Her eyes snapped open with absolute clarity. It was so sudden she didn't move. Every other waking moment had been vague glimpses of shuddering pain and clawing at stone surfaces. And bitter, bitter cold.

All there was now was the cold. And stillness. She realized she'd forgotten to breathe, but when she inhaled, the expansion of her lungs brought no relief.

Because it wasn't needed.

Not allowing herself to think on that, Lightning pushed to her feet. The effort was too easy, her muscles unstrained by the motion. She was neither groggy nor lightheaded, but she still felt the need to lean against a nearby wall.

So cold...

Reaching to her side, she felt around the area where the vampire had struck her, but there was no wound. Her neck... she chose not to check.

She was startled to hear the faint sounds of someone sniffling, and before she knew what she was doing she'd slammed herself against the iron gate on the far side of the room, tightly grasping the bars.

"Serah?" Her voice was raspy, as if it hadn't been used in a while.

"Already awake?"

The voice startled her, although the sensation of being startled felt strange as none of her muscles jumped in response.

A tall woman in dark clothing moved out of the shadows of the hallway and stood on the other side of the iron gate, hands on her hips. It was hard to make out her features as the torchlight left most of it in shadow, but the flickering orange flames hinted at red eyes and white, short-cut hair swept up in a messy style. Oddly enough, Lightning didn't have the sense that she was hostile.

"You're faster than most."

"I get that a lot." Than most? Lightning stepped back and braced herself against the wall. There was still no pain but... she couldn't keep herself from hunching over and holding an arm around her torso. As if she was weak from... starvation. "Who's crying?" she asked, fighting to keep the urgency out of her voice.

"Oh," the woman shrugged, though her eyes sharpened as she peered over her shoulder at a cell further down, "just a werewolf we picked up a bit before you. Don't let the sobbing fool you. She's a scrawny little thing as a human, but she's taken out quite a few of our kind."

"Our..." kind? Lightning dropped the question in favor of another. It wasn't Serah. That was all she needed to know. "Where am I?"

"I'll leave that for the man to explain. He's been a bit on edge waiting for you. Sit tight. I'll bring him." The woman walked away, revealing a large sword slung across her back, the shape of a skull near the hilt. She disappeared into the dark hallway.

The room Lightning was in was no better than a cave. There was no bed or bucket. No window. Not even any rats were scurrying about. Peering out through the gate, she could see the edges of other similar cell doors in the hall, but there was no way to tell which were occupied.

"Who's Serah?" The voice was faint and weak, although still maintaining a high, girly pitch with a bit of an accent.

Eyes adjusting more to the dark, Lightning spotted the source of the voice at the base of a nearby cell door, where a young woman sat on her ankles. She had fair skin and bright red hair. Her hands loosely wrapped around one of the bars, wrists bound together by a bright, shiny metal. Another band of the metal was wrapped around her thin neck like a heavy collar. Her skin was raw around the material.

Silver.

Tear streaks marked lines through the dirt and smudge on her face.

Lightning dropped the side of her head against the wall, looking down. "My sister."

"Oh," the girl said sadly, directing her eyes down too. There was a moment of silence before she spoke again. "They said they got you right after me." The apology went unspoken, as it was already weighing heavily in the air. Words would have rung hollow, anyway. Sorry you were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in our little vampire-werewolf squabble.

"I have a sister, too. They're probably still out looking for her."

Lightning blinked, bits of her memory jogging back into place. The white snow falling on black, blood-stained fur. The hunger and intelligence of the wolfish eyes staring back at her. The peaceful offering of a fresh kill. Dragging it back to a vampire infested wagon...

Her head snapped up. She felt like kicking herself for forgetting. "There were two others with me. A man and his son, have you seen them?"

The girl's eyes widened, and she shook her head. She looked genuinely horrified. "They... they usually try to recruit people who are willing. Or they..." she swallowed audibly, voice shaking, "keep them around for cattle. I heard some of them talking about a new boy they were going to raise." She looked up, appearing desperate. "How old was the son?"

"Six." Lightning didn't need to ask what was meant by 'cattle'. There were enough horror stories for children to give her an idea.

Whatever bit of hope had been in the young woman's pleading eyes was extinguished. Two pairs of brisk footsteps resounded throughout the hall, and she gasped, disappearing back into her cell. Lightning watched somberly as the woman and an unfamiliar man approached.

The man also had white hair, though his features were a bit sharper than the woman's. His hands were clasped behind his back and he watched her with a stern expression.

"What's your name, newborn? If you can remember."

Her eyes narrowed, and she tilted her chin up. "Yours first."

The man paused for a second, and then dipped his chin, surprising Lightning with an answer. "Yaag Rosch, and this is Paine," he added, gesturing behind him. Then his eyes tilting skyward, answering a question that had been asked, apparently, one too many times."And no, we are not siblings."

Lightning shifted against the wall, feeling herself lean a bit more heavily against it. Her eyes seemed to be adjusting to the darkness a bit more. "Lightning. Where are my companions?"

"That's not your concern right now." Lightning felt herself ready to snarl. The male vampire hesitated, then added. "And, keeping human blood in this wing is not advisable for maintaining a semblance of peace."

They were alive. She was surprised again by his willingness to offer such information. "Why are you telling me? Aren't I a prisoner?"

A flicker of irritation passed over his features, although it wasn't directed at her. "Our leader has become... a bit reckless recently. It's generally agreed upon by the non-feral vampires that humans are only to be changed if the human is willing. A changed human is one less source of blood, after all. But recently we've been losing a number of our clan to..." his eyes glanced to the side, and Lightning had the feeling he was thinking of the werewolf locked away not far from them, "outside forces. You're not the first to be in Jihl's way while she's been out. It's unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected."

"Although you are the first human to take out a member of her hunting party." Paine added. "Personally, I didn't like Biggs, or his partner. Could never figure out why the Mistress picked them in the first place." Her brow drew together. "Still, I'm curious about how you managed to kill one of them. Did you-"

"That's enough," Rosch said, waving a hand. He changed the topic swiftly. "Now, tell me how you're feeling."

Lightning's eyes swept between the two, but it appeared she wouldn't be getting any more information. Then she looked Rosch over a little more, noting his military-style outfit. His command was given without an ounce of sympathy, but it still sounded odd coming from him. "You don't look like a doctor."

He shook his head this time. "I just need to gauge your mental stability. Outward appearances suggest you're fine, but some newborns wake up with a... bad temper, so to speak."

The woman standing a pace behind him appeared amused. "Doctors don't treat the dead, anyway."

Lightning opened her mouth, then closed it. She could see in Rosch's eyes how he seemed to know exactly what was going through her mind. It was Paine that spoke, however.

"You're a vampire, Lightning. Just like us. You took to the transformation pretty well, compared to most. Haven't you checked your teeth yet? It's sort of the first thing most people do."

She hadn't wanted to. She still didn't. But even then she could feel the lengthened incisors pressing against the inside of her lip.

"You won't feel the thirst for at least a week or more," Rosch explained, "since you still have some of your own blood in you. You'll be a bit stronger because of it, too."

"Why am I feeling so weak, then?"

"Think of it as mental fatigue. Your physical form will remain mostly free from fatigue as long as you have blood. But your mind is still susceptible to exhaustion, and the transformation from human to undead is... taxing, to put it lightly. Each individual seems to come out of it a little differently. Is there anything else you're feeling?"

Lightning shook her head, looking away. Just cold.

"Then it seems we can get started." He turned suddenly and began to walk away, throwing a ring-full of keys at Paine. "Bring her to the disposal."

"Yes, sir," she said, offering a lazy salute.

Lightning took a step away from the door. "The disposal?"

"It sounds worse than it is. Well, maybe not. You'll find out soon enough. Almost every member of PSICOM has had to go through it." Paine grabbed her by the arm, and she tried to shrug it off. "Hey, hey. I wouldn't do that. You'll wanna save that fighting spirit for later. Besides, even if you did manage to get away from me, you'd have a lot more of us to go through before you could even find the exit."

"What if I don't want to join?"

"If you're not with us, you're against us. And then you're disposed of."

Lightning didn't get to see much more of the place except more stone passageways that broke off here and there. She rapidly lost her sense of where they'd come from.

…

She was thrown in another cell, completely dark, but by now her vampire eyes had adjusted fully. And she wasn't alone.

"You must be the one we've all been waiting for," said a young-looking man seated on the floor on the other side of the room. He had piercings all over his nose, ears and lips. "I almost turned feral just sitting on my arse over here."

"Shut up, Carl, no one's making you do shit. It was your decision to go through with this." A woman pushed off from the wall, glaring at the man as she strode closer to Lightning. Her black hair was cropped to her chin with a red highlight streaked through a portion on the right side. Same as the man, she had numerous piercings around her face, including two in one eyebrow. She was also chewing gum.

Carl sneered. "It was either this or live off rats in the sewers and hide like shit in tall grass. I didn't hear you complaining before."

"Whatever." The woman waved her hand in dismissal and finally rounded on Lightning, agitation flickering in all of her movements. She gave Lightning a hard once over and scoffed, throwing her hands up. "Great, all this time and the only thing we get is a fucking princess. Fucking great."

Lightning's eyes narrowed, but she let the slight pass. "Wait for what?"

The woman's eyes widened. "They didn't tell you? You even know why you're here, princess?"

Carl groaned, dropping his head back against the wall. "We're so fucked."

"Shit." The woman wiped her hands jerkily over her face. She spoke as if she was trying to rein in evaporating patience. "Alright, so the way this goes. They pit a group of us against a group of humans, and the winners get to join PSICOM. Either as cattle or new vampires or whatever. Basically, you're not the one that gets to die. And it's just a big fucking show for everyone who gets to watch."

Lightning tilted her head slightly, listening carefully. "So it's just us against hu-..." Lightning stopped herself. Humans. The side she wasn't on anymore.

The woman rolled her gum to one cheek. "You're still new to this, aren't you? Shit. Well, at least that means you've still got some of your own blood. That'll help. You're not gonna go crazy like this asshole once the humans get released," she said, jerking her chin over a shoulder. "Hasn't had a drink in over two weeks."

"You haven't either," the man accused gruffly.

"Yeah well, I got better self-control maybe." She was nearly bouncing on her feet, gnawing fiercely on her gum. Lightning took a better look at them and realized they were twins.

"If it's just humans," Lightning tried again, ignoring the odd feeling that came from using the word, "then why-"

"Because," the woman interrupted, taking a few steps closer. Her eyes were wide and just a bit insane. Lightning stood her ground. "Not only are the humans armed with all kinds of weapons and tools and shit designed to rip out our hearts, they're adding a fucking troll to the mix." The last of her words came out in a higher pitch, as if there was some great irony to all of this.

"And not just a troll," the man said, hopping to his feet, his sarcasm and dark humor catching on with his twin's. He smiled, his fangs mirrored by black, rotting teeth. "Some assholes thought they'd have fun trying to change it into a vampire. But now, it's just some messed up walking undead shit. Can't let a thing like that wander around unchecked, so they throw it at fools like us for fun."

"In other words," the woman added, "those of us they didn't want joining in the first place."

There was a faint rumbling, and the door opposite the one Lightning had entered began to slowly slide up. She could hear the sounds of a crowd cheering and shouting.

"Looks like it's starting," the woman hissed. "Don't know about you, princess, but I'm at least gonna have some blood before I'm gone."

The twins scrambled out under the door as it was still being raised.

So much for working together.

In less of a hurry, Lightning ducked under the door, and found herself in the bottom of a large, circular pit. The ground was covered with packed sand. Bones littered the floor, more had been pushed to the sides. At the top, outer ring of the pit held the audience. Most of them were leaning against a waist-high railing, watching with a mix of reactions ranging from excitement to boredom, although the general dark stillness of the atmosphere was enough to suggest they weren't human.

The female twin was the first to launch herself at the humans scurrying out of their own door. She managed to tackle one, but was kicked off by a large man before being able to go to the throat. Carl jumped on the man's back, delivering a vicious bite to his neck before being thrown off.

There was a third door still opening, albeit even slower than the others. Before Lightning could get too concerned about the size of the toes visible beneath it, something flew past her head.

"Come on, welp! Quit standing around, I'm bored already!"

A small growl rumbled in her throat; her temper was coming back. Good. Before any of them could figure out what she was doing, she picked up a human skull near her feet and launched it up at him.

He was still leaning casually against the railing, the backlash completely unexpected. Her aim was perfect; the skull connected squarely against his face and exploded into dozens of pieces. He yelled and fell away from the fence while the other startled vampires started guffawing at his expense.

"Having a good time, now?" Lightning said under her breath.

"Hey, I like you!" one vampire with wearing purple robes shouted to Lightning, sounding friendly. She had blonde hair and a dominating presence among the others. "Hope you win, you'd make a good sister."

Uninterested in their approval, Lightning was already turning her attention back to the arena, to the vicious snarls and shouts emerging from the human's side. She was just analyzing her next move when the sound of her name would have made her heart stop if it hadn't already.

"Lightning!"

It was Sazh. He was breathing heavily, a crowbar held by both hands. Blood was splattered across his shirt and sleeves. He had some bruises and cuts on his face – it looked like the results of torture. He was watching her warily, uncertain.

The ground rumbled, forcing them to break eye contact, and a roar came from the troll's cage. Its hand emerged under the slow moving door and shoved it up. The audience cheered, rattling and pounding their fists on the railing.

The monster that stepped from the darkened cage was revolting. Standing close to ten feet tall, its skin had paled to a sickly gray. Its trollish features were apparent on its face: a large bumpy nose, a prominent jaw, jutting tusks. Blood shot eyes appeared slightly cloudy as if the creature was nearly blind. There was an open wound in its lower chest cavity where intestines and other tissues were missing. Its unmoving heart could just barely be seen behind its exposed ribs; someone with the right idea, but they'd obviously been unable to finish the job. Other scars and claw-like marks littered its body, a gruesome telling of the combatants it had been set loose upon.

Seeing the humans and vampires staring at it in stunned terror, it snorted something that sounded like 'blood' and shambled toward them.

Sazh swore, gripping the crowbar tightly. "Maybe we should run."

Lightning held out a hand to him, not taking her eyes off the troll. "Hand me that crowbar."

"And what the hell am I supposed to use?

She looked at him then. "Do you want to fight it?"

Sazh pursed his lips, shaking his head for a moment before tossing the crowbar at her. She caught it one-handed and swept it down at her side.

Right.

The troll picked up its strides and charged their group. Everyone scattered, but its long arms still managed to pick up a human woman, who dropped her small dagger and started screaming, struggling to get out of its hold.

Lightning dashed to the wall at an angle. Two, three, four steps up the side and she launched herself into the air, somersaulting once to bring the crowbar down with enough force to sink the hooked end into the troll's back.

The troll didn't react at all, as if pain and feeling had long since abandoned its awareness. Adjusting her grip higher, Lightning wrenched the crowbar free and jumped further up its hulking back, using the hook as a climbing aid. She reached its shoulder just as the troll was bringing the woman to its mouth. Without hesitation, Lightning braced herself on knee and foot and swung the crowbar with all her strength straight into its eye. She ripped the organ out with one pull.

The troll jerked its head away, dropping the woman with a confused grunt. Lightning jumped to its other shoulder, hooking into it with the crowbar as the troll's hand feebly searched the area where she'd just been. With its head turned away, Lightning perched herself on its shoulder and swung the crowbar down and into its chest.

Strike after strike she tore its remaining flesh and muscle away, adjusting her balance and dodging the troll's hands as needed. Her own muscles never tired, her body keeping up with her single-minded purpose of getting at the heart.

Then the troll's milky white eye rolled to her. With surprising speed and flexibility, he twisted his head around to bite at her. Lightning lurched back, losing her balance and pitching over and off its shoulder. Before she even hit the ground, its hand swept around and caught her by the leg.

Hanging upside down, the troll brought her closer as if to sniff. Lightning swung at him with the crowbar, narrowly missing his eye and instead scraping skin off his cheek. Irritated, the troll held her away from him, and then she was promptly smashed against the floor. She only barely grunted before she was next flung through the air and her body slammed into the wall.

She crumbled to the ground. There was a dull sense of an ache, but nothing as severe as she would have expected. It was more that her head had been jostled and her sight momentarily blurred. She grit her teeth and pushed herself from the floor. She didn't have to catch her breath because she had no need of it.

The troll was stomping toward her, ignoring all others. Lightning looked around for the crowbar, but she'd let go of it at some point. She dodged a heavy fist that came slamming down toward her. She rolled under the next swing, its aim as terrible as its sight. Coming up onto her feet, she jumped onto its upper arm as he was leaning down and into the attack.

He looked around in confusion before spotting her, and waved the arm around. She clung hard to it, refusing to budge. Roaring, the troll set its feet and charged into the wall, leading with its shoulder. She heard cracking, unsure if it was her bones or the stone. When he pulled back and prepared another charge, she let go of the arm just before he connected solidly with the wall.

Inside his guard, she leaped to his chest and wrapped her hands around a rib. The heart was too large and too out of reach to get her hands on it just yet. She braced her feet against parts of his remaining muscle and pulled with every fiber of her being. It cracked and started splintering. The troll's hand grabbed her and she wrapped her arms around the rib. When he wrenched her off, the rib came off with her.

Again she was thrown to the wall, the rib clattering next to her and falling with her into the sand.

Again she stood, watching the troll charge.

"Hey! Sister!"

She looked up, seeing the purple-robed vampire holding up a torch, which she chucked down in front of her. Lightning lurched for it. Her right arm wasn't working anymore so she picked it up with her left. With her momentum she dove under the troll's double-fisted swing, rumbling the earth, but she thrust herself up on her legs and plunged the torch up into his chest. The heart was dry, and it caught fire with ease.

The troll roared, throwing its head and body back as the whole of its chest burst into flame. It flailed, swinging its arms in a frenzy until it fell to its knees, legs failing it, and finally crumbling fully into the sand. Its body sagged, giving out at last.

Its face relaxed with true death into what looked, perhaps, a bit like relief.

"Lightning! A little help here!"

The panicked cry came from Sazh. The female vampire had him pinned to the ground, mashing her teeth in his face. He had the crowbar set between them, using it to keep her at bay.

Lightning was already moving. She reeled back with the torch and smashed it across the vampire's face with a thunk, causing her to lurch back and off of Sazh.

The vampire rolled to her feet, a hand over her slightly burnt face as she hissed, "On the wrong side, princess?" There was blood streaked across her face, dripping from her fangs. Then she received a face-full of iron as Sazh pinged her with the crowbar.

Before it could react, Lightning launched herself forward, tackling her to the sand.

"Hold her down!" Sazh shouted, lining up with the crowbar. Lightning moved aside just as he brought it down into the vampire's chest. It was gruesome work, made more difficult by Lightning's lame arm, and the vampire didn't give up fighting even after she had an open hole to her heart.

"Don't call me princess," Lightning growled before using her good arm to thrust the torch into her gaping chest. The vampire screeched and writhed for nearly a whole minute before finally going still.

The crowbar dropped from Sazh's grip, and he hunched forward with hands on his knees, drawing in ragged breaths.

Lightning stood slowly from the vampire's body, eyes scanning. The male vampire lay some distance away with his chest torn open. The other humans were either dead or dying.

And the arena had gone unnaturally still. Except someone was... clapping? Lightning looked up toward the audience, the vampires all silent and either looking at her or...

Lightning turned fully to face her, feeling an almost instinctual need to bare her teeth. The one who'd changed her. The one they all called Mistress. The one Rosch called Jihl.

And she was slowly, deliberately, bringing her hands together. When she stopped, her palms pressed together, fingers pointed up. She wore a pleased smile. Much too pleased. And Lightning was the focus of her attention.

"You've done well, newborn. I must say, even I am impressed."

Lightning remained silent, her sight never wavering from the alpha vampire.

"However," Jihl said, turning her hands down and directing the fingers at Sazh. "It looks as though there is still one more left. If you could take care of him, then-"

"No."

A rumble of voices circled through the audience. "Hm. Disobedience. You may be good, newborn, but that is one thing I will not tolerate." Her eyes flicked to Sazh. "If you would do the honors, then, human. As a reward, I will let you and your son go free."

Lightning immediately tossed the torch to Sazh. It landed at his feet. "Do it."

Sazh's dark eyes were hard, completely vacant of his usual carefree attitude. "No."

"Then I'll do it myself." Lightning walked deliberately toward the torch.

"I don't think so." Sazh shook his head, taking a small step toward the torch as if to block her from it. He wiggled his fingers. The gesture was subtle and mostly hidden by his long jacket. Curiously, the torch flame slowly diminished before going out.

"This is cute, really, but I don't have time for it. Either one of you kills the other, or I'll make things more difficult for both of you."

In an instant, Lightning was furious. Didn't he want to save Dajh? She spun toward Jihl. "Why don't you come down here and do something? Or are you just talk?"

This time the wave of voices was much louder. Vampires were looking at each other, at Lightning and Jihl.

"Wha-" Sazh scrambled over to her, trying to pull her back "No-no-no, she doesn't mean that." He attempted a forced laugh. "Really, she's just kinda crazy sometimes." Lightning shoved him away.

Jihl took her glasses off and held them out to the side for someone to take. Rosch.

Her eyes had changed. While they still held the faint signs of amusement, a flare of intense malice flickered through them. She placed a single hand on the railing and gracefully tossed her legs over it, landing in the pit in an easy crouch. Four other vampires dropped with her, keeping to the sides like shadows.

She pulled the baton from her belt and sliced it through the air. "You're new to our world, so I'll make this lesson one you won't forget."

She was so fast. One second she was striding toward Lightning, and the next she blurred to appear in front of her. Unable to react quick enough, the baton struck Lightning across the face with a snap. Electricity sizzled from the rod and coursed through her, sapping her of strength.

"Don't." Another strike against the back of her head, sending her to the floor and gasping as real pain raked through her nerves. "Ever." Again. "Challenge." And again. "Me."

Several more strikes left Lightning quivering in the sand, electric sparks flickering across her. After watching her for a short time, Jihl looked up through her lashes at Sazh, who was standing a fair distance back. He showed an obvious desire of wanting to help, but knew, also, that it would get him killed.

Jihl made a small hmph of satisfaction and turned on her heel, striding toward one of the opening doors. "She still has some of her human blood. Take what's left of it."

The four shadows descended on Lightning. Teeth sank into her neck, shoulder, and arms.

And darkness soon followed.

…

She woke in pain. Everything was a mesh of burning agony that she couldn't pinpoint to any one spot. As if everything she'd endured in the arena was unleashed on her all at once. She choked, pushing herself to an elbow in a feeble attempt to steady herself.

"'bout time you came around. Was thinking I'd end up having to carry you out over my shoulder."

Lightning blinked, squinting up. "Sazh?" Another cell. Lightning was already sick of them. Sazh was crouched down in the opposite corner, watching her carefully. "They put us together?"

"Mhm. They think if neither of us can make up our minds about killing each other, then you'll just turn feral anyway and make the decision by itself."

Lightning's whole body was quivering. She was so hungry.

"The thing is, even if you drank my blood, it would only paralyze you."

"Tch. I don't think now is... is the time for jokes, Sazh." She could smell it. The blood that was only a few steps away. She dragged her nails along the floor, anything to get her to focus on something else.

"Hah! Everyone thinks I'm just full o' jokes. It's no wonder they haven't figured out who the hell I am."

Setting her jaw firmly, Lightning turned shaky eyes to Sazh. "And just... who the... hell are you?" She tried to put some sarcasm into it, but she was jerking a little too much, and her voice was too raspy.

"Hmph." Sazh stood, pushing off from his knees, which cracked loudly. "Dammit I'm too old for this," he grumbled, more to himself. Then he turned to the iron gate. He flicked both hands out to the side and fire burst around them, traveling up his arms and stopping just below his elbows. Lightning watched, stunned, as Sazh placed his hands on the gate and the whole thing caught fire. In seconds it started to melt, and he was able to pull it away from its hinges.

He set the mangled gate aside and turned back to Lightning. His eyes were somber. "Look, I'm sorry I haven't been able to do anything until now. Not without Dajh getting hurt. But their security has really taken a dive in the last couple days. Not sure why, but if we're gonna go, now is the time."

Lightning was trying to push herself to her knees while Sazh spoke.

"The only thing I'm worried about is... Well, I'm not letting you near Dajh if you're gonna go feral on me. And my blood can't help you, so-"

"I can help with that."

They both looked out into the hall. Curled up at the the base of one of the cell doors was the young woman with bright red hair Lightning had spoken to earlier. She still had the silver bindings on, but she smiled cheerfully at them nonetheless.