Leah sighed as she walked aimlessly through the Shuk. The market was like a feast for the senses. The entire market smelled of spices, salted beef and fresh vegetables. There was a palette of colors in all different tones and shades to look at. The people were quite interesting too. All around was a cacophony of sounds. Vendors were yelling their products and their prices while a group played traditional music as children danced. Leah stopped at a vendor and looked through her scarves. Some were made from wool and cotton while others were much softer. She moved on to a fruit vendor and saw something that caught her eye.

"Hm elh, shesek?" (Are those shesek)

"Ken, ken." (Yes)

"Ani rotzah sheva." (I need seven)

As soon as he handed the plastic sack to her, Leah took one out and took a small bite before putting the others in her bag. It had been so long since she'd had a good shesek from her homeland. She moaned as the burst of floral citrus hit her tongue. It was a shame she couldn't digest it. As soon as the juice lost its potency, she spit it into the street corner and took another bite. When she found the tea shop where she'd be meeting with an informant, she stepped inside and ordered a lemongrass green tea.

An older man of Indian origin sat in front of her. His hair was black and curled around his temples. The sides of his hair were peppered with grey, and he had stress lines on his forehead and in the corners of his mouth. He wore thin wire glasses that hid his bright hazel eyes. He ordered a scone and some sort of overly spiced black tea. They didn't speak until after he took a few sips of his tea.

"Shalom, Ganesh. You look well."

"Shalom. I am well."

"I hear Sabine is expecting. This will be your...fourth?"

The man smiled. "Ah, yes. A girl, as you suspected."

"Congratulations. Now, onto business, shall we?" Leah asked as she took a sip of her still hot tea, savored the flavor and then spit it in a napkin.

"I see it in your eyes."

"See what?" she murmured.

"The look of hatred, I recognize it."

"The business, Ganesh. I'm in quite a hurry to catch my prey. The cat is hungry," she snapped at him. When she saw his startled expression, she sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Forgive me. This has been a long and tedious road, and it is quite personal. Thank you for worrying. You are a good man."

"Saba māpha hai. (All is forgiven) Here," Ganesh said, sliding a notebook over.

Leah opened the composition notebook and gawked at the vast amount of information Ganesh had picked up. The man was an absolute Saint. He had photos of Adam and Eve frequenting a cafe, pictures of Eve and Marlowe dealing out blood canisters and in the back there was a rather crucial photo. It was a photo of Adam and Eve's nest in Tangier. Leah would've kissed Ganesh a thousand times over if he were not married to an old friend.

She smiled as she started writing down information. "Ganesh, you are a Messiah among men."

"No need to write it down, take it with you."

Leah paused. "Are you sure? One of the others may need this."

"No, no I'd rather give it to you."

Leah bowed her head. "Ten thousand thank yous and five thousand blessings."

"You look...weary, Leah," Ganesh said cautiously. "Like Bilbo when he said, 'I am old. Like butter scraped over too much bread.' I don't fully understand what your kind...go through, but I know the others don't look as haggard as you do. I don't mean to offend, but it's concerning."

Leah snorted to herself and looked at her reflection in the dusty window. She had bruise-like bags under her eyes, and she was very pale despite her attempts to hide it with makeup. Her cheeks and eyes were gaunt and nearly lifeless. At least her hair looked healthy. No wonder she got so many odd looks in the Shuk on her way there. She looked like a walking corpse. Leah touched her face gingerly and was suddenly reminded of her death many centuries ago.

"I...broke my covenant," Leah said darkly as she looked into her tea with disdain for the reflection it threw back at her. "Because of that...I have no respite from the agonies of this Earth. The others can all feel and hear God, and when they rest they can feel Heaven as it sings life and rejuvenation into their bones." Leah smiled at the memory of Heaven and how joyful it felt. "It was the best part of every day, but now...I no longer have such a privilege. I must bear this burden with no rest, and it's truly agonizing. I must also feed off of what I hunt…something the others don't have to contend with. I haven't consumed anything in many weeks."

"I see."

Leah smiled then, and dug through her large cloth bag she purchased in Tel Aviv from a single mother of two. She was a widow trying to make extra money. Suffice to say, Leah bought her whole supply for double what she asked. Inside, she found what she was looking for: four dolls made from strips of cloth and a single wooden lion figurine. The dolls were in four different colors: red, blue, purple and pink, and they were for Ganesh's three daughters and the one on the way. The lion was made from oak and was hand painted. That was for his son.

As a mother, Leah always had a great fondness for children. Her own children were what kept her going for so long despite her husband's lack of love for her. She cherished them with all her being and felt blessed that God had given them to her. She blessed him even more when her children had many children of their own. Now that her children had passed-a thought that plagued her daily-she often took the time to dote on others' children. Ganesh's children were a prime example. Every time Naanii Leah came for a visit, she spoiled the children until they were rotten.

Ganesh snorted as soon as he saw what she was pulling out. "Leah, you're going to go broke at this rate."

"Bah," Leah smiled. "My people have several accounts we share as a collective. We have enough money spread out to last us another few centuries." Leah looked outside and saw something that set her on edge. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up and the bone spears in her wrists started shifting. It was a Lillitite. Leah could tell just by the smell of him. "We're cutting this short. Follow me, we'll have to go out the back," she said as she stood and put a protective hand on the taller man's back.

As soon as they made it into the alley, Leah pushed him towards a warehouse filled with fruit crates. The warehouse was dingy and stank of sweat. Leah hurriedly hid Ganesh and then his herself up above in the high beams. At that moment, there was a reverberating, grating shriek of metal, and a thin crack of sunlight appeared on the far side of the warehouse. Three Lillities walked in and locked the door behind them. One of them shut the large sliding door as well.

"Smell that? It's fear. Makes the blood more citrusy."

The others cackled as they started spreading out. Leah quietly pulled out her gun and frowned. Her vehicle was several miles away, and it contained all of her equipment. They'd have to make a run for it. Then Ganesh shifted and a box tipped over. Shit. The three moved into an attack formation. The sound of bullets rang through the room as Leah fired before climbing down. All of them were head and joint shots, but that wouldn't stop them for long. She could already see one of them starting to move their fingers.

"Run!" she bellowed as she grabbed Ganesh's elbow and yanked him towards the door. As soon as they were in the alley, Leah jerked Ganesh in front of her to protect him from gunfire. She was low on blood, so she couldn't run any faster than Ganesh. She was probably slower than Ganesh. She turned him right at one intersection and then left. She could smell at least one of them gaining.

As soon as they found the parking garage, Leah jerked him into the stairwell. The elevator was too risky. As they climbed down, a bullet punctured Leah's leg. She fell down the flight screaming. Ganesh stopped to help her, but she just snarled at him and forced him into running again while she used one of the bone protrusions in her wrist to dig out the bullet. By the time she got it out, the vampire was on top of her. Leah grunted as it slammed into her, knocking the air from her lungs and her head on the concrete. She felt her vision swim and swore. She hadn't fed in weeks, so she wasn't healing. She was practically human. She used her legs to force the vampire's head into the wall and managed to crawl away. Good. There was only one of them. She could handle one.

She tried to use the rail to pull herself up, but a knee slammed into her ribcage. She fell to the floor with a yell as she heard the distinct crack of ribs breaking. The vampire grinned down at her and kicked her with enough force to propel her down the stairs to the next level and into the wall where she made an indention in the concrete. The vampire didn't give her a moment to breathe. He was on her immediately, punching her face and throat. She was slowly choking.

"When Casey gets here with the khopesh, I'm gonna gut you alive, bitch."

Leah startled. They had a khopesh?!

Another punch caused her vision to blur and her glasses to shatter. Shards of glass made her eyelashes sparkle. Suddenly, the sound of a pump action rifle echoed through the stairwell. Leah turned just in time to see Ganesh fire and hit the vampire in the stomach. It gave Leah just enough time to shove her bone protrusions into his chest. He gasped and gaped at his chest as blood left his body and was transferred over to hers. She nearly moaned at the feeling of her hunger being sated. Already she could feel her body beginning to mend. Once he was bled dry, Leah shoved him off and struggled to her feet. Ganesh caught her under the arm and hefted her up onto her feet, letting her use him as a crutch.

"I thought...I...told you to...run," she wheezed as they continued down the stairs.

"I did. I ran to my car, and then I ran back here."

Leah chuckled as they burst through the door to basement level 3. Her Hummer was a few yards away. She could hear someone hurrying down the stairs. Leah shoved Ganesh under a car, hoping gasoline would cover his scent until she could deal with their pursuers, and made a run for it. By the time she opened the trunk, she could hear two people yelling. She pulled out her cat-o'-nine tails and turned just in time to get a knife in her chest. A woman who had been walking out of her car screamed at the sight. Before Leah could do anything, her neck was broken and she was on the ground in a pool of her own urine.

Leah growled. "You didn't have to do that."

The woman in charge smiled at her; that must've been Casey. She was of African descent and was unusually...dark, for a vampire. Her eyes her brown and her hair was red and in an army cut. Interesting. She was an older vampire, and yet she didn't retain the ways of her time. She was the one who carried the khopesh. "I don't have to remind you that all's fair in love and war, do I?" she asked.

"And this is war," confirmed the Russian male next to her. He was the one she saw following them. It was only a child of eight, but the smell of his blood said he was nearly a century old.

Leah only cracked the whip in response, letting it make a sharp sound in the air. She only prayed no one else came to this level. Before she had time to blink, the child was using momentum to run up her Hummer and kicked her in the nose in a roundhouse. A loud crunch sent a shock through Leah's system followed by opalescent blood spurting down her shirt. He followed through by grabbing the back of her head and slamming her face into his knee. Leah yelled and fell onto all fours, trying to see past the stars dotting her vision.

The boy started walking towards her while Leah was coughing up a lung. When he jerked her up by the hair, she was grinning. "Bad move."

The sound of the whip echoed in the near silence. The boy stared at Leah as she grinned as him. The whip was wrapped around his neck, and the barbs were lodged in the right side of his neck. With a grunt, she used all her force to rip out his throat. The boy was still staring at her in shock as blood sprayed down his front and onto her face.

"Alois!" the woman screamed.

Leah lunged up, using the bone protrusions once again to drain her prey. The only problem was that there was barely anything left. She growled and withdrew in time to see the vampire from the stairwell. He was looking towards where Ganesh was hiding. He was drained and hungry and very, very dangerous. Leah ran at him when she saw the woman pull out the khopesh. She was moving to do a clothesline decapitation. The attempt failed as Leah used her momentum to slide just under, but the woman compensated by going into a downwards arc. Leah gasped as she felt the blade sink into her side. Fire raced through the wound and to her spine as she hit the ground, skidding to a halt only steps from the woman. That wouldn't heal. Leah groaned and gripped the black khopesh but she felt her hand sizzling. She screamed as she pulled it out before beginning to wretch from the pain. Her hand was bubbling and peeling. That wouldn't heal either.

The woman came over and picked up the khopesh. She rolled Leah onto her back and pinned her with her foot. "He was my lover you know. We were going to bond in a few weeks."

Leah tried to move, but she was too sluggish. Her nerves were still being assaulted with the feeling of Hellfire. Tears welled in her eyes as she fell back against the concrete.

"Oooh, looked what I found. You're the bastard that shot me earlier."

Leah's eyes snapped open when she heard Ganesh being dragged out from under that car. With an inhale, she tightened her grip on the whip and lashed it across the Lillities' gut. Steaming entrails splattered onto Leah's chest. A horrible shriek sliced through the air. Leah scrambled back, the pain suddenly an afterthought. She slashed the woman's throat with the whip as she turned in time to see the vampire pinning Ganesh. Leah yelled as she ran at full speed, pulling the vampire off and shoving him into a car. All the cars in the row screeched as they were shifted.

"Who sent you?" Her voice sounded more like a dog's growl than a human voice.

"Fuck you!"

"Leah! Behind!"

Leah turned just in time to see another vampire lunging at her. Of course they'd have backup. She jumped back and put a few bullets in them as they picked up the vampire and khopesh and ran. The danger was gone. Leah felt the pain come back full force and screamed as she fell on the ground in the fetal position. She could feel her control over her body leaving her. She began seizing as fire continued to shoot through her veins. She was rolled onto her side as she seized and drooled onto the pavement.

"It's okay, Leah. Medics are coming."


The next thing Leah was aware of was a steady beeping somewhere above her, the smell of antiseptic and something pressing on her index finger. Her throat was raw and pain pressed in on her each time her lungs expanded. She tried to move, managed to twitch her fingers, turn her head.

"Leah?" The voice was familiar. She cracked heavy eyelids open.

"Ganesh? The hell are you still doing here?"

"Just relax. You're all right."

She let her eyes drift closed. "Where am I?" Her mouth felt dry, tongue thick.

"In a hospital," he replied. He took her hand and pressed something into it. "That's for you to control your morphine."

"Won't work," she managed. "Khopesh 'sa cursed blade," she slurred.

"How are you feeling?"

"Hell...literally."

"That blade...what kind of curse did it have?"

"Satan's gift 's what it's called. Fire of Hell when it hits a Nistarim or other messenger." She opened her eyes and looked at her surroundings. She was slowly gaining her speech back.

"You had us worried."

"Us?"

"Well, I know your stepson Joseph came by and put some of his blood in your IV bag. My family's all here. I'm sure there were more."

Leah snorted. "Don't be so sure. The Nistarim need to keep our numbers from dropping. Joseph was the one closest to our location. If he cared, he could've done way more. The Nistarim have great healing capabilities."

"I've never understood their hatred for you."

She shrugged then winced. She looked under the blanket and pulled her gown away just enough to see the wound. It was sewn shut, but it was black around the wound. That would fade…she hoped.

"You didn't have to do that. Save me. I was perfectly capable of defending myself."

"That's my job. I make sure no one gets hurt."

"Except you," Ganesh said, an edge in his voice.

"Except me," she agreed.

"You're awake!"

Leah looked towards the sound and smiled when she saw Sabine and the kids coming through the door. Leah grinned brightly and opened her arms wide. All of the children but Raj-who was asleep in his mother's arms-piled into the bed with her. She winced as one sat back against her chest.

"Hey, be careful with Naanii," Sabine chided as she sat and offered her son to her husband. "She's hurt, remember?"

"Bah, I'm fine. I'd be hurt if you three didn't give me all this love," she said as she gave them each kisses. She saw the youngest daughter, Ila, holding the purple doll. "Ah, so you got Naanii's present?"

They nodded and started telling her all about how they were doing in school, that they got a puppy, what friends they had at the moment and about their lives in general. She missed hearing children talk. She would sometimes spend hours talking to each of her children while she played games with them, or in her daughter's case, played with their hair. Each child and grandchild received equal amounts of love and attention.

Leah listened attentively until Sabine cleared her throat. "We must get going. Our plane will be leaving in the morning. When do you leave?" she asked, knowing Leah wouldn't stay in one place for very long.

"Tonight. I'm headed for Tangier."