~*~

~*~

I find myself in a misty darkened forest. The full moon shines brightly overhead showing the way through the dense wood and the flecks of moonlight shine though the foliage spotting the ground in pale silver light. I run but instead of on two legs it's four. I look down and find my hands are just modified paws. Lifting my muzzle to sniff the air around me, I catch the scent of a nearby deer. The perfect prey for tonight. It senses me and takes off through the trees I follow. The sent of its fear is brought to me on the cool autumn wind combined with the other sweet smells of the forest. Running, running branches and leaves sweep by my black and scarlet-stripped feline face, I roar just because it feels good and the sound carries echoing off the trees. The deer stops at a rock face, a dead end, it's trapped. I move in for the kill when I hear masculine laughter behind me. The deer bounds off as I turn to see who it is. I can't see his face but his scent is devastatingly familiar, he draws a knife the moonlight glinted off the blade making it look silvery. No, it's him, Rahab. I turn to flee but the foreboding gray stone has closed in, no escape, no place to run and I howl in fear.

~*~

Around six the next evening my alarm clock goes off shattering the dream around me like to many pieces of broken glass. Hitting to make the annoying noise stop I end up accidentally breaking it.

"Oh, bloody hell not again," I curse aloud. That's the third time this month I've broken one of my alarms. I really need to watch what I'm doing when I wake up but I'm not an early evening person. I'm particularly irritated tonight because I was too busy to realize I have things to get done. I took the time to check my calendar and the moon will be full in less than a week. While I'm not forced to change, the urge to run and cut loose is sometimes to strong to control and I'll end up shifting. The dream I had was proof of that but the fact that I saw Rahab in it was not at all comforting and it didn't take a rocket scientist to explain that one. Rahab and his blood sister Arielle were the ones who murdered my family.

To fit my, oh so lovely mood this evening I pick out a pair of skin-tight black jeans and a red sleeveless midriff. Aggressive little outfit no? Walking over to my mirror put on the only jewelry I ever really wear. The first is a silver armlet engraved with a sapphire-eyed wolf encircled by the runes algiz, tiewaz, kano, and sowolu on my right arm. A Celtic cross in my left ear is the other piece. Yes I am Celtic not Christian, I was raised that way for the first nine years of my life, I'm a firm believer and don't have any intention of converting now.

I look in the mirror and grab my hair clip. My hair is quite long now, reaching my knees so I usually keep it in tight French braid. With my hair pulled back it leaves a scar on my face in plain sight; it was the souvenir of my encounter with Rahab and Arielle, it runs from the tip of my eyebrow right to the side of my cheek. It's the only one I've ever had that didn't fade. Any other cut or gash I've gotten in a fight healed in record time and if it did leave a mark it was only temporary. Hurrah for being a lycanthrope.

Finishing with the braid I leave my room grabbing my black leather trench coat and the standard weapons I carry along the way and head to the spare room down the hall. Here is where I keep all of the things I couldn't have as a kid. A variety weaponry and shields lines the walls everything from dirks and swords to machine guns and plastic explosives. Oh I love my toys it makes going out to play so much more fun. Sometimes I don't like to admit it because I sound like a monster even though I don't really think of myself as one but I love my job too.

Let's see hmmm… Well for tonight I pick out my wrist knives that strap to a pair of leather gauntlets I like to wear. Also I pick out a chain whip, I have a leather one too put steel holds up better. Dear Goddess you sick person I meant for fighting not that. Taking out the weapons I chose and fit them where I like to wear them. The sword scabbard straps to my back with a tight but comfortable fit. The Uzi and sawed off shot gun fit into large pockets I sewed into the trench coat, now who says I have no household skills. The whip clips onto a leather strap that hooks to the belt loops on my jeans so I can take it off quickly without having to fiddle with it. Okay now that's that. Hi ho hi ho it's of to hunting vampires I go.

Within seconds I'm already on the prowl in the shadowy allies and parks of New York, Central Park to be exact. Oh I love this place, the perfect hunting ground where they prey usually comes to you unless they happen to know my reputation and have enough of a brain to value their unnatural existence. I do mean that comment of the prey coming to me. Most of the time the things I hunt can hear you heartbeat so I don't bother trying to sneak up on them. Of course that doesn't mean I can't have a little fun and scare the undead daylights out of them by following unseen.

Though neither the vampires nor I are the only hunters here. I often find witches or on a rare occasions human vampire hunters seeking out their quarry. The witches, I for the most part leave alone. Hell my adopted family are Aruns so think people I'm not that heartless. Once in a blue moon an arrogant Triste will attack me but sometimes the ancients can't help themselves after all. Am I not a child in their eyes? So I don't kill them if I'm not forced to. See this kitty does have a place where the line is drawn. I may not have many rules but I do have enough and I don't break them for any reason. It's sort of my own code of chivalry. Though one group I have absolutely no tolerance for is those little resistance groups. They are constantly in the way often going after my targets. Personally I believe they think of me as just another creature to be wiped from this world like unwanted dust.

I now turn my focus to the paths ahead of me. I've been to New York often but once you got to the deepest parts of this city it becomes a maze. Like an endless river of back streets and dead ends.

Tonight the city, even with all its bright lights, seems darker. May be it's just my mood or the fact that the nearly full moon is hidden by the clouds and a light fog has set in. The breeze is cool but humid, lightly scented with ozone. Well looks like I could be in for some rain this evening. Even concentrating on a million small things at once, one could find it hard not to feel the build of electricity in the area. Then there is a quick burst of wind strong enough to make my trench coat billow around me.

"Raziel, I said with a faux scolding tone turning to meet her face, You need to do better than that to get the drop on me." That got her a smile, a rare thing to see on her face.

"Well maybe my teacher hasn't been doing her job right," she teased back playing along. Raziel is a vampire but strangely enough she's the closest thing I have to a friend. Something about the pain in our pasts, an unspoken bond from a history of blood and violence somehow drew us together, some of that history we shared.

We'd been friends ever since I'd helped her escape and destroy Arnikan. He was a cruel torturer and rouge Sidhe, a very powerful form of fairie. She was in her first few years of vampirism when he found her. Even then she was strong but not nearly strong enough to fend off a Doaine Sidhe in the mood to kill. Did I mention he also happened to be insane?

I'd found Raziel in the midst of a fight. He called some sort of magic and knocked Raziel out cold. That was impressive, it's damn near impossible to make the living dead pass out. I still have no idea why but I intervened, ugh pity for a vampire, I guess I wasn't as cold as I thought. Though it was more than that for some reason I saw a kindred spirit, something I have never felt about anyone. He smiled when he saw me approach and I returned it but dainty crystalline upper and lower fangs showed as I did. Heh, smiling is just another way to bare teeth.

"Well, well and who might you be?" he asked. I noticed for the first time how he really looked. His skin was not black from the shadows it was literaly black. He had tricolor eyes; the outer ring was gray, the center copper, and the inner black. His pale silky white hair was even longer than my own reaching his ankles that flowed around him like a cape. With him being clad in a royal blue T-shirt and black jeans it made a very dramatic contrast.

"Does a name make a difference? 'Cause I really don't feel like sharing." Sarcasm at it's best.

"No I suppose it doesn't, your going to die anyway." Oh, now I was pissed. Never give assassins death threats it shortens you life expectancy.

Well I need to vent a little or I was going to do something really stupid so when all else fails let loose in German. "Einaeschern uebelgesinnt teufel." Translation, burn to ashes evil minded devil.

"I happen to be quite fond of fire but I'm not going to be the one who burns tonight." Well that surprised the hell out of me most people don't understand when I do that. Yippee, a pyro fight this was going to be fun. Unfortunately I had to finish it quickly. It's hard to fight fire with fire in a city, people notice those things and have the tendency to call the cops; I really hate it when that happens.

"Prove it tough guy." I taunted while drawing my sword.

"Do you have a death wish?" Hmmm, he didn't have a clue about what I was. I was betting he wasn't local or else he would have at least heard a rumor. Kill enough vampires brutally enough and people start talkin'.

"I could ask you the same thing since my reputation obviously doesn't proceed me." Indeed I already decided how I was going to kill him. I knew Sidhe could not be killed except by mystic means for the most part. I have several elemental runes branded into the length of the blade on my sword. They have moments of being very useful, like now.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Are you going to fight or what?" My my, he was impatiente. Invoking the rune of fire, kano, my sword blazed with a mystic fire from tip to the top of the hilt. I smirked as I saw the look of utter shock on his face.

"How did you do tha…" I cut off his question with a clean swipe of my blade. Heh, preternatural strength has its uses. I took his head right off his shoulders while the rest if his body burned to ash in the flames. That was that but the only reason this had been so easy was he wasn't prepared. If he had known, this kitty would have been toast.

I walked over to the now conscious but dazed vampire.

"Hey, you ok?" I asked. I know stupid question but I couldn't think of anything else.

"Yeah, I guess. What was that guy? She asked me trying to stand up.

" A Doaine Sidhe."

"A wha?" I suppose I should have given more detail but I didn't usually give out too much info, just habit.

"A fairie of the highest court, in other words one powerful son of a bitch."

"Okay, now who are you and why did you just save my ass? I'm a vampire most think I'm nothin' but an evil bloodsucking corpse."

"I know but I don't know why I helped I just did. By the way my name's Sonia and I'm a weretyger so I can't throw stones in the humanity department." She didn't know it then but telling her my true name was in my own way an act of trust. I hardly tell anyone, not even Aubrey knows it and I trust him to some extent. Wait before you start ranting about that I trust him because he's never lied to me outright. He could just tell you enough bullshit that you start to believe white is black but he never lied.

She held out he hand to me and I took "Raziel and thanks again." She said letting go of my hand.

Ever since then we've been as close as we allow ourselves to get to anyone. We could probably be the best of friends and tell each other everything if we could get over our fear of it. We both are more afraid of people who are close to us dying than of ourselves being killed. Funny thing that, well as Anita put it my occupation was passive suicide. I most likely was not going to have to worry about old age, if I do age I dunno if I do I'm vastly different from other lycanthropes and even they age slower than humans do.

"Hello, Earth to Sonia come in Sonia is anyone one there." Raziel's words bringing me out of my own little world.

"Sorry 'bout that bad habit."

" I know but why so serious it's usually you trying to cheer me up not the other way around." She was right on that one I was usually the one trying to draw her from her morbid state of mine. She's more forgone in that way than I am and that's saying something

"Yes I'm aware of that but they're back Raziel, they're back."

"Whose back? You look completely spooked."

"Rahab and Arielle. They've come back." The sight of her reaction was enough. She was the only one other than my adopted family that knew what it meant and cost me to say those names aloud. They knew the truth.