Prey: Information Wanted/Part of the Problem

A/N: I'm sorry if it wasn't obvious. Amanda can change her appearance, and when she held her arm under the light, it didn't sparkle because she was disguised as human. She sparkles when out of disguise. And If you have just started reading Prey without reading Hunter, (Prey is a sequel) then it's going to be difficult, like reading HP7 w/o reading 1-6. You won't know some characters, and what horcruxes are. And by the way, I know it's been at least a month. Read the end note.

Disclaimer: The owner of Twilight lives in Arizona (given) I do not live in Arizona (given) Therefore, I am not the owner of twilight. (Obvious). I write too many proofs.

It didn't take Amanda very long to get bored, sitting in the sewer. Three weeks, maybe four. Seriously, when you're living in a river of filth, eating rats and other foul creatures, there's not much to do. She impersonated celebrities for a while, but even that got old without someone to laugh with. Tom. Had she been human, a lump would have caught in her throat. "Tom." She whispered. A thought occurred to her. He would try to find her. He would come to New York, and he would try to find her.

He knew her style.

He knew where to look. What if he got too close? Amanda stopped herself. She couldn't dwell.

Then Amanda remembered something about sewers. People lost stuff there.

So she began a little game for herself. She found a net lodged at a grille, and used it to scoop up sludge from the bottom of the filthy river, shaking it lightly. After an hour, she had dredged up a leather wallet, two wedding rings, an old boot, and a crate of water bottles. These she seized upon with delight, pouring over her head to free the crap from her hair and clothes. Sewers do not agree with personal hygiene. When she felt semi-decent again, she decided that if she was to stay clean, she had better find a less crappy area. After a few minutes of wandering, Amanda discovered what looked like an abandoned smugglers tunnel. She chose an outfit of knockoffs, and was dressed freshly in seconds. But the sweeping beam of a flashlight and the ever delicious scent of human made her take pause, and abandon all thoughts of fashion. Two humans, stumbling aimlessly in the tunnels, drifting nearer to their doom. Her fangs started to elongate, and she found herself dashing over to their tunnel. But just when it seemed like it would be too late, she recalled some last shred of humanity and drew back, shutting her nostrils to the smell. That warm, pulsing, ever luscious scent...

Stop.

No going crazy.

Stifle those crazy vampire urges.

You're better than that. They're not snacks- they're people.

And they're talking about you. Amanda jerked out of her pep talk, alarmed.

Her subconsciousness was right. They were talking about her. "So strange- this girl checks into her apartment, unpacks her stuff, and goes on a jog-- never seen again." Male. Tall. A second voice joined the first. "Did they find any kind of clues for suicide? Family problems, something at school..." Female- weak, smaller than the male. She would be an easy prey. Stop it! They're talking about you. You're an item of news. Missing. Listen. "No, that's the odd thing. Perfect school record- at her last high school, she was one of the most popular girls. And family issues? Here's the thing- no one knows where her parents are. They've been listed as being in Africa. Doing volunteer work." "well," the female said pragmatically. "She might have separation anxiety. Stress could have been building up-" she was cut off. "No, everyone says that they were out of the town most of the time- she fended for herself, for the most part. And she was pretty resilient." "Huh." Amanda knew that she had to get out of there fast. But what could she do? She was completely blocked. There was no way she could escape without attracting undue attention from the investigators heading her way, and if they got too close... There was only one solution. She looked overhead at the pothole cover. She cautiously sniffed the edge. She was still on the wrong side of town, and there was a curious smell of... letters? A post office, perhaps. And it was closed. She smiled, trying to hide a grimace. She could only hope that she wouldn't get near a human. She shuddered, pushing back the lid effortlessly and soaring into the night.

The street was mostly empty, so no one noticed her abrupt appearance. She quickly changed to a less conspicuous form, faster than the most sophisticated camera could detect. Blond. Blue eyes. Curls like Shirley Temple, the brat. A sundress with a daisy print, and blue wedge heels. It became an effort to hold so many different parts of her being together, and she ducked behind the post office in an alley. She thought about what she had seen in the sewer, and realized the greater implications of what was happening. They had been serious in their search, and they hadn't even known her. What would Tom do about this latest news? To her growing horror, Amanda played out a likely scene.

Tom would have rushed to New York, facing his greatest fears to ensure the safety of his friend.

He knew that she generally liked to work in dingy areas without security, so he would go to the alleys.

Find her, a newborn. She would kill him. With disgust, Amanda realized that her venom was flowing at the idea of a fresh kill. At killing Tom. Tom, innocent, smart, caring Tom, who had no way to protect himself. No knives or anything. Amanda knew what she had to do.

The post office was easy to break into. She wrapped up her two most treasured possessions in bubble wrap, and tenderly placed them in a box. She forged a note from her lawyer, who was dispensing items in her will, along with the message, "Anna Post has left the following African Ivory hunting knives in the possession of a Mr. Tom Mapple, noting that 'he'll know what to do.'" Part of Amanda's routine for relocation was to draw a will, and Tom knew this. It wouldn't be a stretch for him to think that she would have wished that they go to him. But then the smell of blood filled her mind again, and she imagined the softness of a pulsing neck, the warmness of blood running down her throat, filling her veins. A river of blood, hot and sweet. Hands dripping. She postmarked the package, left a quarter, (it takes a while for vampires to accumulate vast wealth, Amanda had realized.) and took the nearest passage back to her sewers. She found a sick cat, luckily, and was able to keep herself from going crazy for now. She was going to go off human blood the old fashioned way- cold bat. None of this, "It's ok if you break the rules once or twice" crap. She knew what killing was, and it was wrong. The other part of her, the Amanda cloaked in shadows, sitting in her VW bug, the immortal, thirsty, shapeshifting part, was bringing up overpopulation and relative ethics as well as the possibility of being irrevocably damned in an attempt to persuade her to break her concentration. Her dark passenger- it was thirsty for blood. A cold blooded killer. It would feel no sadness for the death of Tom. (whoever catches the reference to an awesome book starting with D gets kudos. And a shout-out, as it were.)

She glared at the corpse of the cat in her arms. It hadn't been a pretty death. The cat had gone out screaming and hissing, wailing and gurgling. Being killed by a vampire was horrible. It wasn't like shows where a moment after the bite, the victim passes out conveniently, falling limp. There was a struggle. A fruitless struggle, but that's what made it all the more difficult. Vampires- that was pure excessiveness. The speed. The strength. The looks, charm, breath, mysterious powers, all of that. How did humans stand a chance? It wasn't fair. There should be a way out. Not every town has resident werewolves. Humans should be able to save themselves somehow, some way. Amanda caught her reflection. She still hadn't discarded her Shirley Temple look, and the sweet childlike face didn't quite mesh with the image of blood dripping down her chin. She growled in her throat, angry at herself, humans, vampires, everyone. She was stuck in the worst situation in the world. She couldn't escape death. Too often her life had been touched by it's devastating effects- her parents, classmates, and countless others. But she had been part of the solution. Now, she was part of the problem.

A/N: I feel like absolute crap about not getting this chapter out. I had it written mostly for a while, but two people close to me were recently murdered. The killer is still out there, and it's been really screwing with my head. Also, this story is eventually going to overlap BD, I'm guessing. And that isn't due for what, two months? I don't know if at that point, Bella will be in Italy, be a vampire, be having stupid cold feet and Jacob love, (bleah.) or if something else entirely will be going on. So that's confusing.