To say she, Ava Gardner was excited would be an understatement to say the least. The underground city, the area she was walking had small boutiques, cafes and other specialty shops that catered to those like her. A miniature metropolitan that rivaled many of the world chicest cities. Well-designed and clean. And she was someone who'd been around to see many of them rise from small villages. Ava Gardner is a vampire. A creature of the night, a denizen of the dark and one third member of the angry gerbils, attack hamsters and a few other names. And a member of the house of Mikoto. She's both excited and worried as She passed the shopping section, entertainment facilities, the karaoke center, bowling alley, and the food tasting area in the underground city of School District 22.

She is dress casually, a nice blouse and short skirt with comfortable shoes. Doing her best to blend in with the crowds, drinking a large size beverage. The beverage was not your ordinary beverage. It wasn't a soda, tea or anything normal. But a variation specific to her needs. A blood slushy. AB's negative, her favorite. Yes, for a small charge, individuals like herself could purchase vampire related products in the underground city. And with rumors abound, claiming vampires would be able to stay in the underground city once the new queen said it was ok. Her eyes and smile shined brighter than the manufactured stars in the ceiling above... But until then vampires, on their days off, would often frequent the underground city. Enjoying walks along the bridge, along the tree lined river flowing underneath, even during the daylight hours. Just the thought of it caused her smile to get a little bigger and her cheeks shaded a little darker. She moved among the eager crowds of Academy City students going to the numerous bath houses, and or the theaters. Many slowing their pace, seeing shewolves, they knew or wished they did, working on many of the new stores coming soon. The shewolves being shewolves would stop work and wave. A few, talking, flirting with many of the young female students. After all, shewolves did what shewolves did. They were deadly in a fight and even deadlier when they flirted. The bakery café was opening another location in the underground city. Much to the delight of the many.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the worried feeling nagging at her. Ava had been assigned to guard her Mistress, Mikoto Misaka, who was in a certain hospital, recovering from her wounds. She had been politely, not ordered, told her that since it was her day off, she had to take the day off. But Emelia disagreed. An argument ensued and ended when Mikoto Misaka told her because I said so. In a rather loud voice ending in a whispered, please. She was here.

So cute... Ava remembered thinking. But she knew, because of her looks, Mikoto tended to dote on the younger vampires. But while Ava did look young, forever Ten, she was a few hundred years older than her Mistress. And held the classification of Alpha. In other words, she was a very strong vampire. But for her Mistress she'd play the cute little girl role. A role she hadn't gotten to enjoy much in her past. She pushed those memories back into the recesses of her mind. Hell, just the last year or so, she had exceeded those with plenty of good memories.

She walked past a group of Academy City older girls, maybe high school aged, looking over a movie schedule, a couple of shewolves joined them. they glanced at each other, smiled as she took a drink as she passed, keeping her eyes straight.

She was getting ready to leave and go back to the ten story building next to the bakery café. She'd ordered some new clothes and was having them delivered. And was making her way to the secret entrance and exit to the underground city. It was hidden in plain sight one could say. A small plain looking store front. An addition to a smaller store giving it the illusion it was bigger than it really was. She finished her drink and put it in the recycled bin as she passed, opened the door, stepped inside, closed the door behind her.

The room was big enough for at least a dozen. Inside, it looked like a locker room, the sidewalls were lined with metal storage bins with electronic locks and benches to sit on. She put her hand on one, a green electric line scanned her palm, a soft click, and she opened the bin. Inside, three automatic rifles side by side, boxes of rounds at the foot of the locker, and hanging inside her body armor. She put her purse inside and closed, forgetting her phone and locked the door. The underground stores were the only places she carried a purse and used money. She turned walked towards the back of the storefront, reached over slipping her fingers along a grooved line that ran from ceiling to the floor and silently slide a small partition over and slipped into the sewer system. The door closed and disappeared into the wall.

Ava knew the sewers well, having used them to travel underneath the city during daylight hours. all the vampires did. While a few of the day walkers did use the bus system and or walked. But vampires like Ava, who had no tolerance for sunlight, unless using light resistance gel. It only had a time limit of forty-five minutes at best, walking the sewers was the best route. But not the shortest.

The air in the sewers circulated by enormous fans, larger and taller than most houses, taking up an entire space, from the ground to the ceiling of the sewers. She walked along the concrete hoping the day would end, and she could return to her duties guarding her Mistress. It had been a whole day plus, since she was told.

Enjoy your day off... Mikoto Misaka grinned victoriously and waved. Emelia closed her eyes, shook her head and growled her disappointment.

She was chuckling, when she caught an unfamiliar scent pushed by the enormous fans. She slowed, taking a deeper breath, held it, ran it over her tongue and slowly exhaled. She knew the smell of vampires, she knew them all. All of them in her household. She knew the scent of shewolves, all of them in the bakery café and those coming in to work in the underground city. Everyone smelled everyone. That is the way of things. Scent was more reliable than sight.

This was not ours... she said.

She picked up her pace, but was wary of making noise, hearing the slow whooshing of the enormous blades as they rotated, she crouched, tight against the wall and timed with the blades she peeked around the corner.

Shit! Her eyes focused, expanding her chest, pulling her shoulders back to take in extra air. Their scent said it all.

Wolves...

A large group of wolves was coming out of the wall of the sewers, a secret entrance. Male wolves wearing armored gear. While, being male was not a crime. Males had some value. Not much according to a lot of shewolves. But some... others said with a knowing smile. But Males were not allowed into Academy City unless specifically invited. Even then they were chaperoned. Another breath, human...gritting her teeth. She glared from behind the rotating blades.

Her instincts shouted hide. And she did. Leaping high to the ceiling she avoided being seen.
The largest male in the group turned his head, glared past them, looking at the slowly whooshing blades, sniffed the air defiantly. Nothing he thought and continued walking.

She clung to the ceiling, digging her nails into the concrete careful not to let any fall to the ground. She held her breath, worried they might hear her heartbeat and waited. Slowly she crawled backwards along the ceiling, dropped to the ground, with the passing of the giant blades, she peeked around the corner.

The wolves were walking the other way, laughing as if they didn't have a care in the world. She heard them, talking of shopping, and what they'd collected so far. Ava heard them bragging. Her stomach churning, bile backing up in her throat. She saw him, smelled him. She knew him from when she was under the Baron's authority. And she knew the threat.

He, they were in her way of getting home. She had to find another route to the bakery café and warn them. she cursed silently reaching underneath her skirt. She wore shorts just like her Mistress. Her phone was missing. Crrrrapppp! She watched them disappear around a corner, her mind racing for a plan. She was going to have to go upside into the early evening sun. She closed her eyes, groaned her misfortune. Her gel she was wearing was almost gone. She knelt, reached into her sock and pulled out a small tube. Nervously licked her lips, seeing how little was left. She squeezed the tube as tight as she could, watching the cloudy gel ooze out into the palm of her hand. She rubbed them together, rubbed her face, arms and legs and prayed that there were a lot of shadows upside. The sun wouldn't set for at least another hour. And she needed to move quickly.