Botan looked doubtful as she gazed into the woman's chilled eyes. The ferry girl believed that she knew the answer. Never would she have thought that this creature would accept this offer for it had no obvious gain. She was about to turn around when the damning voice halted her.

"I shall accept although I do not believe that I shall be very useful," the centuries old dhampir sighed out whilst the boy snorted. It seemed as if he overcame his initial shock of this mythical creature.

"Oh, good! I think I better go tell sir Koenma now," the strange woman exclaimed while clapping her hands together. "Here, take this," she mistily said to Wretch as she handed her a small crystalline orb. "This is similar to the Communication Mirror that Yusuke possesses. It will allow you to keep in touch with sir Koenma in the reikai because it is, in the words of Koenma:

'Too much paper work for you to come personally.'"

Wretch merely nodded although she does not care or understand all that this rather intriguing woman was mumbling about. When the miniscule object was in her hands, she rolled it about in her pale fingers and wondered how it actually worked.

She did not have to wait long.

It hovered barely an inch above her fingertips, and it glowed from its inner radiance. Strange, she thought as a small child donning colorful clothing and a matching oversized hat appeared to stand atop of the little ball that seemed akin to glass.

The child's brown eyes opened after a moment or so, and he seemed to have jumped back in fright. She did not blame him. Her eyes were sunken deeply into her skull that looked like the skin had been stretched beyond its limits. Arms that once were toned with deceptively normal muscles now appear little more than bone, and little else was not in this emaciated state. Such was expected if one did not feed off of blood. A vampire would have been dead if he did not feed, but a dhampir could survive without blood.

One should not mistake her for the atoning undead for the only reason she did not feed was that it brought by far too many complications.

He is rude, she could not help but think.

This child who could very well be 'Koenma' quickly straightened himself although his eyes averted from the dhampir's face.

"Uh. . . I need to make several things clear to you. Firstly, you are to not harm my Spirit Detectives in any way, shape, or form. Secondly, if you require blood then you can only drink from the criminals, and only so because you need to be strong in order to prepare my team. Lastly, you will be killed if you turn against us," his voice seemed hazy as if he was a great distance away, and maybe he just was. Already she was tiring of the child Koenma's pointless lecture, and thus, she shoved the orb into one of the pockets of her normal human garb that she had to were in these modern times. Her hunch was correct when the glow radiated from the lucid orb no more which signified that the connection had terminated.

"If you want me to prepare these 'Spirit Detectives' then take them to my abode tomorrow's night," Wretch elegantly stated. With that said, she walked out of the miserable alley.

She had to feed.

An hour had past since Wretch had accepted the offer, and her prey was in her golden sights. The soon-to-be victim was just a homely woman who appeared to be homeless.

As silent as death (and she was almost just that), she stalked behind the unsuspecting destitute and clamped a pallid hand over her foul-smelling orifice. With strength that only something inhuman could retain, she ripped open the woman's wrist with a surprisingly strong hand. While her first remained over the doomed woman's mouth, she drew her fanged mouth to the freely bleeding vein.

Blood tends to contain memories and feelings, and some undead enjoy reliving their victims' unfortunate lives when feeding, but Wretch pushed aside this pathetic woman's biography and simply fed. It had been too long since blood coursed down her throat. Too long, she lamented.

The lifeless body hit the cold earth with a sickening thud, and the vein that had been slashed made it seem as if it had been suicide, a rather common thing in these filthy areas.

An eerie mist that almost seemed to move of its own accord greeted the few on the darkened streets. Then again, it was a windy night.

Many cracks in her home's structure allowed the renewed dhampir to slip in effortlessly, and that is where she remained until the sound of several people spoke to her pointed ears.

Whispers promised her a large headache. She merely smiled.

It felt good to have warm blood.

Wretch felt no remorse when a boy with red orange hair fell through the wood's weak structure and landed painfully on his back. The fallen boy was dressed in a blue school uniform strangely enough.

A lithe man ran with inhuman speed darted down the stairs, and thus, they did not break. Her metallic eyes could follow his movement nonetheless. The aura about him was very intimidating and he wore black garments. She could easily tell that he was not human.

Yusuke, the boy from the other day, nonchalantly jumped down through the opening that was made by the blue garbed one. Plastered on his face was that all-knowing grin. It was irritating.

The last one to make his way down was a youth with dark red hair that was nearly as dark as the Wretch's. His emerald eyes shifted cautiously as he lightly stepped from one platform to the next. It must have been the grace that he seemed to possess that allowed him to not endure the fate of the fallen boy.

"So what happened to your face," Yusuke noted.

Indeed, the feeding had restored Wretch back to her more normal state. Her face seemed more full and was almost human save for the distinguishing paleness. Her arms were not so skeletal, however. The dhampir was still unnaturally slender.

Without her consent, whispers told her their names. It appeared as if the rehabilitated strength from the blood made her innate abilities more useful.

Kazuma Kuwabara rose slowly whilst mumbling to himself.

"Urameshi, this place makes me feel as if my mind has been frozen over for a year," he shouted out as he tried to 'rub out the tingling feeling'.

The dark haired boy shook his head, but Wretch cut him off even before he could speak.

"Kazuma, you must get used to it. Especially since I had been informed that you may encounter a feeling much worse than the one I emit. I am but a mere half-breed. Can you imagine the magnitude of despair that a vampire would produce," she questioned rhetorically.

"Yeah, Mister Sensitive," Yusuke chimed in.

If the Spirit Detectives realized that Wretch knew Kuwabara's name, they did not show it.

She had lit a candle for the humans for she knew that they were most likely not used to the dark, and Wretch leaned against a dusty wall.

"I do not know much about vampiric lore, but I do know the weaknesses that are common to them. If you have an arduous time at remembering things, I suggest you find a way to write it down.

'Crucifixes are not effective and will result in them mocking you. Humans mixed the weakness of the werewolf to bullets with vampires, but to rip out or impale the heart of a vampire will either mortally wound it or just inflict severe pain, which depends on the age.

'The sunlight, as Yusuke should know, does not cause us to combust, it can, however, temporarily blind a vampire. This rarely affects Dhampirs.

'One thing you must know is that vampires love to trick you. They prefer to enter your mind and turn what you know and care about against you. It requires much mental control to block them out, and if you know something about the vampire for example; his name or age, that can also fortify your mind's defense.

'That is all I shall say for now," the undead mumbled as she closed her eyes. She could get weary and that she was at the current moment. "You can stay here if you want."

Kuwabara remained behind as the others found their own method of departing, and he took on a meditative pose. He was obviously trying to get accustomed to the morose feeling of the undead.

Does she stay there with Kuwabara? If so, go to YUUKAN MEGAMI AND FILIA.

Or does she decide to explore the remainder of the night? If so, go to HIEI.