A/N: I know, early update, but I'm heading on a road-trip all the way to Upstate New York to visit some relatives, and their Internet service is shit, so... Thanks much to my lovelies for reviewing, please know that you have a special place in my heart always, whether you keep quiet or not! (And I mean it) Ooh, one question, though. Who's watching The Vampire Diaries tomorrow?! Of course I am, but you know only for the sexy and talented men on that show. x) Ian...

So, next week, we're going a little deeper into Eva's past... like... 1400's deep. Like, when she was actually 16 and still a living, breathing human deep. Okay, I think I've made my point. You'll be introduced to Alek, Eva's brother, Nikolai, Eva's father, and Andrey, Eva's turner and mentor. So~ stay tuned if you wanna see a little action, and if you like what you read and want more, don't worry, I have more human Eva moments planned later on. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own MBaV, I just play with the characters and make them say and do things they probably wouldn't without a PG-14 or so warning.

III. A Person of Interest

S1E3: Blood Drive

I fastened the white lab coat I put on just a while ago and stood up from kneeling. I was anticipating the blood drive all week. There was blood everywhere. Blood bags. Blood coming out of donors. And even the donors counted as blood. My stomach growled at the delicious scent and I grinned, rubbing my hands in that cartoonish bad guy way.

I signed up as a student-volunteer nurse to get close to the good stuff. Sometimes I just wanted a tease, sometimes I wanted a bite, it depended on my mood. I carried a plastic container of the stuff towards a table and dusted my hands, keeping my hungry stare on it. That's my lunch.

"Eva, could you take that tray and hand out cookies to the donors in line?" I turned around and nodded at Annie, one of my bosses. I nodded. I wouldn't admit she was gorgeous aloud. I knew a majority of the boys in line were pining over her. Although I felt like I knew the older one, Lila, from somewhere, she was just a cranky bitch for now.

I just couldn't last long enough without thinking about that luxurious smell and how my fangs ached to drive themselves inside a little bag of seventh heaven.

I took the tray of oatmeal cookies and walked by the line of boys slowly. I held the tray out by my side as some boys took a helping. I winked when I met up with Ethan and Benny.

"Cookies?" I offered, tipping the half-empty tray. "C'mon, I didn't poison them."

"Eva? What are you doing as a student nurse?" Ethan asked me curiously.

"I can't help give to the poor people dying of blood-loss?" I asked, batting my eyes. "Aww, Ethie, don't you know me by now?"

"Actually, I vaguely know you, and I vaguely trust you, so, no, I don't want any cookies."

I pouted and looked at the boy behind them. I looked at him intently. "Could you hold these for me?" I asked sweetly. His eyes glowed blue and he nodded, flitting off with them. I shrugged. Close enough. "So, what are we up to on this fine day?" I asked the boys.

"You've barely talked to us since the cheerleading thing."

"See, but I've had a change of heart now." True. I wasn't much of a people person, but still, I was in too much of a good mood to care.

Ethan looked at me as if he were reading my mind or something, but I rolled my eyes and turned to Benny. "You believe me, right, Ben?" I asked him. He shrugged, his eyes far off. I raised my eyebrow and turned to look in the direction.

His stare was locked on Annie, no doubt, and this . . . this bothered me. In the time that I've barely known Benny, his short little attention span was focused on me. I shrugged again and crossed my arms.

"What are you really up to, Eva?"

"Nothing. And if I was up to something, you wouldn't know . . . now would you?" I inquired with my head tilted. I spun around and strutted off.

.v.X.^.X.v.

Like I've said countless times before . . . I've been around for a while. I was familiar with most of the tricks in the book, and I knew how to use them. And I could smell a plan brewing a mile away.

Now, when my new vampy friends (I guess I could call them friends) started acting suspiciously, I knew something was up because I was left in the dark with this whole thing as usual.

I put my hands in my pockets and headed off to go grab breakfast, since I got so caught up in the excited this morning to actual look for some. I was twirling a lock of hair that fell loose from my bun when I bumped into Lila. She dropped a case of blood bags on the floor and I quickly bent down to retrieve them, apologizing.

And that's when it hit me.

May • 1924

Chicago, Illinois

The perfect drizzle begun to pitter-patter on the sidewalks. The wind wasn't too gusty, but it ran through my hair, which was dolled up with pins. A lacy black band went around my head, with a couple red and white feathers by my ear. I slipped my shall on my shoulders as I jogged down the street in my white heels. Faint yellow lights casted a glow in the night, and the sounds I could detect were car honks and drunken men travelling in groups, smoking cigars and laughing.

I had too much of a good time tonight. I was surprised I wasn't even that drunk. My eyesight was blurry through the darkness of the night, probably because I had been laughing so hard that I was crying up until now. I twisted the string of pearls around my neck around my wrist and went to go hail a cab. I stopped when I heard something in the distance.

A faint scream, paired with the scent of blood. I licked my lipstick-covered lips and sped towards the sound.

In an alley, I found a woman, maybe in her late-twenties, on the ground, blood sprouting from her chest. Her skin was pale from blood-loss, making her look like a ghost, but a beautiful one at that. Her blond hair was loosening from the bun it was in, and her light eyes were wide with fright, maybe surprise as well. A knife was jabbed in her deep.

I knelt down and pulled it out, tossing it in the back of me. She was sobbing weakly and her eyes were bloodshot and watery. Her voice was weary and raised slightly, sounds of whimpering sounding forced.

"Wh-who are you?" she asked.

"Your guardian angel," I told her, taking up her wrist in my possession. I took it up to my mouth and bit into to, making her scream more at first, but later become quiet, like she was enjoying it. I ejected myself from her. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Lila. Lila Payne," she said breathlessly.

"Well, Lila. Your life's about to get a million times better." I feasted on her once more until I heard her heartbeat faintly cease.

"Lila Payne . . ." I whispered, smiling. "I was wondering when I'd see you again."

After I had turned her, I found out what happened to her. Drunk and angry husband, major fight, obviously ended badly. Jesse and I went about our own private business off and on, so he wasn't with me when I took advantage of the Roaring '20s. I stayed with Lila for a couple decades, teaching her the ropes and everything I could, then I had to go, for more unfinished business.

Or . . . maybe I left her on the spot, but I had my reason. But seeing her for the first time in almost a century was almost surreal.

"Eva, I knew it was you," she said, "but I was afraid you wouldn't remember me." I rolled my eyes. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. I've actually been up to nothing, and it's boring. I'm boring. What about you?"

She gestured to the case of blood. My mouth curled into an O shape and I nodded slowly.

"I've been able to keep this up for a couple decades, actually, and I'm proud," she explained. "But I won't be in town long, so we won't have time to catch up." She frowned, but then perked up. "Hey, maybe we could talk over dinner sometime?" I nodded, laughing. "Okay. I've got to take this to the truck. I'll see you soon."

"Take care," I said, holding a hand up. I watched her walk away and I then went out into the hall to get something to nibble on.

I opened it and took the stolen blood bag from out of my lab coat's inside pocket and pushed the blood in it with my fingers into the coffee mug that I usually used to get coffee from the student lounge. I disposed of the bag in the garbage quickly. I bumped my locker with my hip and took a sip when I was approached by Ethan.

"Oh my God, what now?" I asked, sipping some more afterward.

"I'm giving you the chance to be honest with me, Ev," he said rather arrogantly.

I looked at him questionably when he called me "Ev." Nobody had a nickname for me except Erica . . . Well, there was "Sweetness" which was what Rory called me, but I'm pretty sure that didn't count.

"Spill your plan, and you'll be less sorry than you will be later on," he continued.

Was that supposed to be a threat? "You really need to calm yourself down," I told him.

There wasn't even a main incentive in stealing the blood now, even though I did already, despite it being a small dose. Stealing anything that belonged another vampire was a "crime," according to the dumb-ass Vampire Council, which I hated. They were always making up stupid rules. Especially when a little girl like Anastasia was in charge. Next thing you know, we're all gathering for tea parties and play-dates.

"What's that in your mug?" Ethan questioned.

I looked down at the deep, thick, crimson liquid. "Blood, duh. And you're supposed to be the brainiac?" I smirked. "Relax, I swear I only took one blood bag. I'd be an idiot to drive off with the truck out back."

He froze in thought and then went off, leaving everything discreet and suspicious between us. That was weird, yet not surprising.

After finishing up my mug, taking a few moments in between to savor the taste, I licked my top lip, buried it safely back in my locker, then ran to follow his scent and to see what he was up to.

.v.X.^.X.v.

I crept behind the boys, eavesdropping sneaky-like on their conversation. They were looking over at Erica and Rory, who were discussing something that I thought that had to do with Ethan's wild accusations toward me. And it looked like Erica was doing a good job, because this guy was all over her, doing her laundry and stuff. I caught that they were planning to do something with the blood for the blood drive. And out of all this, why did I feel like I was a bad influence . . . ?

Nah . . .

When the two departed and the boys were still lingering around in the hall, I decided to scare them by jumping down from my floating position and hissing. It definitely scared the crap out of them. I cackled evilly.

"Eva, that was not funny!" Benny whimpered.

"Actually, it kind of was," I gloated, bouncing up. "Now do you see that I'm innocent?" I propped my hands on my hips and raised my chin, waiting for Ethan's response. He sighed but nodded. A smile played on my lips.

"Anyways, the clinic's closing. I think our work here is done. All of us." Ethan gazed over at me and I sighed, nodding for compromise. I was a little disappointed. AB positive was my favorite, and it was so hard to come by nowadays.

"You wanna come over and play Robo-Zombie?" inquired Benny. "I used a cheat code to unlock a new brain grenade!"

I'd never understand what it was with teenage boys and online-gaming. Shooting things and watching blood explode out of an opponent. That was what the battlefield was for when I was sixteen, er, actually sixteen.

"Eh . . ."

"Oh, c'mon, we can still monitor his GPS signal from there!"

"Yeah, you two go blast some heads, blow off steam, I can take care of everything here," I said, placing a fake smile on my face. Now, I had a feeling that those two were up to no good. And I was a one-woman team. I thought best when I was alone.

I'm surprised that suppressed all Ethan's questions. He left to talk to Sarah a few seconds after.

I turned and dismissed myself from the hall, going back to the donation room, handing in my lab coat and swiping a cookie. I took a deep breath when I saw Rory wandering alone in the hall, maybe even confused about where he was going. He sure looked like the type of person who'd get so easily confused.

I greeted him warmly with a smile. "Hey, buddy." He nodded. "Whatcha up to?"

His blue eyes widened as he stuttered, shaking his head. "I can't tell you." I frowned, tilting my head. I tried to form my expression into a wounded one, like I felt betrayed by his secrecy. "What's wrong?" He sounded like he bought it.

"You don't trust me," I said, hugging myself. "I thought we were friends."

"We are!"

I perked up and touched his arm ever so gently and ran my fingers up to his neck. "Tell me then, please? I swear, I won't tell a soul." His lips parted, but no words came out. I raised an eyebrow critically and came closer to him, looking at him. "Please?"

He sighed and nodded. "Okay. Don't tell anybody, though. Erica'll kill me."

"Erica? What?"

"We're gonna sneak into the blood truck out back and take some." My eyes grew wide. Oh shit. "If you wanna join us, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

I stuttered in surprise, tyro to correct him, to stop him from acting impulsively, and shook my head sternly. No way was I going to testify against the Council. I made that mistake once, and I wasn't planning on doing it again. It was way too foolish and risky.

"That's okay," he said, still optimistic.

Tell him, my mind told me. Or his blood and hers will be on your hands. It's a faultless, rookie mistake. Correct them!

When I tried to say something, Rory cut me off, eager with excitement. "Well, I've got to get going. I'll save you some, Sweetness."

I grabbed his hand before he could take off. I tried to push my sentence out, but instead came, "Be careful, okay?"

He nodded, disconcerted, and I pecked a kiss on his cheek, hearing his heartbeat beat more intensely. His cheeks burned rosy as I backed up bashfully, and left quickly.

I knew what I had to do now, my pride and ego aside.

.v.X.^.X.v.

"Hey!" I screamed, knocking on the glass of the window of Benny's bedroom.

I was getting awfully tired just floating there. He was so into his silly computer game that he could barely hear me. I swore silently and pulled out my phone, sending him a quick text. Inside, he turned to his phone, picked it up, and looked my way. He got up and opened the window, letting me in. I tripped over the windowsill and crash-landed on the floor. I recovered fast and stood up, pulling down my jacket.

"About time! Do you know how long I've been out there?" I demanded.

"I was busy, Eva," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, I can clearly see that." I gestured over to the paused game. "Look. I got Rory to fess up what he and Erica were up to. They're going rob the donation truck."

"I don't believe you . . ." He looked skeptical. I face-palmed just as his phone made a beep noise. He reached for it and checked it out, then looked up at me, pausing in thought. "Let's see what Mr. Security Camera has to say."

I snorted when he went to his computer and started to type. A view of the back of the school pulled up. I didn't even have to say I told you so because it was so obvious.

"Uh-huh," I pointed out, crossing my arms.

"I guess we have to go now . . ."

"I'll be outside." I directed my thumb at the window. I walked toward the window, climbed over the windowsill, and jumped down to the ground.

.v.X.^.X.v.

Too late.

Even with him in tow while I raced at vampire speed, we were too late. The truck just pulled off, and I could only imagine what Lila and Annie were capable of, since I taught Lila everything I knew. But she was always a cautious one. She wouldn't decapitate them or pull out their hearts. She'd probably call an advisor from the Vampire Council, and have them handed in for crime. And God knows what they'd do to them . . .

I heard footsteps behind me. I turned, fangs out, glowering at the stranger. No threat there. Only Ethan and Sarah.

"What are you doing with Eva?" Sarah asked, snappily.

I had no patience to get into a quarrel with Sarah right now. I simply rolled my eyes and stood there silently, biting my tongue, both figuratively and literally.

"Ethan, you hung up on me!" Benny accused, stalking up to him.

"Later! Right now, we have vampire nurses to deal with," he snapped.

"I know, Eva told me."

"Ha!" I jumped in, pointing at Sarah. "It took me a while to put the pieces together. The suspicious behavior. The sneaking around. But I finally got it. Erica and Rory were planning on hitting up the blood truck and taking everything, and if I'm correct, they failed to do so, resulting in getting stuck inside." I shredded my cocky attitude. "If I know Lila, she's crafty. We have to find out where she's taking them, before she hands them in to the Council." Sarah stood like I had slapped her in the face.

"Then we gotta grab our gear and go after them, and fast," Ethan said. The three ran off.

"Hey! No 'thanks, Eva. What would we do without you'? " I shouted. I hmph'ed and followed.

This teamwork thing was annoying.

.v.X.^.X.v.

"So, you turned Lila in the nineteen-twenties?" Sarah asked, going into the fridge. I nodded.

The boys had went upstairs to research the donation program whilst I stood at the doorway, still not invited in. Tracing my fingers on the invisible border between me and the Morgan house, I got mildly shocked. I watched Sarah on the other side, though, draining a steak of blood from the freezer. It didn't make much sense to me, but whatever.

"She was really obedient. I guess when I took her to the Council to be initiated, they really got through to her. She'd never hold anyone hostage if there weren't any laws. They'd be dead." She turned, alarmed. I shrugged. "What? It's true. At least we're getting time to perform a rescue. Advisors are slow."

"Why are you helping?"

"I created Lila, she's my responsibility. Just like how I have to sweep the town clean of Jesse's mess."

She looked at me knowingly. "That's not your real reason."

"Try me," I hissed.

I wasn't going to let her get into my head and mix me up. I was already regretting telling her about Lila. I should've let her take care of them. It was not of my business. But, I couldn't stand to see newborn vampires like Erica and Rory live such a short life. I should know, I had a similar experience. I didn't want to feel anything towards this, but some part of me was tugging onto the desire to assist. Playing with fire was bad enough, and I knew I was going to get burned sooner or later.

And lucky for me, the boys came downstairs, interrupting our awkward conversation, with alternative weapons in case things got serious.

.v.X.^.X.v.

The nurses' truck had been tracked to an old warehouse. I carefully maneuvered myself around the boxes and into the clearing where Lila stood with Annie in the back of the truck. I breathed in and let myself hide in the back.

"It's not like these two noobs would put up much of a fight anyways," Annie said.

"Maybe they won't," Sarah said, making the pair look our way.

"But we will," added Ethan.

Annie looked amused. "You?"

"Yeah. Us," I said, coming into view. Annie's self-confident smirk vanished when she saw me. Lila eyed me angrily, hissing at me sharply. I hissed back, but all I could remember was my head thumping on the concrete, the world fusing into black.

November • 1971

New York, New York

My chin dripped of dark blood as my hands were wrapped on the back of the young man's neck, tilting him over on my lap. My teeth were in deep, practically chewing his flesh as I indulged in him. He tried to hit on me, but I had a bad day, and my bad days never ended well. He was the poor pawn in all of it.

I looked up from him and turned his head to the clean side of his neck, offering him to an out of tune Lila, who stood silently on the other side of the alley. She shook her head, denying him. I made a noise that sounded like a groan crossed with a sigh and threw him down from my lap and got up, going to her.

"What's wrong with you?" I queried. She almost never passed off a good snack when there was one.

"I-I don't want to keep doing this, Eva," she answered, turning away from her. "I want to quit hiding in the shadows."

I furrowed my eyebrows, putting my hand on my hip. "What's that supposed to mean? We go to a party almost every single night. You're living your life! Don't you see the way men look at you once you pass by? They desire you; they want you."

"That's just it!" Her voice nearly threw me off. Nearly. "I'm sick of it . . . I . . . I think we should. . ." I stood patiently for what she was going to say next. She gathered up a deep breath and glared heatedly at me. "I want to start over. Make a new living for myself. I want to travel alone."

I froze, but swallowed. Anger swirled inside me, burning in my chest. But instead of cursing her, I nodded, eyes narrowed.

"Fine. If that's how you want to treat me, go ahead and do so. I should've let you die." I spat out the last words harshly. She gasped and glared hard at me, a frown crossing her expression. I took a tissue from my bag and wiped my face, then sped away into the bustling streets, as if it never happened. And the cold air didn't seem so cold anymore.

Blinking back into reality, I raised my head to see that I was laying on the ground. I rose, now feeling pain in my head as some of my blood was on the floor. I growled and jumped up, collecting what had happened once I blacked out.

Lila stood with Annie by the truck, a bag of blood at hand. A wonderous scent pooled the air, making me feel better. A fight, possibly, and dammit, I had missed it. The pair of blonde nurses had the back of the truck opened and I nearly puked when Erica was kissing Rory.

I fake-gasped and cried, "Rory, you're cheating on me!"

This alerted Erica, who quickly turned away to face her audience. "That isn't what it looks like! He wouldn't shut up! Even kissing him seemed less annoying." They got out of the truck and I whistled, amused. Lila groaned.

"I'm surrounded by vampire noobs!"

I stepped up to her, cross-armed. "You have the nerve to call me a noob." I felt vampire features cross my face, and she definitely got my message. We definitely weren't hanging out and recalling old memories anytime soon.

She and Annie closed up the backdoors. "Let's get out of here," she said, calling Lila to get into the truck with her. They fled.

"Do you guys need a ride home?" offered Sarah.

"No, we're good. It's nice out, and I think we could use the flight practice," Erica refused, luring Rory to follow her. He smiled a quirky smile and headed off to follow with a thumbs-up. And a few bits later, you could practically hear Erica's hand pass across his face and him cry, "Ow!"

.v.X.^.X.v.

Laying on the long couch in the living room and averted my eyes from the rerun of True Blood and focused on the ceiling. I may have been a vampire, but I enjoyed fake ones a lot—just not Dusk. Anything but Dusk. I don't sparkle.

I just had to curse myself. I had been slipping. I couldn't have been slipping, I was too strong for that. And if Jesse were here, I could hear his voice recommending me in the background. He'd say something like, "Look at you, you've let a couple of humans get to you," and I would've hissed at him, immaturely. I couldn't afford to repress back into feelings of sympathy, not after all the things I've done. Not after all the things people had done to me.

I needed to control myself before it was too late.

Kisses! ~TwistedTelepath