............

Such pain.... Came a soft whisper of a voice into the apparent child's mind. Why do you suffer so? Suffer where there is no need? Leona asked.

She had been walking along the streets about two hours before sunrise when she had heard a mind of an immortal. She could not find him, for a male it was, even though she had looked through the area. She came to stand on a man hole cover, just on the virge of giving up. But then she felt him again. He was in the sewers.

Well that was one place Leona would not go. It was too icky!

She had not heard a responce from the vampire... Was he a young one like her? One who did not have her unique gifts? Are you there my dear? Just think. I shall hear you. She thought softly as she laye d odwn on the ground on her stomach by the manhole cover down.

Loena couldn't help but laugh. So he thought he was going crazy? Oh it would be so easy to just run with it and have fun. But she felt a power, and were there was power, there was danger.

"No no. I am only speaking to you this way because I cannot find you." She laughed slightly. "My name is Leo. If you would come out from the sewer you would see I'm an immortal like yourself. I simply wish to talk, that is all." She though as she sat back, figiting with the man hole cover. She would take it off, but she didn't want to intrude into the vampires home. Never mind invading his mind.

"And who are you?"

Leona's tawny hair was pulled half back, enabeling those to see it;s length and texture, but enough to keep it out of her eyes. She wore khaki pants and a black tanktop, clearly the sign of an imortal this cold night.

"Well, aren't you a cutie." She said fondly as she stood up to look at the boy. "I don't think I've ever met another vampire who ws turned at such a young age." But then again she hadn't met that many all together.

"Anyway as I said. I'm Leona. A newbie here in town. I was passing over yoru sewer here and couldn't help but stop." She said with a smile.

"Tarepha?" Leo quipped. "Never heard of them. They a Coven around here? Cause well, they would be ruining their chanced of a new member if they did. After all, I don't have a coven yet." She grinned a fangy smile as she stood up. "And I was onyl using mind speech because I couldn't exactly talk to you any other way. You should be able to figure that out."

The boy was about a head shorter than Leona, making her smile again. "And you are absoluty addorable." She said ruffling his cap befor standing back to get a look at him. "So what were you doing in the sewers?" Her voice was serious now.

"I mean, I know we're vampires so it's not like we can get sick, but don't you want something better for yourself?" She asked curiously. "I mean... You seem to be a smart kid and all, so why don't you just make yourself better off?"

She made a face. "Eww. How can you do that? It's all icky and everything." She just had to ask. Though she might not have been the most prim and proper of women, well she wasn't just going to live in a sewer.

"Why would you join a coven that makes you sleep in a sewer? I mean, they should have something a little better. I mean I prefer my comforts and all. Not just skulking around under the streets and such."

She shrugged as he told her not to call him a kid. "Right then. Figured someone like you would be used to it by now, but suite yourself. People still call me a kidl. And well, if I hadn't died, I'd probably have kids of my own. You'd probably be dead with about four generations or so I'm guessing, but to other peopl eyou still look a kid."

She shrugged at being called a kid. "Actualy I find it quite a complement. I woudl say I look rather good for my age really." She said with a grin as she placed her hands on her hips. "I'm sure any other fourty year old would die to look like me." She said with a fangy grin.

She tilted her head curiously at his first comment now. "Wife? Married her after you were turned I take it? Even back then thirteen year olds didn't get married. But anyway, I'm sure that if you're living in the sewers, she's not going to be comming back to you any time soon." She knew she wouldn't.

"I'm guessing that's the Elizabeth you were talking about though?" She asked with a tilted head. "Well, not talking, but you get what I mean. Just out of curiocity though... Why did you join this coven? Arent their better covens to join? WHat does this one have to offer you? What about the Amman or the Enashe? They seem to have things pretty good. Better than sewers anyway."

Leo shrugged again. "Well I personaly find the whole feeding thing disgusting." She said honestly. "I'm surprised I've lasted this long really." It was hard for her to accept the fact that she woild be around forever, that she woudl never get tp see the sunlight again, feel the warmth on her face and all. She was still bound by her mortal perception of things, even after this long.

"Even when I was alive though. I only ate meat to live. Not just to kill for no reason. Besides you can fed off humans without killing them after all. Why call yourself a murderer when there is no need to? Why be a murderer when you don't have to be?" She asked curiously. Personaly he liked the idea of just finding a mortal you could trust to be a feeding buddy, with the promise of turning them. She had heard of it happeing and this way no one was killed and everyone got what they wanted. Right?

Leona shrugged. She had been a slacker student really. Bairly passing two years of spanish, just enough to graduate. As for disobeying? She laughed at her parents. The 'Motley Crue' Dr. Feelgood logo on her takntop spoke her personality well enough. Ferget 'em. Curfue? What curfue? Grounded? Hah, see ya in a week. She would laugh at them, but then again, those were the eighties.

"I think that was why you went psycho." She said with a grin. "They say it's the quiet ones you have to watch. The book worms, the good kids. Because you never know what they're up to." She chuckled. "Kids like me however, you can always trust them to do the opposite of what you say usualy. Well, unless you want them to do the opposite. Then they figure it out and do what you told them to and have it back fire all in your face." She had done that countless times with her parents.

Were they still alive even? Maybe she could go see them? It had been almost twenty one years... She would be forty one this year... A perfect age to pull off being their granddaughter...

The thought made her smile suddenly. Maybe she would do that. "But as for those people you killed... I don't think... I don't thing a fledgling has true control over their actions..." She felt like she was being controled from a distance a lot of times in her younger years, as if some invisible hand were guiding her. "It's almost like their sire, or someone else, some stronger force does."

"Maybe..." She trailed off as she turned around in a slow circle. "Maybe you're still sort of stuck between both worlds still." She said slowly, thoughtfully. "I mean, maybe you still have some lingering... mortal emotions. Anger, dispare..." She looked up conecting with his eyes. "Lonlyness even."

She walked up to him putting a hand on his cheek lightly before moving it to his shoulder. "I guess it's normal, I don't know... Especialy when I've only been a vampiress just a little longer than I was alive... If anyone has any mortal emotion... It would be me."

She shrugged, looking at him slyly. "But perhaps mortal emotions aren't too bad."

Alex shook her head, a look of disgust on her face. "Is sex all you men ever think about? I thank you for the complement, I suppose, but women tend to think with one head and one head only. It tends to work better." She said as she rolled her eyes.

"I was tallking about simple things. Having friends, people you can connect with in other ways than just a casual hook up now and again. People who actually give a rats ass about you. Sorrow at death, joy at life." She explained. "It's like... What does death mean when you're immortal?" She asked retoricly.

"I should be turning forty-one this year, I should only be alive twice that, I should have kids, a family, gray hair, a job!" She sighed. "No, instead I'm some damn murderer who is just two steps from losing their humanity and exposing a secret existance that has been hidden since hell knows when!" Flustered? Hell yeah. Jonas called himself a murderer? Did he go on regular blood thirsty rampages leaving behind several mutilated carcases of humans? Probably not.