*Rewritten

I devoured the food like a savage who'd lived on bark for months. The grease was dripping out of the packages, and the noodles were flying around like Christmas decorations. I was starved and manners were the last thing I was worried about.

I wanted to know some truth out of my pretty companion, as it looked like I wouldn't get rid of her for a long time.

"So" I said with my mouth full, "What's your story, what's your history?"

Nathalka answered abrupt like she had been practicing for this question.

"I was born about 300 years ago in western Europe. I lived with my family. My mother, father, brother, and two younger sisters—"

"Wow, 300 years ago? You were born in the early 18th century? How the hell is that possible!"

I shouted, I didn't even asked, I just freaked. I've seen a lot in the last decade. I've encountered demons and beasts from which the common folk only think of them as mythical, but they were never immortal, far from it actually.

Nathalka looked at me with irritation in her eyes. "If you'd just let me finish! One night our village was attacked, that was the night I was turned… made a Vampire…"

I looked at her with disbelief. "Vampires, blood sucking freaks who live in the night and steal people from the face of the earth?" Now I was thinking of her as a mythical, made up, being. It pissed her off and I caught myself enjoying that. I was regaining some control.

Nathalka told the story with a calm voice as if talking to a child. She was expecting this kind of reaction from me.

"You must understand we are not all monsters. Most of the covens live under a code not to harm mortals. But there are those who feel superior to mortals and see them as nothing more than food. That is what happened to my family. They bled them dry. After they were finished with the rest, they started with me and my brother but they were interrupted by members of the Western European coven. The bite didn't kill us but it did turn us. My brother Markus made less of a transition that's why he's a Light Walker, he can go out in the daylight without getting his skin burned off. There are very few Light Walkers, in my coven alone there are only three, Markus, Liisa and Kristan".

Although it seemed like she told this story dozens of times, I could still see her struggle with the old wounds. Mortals fear death, immortals would probably welcome it. I could not imagine any of this no matter how hard I tried. This wasn't easy for her, and I didn't make it any easier. I wondered about the covens, it meant that they were everywhere around this world. How could I be so blind and stupid not to notice! I was fighting a lost cause, I was all alone. Those covens are here for centuries, maybe millennia, and they didn't even wipe out all the evil in this world. How on earth could I have done it on my own?

"Who was that man at the mansion? Why did he burn in the sunlight?" I asked Nathalka. A lot of my questions were answered, but even more questions had risen.

Nathalka started talking again. "When our sires were killed, my brother and me were accepted in the Western European coven which headquarters lied within Amsterdam. They fed us, gave us new names, homes, they helped us get started and used to our new lives. Miika was one of the death dealers at that time. Death Dealers are the chosen Vampires who hunt down the Lycans. It's a sort of a license to kill, a 00 secret agent status. Lycans are werewolves, in your word. The earliest were so angry, they couldn't change back to human form. They started slaying people and turned some of them into other Lycans. They acted purely out of rage, without instinct, without a consciousness".

Lycans. I fought them before, the big wolf-like creatures but I never knew what they were called. A lot of pieces started to fit, the puzzle started to show its picture but there were still too many gaps to fill.

"I was trained to hunt down the Lycans" Nathalka continued. "After generations of wolves, they started to adapt themselves to the environment. The newer generations learned to control their rage and were able to turn back to human form. They were still filthy creatures who could now roam the cities in human form to strike down unsuspecting humans and feast on their flesh. Being born a mortal, I took these assaults very personal. After the Great War ended 150 years ago and most of the Lycans were killed or laid low, we started noticing activity in the Norse lands. Miika went home to defend his own land. Me and Markus went with him because where Miika went, we went. And that's when I became the leader of his squad".

I was completely astonished by this all. It was grand, strange, frightening. It was also very secret. None of the normal human beings could ever see any of these creatures, good nor evil.

She turned her gaze towards me, it was an intimidating gaze but still you couldn't look away from it.

"Tell me about yourself" she said. "It sounds childish but, I told you my story, and now it's time for you to tell yours. I need to understand who I'm dealing with"

She was right, I owed her my story, my life, those few years that I'm around and doing my thing, is nothing compared to what Nathalka had been through. I hesitated, felt ashamed to tell about my life, because it was so much less than hers. I was expendable, she wasn't.

"As long as I can remember, I have been able to see more darkness than light. It scared me all the way through my childhood. My parents did what every other parent would do. They made it worse. I had to go in therapy, and got hospitalized. I didn't have any clue how to handle all of it and there was nobody who could teach me. Nobody ever believes a kid's story, they always think it's made up, fantasy or a psychological problem. As I grew older, I started to feel stronger. All the things I could see didn't kill me or even hurt me, so I started to lure them out, challenge them. I started to explore the dark corners of every room, the places where you think you see something move in the corner of your eyes".

I looked at Nathalka. I was afraid for a bored look in her eyes. Why would she be genuinely interested in my life story? But against all expectations, she looked at me with pure interest. I continued my story after a couple of uncomfortable silent seconds.

"I never really spoke to my parents, when they came to visit, I'd keep my mouth shut. How could I know that those moments were the last times I had to ever talk to them. A fire broke out on a winter night. Snow was falling down so hard, that the fire trucks couldn't reach the hospital. The standard fire extinguishers weren't enough to put out the entire fire. My wing, in the psychiatric ward, completely burned down. I was in the middle of it. I didn't want to die, but I wasn't afraid for it to happen either. How ironic would it be, to be saved from darkness, by the heat and light of fire. But then, something came through the roof. It really smashed through it, grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the fire. I couldn't see what it was, but I knew it was part of the darkness. I knew it because I felt 5 sharp long nails being buried in my shoulders, the scars are still there. The pain was too much for me to bear, so I passed out. I expected myself to wake up in a hospital, but I didn't expect it to be empty. When I woke up, there was nothing, not even an IV or heart monitor attached to my body. My wounds were healed, so I had to be there for some time. I stumbled out of my bed, and walked through the empty hospital".

"I know where this is heading" Nathalka said "Even now, the Lycans have underground hospitals to treat their sick and wounded, and test on normal humans".

I was astonished. After so long, I finally knew what really happened. They didn't bite me, they didn't turn me, they tested me….

"So, what you're saying, is that I'm a test subject gone haywire?"

"I fought you, you know what you are capable of but you never turned into a wolf" she explained. "I mean, it's just an educated guess, but we know that the Lycans are trying to make their version of Light Walkers. Humans with the superhuman strength of a wolf, without losing focus due to an insatiable rage".

The night passed and we talked about our lives, our missions and our wars. When her watch beeped again I sighed and said 'On the run for daylight again?'

"Yeah.. let's go" she said. "We're in no hurry though, the mansion isn't far"

We got up and walked towards the car and when we reached it we got in. We hadn't driven far when I saw a dark figure in the middle of the road. Even though we were going straight for it, it did not seem to be afraid of getting ran over.

"Frak" I heard Nathalka hiss next to me. "Get down" she urged when she reached for her gun. We hit the figure at full speed after which Nathalka braked hard and got out of the car with he gun in her hand. I noticed that I was scared as hell. I liked the fear, it was a completely new rush. It was like seeing a horror movie without your parents knowing it, and with you knowing that it'll give you nightmares for the next few nights. She got out of the car and opened fire on the dark figure in the back of our car. Somehow he had survived getting hit at full speed without so much as a skratch. With a frightening inhuman agility it dodged her bullets and drew out its own gun and fired back at her. She dodged them as well but two bullets hit her in her abdomen.

"O gods she's hit!" my brain was frying by the overload of impulses. I needed to get us out of here and fast. The dark figure threw away its gun and roared an inhuman guttural roar.

"Lycan…" my mind made over time. I never uncounted a werewolf like this before. The Lycan charged forward and smashed into Nathalka with his beast-like strength. Nathalka flew through the air and landed 5 meters away on her back.

I charged the Lycan from behind, plunging a small dagger I always carried with me into its back. The beast roared furiously and threw me over its shoulder making me land painfully hard on my back. The wolf jumped on my with his claws stretched out, ready to bury his nails into my flesh and tear it out in chunks. In a panic, I pushed myself away with my feet, just enough for his claws to hit the pavement. The sound of the claws scratching stone made the hairs on my arm stand up. Quickly I jumped to my feet. I felt naked without anything to defend myself with. Why wasn't I armed and ready for this? I thought. Because you usually don't get attacked while going for Chinese food, the voice in my head answered immediately.

I threw a punch towards him, but his enormous claw easily caught my hand before it hit home. With a twist and a sickening crack I realized he broke my wrist. I couldn't suppress a scream of agony. With my still healthy hand I smashed into the beast's face which made him let go of my hand. I fell to the floor and instinctively I grabbed my broken wrist.

I looked at Nathalka, She was standing up, and looked at her car. She was looking at her frakking car! That stupid black machine, why was that so important! Just as I thought he would strike the finishing blow, I heard gunfire. The beast roared in pain and I saw bullets making their way through it's forehead, bringing along bits of brain for the ride.

With a big slam it fell to the floor and in horror I watched as its feral form changed back into a human form. It still had the same gun wounds in his forehead and a bleeding nose from when I hit him. Behind the man stood Nathalka, bleeding from her nose and stomach but still very much alive. I looked up at her and saw she was having a hard time breathing. Go figure with two bullets in your gut.

"Are you okay?" She asked clearly looking concerned. "I think it's broken" I said as I looked down at my wrist. "What took you so damn long?"

Nathalka looked angry at me. "I've got 2 bullets in my abdomen, and the bastard shot my car 3 times! 3 damn times! I had to kill him just for that!" Nathalka grabbed my wrist with both her hands, the pain went through my head causing a wave of nausea. I had to breathe in deep not to lose my dinner.

'It's broken but not out of place" She said as she moved away. She dragged herself back to the car and opened the back door. She quickly found what she was looking for and tossed me a piece of cloth. "Tie this around your neck, your arm needs rest" I did what she told me and made an improvised sling.

"Thanks for the help! What if he didn't shoot your car?!" I yelled at her.

"Then we would have had some more fun" she answered and smiled a sly smile.

I really pissed her off this time. Although I knew that she was trained in this sort of thing, and that one Lycan would not win it from both a Vampire and me, but I had never been in this position before, and to think that this is only the beginning of something much bigger.

She walked back to the Lycan and with great effort she picked him up and put him in the trunk of her car.

"Can't leave a mess" she smiled a painful smile. She sat herself down on the back seat with her legs outside the car. I stood up and walked towards her as she took her coat and the top of her leathers off. Underneath she wore a black tank top and just as I began to notice how fragile her posture actually was I noticed two streams of thick blood running down her abdomen and two holes where the bullets had penetrated the skin. One just beneath her left breast and the other about 20 cm below the first one. She was sweating, probably due to the pain. It's a frakking miracle that she hadn't passed out by now.

She reached for a dagger she carried in her right boot. While she handed me the dagger she said: "I need you... to dig the bullets out" As if it were nothing special.

"But I never…. I can't just…" I had a loss for words, she did NOT just ask me to perform an operation on a living human, well… Vampire… but still!

"Look, we need to get them out before the wound heals with the bullets still inside and I would need surgery. "I can't do it myself now, can I. Stop being a bitch about it and get those bullets out, for my sake" she said with a lot less of power in her voice. I could hear her breathing getting more irregular as well. I took the knife from her hand and she arched her back to give me more room to work. "You just stick the knife in the wound under the bullet and just pop it out" she instructed. Just pop it out, as if I was removing lego bricks from each other.

I lowered the blade with an unsteady hand towards her stomach, still unsure if I was actually going to do this. The tip of the knife made contact with the first bullet wound and I felt a jolt go through Nathalka's body. Just pop it out I said to myself while I pressed down the knife down into the wound. I had to twist and turn it before I felt the steel blade connect the lead lump in her body. I managed to keep the blade steady and my mind clear by focussing on deep breaths. Nathalka hissed at every turn of the blade but she still managed to keep her body perfectly still. When I felt the tip of the blade slide underneath the bullet, I pushed it upwards and out of the wound. The mess was indescribable but the bullet was out. I heard her let out a sigh of relief when she saw I had the first bullet in my hand.

Nathalka took some deep breaths before I continued with the second bullet. The removal of the first bullet gave me enough confidence to start with the second one. I inserted the blade for the second time, searching for the other bullet, this one deeper than the previous one. It was too deep, whenever I pushed the blade upwards to pry out the bullet, it dug itself deeper above the wound. I had to insert my thumb and index finger in her wound to grab the bullet and take it out. "I got it" I said, still shocked from what I just did. Her blood was everywhere, over my hands, over the back seat and, whether I liked it or not, on my coat as well. It kind of startled me when I discovered that my first thought was 'I hope I can get the stains out'.

Nathalka's legs where shaking due to the blood loss and she had to struggle to stay conscious.

"O.. okay… you need to drive back I don't think I'm in any condition the drive" she said as I found a first aid kid and used the bandage from it to stop the bleeding of her wounds. She dragged herself further into the car so I could close the back door.

Okay driving a car... It's been a while… but I'm sure I can still do it… even with one arm. I turned the key and the car started. I noticed the car required little driving skills since it practically drove itself. Nathalka told me the route instructions and without a lot of trouble I drove us back to Olavinlinna without other problems, or so I thought.