The building had definitely seen better days. Hardly what Nafertiri would call a respectable place, but it did not matter, not this night. Her fur-lined coat seemed out of place, unlike the ensemble of the man who guided her. He was young, twenty-five to be precise, and his clothes were a great deal less expensive than her own. But what did such things matter when he would forget it all soon anyway?

"Come on, don't be afraid," he prompted, leading her into the darkness.

Nafretiri had no idea what possibly could have lead to him thinking her frightened, but simply nodded, prefering to let him think whatever he wished. One shattered window let in a beam of moonlight that illuminated the dark room, reavealing boxes and crates, falling apart from decay. In the darkness, the man pulled her to him and kissed her. He tasted of alcohol and cigarettes.

She pushed him away with a gentle hand, and planted a kiss on his cheek before sinking her fangs into the supple skin of his neck. She'd intended only to have a bit, but the taste of warm blood flowed into her mouth, and she found that she could not stop. A part of her that had been asleep for a very long time awoke and she tore at his throat, welcoming the arrival of more blood. The red fluid slipped down her chin, warm against her dead skin. Not noticing, she continued to feed, sucking with a ravenous hunger that Nafretiri had long thought gone.

When she finally pulled away, Nafretiri was shocked to find him dead. Why this affected her was a mystery, but it had been a long time since she'd just killed. She hardly ever killed her victims, prefering to alter their memories, and never killed when she didn't need to. She hadn't even been that hungry tonight, and yet she had killed him.

Secretly, a part of her was pleased, and that frightened the woman. She knew the feeling well, and knew what it could mean. Closing her eyes, she backed up, her hands fumbling for something to sit down on. Could she be going back to what she was so long ago? No, she couldn't be. That was a long time ago. She swore she'd never go back to that, but her subconsciousness seemed to have other plans. How could she become the furious killer she'd been, and still be Amman. What could she do?

What indeed.

(Tell me if you'd like me to leave.)

Gabriel lay sleeping inside on of the crates away from windows. Another one of his homes. He shifted a bit trying to stay asleep even though he knew it was night but the fresh smell of blood wouldn't let him go back into slumber.

He slowly openned the long crate. He slowly looked around. He expected to see some cult or a bunch of kids who tried to use magic. However he was shocked to find that it wasn't kids. Heck the person it was happened to be much older then himself.

He rubbed his eyes shocked to see her here. He slowly sat the rest of the way up. Wow she was either really hungry or....well he didn't want to think of other options so lets just go with hungry.

He had sorta wished it was a cult or something so he could get a drink in before going back to sleep. He slowly stood up and looked around for his mutt. The perk about living here was his dog could run around while he slept.

Finally he finished waking up and decided to find some rats for a midnight snack. If she wasn't really hungry and something really was up he didn't really want to be the one who pushed her over the edge seeing how he wasn't much of a threat to her but on the other hand she was a threat to him. So he thought it best if he didn't suddenly surprise her. Plus the fact that there was a dead body hidden in the crate next to him. Revenge was always so sweet.

((No, no, s'okay. Considering my novel is coming abysmally slow, I'll pour out my writing efforts here.))

The flesh of the body was rapidly cooling. Nafretiri could see his skin paling and his lips taking on a bluish tint that was simply not normal for humans. Blood leftover from the attack slowly moved closer and closer to her feet, a red river and the reason that the man had been killed so violently. It crept closer to her, and Nafretiri could not move away. Any second now, the red substance would touch her, claim her and convict her.

She moved her feet out of the way.

She shuddered at what she had done, and found it ironic that it affected her so. She'd been killing for thousands of years, and this certainly wasn't the first that she'd ever killed. Why should this measly morsel bother her so much? He was just an unwilling victim that she'd taken advantage of. There was nothing special about the corpse, or about the kill for that matter. She was just being paranoid.

Had the truth not been whispering to her, Nafretiri might just have believed this. Who was she kidding? Bloodlust like that hadn't taken its toll on her in such a way for centuries, and even then it had been when she was on the point of starvation. To attack such a man, even when she did not hunger... the woman didn't want to know what it meant.

To be like this, to be this - this killing machine, it reminded her too much of times past, times when life had been simpler and when she had been simpler. Nevertheless, simpler did not mean easier in this case, for the hurt that she had carried around while she did it, and the hurt that she had suffered after the fact was some that she could never forget. Not the rage, or the pain, or the revulsion she had experience after realizing that she had become exactly what she had feared to become, and had longed not to be.

She heard a sound not to far away, and her dread was piqued immediately. Moving off the crate in a smooth way, she avoided the blood and walked silently through the darkness of the desolate building. "Who is there?" she inquired loudly, and with a hint of threat in her voice. "Show your face. I wish to see who hides in the shadows."

If it was a human, she'd kill it. Shaking her head, Nafretiri tried to focus. No, she wouldn't kill it. Killing a human was what had caused her anguish in the first place. She'd erase their memories. That was the simplest thing to do, and that which would cause her the least amount of worry in the future.

If it was a vampire, she'd either threaten them within an inch of their life, alter their memories, or, if all else failed, kill them. She had no qualms killing her kind if it meant that her recent - activities went unnoticed by most of her kind. What would the other covens think if they found that an Amman member had killed a human without properly scoping out the place of the attack. She didn't even want to think about it.

((Again, very long. If only I could pour out this much in my novel. *kicks 10 page start*))

He shivered a bit. Hmm to come out or not to come out. He slowly moved keeping his mind hidden aswell as his body. He did know her and she had never tried to kill him before but he had just seen that man and that seemed so out of character for her. He side stepped one more time but this time it was followed by a loud whine.

"Oh crap. Brandy why did you have to sleep here of all places? I mean couldn't you have like slept farther back or in that bed I made for you?" He started mumbling about how stupid she acted sometimes before relizing that his cover had just been blown. "Well better to annonce yourself and not have someone kill you by mistake."

He jumped up onto a crate so he would be in sight."Hey there Nafretiri. What brings you to this neck of the woods?" Better to play it dumb for now. Aslong as she didn't know he had seen her little...event. Maybe she wouldn't kill him. He did however keep his mind tightly closed so she couldn't get in.

Man I could have gotten out of here siliently if my dog would sleep where it's supposed too. Then again someone could have takken it if they saw her so he was just happy that the mutt was alive. He would worry about checking to see if he hurt her after he found out what was going on with Nafretiri.

(Sorry I don't type more...I've been having a hard time thinking of what to say for awhile.)

((Don't worry about it. It was plenty long enough. ^^))

Idiotic was not a word to describe Nafretiri. She'd lived too long to be lacking in common sense. She'd also lived long enough to trust her instincts and to be suspicious at all times. That's why she was almost absolutely certain someone had been in the shadows, trying to hide themselves. This led her to believe that she might be scaring a mortal to pieces. Either that or it was a vampire who didn't want to know they'd been caught.

When Gabriel showed up, Nafretiri had been shocked. Not that it showed on her face, no, never that, but inside it felt like her insides were being twisted in ways they were simply not supposed to go. Dread. She knew the feeling well. It had visited her more than once throughout the years.

Had he seen? That was the major question at this point. If he had, what was she going to do about it? While he wasn't exactly a friend, he was one of the few vampires that she knew in the city. It wasn't that she needed acquaintances, she'd lived alone many years. Still, he had seemed mildly afraid of her the other times they'd run into each other, bar the last incident in the subway.

"Gabriel," she said, her voice cold and threatening. Her dark eyes narrowed at him, and she used all the power of intimidation she could muster. "Gabriel what did you see?"

Straight to the point. This was too important to waste time on silly details. Nafretiri wanted to know if he'd seen her, and she wanted to know now. If this got out... Nafretiri closed her eyes at the thought. This was horrible, at least for her. Had she asked anyone in the Tarepha coven, they probably would have thought that this was mild.

But it wasn't just the fact that she'd killed him. She could have lived with that. It was the fact that she'd done it when she wasn't even very hungry. The bloodlust had stirred, and she wasn't even hungry. As much as the ancient female vampire disliked to admit it, and wouldn't out loud, that frightened her.

It frightened her a great deal.

"What do you mean what did I see? I was sleeping until a few seconds ago. My dog woke me up. She must have seen a rat or something. Was there anything I should see?" He would be smart. He unlocked his mind but completly hid the fact that he had seen her. That way it wouldn't seem strange.

"So what are you doing around here anyway? I mean it's not often that I get company in my hole in the wall home." He slowly leaned down picking up his dog. If he had to run he would run. He had delt with the Amman before and that was when he was human. So he knew better then to make one angry...even more so when he had just nearly gotten his race discovered not long ago.

She scared him to death at this point. He was petrified of what she could do to him. "Um is something wrong? Did I do something wrong I mean I havn't killed anyone in angry in awhile. So what else could I have done?"

He shivered a bit. Not from cold of course but from fear. If she had done that to a human for no real reason who knows what she would do to him. She could kill him without really trying and that scared him. He sighed a bit holding the dog a bit closer to him.Nothing could describe how scared he was at this point. It was as if he was alive again. Like the day he had learned of his makers true intentions. As if he was about to be killed in the worst possible way and it showed on his face. He was horrible at hiding fear. He just stood there feeling like someone was about to tear our his heart. He took a few steps back nearly falling over a crate.

His eyes shot around the room as he looked for a place to run to. The worst part was he hadn't fed recently so he wouldn't be at his prime. He just stood ready to dash out of the building. If he could make it into a crowded area he would be safer. She was an Amman after all so if thirty people saw her killing him she would have alot of work to do.

Gabriel's actions did not go unnoticed by Nafretiri. It was quite obvious that he was nervous; frightened even. A small part of her gloated at the last aspect, but she ignored it. She knew how to read people as well, and like she said, she trusted her intincts. Her intincts were telling her that Gabriel was acting a bit too paranoid to have seen nothing.

Of course, that could be because of their last encounter. The terms they had left on weren't exactly pleasant, even though Nafretiri had promised to have his violin repaired. That might explain his nervous actions, and why he seemed to be so frightened of her. That would have been easy to believe, had a feeling not told her that that was not true.

Nafretiri took a slow step forward, her boot making a loud clicking on the ground followed by another. Her dark eyes seemed to become darker, an almost black colour, as she sent a fierce glare at him. Stopping, she looked him straight in the eye and crossed her arms, her expression cold and menacing.

"Gabriel, I hope you are not lying to me. I do not like liars," she said quietly, her voice low and serious. "If you are lying, and you did something, you will tell me now. If not, I will give you a reason to fear me." She walked to one side, in a seemingly casual manner. "Have you ever heard of Sekhmet Gabriel?" She didn't wait for him to answer. "She was a goddess, the darker half of Hathor, the goddess I was a priestess of. She killed until the streets were dyed red." She looked at him. "She was a killing machine."

"Nafretiri...why did you do that? He did nothing to you. It was uncalled for. It's not you. What is happening to you?" He side stepped backing up slowly. The fear was gone. She was trying to scare him. He would not allow that. If only he could make it to the body of the man who angered him last. Without blood he would lose a fight but he wouldn't let this go easily.

He had jammed his old sword into the man's body. He jutted out of the crate in which the man lay. If he got to it he may stand a chance even with her age. He didn't know if she had learned to fight though he did know she hadn't learned as a human for she was a preistess. He on the other hand had.

No matter how slim the chance was he would risk it. "Why did you do it? And why are you trying to scare me off? Or are you planning on killing me?" His eyes flashed with pure anger now. She was....she was planning on killing him wasn't she! That would not be allowed. He may have nothing to live for but he wasn't going to die at her hands! Not at the hands of someone who was in that coven! He had lived with them hunting him as a human even if it was with the help of Alexis. Now he could fight for himself.

"If you had a reason to kill him then tell me! You know what I honestly care less at this point. Get that body out of my home. I have enough nightmares to live with without having to deal with the sight of that man when I wake up. Plus I don't want my dog chewing on it's body. She could get sick from it and I can't allow that now can I?"

"Why? I have no idea why," said Nafretiri lowly, a flash of regret in her eyes. A deep frown suddenly marred her face, making her look almost like a completely different person. "I will not tolerate being spoken to like that. What business of yours is it what I do with my prey? It's like asking a human how he likes his steak when you don't know him."

His fear was gone, she could sense it. He was angry, she could sense that too. Remembering that he didn't like the Amman, she guessed that he didn't like being threatened by her. He made a miniscule movement sideways. Following the direction of the movement, she honed in her skills and caught the scent of a human.

If he wished to attack her, so be it. She had powers he didn't even know about, and was prepared to use them should he make the first move. She hadn't lived three thousand years without acquiring some skill. It was not her intention to fight, but if she needed to defend herself, she would.

"Vampires kill, Gabriel. Can you look me in the eye and tell me that you've never killed an innocent human being? A human kills livestock to survive. We do the same. There is no need to discuss it further."

"For no reason? Well no I don't kill for no reason. However my reasons are my own reasons. Now I asked simply because you made a big deal about me watching you...feed. It's not like I went out of my way to watch. I thought It may have been a cult or something and I was thirsty. Now if I brought my prey into your home and killed them there you would...well you may kill me but I don't plan on trying to kill you seeing how that's suicide but I would like you to please get rid of the body which is laying on my floor... as for your little killing thing. I honestly don't care. We both no that when it comes to killing my slab isn't clean."

He kept edging to the crate. If she tried to kill him he knew that no matter what he would be dead in a matter of seconds but it would be unlike him to not try and do anything to stop her. "We both know I am of no threat to you. You can do more then I can and I know that very well. I simply ask out of respect for you to clean your plate when you are done."

He wasn't afraid of her but he knew better then to show disrespect to an elder. He tried to word it respectfully even though currently she had lost all respect he had for her and for an Amman to have any respect in his eyes was a big deal. This was just another reason for him to hate them. It would go along nicly with the rest of the reasons he had. He reached the crate but didn't reach for the hilt of the blade. He could grab it if needed but hell was at his door and inviting it in wouldn't be a wise thing for him to do.

"I had no idea this was anyone's - home," said Nafretiri. "From my perspective, it seemed to be abandoned. I did not mean to intrude. Perhaps you should choose a home that isn't too - used. Maybe a crypt of some sort?"

What a horrible place for her to lose control. She couldn't even find a decent reason to be mad at him, apart from the fact that he made her look like an imbecile. What with what had happened, it seemed that her head wasn't functioning properly and she was going from one accusation to another. It was probably thas she was still in shock after what had happened. That had to be it.

"Gabriel, I'd advise you not to tell anyone about this... please." She added the last word in after a minor pause, and it sounded somewhat desperate. "You don't understand, and if you did, you'd be very, very frightened. If I hear that you've told someone, you will most probably regret it."

She turned to the body, and, making a motioning movement with her hand, summoned it forward through leviation. Pulling a matchbox from her pocket, she lit one and let it drop onto the man's body.

"Oh yeah I'm just going to go right up to a member of the Amman and tell them all about you? Does that sound anything like me? Just do me a favor. I will most likly forget all about this soon. I mean I have no right to judge you over killing someone as I kill people myself."

He looked around his..home. "Yeah well I tried a crypt not long ago but my dog had a hard time with it so I came here. I get rats to live off of and she gets to run around here during the day. Maybe I should get some locks though. Or make it clear that a vampire lives here..I mean make it clear to other vampires because I prefer not to watch immortals feed it's sorta scary if you ask me."

He looked at his small dog which he held. "She is more trouble then she is worth really...but I have her so I better deal with it. Well I would say it was nice seeing you..but I would be lying." He set his dog down. It didn't move an inch. It also seemed afraid of Nafretiri then again it had good reasons.

"So I don't plan on telling anyone about this little meeting. You're secret is safe with me but please try and find out what is going on cause this doesn't seem very normal even for a vampire and I don't really want to find out that your like...I don't know like killing more often. I don't need to know your reasons until I can solve my own problems."