It was very nearly two in the morning as Sera pushed the old gate to St. Anne's cemetary open. The creek of the rusty hinges in the still and cold night were enough to let anyone, mortal or otherwise, know that she was here. But the night was still, there wasn't a sound as she made her way over towards her mother's grave.

She held a small gathering of flowers in her hands. Yellow, orange, purple and white... Her mother had always loved color... So why bring roses when these were cheeper and prettier? Her mother would like these more anyway. Well she knew her mother would like whatever she brough.

It had been over two months since she had come to visit her mother's grave.. Since Ambros left her and she had become a monster. She had been too ashamed to visit her mother... But she was getting better now... Ambros had talked sence into her again and she was getting better. Finaly she was able to face her mother again.

She found her mother's grave site, a simple tombstone with an angel, maybe about two feet high with with folded wings, its arms crossed against its chest. Kneeling down at the foot of the grave Sera leaned forward and placed the flowers at the headstone.

"Hi mommy... Sorry I haven't been to visit in a while... Things have... They've been a little rough. Ambros... He left for a bit... And I thought that he wasn't coming back. There were some problems... I was... Really sick for a while. But I'm getting better now. Better every night." She sighed and lay down on the ground, curling up on her mothers grave like she did every time she came, since Raven had given her permission. "I still miss you though... I wish nothing had changed all those years ago... That we were all still a family."

She gave a little smile. "Papa's doing better though it seems... He's been trying to clean up his act it looks like... He has a real appartment now and looks to be better... I think it took both of us dying... For him to realize what he really had. What he was missing." She fell silent and simply lay there, the scent of the flowers in her nose as she closed her eyes. Ambros would come and fetch her if she fell asleep and the night got to late. He had promised her.

Hale had been sitting in the library for quite some time pouring over books that the Ishak had. Some of the books there were so ancient, he had trouble deciphering the text. To him though it was a challenge, he really loved a challenge and he was going to enjoy every bit of it.

Now though he wanted to move on to something with a little more umph, which usually implied blood and gore. That was what his life was composed of, feeding of the pain and suffering of mortals. It really didn't get any better than that, well in his point of view.

On his way out of the coven, he grabbed a zip up sweatshirt and made his way to the cemetary above him. Once he stepped outside, he inhaled deeply and his eyes were alert in a flash. He froze like a predator trying to find the scent of prey and then abruptly bolted off in one direction.

A few seconds later, he clinged to the two feet angel and stared down at the curled up woman. The instincts that kicked in were wild and untamed. One thing about Hale was that he was very territorial and didn't care what other vampires did, but if they didn't belong to the Ishak coven, they had no right to even be close.

He let out a low snarl. Right now he wanted blood and gore, it would seem that she would be the perfect target. A feral grin drew upon his face. He had found his prey.

Her head snapped up as she felt a new presance, a powerful one too. And she was suprised that the vampire she saw was a mere child! One even younger than her. The sight made her shiver. And when he snarled at her she backed up away from him. Sera was very hearly too stuned to talk. But she was able to stammer out slightly.

"P-please! I... I mean you no harm! I ha-have come to visit my mother's grave is all." Her voice was bairly louder than a gust of wind. "I have permision to be here! I... I spoke with one who said that I could visit. Raven! Raven was his name." If he would speak with Raven, he would know... But it didn't look like he was going to do any of the sort.

And it wasn't like she belonged to another coven! Her and Ambros held no affiliation with any coven.

"What do you want?" She murmured. If he wanted her to leave, she would. She would go and come back with Ambros to find Raven... And perhaps Raven could talk with the coven leader... Maybe they could come to an agreement of sorts for safe passage. She had never hurt anyone here. Why wouldn't they let her here?

Hale tilted his head to one said as she talked. He looked like a predator that was listening to the ramblings of a prey, with sounds that he didn't quite understand. He caught the wayward thought that he was child. His eyes narrowed, he perhaps looked like a child but he was still an adult in mind and his torturing ideas where definitely adult like. No child come come up with those or even want to do them.

He frowned. Raven? Why did that name sound familiar? The name repeated itself in his mind until it clicked. Alexandra said her sire's name was Raven. RAven gave permission? Raven wasn't even the coven leader. He let out another snarl and crawled down the statue heading towards her. "Raven is not the coven leader. This is Ishak territory. You have to talk to the coven leader."

Hale wasn't much of a talker, but when it came to who he was and what he did, he usually did it thoroughly. If that meant defending his home until he lay dying then he would do that. This cementary was home. "What I want, is to see you writhe in pain."

Raven had said before that she did not act like a predator should... But that was because she wasn't one. Even when she had beel left to her own devices... She was not a predator, she was simply an animal... Sera was not made to be a predator in any means. She was gentle... She didn't like to fight or cause pain, she didn't want to cause problems even.

"We-well talk to him! I swear he said... Said that I was alowed!" She whimpered as she tried to scramble to her feet. Once there she nearly fell to the ground, her legs feeling weak under her as he said what he wanted from her. It wasn't so much what he said... But how he said it. Why... Why did he want to hurt her? What had she done to him?

She turned to run back towards the gate as fast as she could, wanting to flee. She would come back again, with Ambros...

But for now she had to get out of here still alive.

Hale grinned as she tried to convince him. In this state of mind he was unconvinceable. If he wanted blood and gore and to cause a little pain then he would get that. There wasn't much a 3000 year old vampire didn't get and anything he didn't get it was because he was stopped by an older vampire. Those you had to respect.

When she took off towards the entrance, Hale's eyes snapped to alertness. Running away from him was probably the worst thing she could have done, it was almost as bad as fighting him. He was a predator now on the hunt and she was not going to leave the cementary completely unharmed.

He vanished from his position to appear in front of her clearly blocking the gate and her chance of escape. When you were at the Ishak cementary you had to think like a predator, something that she obviously lacked and that was cause her a bunch of trouble if she crossed a dangerous vampire, such as himself. There would be no escaping for her tonight.

Not only was she not a predator, but she was bairly a vampire. She never thought of her powers that she might have... Nor did she try to find them out. Could she jump over the wall? Climb it? Turn into mist or shadow and escape? She had no clue.

She gave a little scream as she dug her heals in to stop as he appeared right in front of her.

"Oh God..." She murmured as she backed away slowly. "Please... Please don't hurt me... Just let me go..." She whimpered.

She knew that he wasn't a child, she had known that from the first look at his eyes. But why was he so vicious? Why did he have such an inhuman look in his eyes? It terrified her to no end... She was more terrified of him than she had been of Raven even. At least Raven still apeared to have some humanity in him... But this one.

Seraphina called out desperatly to her sire in her mind, but where was he? He was probably too far away to hear her pleads and cries. "Please sir... Just let me go. Just let me go I'm begging you!" Crimson tears were forming at the corners of her eyes, threating to fall and streak her face.

Hale was loving this, actually he was actually enjoying himself so much, he actually wanted to keep her long enough, not to hurt her, but just to torment her. He wasn't even touching and she was clearly terrified. Hale didn't have to do much, simply stand around and tell her that he was going to hurt her.

He took a few steps towards her and snatched her arm before she could even think of moving away. He dragged her to a marble bench and forced her to sit down. "Now if you behave maybe I'll let you go, with only minor injuries, maybe."

Hale frowned and looked her over and then reached out for a strand of hair. Soft. That simple thought made memories rush through him. Ambrosia and her mate, dead at his feet, vengeance in his heart for the pain that had been caused to him. Soft. Hale being held by Ambrosia while she talked about her worries and he smoothed them out. Ambrosia. She shouldn't have died.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Sera. "Will you behave?"

It was only sheer terror that held her in place as he stepped forward. A soft whimper escaped her as he reached out towards her. What was he going to do?

A his hand grabbed at her arm she seemed to come out of her statuesque form and began to pull away, just as she had always tried to pull away from her father. And just as always before, he was too strong! Even though he looked like a little boy he was too strong for her. And as she dug her heals in she only succeded in hurting her arm.

He pushed her on to a rather familliar bench.

She sat still, her lower lip quivering slightly as he reached a hand out to her again, this time towards her face. But he only took a strand of her hair softly.

"What do you want from me?" She whimpered. If worse came to worse... She could deal with pain. She had all her life. But... "Just please don't kill me... Do anything you want... But please don't kill me..." She said quietly, the tears that ad been holding in her eyes finaly fell, but she was too afraid to move to even wipe them away.

Where was Ambros? Couldn't he hear her? Couldn't he feel her fear? Or would she simply have to wait until dawn neared and he would come here to find her?

Well at least she was listening to him. She could behave, though she did fight him a little. Something brushed his conscience and his telepathy. Pain from her, no it wasn't pain, it was a memory of pain. He tilted his head to one side, the curious predator as always.

Hale shrugged, he wasn't quite sure where he would start. He frowned at the long sleeves and grabbed her arms. He yanked the sleeve up and hissed. It seemed that someone had already done his dirty work. She must have gotten those still as a mortal. She wasn't old that much he knew. "I'm not quite sure yet, but if you don't stop your whining I'll rip your tongue out."

He wasn't all that annoyed by her babbling, well perhaps he was a lot more then he really felt. He was sure that it wouldn't be all that hard to pul her tongue out, but he would be messy and would probably take for ever for it to grow back. He needed a vampire that was a little older that enjoyed pain, but didn't deal pain back. He gave an annoyed huff. What to do, what to do?

((I don't want two mutes silly :P ))

Sera jerked her arm in reflex as he grabbed it once more. Only Ambros could touch her without some reaction like that. She heard him hiss as he saw the scars on her arm. Why did he care about them? What differance did the scars that riddled her body here and there make? Her father, his friends... They used to beat her when she didn't do as she was told... When she spoke...

Which was why she sat silent now... Her head and eyes down towards the ground.

Sera was not always a fool... She knew when she wasn't in charge of the situation... Now was simply as before... And old habits died hard.

Giving a meak nod Sera swallowed against the fear in her throat. She seriously doubted he was going to rape her, that was a human thing. But God only knew whatelse he would do to her... But she closed her eyes and began to pray. It was all that had gotten her through the years without her mother... The beatings...

(Well he's being Hale, besides she'll heal, she's a vampire.)

Hale was considering where to start. At least she was quiet now he could actually concentrate. His eyes traveled along her body, where to start? He often started at fingers, but he wanted tonight to be different. Her face? No no, he had to be able to see the pain all over her face. He needed that to be left unmarked.

The rape thought caught him off guard. Rape? Him? He was a damn ten year old, he probably couldn't even get a hard on. What were people thinking these days? "I'm not going to rape you. I'm not that mean." Mean was all relevant, but Hale wasn't the raping type of man. He looked like a damn ten year old. Now he was actually depressed and wasn't the mood to hurt anyone anymore. Why him?

Sera had been sitting quietly, praying for protection, for strength to be able to take with dignity whatever this vampire tried to do to her. She could take it... She knew she could. She was strong... But... Her head snapped up as she heard him speak, confronting him and standing up for herself for the first time.

"Stay out of my head." She said sharply. That was one thing she hated more than anything... It was an invasion of her privacy greater than anything else she could think of. "Or at least get the whole story. I said that I knew you wouldn't... Vampires don't seem to be fore that stuff that I've met..." That was what she had meant anyway. But of course getting only half the story made him seem like a fool. At least in her mind.

"Humans though... They're a different matter entirely." Even as a vampire a man had tried to rape her... She'd killed him quickly of course... But he still had it in mind. He seemed different somehow though... Something she had said, or thought rather, seemed to have gotten to him. And oddly enough... Sera was worried. She never liked upsetting people... It just wasn't in her nature. But...

"You okay?" She asked hesitantly.

Hale snarled at her. "I didn't get into her head, you idiot. If you project your thoughts I will hear them even if they aren't in your head. You projected I caught the thought." Young vampires knew nothing these days. Ambrosia had prepared him and had help him be prepared by giving him a broad spectrum of all the powers that she knew that existed. It had included telepathy, it was just his luck that he had gotten that power.

He was annoyed. Not at her, at himself though perhaps he should turn it on her. She then hissed. Something was stopping him and he didn't know what it was, it greatly annoyed him. "I'm just peachy." Sarcasm was also one of his fortes.

"Well you can keep them out too you know." She said quickly in her defence yet. She still didn't know how to guard her own thoughts, or to really know when she was or wasn't. In fact, it was hard to think when she was trying to guard her thoughts.

It was as if Sera forgot just who he was for a moment. It was like she was arguing with one of the kids at school or something. "Well I was just trying to be nice. I thought it might be a good change of pace." She snapped, snathing her arm away finaly from him. "You don't have to be a jerk abo-" But she froze in mid-word as she looked into his eyes again, remembering just what he really was.

She was completely still for a moment, a fear filling her eyes slowly. But getting up as quick as she could she ran to the gate again, trying to get away from him before he was truly furious.

Hale watched her argue with him. It was the first time in a long time that anybody argued with him. The only people he even allowed any leeway was people of his own coven. Beyond that, the people could count themselves pretty much good as dead.

He saw her freeze for a moment and she seemed to remember who she was talking too. It was quite impressive to see the transformation. Going from arguing with her to remembering that he was most likely planning to kill her. Hale had never seen something like that. It was quite intriguing.

The next moment she was up like a flash and ready to go. He gave a sigh almost depressed. Poor little Hale simply wanted attention and no one gave it to him and the only way he knew how to get attention was to cause pain, so people would actually respond. Any fun he wanted to have was sucked straight out of him. It was not fun to live almost 3 millenia as a complete child.

Attention? Sera was the least likely to give it to him now... She was stark terrified of what he wanted to do to her, what he said he was going to do to her. First impressions were everything really, even with her. Especialy when she would be risking her own life to get a second opinnion.

He was an inhuman monster... The way he moved... His eyes... his desire to hurt her. No. No way was she staying a second longer in this place. She would come back later with Ambros... To talk to the coven leader... All she wanted to do was visit her mother's grave. Was that too much to ask? She had never hurt anyone.

At the gate now she pushed at the heavy iron, but for some reason it wouldn't budge. Why was it stuck? It ha dnever been like this before. Looking through the bars she saw the lock. How... What had happened? How had it locked?

It would have been simple to press and turn the lock from the outside, but from inside, her wrists and hands couldn't bend that way. And she knew this was the only gate into or out of the cemetary. She tried to climb, but ran out of foot holds halfway up and had to come back down. Not wanting to look back to see if the other vampire were coming after her she tried to bend the bars appart, but they only budged a few inches!

Hale simply sat there. Why were there times where he wanted to be pitied. His parents had never truly loved him, they had hoped he would have been a girl, but he was too rambunctious to even be gentled to play a more mommy's boy persona. So here he was a vampire that had always craved affection, but received none. That was probably why he strived on pain, he felt much of it himself.

He knew that Sera was far, though she seemed to be having problems with the gate. He frowned as he looked to the gates, his eyes narrowing at the sight of them closed. Those gates were never closed and no vampire would close them. There were younger members of the coven who wouldn't be able to come in.

He stood up and walked towards her, his steps making no sound. He shoved her aside somewhat impatiently and pressed a hand to the gates. The gates seemed to shudder, before they were wrenched from their hinges and lay discarded. "Sera? Go before I change my mind." He turned around and headed back to the bench.

Sera watched with amazement as he tore the gates from their hinges. How old was he to have such power? It was wonderous but terrifying at the same time. And she was even speechless as he told her to go. What happened to change his mind so quickly? And even more curious, how did he know her name? She had never given it to him, but of course he could read minds, so no doubt that had been an easy task.

"Sir..." She said hestiantly. "Could I at least say goodbye to my mother? I came to visit her grave... It's been a while since I was here last So I was wondering if it would be alright..." And then came the thought that had been floating on the outside of her mind before. He knew her name but... "What's your name Sir?" She asked politely.

He had said to go now, before he changed his mind, but she was confident that she would be okay. Besides... It was evident that she had hurt him some how... And she felt the need to make amends for that, in whatever form they may be.

Hale paused right before he reached the bench. He really wasn't interested in anything. His mind was drawing a blank and he wasn't particularly interested in talking. He waved his hand to the grave. "Sure go say your goodbye, but make it quick." He wanted to be alone with his thoughts, he knew that he was alone. Very old, yet very young. An ancient in mind, yet the body of a child. It frustrated him to no ends.

In the mortal world he didn't mind being a child, it worked out fine, but when it came to the vampire world, vampires didn't understand. Did they think that it was easy living this life, to forever be a child? It wasn't easy and it would never be. "Hale" The voice was short and clipped. No one truly knew his real name, he kept that for people that deserved it and not many people deserved it.

She watched him carefully as he sat on the bench. Just looking at him… She knew what he felt. Well maybe not entirely, but she knew what it was like now… To be stuck forever in a body that wasn’t an adult’s. But at least she wasn’t as young as him. She doubt she would have even met Ambros if she was as young as he had been when turned.

“Hale…” She said with a nod as she sat next to him. He had told her to leave, but she would take her chances and try to amend the pain she had seemed to cause him.

“Well… You already know I’m Seraphina… Go by Sera though. My mum’s buried back there, where you found me. She died when I was eight. I come to visit her here as often as I can… I was only turned a few months ago… But my sire… He left me out of fear. Denial… But he came back for whatever reason.” She said softly.

“I know I don’t know exactly what it feels like… To be in your position. But… I do know how frustrating it is… I’ll only ever be a child to anyone who looks at me. Well… Not quite a child or an adult. There are times, even my own sire thinks of me as nothing but a child.” But she had seen so much in her short life. She had been through so much. “He said there was no other way to save my life. But I don’t believe him. After all, it’s not like I hadn’t taken beatings like that one before.” There might have been a way that he could have saved her other than turning her into a vampire.

“I always wanted to get married, have a family. To have children to love and tender. But that’ll never happen now. And I’ll just look like a kid to every one I meet.” He wasn’t the only one who had to suffer this kind of pain after all. He wasn’t completely alone.