A/N 2012: Hi everyone! Enjoy the rewritten version of Chapter 1!

As with before, this chapter onward is from Zero's perspective.

I own nothing!

Chapter 1- A Strange Finding

Zero shivered as he opened the door of his apartment, ready for another night of hunting. Sighing, he stepped out onto the empty street, feeling his nose turn instantly into a block of ice as he did so. It was snowing heavily. Although he was glad to have been given a 'distraction' in the form of his hunting duties, he was not pleased one bit about the snow. Zero scowled.

He reached into his pocket and drew out his latest orders from the Hunter's Association. There were two Level Es, a man and a woman who were last seen heading into the forest in the afternoon. Although no-one had been targeted yet, Zero knew he had to act fast. Quickening his pace, he hurried down the street as stealthily as possible.

The scent of the two vampires led him into a dark, narrow alleyway. It was near the shopping district of town.

Dammit, Zero thought, running faster, if they get to the shopper's area then it'll be all over!

As he searched the dark place hastily for any visible sign of the two monsters, he felt a sudden pang of recognition. He had been in this alleyway before, hunting vampires. Zero frowned. Before dismissing it as one of the many jobs which he had attended to in this town (which was a popular target) he remembered with a jolt of pain to his chest– shortly after his transformation, he had been here, with her - fighting after having been attacked by a rogue vampire.

Shaking himself off, Zero concentrated harder on the situation unfolding in front of him. He mustn't think about that time, or her – he couldn't. She was gone forever. She had gotten over her old life with him, and the academy. She was perfectly happy living with that man for the rest of her pureblood life. He was the only one who couldn't seem to move on from six months ago.

"Well, look what we have here!" a warbling voice teased from above Zero's head, taking him by surprise and pulling him back to reality.

The man's face was distorted by madness and hunger, his hair was knotted and bedraggled. Zero noted the blood-red eyes and knew that he had at last found his prey. Both of them, as the female vampire emerged beside him.

"Hunter-kun wants to kill us!" she exclaimed playfully, her eyes also scarlet. "Well, we don't want to make your game too easy then, do we? I haven't even gotten to taste one person yet!"

She licked her lips and grabbed her companion's hand. Before Zero had time to react, the two vampires had shot over the roof of the neighbouring café.

Cursing vampires and life in general, he began to follow them. Climbing gingerly onto the roof, Zero surveyed the town. He spotted both of his targets gleefully skipping along some metres away over a succession of snow covered rooftops. He would have to jump across. Zero scowled in frustration as he leaped onto the next roof. He hated his prey getting away from him.

Panting, Zero finally reached the end of the path of rooftops. He was now on the very outskirts of town. It had been a long and harrowing chase, made even worse by the snow, and he still hadn't caught up to them. Shaking the snow out of his hair, he turned around to look for them.

The two vampires were laughing gleefully as they closed in on two girls in pyjamas. Instinctively, Zero jumped down from the rooftop, loosening some of the old tiles on the way to the ground. This was it.

Encircling the vampires between the layer of trees, Zero held his gun out steadily towards them. They now had the girls in their grasp – there was no more time for this game of tag.

"Don't move," he ordered, pointing the gun straight at their chests, "This is the end. You have become a serial killer, and I will purge you of your sin."

The Level Es laughed, not the slightest bit phrased by Zero's threats. Evidently, they didn't think that he could do it. He hesitated slightly, as he always did, before shooting the male vampire straight in the heart. As he crumbled into dust, the blond girl in his arms fell to the ground, unconscious.

One down, one to go, Zero thought.

He was just relieved that they hadn't escaped again.

Turning his gun on the female, Zero prepared to shoot once again. But, before he could pull the trigger his prey lashed out, scratching his arm deeply. Gripping it in pain, Zero lowered his gun from his target. Instead he leapt towards her, knocking both of them over into the snow covered grass.

"Don't touch me," he snarled, pushing her further to the ground with his foot.

The woman did not even bother struggling against his grip. She was just as sick of this as he was. Zero hesitated as he was reminded once again of what he could have become, a level E himself, before shooting. The shot rang out loud and clear before silence rang once more in the frozen park. As the second vampire crumbled and joined her partner in the pile of sand, Zero's eyes fell on the two victims who had narrowly escaped death. They were both unconscious from the shock of the attack. They would need their memories erased. As he performed the spell he thought about where he should leave them to wake up. They didn't appear harmed, so he decided to take them to a nearby café to rest in the warmth until they awoke.

With no more work assigned to him for the night, Zero set off through the town back to his apartment. He was trudging through a fresh, thick layer of snow when he sensed something yet again - the scent of a vampire. There was something, or someone, in the bush nearby on the side of the road. Zero pulled out his gun. Maybe it was another Level E?

Searching through the bushes, Zero found absolutely no trace of any vampires or humans alike. Had he imagined the scent? The chairman was always going on about how he didn't get enough sleep... Zero was about to dismiss the feeling when a small dark animal jumped out at him and bit down on his wounded arm.

Whipping around, Zero threw the thing off. As it crashed against the back wall of a nearby shop, he realized that it was a girl. Her hair was black, long and tangled. She was wearing a pair of grey flannel pajamas with BEERBROOK CHILDREN'S PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL printed on the chest in black lettering. Her skin was covered with dirt and badly scratched.

The girl glared at Zero with the familiar blood red eyes of a vampire. She stood up and prepared to attack him again. Thrilled to have more work to put himself off his own thirst, Zero aimed his gun right at her chest. But something stopped him – there was something different in her scent. There was no familiar stench of madness and blood that came with ex-human vampires. He did not duck as she lunged for him again, but just stared at the advancing figure in disbelief. This girl – whatever she was – wasn't a Level E. He couldn't kill her.