. How could she take a human life though? She didn't think she'd be able to kill an innocent person. It just wasn't something that she was capable of. She could think of so many innocent people that she'd seen who'd been tortured by vampires till they went insane. It wasn't a sight you forgot easily. It made her feel nauseous just thinking about it. She wished she knew where a bathroom was in the bar.

"No one said you had to kill an innocent person. You just have to kill someone. I know it may seem farfetched to think about, but not everyone is innocent. All those people that were mean to you after you fell in love with Jack aren't innocent. I know, Jack told me that you were taunted by the other kids at school so much that you cried and skipped whole days of classes because of them." Kirima sighed, memories of Jack slipping from her mind.

Avalon thought about it. No, they weren't innocent. They'd beat her up and made her cry so many times. She's lost count after a while. It had stopped mattering to her though, because Jack would find her and make her feel better every time. It mattered now though, because Jack was dead, and she was "dead" and she was sure no one was going to care about it. She knew she could kill one of them. Her "friends" had even stopped talking to her for the most part. They'd certainly never helped her when the other kids were mean. The girls she'd called "friends" even bullied and beat her up themselves.

"I know you can see it. You can do it. For now though, you need to sleep, so tomorrow you can pick your victim. You've had enough blood to partially numb the pain. I'm sure you can stand it right now. So Edaniel will show you to the rooms in the basement. Take whatever one you like." Kirima motioned towards the stairs beside the entrance behind them.

Edaniel stood and took Avalon's hand, leading her out of the bar and down into the darkness that matched the kind that had already started to consume her soul.

A/N: Please R&R! I know it's annoying to do, but it'd help me guage how people like me story so far.