Mrs. Jeepers sighed as the bell rang, ending her first day as an elementary school teacher. It hadn't been bad, not nearly as bad as she'd expected. The students had been fooled by her detached persona, just as she'd hoped. They had no idea that on the inside she was a bundle of nerves. She could feel herself beginning to settle down as she watched them file out of the room chatting and laughing, and as soon as the last child had left she released a long sigh, feeling the last of the tension leave her body.

She slumped forward, her forehead landing on the desktop. She could do this, she could do this. It would be easy. So far no one had noticed that she wasn't exactly...normal. Well, at least she didn't think anyone had. Perhaps some of the children, but no one would believe a few eight year olds. Lifting her head off of her desk, she gathered her belongings and began getting ready to leave for the day.

She paused suddenly, feeling as though she was being watched. Instantly she was back to her cold and strict disguise, whipping around at nearly inhuman speed and allowing her eyes to sweep across the room. They lingered on the door to the hallway before moving on, but she didn't move from her position behind her desk.

Savannah knew she shouldn't, she really did, but she just had to see the new teacher one more time before she went home. So she crept up to her door in the ruckus that was after school and waited, letting all the kids leave before leaning around the edge. She watched as the woman all but collapsed onto her desk, and had the urge to find out what was wrong. She fought it, forcing herself to keep still lest she give herself away.

She kept her eyes on the woman as she stood and began gathering various materials. Suddenly she stopped, and Savannah bit back a gasp as she began to turn her head with unnatural speed. She barely ducked behind the doorframe before green eyes were staring at where she had just been. She waited until she heard her resume picking up her things before bolting for the exit, wondering why she couldn't have just gone home like a normal kid.

Mrs. Jeepers walked home feeling uneasy. The feeling only grew when she noticed a group of her students standing on the sidewalk in front of her new home. She pulled her disguise around her like a cloak, stepping up behind them and internally smirking as they jumped.

"Good afternoon, children. I see you have noticed my new home," she said.

"You mean you're going to live here?" a blonde boy that she remembered being called Howie asked.

His tone implied that he, and most likely the rest of his friends, was not only shocked but slightly frightened or startled. Sensing the chance to instill more fear in them, and thus force them to keep their distance, she smiled slightly.

"Yes, is it not lovely? Would you like to come in and see it?"

She watched as their eyes lit up in fear and they refused.

"We have to get home and do homework," a dark skinned girl, Melody she recalled, spoke up.

"Do not be silly. I did not give you any homework today," she replied, grabbing Melody and Eddie, the class prankster, and dragging them into her house.

She had hoped that taking them inside the house she had yet to clean would frighten them enough so that not only would they listen to her, they'd never ask any personal questions. To her dismay, that was the first thing they did. Did she live alone? No, she answered, not exactly, though she did get lonely. Finally, it appeared as though they'd had enough and they rushed out, citing that she might want to clean up.

She grinned as they fled, pleased her plan had worked so well. Next were the moving men, who she paid for their services, including a sizable tip to make them forget they'd ever seen her. After they left she heaved another sigh, this one of exhaustion, before heading up the stairs to the room she'd taken as her bedroom. She dropped her purse by the doorframe, staring at all the boxes and the unmade bed. Frowning, she began unpacking, starting with her clothes and other accessories before making the bed and putting her books on her bookshelf.

When she was finished she looked around the room, nodding in satisfaction. Noticing how much time had passed since she'd begun, she stripped off the dress she'd chosen, which she hated, and changed into her yoga pants and a t-shirt. Her brooch was placed onto her dresser where she could keep an eye on it, and she collapsed back onto her bed, content to get a short nap before she was forced to find dinner.

Unfortunately, sleep eluded her. Groaning in frustration, she began thinking back over the events that had led to her move.

First, her family had gotten caught up in a small war between rival clans, and, being vampires, the war of course turned deadly. She gritted her teeth as a wave of longing tore through her, reminding her of why her family had gotten into the dispute in the first place. The Ionesco clan had presented her with one of their men as a husband, and she did not love him, could not love him, for she held a secret-she had a soul mate. The man who was her husband was not pleased to learn, after their marriage, which she had been forced into to keep peace between her family and his, that she did not love him. The Ionesco clan was already on bad terms with the Lungu clan, and when the Lungu elders heard of the disagreement they proposed her family join them in taking down her husband's family.

Love him she didn't, but she also didn't want to kill him. This drew her family into the conflict and created a three-way disagreement which eventually escalated to all-out war. Her husband was the first to die, and then her father among others from all sides. Her mother, fearing for her safety after her father had been killed, begged her to go away, far away, and hide. Seeing the destruction the war had wrought, and sensing her mother's pain, she did as she asked and ran to America, changing her identity and hiding away in a small town. She adopted a personality completely opposite of her true self, one that dove people away. It was dangerous to be associated with her because should anyone find out who she truly was she had no doubt they would not hesitate to kill them along with her.

Which was why, she thought as the longing dimmed, she could never find her soul mate. It would only result in them dying. Oddly enough, this was the worst the emptiness had affected her since she was a child, and even then it had simply been as though she was missing a part of herself, but she had learned to live with it years before.

This, for some inexplicable reason, made her think of the little girl she had met that morning, the one who had knocked her down. Savannah, she thought her name was. There was something about the girl that made her uncomfortable. Perhaps it was the way she had been looking at her, almost as if she was her hero or someone famous. Or perhaps it was the fact that she was incredibly strong for a child. Or maybe it was the way she had been watching her all day, including the end of the day outside her classroom.

There was something about the girl that bothered her, a difference that she couldn't place. She supposed it could be her nearly unearthly beauty, but that shouldn't make her so upset. What was it? She pondered over it for nearly an hour before giving up and concluding she had no clue what was upsetting her. Whatever the reason, she was sure it would fade after the girl found some new obsession to capture her attention.

It was dark now, well into the night actually, and she stood, stretching and ignoring the hunger that was beginning to take root in her stomach. She checked her reflection in the mirror of her dresser, re-tying her ponytail before grabbing a thin hooded jacket and putting it on, pulling the hood up to hide her face. She double-checked herself, making sure no one would recognize her in case she was seen

"Well, Adri," she said, addressing her reflection, "time to hunt."

With that, she headed down the stairs, leaving all traces and memories of her former self behind.