I have to put something here otherwise the spacing gets messed up.


Ch. 2 – Manly Man


Amy, being an intelligent young girl, knew that the place where she would have the greatest chance of finding the cookies she wanted was the market.

"I shall go to the market!" she announced to nobody in particular. A smile began to creep up on her face and her heart started beating faster. She was excited. This would be her greatest adventure yet. And the cookies would be delicious. She was sure of it. She looked around and after confirming that nobody was watching, started skipping to her destination while humming a lively little tune.

As she skipped into the marketplace, she noticed things seemed busier than usual. Especially for the afternoon. Not that she had ever been there before. She had been a frequent visitor to the marketplace back near her hometown to steal food but since Raphael had adopted her, the servants had handled all of the groceries. Amy ignored the nagging voice in her head that told her she didn't know what the market looked like when it was busy and decided it was busier than usual anyway. That would show the voice in her head who was boss.

"This rod will be your doom!"

Her head turned, looking for the source of the manly voice that rang through the air. Then she heard another voice. An inhuman one. Well it was more of a growl… Suddenly, people ran away from the voice, screaming. Amy went in the opposite direction, anxious to find out what was going on. Her mischievous heart hoped for some chaos. And maybe a little blood. No wait: a lot of blood.

A battle. A man about whom Amy could tell nothing, except that he was very manly and her heart fluttered as she saw his exposed chest as he was shirtless. He was facing a totally gross lizard-looking thing. Amy rolled her eyes. Where did these things come from? Her eyes were glued to the combatants the entire five seconds the battle lasted. The man's movements were odd. She had never seen this kind of style before. There was no doubt it was effective though.

"Nothing will come of hate," the man said after knocking out the lizard-man. The crowd that had just seconds before been running away from the lizard-man had suddenly surrounded the site of the skirmish and clapped impressively.

However, Amy was suddenly furious. Who was this fool spouting such utter nonsense like 'nothing will come of hate?' How dare he! He had no right to contradict her life's philosophy as if it meant nothing. Hate was everything! The only way to move forward in the world was to be ruthless. The child in her pouted but the newly formed vampire in her now wanted this man's blood.

She readied her rapier and dramatically walked closer to the man, wanting nothing more than to stab him and spout a ruthless catchphrase in his face as he begged for mercy.

But as she approached closer, she was stunned. This man… He…he…was beautiful.

He noticed her coming towards him and walked over to her, tightly gripping his rod. "Hello, I am Kilik. What's your name?"

For a moment, Amy felt as if she had lost the ability to speak. Sparks seemed to fly out of this man's totally in-shape body. His muscles were mesmerizing. All her previous thoughts of bloodlust were gone. She blushed when he spoke to her and looked away. "Amy…" she muttered.

He smiled. She melted. "Well Amy, is there anything I can help you with?"

Her face turned redder. She didn't even know that was possible! Damn hormones. And she was going to be stuck like this for a very long time. "…Amy" she said.

Kilik still had a friendly smile on his face. "Yes, I heard you. Now is there anything I can help you with?"

"Amy…" she repeated. What was happening to her? His manliness had reduced her to a stereotypical, gawking, obsessed with boys and way too easily excited teenage girl! Her reputation soooo did not need this right now.

She tried to move her lips and tongue in any way that would have produced a different sound than her name. But all that came out was… "Amy."

The smile from Kilik's face was now gone. He was bewildered. Could there be a problem with this girl? Maybe something…spiritual? Oh no! He gripped his trusty rod even tighter, prepared to use it if it became necessary to beat back evil spirits.

Amy was horrified. Snap out of it, she thought to herself.

"SAY IT NOW!" the voice in her head screamed.

"COOKIES!" she burst out.

Kilik nearly fell over. "What?"

Her mouth was set off. Coherent sentences were now impossible. "Daddy! New world! Hungry! Cookies! Fangs! Hate! Hate! Hate! SO SO MANLY!"

Kilik grew alarmed. This girl was clearly possessed.

"I'm a monster!" Amy wailed. Her rapier fell to the floor as she buried her face in her hands.

Kilik relaxed. Clearly, a possessed girl would never call herself a monster. This was simply a troubled young girl wearing a very inappropriate outfit suspiciously walking around in the afternoon with a very dangerous weapon.

"Amy, everything is going to be okay," he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

He was actually touching her! Amy swooned.

"AH!" Kilik expertly caught her in his arms and stared into her eyes. "Are you okay?"

The crowd clapped and cheered.

Amy scrambled to get back on her feet and pick up her weapon. "Yes," she said after clearing her throat awkwardly. "I must be going now. I must obtain some cookies for my father." Oh thank heavens, she could speak again!

"Oh… do you need any help?"

"No, I am fine." Amy now wanted nothing more than to get away from this man and the giant crowd that was now staring at her.

"Okay, I'll come along with you," Kilik said, completely ignoring Amy's words.

The crowd cheered again, applauding the man's heroic gesture.

Amy sighed and shrugged. It seemed he was one of those people. Oh well, she would have to learn to behave herself in front of this man. And she had to use this opportunity to make sure that nothing like this happened ever again.

She looked at the darkening sky. She was ashamed of herself. In just a short amount of time, she had managed to tarnish her ruthless reputation beyond belief and made a fool out of herself. And she was still nowhere near any delicious cookies.

Then she remembered that her father was planning to destroy the entire world and cheered up a little. But she still had to get to those cookies before that happened!