It was dark; the night so black as to be suffocating. The city around her had turned into a concrete jungle only one which was void of all wild life. She walked quickly keeping her head down so as to appear submissive. She knew that direct eye contact would be seen as a challenge and she wanted to avoid anything of the sort. She was on a mission of sorts; she had a specific goal in mind and there wasn't anything that would keep her from her destination.
The city slowly came to life. She moved from the desolate, deserted section of town where life had lost all hope into that area of the city that vibrated with life. The music poured out of the clubs, bars and various joints in a steady stream that washed over her. Throughout the years she'd come to love all music from the classics once witnessed in the great halls of London to the current techno wave the promised to beat on until the break of day. There was worth in each and she found that no matter what the music is soothed her savage beast.
Her beast slithered just beneath the surface. It was late; she'd waited too long and now paid the price in pain. Her heart beat a fierce tempo within her chest, the steady rhythm mimicking that of the music that surrounded her. The blood didn't simply flowed within her veins, is surged back and forth like the tide. Her breath came out in a shallow pant and she fought to take back the reins on her hunger. She comforted herself, telling herself that nourishment was near. The litany repeated itself over and over in her mind until she had once again gained control over herself.
After all these years she should be beyond the need but the hunger seemed to grow exponentially each year. Long ago she accepted herself and what she had become. The choice had never been hers; the disease had been inflicted upon her one night when she made the mistake of walking home unescorted. From that moment on she ceased to be a well bred refined lady and had become what all men feared. Forced to leave her friends, family and the only life she'd ever known she had walked off into the night never looking back. Once infected the choice had been simple, either walk away or die. Still human in her mind she possessed the self-preservation necessary to chose life not knowing what the quality of that life would be.
Years later she learned life's lesson only too well. She knew that there was no place for her in the mortal world but that didn't stop her from existing just beneath the surface. She walked among them, sensed on some animal level but never really seen. There was still a part of her that needed the contact, the constant touch and connection with the world from which she'd come.
But it was this need the put her and those around her in danger this night. She was hungry, the need growing each time she sensed blood. Pulling her cloak more tightly around her, she continued to walk through the crowd. She tried to close her senses, to block out the scent of heat and blood. She knew how to hide herself so that they couldn't see her yet it took a different kind of control to block out the sound and scent of all that blood. She shouldn't have come out on this night nor allowed herself the luxury of walking among them but it was the only way to get what she need.
Ah, but that was a lie. She could have got what she needed without walking among them. She had grown stronger, more powerful over the years and possessed the ability to do many things. Instead, she chosen to torment and test herself by taking the difficult road.
There were rules, her own as well as those of her kind and she obeyed them all. To deny the rules was to risk disorder, detection and death from her own kind as well as the humans. There were many stories throughout history when the feared and the unknown where hunted down and destroyed. She wouldn't see that done to herself or her people.
Sensing her own resolve diminishing, she stopped. Standing still she remained unmoved as the city and all its humanity moved passed her. Time and time again human flesh brushed past her never knowing she was there. She appeared like a cold spot, a space on the sidewalk that everyone instinctively moved to avoid. If someone missed it and come in contact with her the sensation was one of cold, still air. It was an uncomfortable feeling, one certain to send shivers coursing over their skin.
Opening her senses, for one moment she let the world know she was there. In that same instant, she let the warmth of humanity, the scent of their skin and blood, both living, wash over her. Her hunger flared and the world turned its attention to her. In that same instant she sent herself soaring.
They were waiting for her.
"Kalaya." Cain greeted her without warmth.
"Where is he?"
