Authors Note*:

OMG!!!!! I actually finished the third chapter! Ok my sincerest apologies to ALL you loyal fans to the long wait. I was in Ohio this past week which gave me soo much more time to finish this chapter. I tried to make it a bit longer so that you guys will have more to read. To put you off for awhile. I have NO idea when I will get the next chapter up. But don't worry it won't be THAT long. Maybe two weeks or three. I never thought I would ever get this story as far as I have so far! I'm running out of ideas, I've got the end all played out but the in between stuff is KILLING me. Ok I'll shut up now. Onto the next chapter of "Tainted Vengeance"

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Tainted Vengeance

By: Sara Angeldust

Chapter 3:

"Animal Instincts"

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Raven ran like she was free. She felt the cold night wind as it blew past her open jaws and brought to her smells that she hadn't felt since the night of her change. She seemed lost in the ecstasy of being animal again. The way nature felt normal and not menacing anymore. Or how the trees seemed to open their arms to her inviting her to stay for awhile. The woods were so much like those near her home. Home. Shifter. Vailor! This sudden memory jolted her back in to reality. Again she was running for her life in a forest that she hardly knew. And right behind her, in the form of a eagle, was the vampire.

As they ran and flew through the vast woods Raven heard his voice calling her in her panther head.

"Raven…..Raven. Don't run. I just wanna talk and have some fun. Hahahahaha."

She despised this vampire. He really did enjoy tormenting her and trying to weaken her mentally. He was complicated unlike most she had known. Most vampire's minds only knew the words Kill and Blood. This one liked to play with his prey. Well if it was play he wanted. Play he would get.

Rain swerved as she ran now ducking behind and in front of this tree and that, weaving and bobbing here and there. At certain points she thought that maybe she had lost him only to sense him still above her. As Raven got closer and closer to the center of the forest she could see that she was also getting herself more and more lost. If this kept up she wouldn't be able to find her way out if she needed to. She needed a plan and quick. Suddenly a sinking feeling came to her. She would have to stop and face him head on. This was her only choice unless she wanted to keep running from him forever. So she took it.

As Raven looked ahead of her she saw an opening in the forest. Her feline eyes saw that the area was perfect for a fight. The trees seemed to have been cleared for another purpose but looked empty enough that she didn't need to worry about being found. Raven again looked up to see if her attacker was anywhere close. Expecting to see him above her she looked up. To her surprise she saw nothing. Alarmed Raven stopped and looked around her. There, sitting on the branch of a tree was the biggest eagle she had ever seen. It was way too large to be a average one. It was the vampire. Raven sensed fear fill her body and the hair on her back stood up and all her muscles tensed. She knew a fight was inevitable now.

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Nikolas flew above the tops of the forest trees. This shifter was unbelievably fast and cunning. He had to give her credit for her bravery and how she handled him near her human friend. But now she was just being stupid. Or maybe not. Shifter's were never his game and he never came into contact with them around where his territory was so he really couldn't be that sure. He watched and flew nearer as she kept looking up to see if he was still there. Of course he was. This was getting to interesting to not be involved in. But it was slowly getting boring. They had been running for almost three miles now and Nikolas tired of his eagle body. Nikolas searched the ground for a good spot to stop the girl. He saw his opportunity up ahead and took it.

Nikolas flew ahead of the panther on the ground and landed quietly on a tree branch. He waited silently as she gained ground on his tree and then let out a small amount of his power to get her to notice him and stop. This worked very well as he saw her stop and look around the small clearing for the power she undoubtedly sensed. He watched her as she found where he was on the branch. He smiled silently with anticipation for the upcoming fight.

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Raven watched the branch and began to circle it expectantly. She watched the vampire as he changed back to his human form to sit on the branch.

"Well, well, well. Here we are. This seems like it's going to be fun. Don't you agree?"

"Just quit talking and start fighting vampire. I have places to be." Raven said with a snarl

"Aren't we being a bit hasty? I do want to make this fun, not painful." As he said this the vampire jumped down from the branch he sat on. He walked towards Raven teasing her, trying to get her to make the first move. Raven wasn't' going to be cohered into attacking, she would have as much of an upper hand as she could get. But the fight would go nowhere if someone didn't make a move. So it was Raven who did.

She lunged at the vampire with her long feline legs just to miss him by and inch. He swerved to the left of her, but not in enough time to miss an incoming claw that scratched his leg just below the knee cap. She watched as he looked down at his tattered jeans with a smile. Before she could react he was on top of her, fangs bared and ready to bite into her waiting exposed throat. As she thrashed about with him on top of her a name flashed through her head. Nikolas. Was that his name? It seemed that Raven had heard it before but in the heat of the moment she could not pin point from where she had heard it. Getting a claw in between her and Nikolas she was finally able to pry him off of her body. She landed on all fours panting from the struggle. She stared him down as she tried to think of another tactic for an attack.

As Raven looked again around her surroundings she noticed a large boulder to her right. If she could get him close enough to do some major damage maybe she could transform and attack him before he got up again. With the plan in her head Raven watched as Nikolas lunged at her not waiting for her to move. Instead of moving away Raven lunged at him herself. They collided with a thud as Nikolas grabbed her from behind her back and threw her through the air. Raven landed hard on a tree with the wind knocked out of her. As she struggled to stand up she smelled blood in the air. Her blood. This was not good, now Nikolas had a good reason to attack her again. Midnight was past and he must have been unbearably hungry. As Raven struggled to stand through the blood that clouded her eyes from the head wound, Nikolas attacked her. She managed to get a paw into the joining and smacked him with it as hard as she could. But he saw this coming and evaded it, grabbing her and twisting. Raven yelped in pain as he broke her wrist into at least five pieces. As Raven looked up from her pain she noticed the rock again. It was closer then she thought it would be. Thinking quickly she lunged toward the rock with all the might she could get together. As she lunged for it Nikolas tried to hit her again. Pain racked through Raven's body as she landed hard on her wounded wrist and lightly jumped back from the rock letting Nikolas land on it himself. Raven noticed this and jumped on the hurt vampire as hard as she could. Raven heard as the cracking of ribs as she landed on them. Her victory was short lived as She felt hard hands grab her around the throat and squeeze. All of her breath left her lungs as Nikolas squeezed her traquia not letting any air into her starving lungs. Spots began to appear over her eyes as Raven began to loose consciousness.

"Well. Looks who's winning now." Nikolas said obviously tired from the ordeal. He stared into her pain filled eyes, enjoying the site of an enemy that was about to die. It was a shock to him that she had lasted this long against a powerful vampire like himself but it was over. He was going to end it.

Raven watched in horror as the vampire named Nikolas turned her neck to the side and plunged his fangs into her soft panther neck. The pain was unbearable and she teetered on the verge of unconsciousness as he made no attempt at making it any less painful to her. She felt the life flowing out of her veins and tried to stop it. She groped at his arms but for nothing. She couldn't die like this. She hadn't even given out her vengeance.

"No…stop…I….I've got….got…to kill….Vailor!" Raven managed to cough out of her starving throat. She had now turned back from a panther from the pain of the bite.

Nikolas stopped drinking and Raven fell to the ground as he dislodged his fangs from her neck. Vailor. Why did that name sound so familiar. It was then that he remembered. When he had just begun his years as a vampire he had heard to watch out for him. He had heard Vailor was the most powerful vampire to come along for generations. Ever since then Vailor had disappeared. Hiding or dead no one knew. How this girl thought she could kill him amazed Nikolas. Maybe this girl would be worth something to keep after all.

Nikolas watched as the now human Shifter lost consciousness on the ground. He lightly picked her up from the ground and began to walk towards his house.

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Raven fell through a huge black hole. She was falling and she could find nothing to clutch to. Suddenly faces and voices filled her head.

"Why did you lose Raven? You lost everything. Your not worth giving out vengeance anymore. Just stop. Stop now." The face of Raven's younger sister appeared before her. The image frightened her into tears. She was right she had let her sister down. Her intire family was never going to be avenged now. She had lost everything including the battle with the vampire Nikolas. Even though she could feel he had not changed her into a vampire she still felt dead. As if her heart had been pulled from her chest. What was going to happen to her now. Surely Nikolas had something planned. All vampires did.

As Raven thought about it she realized she didn't care. None of it mattered anymore. Nikolas had broken her spirit, she could feel it. She wanted to wretch at the idea of being like some wild horse. As she tried to feel anger she felt she couldn't. The truth was slowly sinking in. If she couldn't even kill or fight Nikolas then how was she ever going to get anywhere close to Vailor? The realization hit her hard. Suddenly she knew it. She had lost. Nothing mattered, not even her life or immortality.

As the voices of her past and the blackness fell away Raven noticed for the first time where she was. She opened her tear stained eyes to the light of a late morning. What a cruel world this was. Even the light made Raven want to throw up. AS she tried to push herself up in the bed, shock waves of pain jarred her bones and body. Even with shifter and vampire blood in her, her wounds would take more time to heal. Time, her most hated enemy. She hated time, she just wished it would stop for her. To end her life of misery.

End her life? Was that her talking? Suicide? Raven had never dreamed in a thousand years of such a thing, but then again it didn't exactly have to be suicide. This vampire, Nikolas. He wanted her dead as it was. Not struggling when he came to kill her was her best option. Raven had to laugh. These thoughts were so morbid. Wasn't it just the day before that she had shunned all things morbid and angsty? This was the new raven. The broken, suicidal Raven, and it scared her. She felt so calm and almost relieved at the way she acted. As if letting go was all she needed to do to let her soul be happy. Maybe she had been holding on too long.

Raven surveyed the small room. The bed was set in the corner facing the only window in the room. Across the room was a semi blank wall with crazy scratch marks and spots which almost looked like blood. The wall looked as if a struggle had taken place on it. Raven was lightly disturbed by it's look but pulled her gaze to the wall beside it. There was the rooms door. Raven glanced again at the bloodied wall but out of the corner of her eyes she saw a figure appear in the door way. It was Nikolas.

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As Nikolas stood in the door way to the room he watched Raven until she noticed him. Nikolas was prepared to see her stare at him angrily, even for her to lunge at him. She did neither.

As Nikolas stared into her icy eyes he almost lost his composure. Raven looked pretty much ok, physically, but one look at her eyes Nikolas saw centuries of sadness and angst. Her eyes seemed like endless pits. Ones he could fall into in a second if he didn't keep himself in check. Nikolas couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness for her. She looked like a beaten down puppy. He wanted to smile at his enemy's pain but found he couldn't bring himself to do it. She was his enemy either way, and all enemy's dissevered no compassion from him. If they were a threat to him and his brother, Christopher, then he was an even greater threat to them.

Even as Nikolas watched his enemy in pain he still couldn't take joy in it as he normally did. Her pain ran far too deep. Too deep for him to hurt her much more.

"You look ok." Nikolas stared at her as she spoke. It surprised him that she was willing to talk, but he showed no emotions.

"Well I am a full vampire. I heal faster then those who are blood bonded." Nikolas said walking into the room. He watched as Raven turned away from him nodding. He watched as she stared at the scratched and bloody wall.

Nikolas debated what to do with the shifter. One part of him wanted to kill her, maybe even to make her a vampire. Another part of him wanted to leave her alone and sent her away. As he stared at her he remembered the night before. She had killed two of his own fledglings. He couldn't let her go.

"Do you know what this wall is." Nikolas asked Raven. Raven turned her head to him and shook it no. Nikolas smiled.

"This wall is probably my favorite piece of art that I own. Can't you feel it's aura?" Nikolas waited for Raven to search. He watched as Raven felt the aura of death and suffering that emanated from the wall. He smiled as she opened her eyes in shock.

"Yes you feel it. Almost sad isn't it? Many humans have died on this wall, most of then dinner but some of them enemy's of mine. You must think me sick for thinking this art. Maybe I am, but when you've lived your whole life around death and blood you would know what it's like. You gain a respect for both of them."

Nikolas waited as Raven looked over the wall. Stopping at certain points where there was more blood then others. Then she spoke.

"Death. I don't know what I know of blood but death is an old friend of mine." Nikolas again looked at Raven as she looked out the window. Yes, she did know much about death. He could feel it. She would know death itself when he finished with her. He promised himself she would. Suddenly Nikolas felt angry at her again, and wanted to bite her. He kept his emotions in check as he devised a plan of action for the shifter. Then it came to him.

"It occurs to me that you have not place to go." Nikolas said moving towards the door.

Raven turned her head.

"You may stay in this room if you like. That is, until I kill you. Yes I'm going to kill you. You haven't gotten out of this confrontation yet. You may stay as long as it may be but be warned, a wolf chooses when to strike, not its prey." With this Nikolas walked out of the door.

He sighed as he went around the hallway corner and began to descend the stairs. He had no idea how he was going to keep this promise.

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Well that's that. My notes on this chapter are at the top if you did not read them the first time. PLEASE REWEIW! I really wanna know how I'm doing! Thanks to all those people who are still reading this story. If you get a chance drop me an e-mail at saiyengirl613@yahoo.com. I love e-mail.

Get ready for the chapter 4 of Tainted Vengeance

"Pretend Life"