So I started writing this as a one-shot hoping it would get the creative juices flowin' so I could continue Just a Cup of Sugar, but the inspiration only applied to this story. I started it last Friday and finished the first draft this Wednesday. It's a lil' over 17k words.

I'll be posting this on the days I don't update Natural Order. This is in my abbreviated style of writing.

3rdPOV

1500s

Alistair was rather fond of his life. Some internal clock told him he was just shy of having been alive in this altered state for two centuries. He breathed in the fresh air of his territory, preferring to stay in the wooded areas until he felt the need to sate his thirst.

He looked around the forest idly while he sat on a tree he had uprooted two years past. Despite there being no greater peace than enjoying the silence of the forest on a full stomach Alistair felt restless. He longed for a fight, he felt the urge to dig his fingers into someone's flesh and tear them to pieces. It was the only way to fight off the insanity, the blankness in which hours and days could fly by before he reawoke, usually covered in blood and filth.

Mauling a human wouldn't satisfy this urge though. They were too weak, easily broken, and prone to excreting themselves. He almost wished that the Volturi would stop by like they did half a decade ago. Now that had been fun. Five against one, they had all been skilled fighters, enough to at least entertain him. Before he pulled the last one's head off the weakling had begged for mercy, invoking the name of the Volturi, and pleading to every god known. After asking him a few 'polite' questions the vampire answered, albeit only after Alistair squeezed them out of him.

A year later he spotted a pair of vampires far away from his territory. They both wore the Volturi crest, but made no move towards him. After they spotted him they ran off and Alistair had not heard from the Volturi since then. He had a feeling that he'd hear from them again soon.

A day passed as he remained sitting.

Part of him knew he should run the borders of his territory, reestablishing his scent, but he really wanted to fight someone. If the scent was weak others might wonder into his land and serve as entertainment until the thirst called for him to hunt again.

He sighed and thought better of it. Despite his want for a fight his need to keep others out of his territory was stronger. It had already been a month since he last scented the area for any intruders.

According to many of the vampires he had met when he was young and more tolerant to company most vampires were nomads. Very few laid down territory.

Alistair didn't have any emotional ties to this place from when he was human, but something attracted him to it when he had new eyes and infinite time. He briefly wondered what the humans were calling these lands now before brushing the thought aside. He didn't speak their language, so it didn't really matter.

A scent caught his attention and he paused in his running. Lifting his head up and towards the wind he breathed in deeply. There it was again, the scent of another vampire. He grinned widely and started tracking it.

Ten minutes later he was at the edge of his territory and still hadn't picked up anything more than wafts. He hesitated briefly. It felt unnatural for him to step pass the invisible lines he had set down many years before.

Alistair wanted to kill though, to hear someone scream, perhaps if he was lucky they'd even beg him to stop. And what he wanted he got. With resolute steps he pushed onto foreign, unclaimed grounds. The scent quickly grew thicker and more concentrated. His anger was boiling just under the surface. For their scent to be this intense they'd either have to have stayed in one spot for quite a while or laid claim to lands, lands very close to his own.

That was more than enough incentive for him to kill the fool.

The scent was different than anything he'd ever encountered before, but he didn't let that deter him. Just as he could no longer sees his territory he paused, suddenly understanding why the scent was strange. It was a female's scent. A female vampire. He'd never encountered one before.

This… changed things for him. His anger and need to destroy drifted away and was replaced by curiosity. He suddenly didn't know how to approach the situation and moved forward at a slower pace before smelling the lines of a territory. Alistair hedged around the territory, deciding to see how big it was.

It took him a little over a day to circle the oblong area. Not once did he see her.

For the time being he decided to go back to his territory and make sure his scent didn't lead anyone to believe his hunting grounds were fair game.

A week passed and he was still unsure on what to do.

She wasn't exactly disturbing him or anything, but she was still too close for his liking. Her scent tended to drift into his territory, setting him on edge.

Another week passed by and the scent just become another fleeting aspect of his territory, like the winter or fall. Eventually he didn't even consciously notice it anymore.

Bit of a slow opening. It just sets the stage. Next chapter is the Volturi!