Disclaimer: belongs to AAR and Random House. All I own is the plot.

Ather Shadow: It might be. It might not. You'll just have to see.

Midnight Scribbler: Thanks! And yes, writer's block is horrible. However, it's over, and chapters will be coming up one after the other.

The Shadow Panther: You're getting close…

Narina Nightfall: I, too, wrestled with that problem. The answer isn't really in this part, and indeed, you might not find the answer satisfactory at all, but I hope it works.

Frozen Rose Thorne: Yes, I loved the style too, which is why I tried to keep it.

Thanks to Griffinkhan for beta-ing.

Chapter Twelve: In Concord

I arrive at my old house in Concord shortly after midnight. I had stopped in New York City along the way, and therefore had no need to feed just then.

The house is empty, and has gotten rather dusty. I used to hire someone to come in and clean it, but since I had left, I felt that sort of thing was unnecessary. In New Mayhem, one simply gets humans to do the work.

New Mayhem. The center of vampire power, and the place I had been banished from.

My anger at Siete knows no bounds. The idiot seems to be so worried about protecting his precious species from an imaginary danger. Does he not realize that we take care of ourselves? And even so, why is he so worried about seeking Jaguar's opinion, when in reality he could just command him with a thought? What is wrong with the creature?

I am restless, but cannot go anywhere. I run the chance of running into Aubrey at either Ambrosia or the Café Sangra, and while they are not the only vampire clubs in the city, they are the largest, and the best.

I can still hear Aubrey's laughter ringing in my ears. I can feel my anger rising as I think about… but no. I will not think about it. He will pay, someday, and it will be at my hand too.

I feel a sudden urge to be outside, under the night sky. I take myself to the nearby park, the need to be out in nature overwhelming.

The place has a deserted feel. Here and there are a few people who brave the dangers of walking alone at night, but not many. I pass a young man I recognize from my runs, and he nods and smiles at me as we pass each other.

I do not do the same.

It is times like these that I miss Tora.

It was she that I would go visit whenever I felt I could not bear my life as a vampire any longer. She alone of all creatures understood me. We were alike, as alike as creatures of different species could be. Both of us, trapped in a cage of steel, both seeking to get out.

I had thought that the night in Las Noches, I had escaped my cage. I only now realize I have traded it for another, for predators have their own cages as well. That is what a pack is. And for a while, I belonged to one. Now I no longer do.

And only now do I realize how much of a toll this has taken on me. When vampires become too involved with their own species, it becomes their downfall. Some of us are still all too human.

Such as myself. For being outcast by one's own is taking far more of a toll on me than I thought it would. Because, despite what I have told myself again and again, I still would like to know that I have at least the option of belonging.

Had not I gotten rid of this years ago? Was not that what the fight with Aubrey symbolized?

Or did it? I had, for three hundred years, been told, and believed, that to belong and to care were the most important things in the world. Those kinds of beliefs do not go away overnight.

Clearly, I have a ways to go.

By now the park is completely and utterly deserted, and I must leave, or risk drawing attention to myself. I shift into my hawk form, and fly to my house, glorying in the feel of the thermal drafts, the feel of the cold air of the upper atmosphere in my feathers, the starlight on my wings. I fly as long and as far as I dare, occasionally letting loose a piercing cry. I began to lose myself in the feeling of freedom, of being alone. It is a feeling most people cannot stand, for they fear the unknown. And if anything is an uncharted territory, it is the mind.

I land in my yard and change back to my original shape. I walk up to the door, and feel something crack beneath my shoe. I lift up my foot and look down.

On the porch is a black rose.

I reach down and carefully pick it up. There is a note attached to it. I carefully open it.

Tiger, Tiger, child of night

Denied the home of thy birthright

What steps would you take

To regain the home that belongs to thee?

Meet me in the dark of night

To know the knowledge that is thy right

Come to park, and you shall see

All that is needed against thine enemy.