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Gaijin turned and let out his breath. It was getting a bit too much down here. Going to the stairs, the Hunter begins to climb the stairs. Maybe someone NOT crazy'll be up to that I know. I wish one of those contracts would start. Xand mentioned someone, but no luck getting a contact so far.

The night sky of New York City is overcast with graying clouds hovering above to shield the eye from the moon's radiance. The temperature is a chilled but bearable near 47 degrees, a cold that is felt even down below the city streets in the subway system of this great city.

Of course at this late hour not many roam the streets of New York, for lack of comfort or growth of fear for personal safety. It was known amidst the citizens of this town that there were dark tidings, and few would go out for any given reason, save this one who stands on the tiled floor of the subway, watching the dark tunnel with a minor interest in waiting.

Her hair was a cascading silver that reached down to her waist and her eyes an amber gold, as she folded her black cloak about her body in an effort to spare her body the brief discomfort of a chilled air. She was all too used to the burning heats of the desert sands, a feeling she sorely wished to again revel in, but for now her journeys have brought her to this city where there were no sands, but streets of pavement and cold weather.

"Well now, what do we have here?"

The deep voice brought her from her straying thoughts enough to turn and look at the beeming face of two young men, obviously members of some form of gang, who have taken one look at her and developed interests of a more carnal nature. Clad in black leather jackets and dirty jeans, the young men strutted up to her and both took a side, in their own efforts to block her from making a move of escape ... not that she saw a need to.

Mortals. So utterly predictable.

The one, darker of skin color, stepped up to her right and rubbed "himself" coyly up against her, expecting a response of revulsion, but got none. Playing it cool, he smiled.

"Hey Devon, I think the lady here might like us a little more than she's letting on, neh?" He says, caressing her cheek with his hand.

"Or perhaps," She whispers, "You have grossly misunderstood your own masculinity."

And she grasps his wrist in her own vice-like grip, and with a hard twist, bones snap, and the young man screams, echoing off the concrete walls!

He collapses to his knees and rolls over to his side in pain, clutching his shattered wrist! His comrade, Devon, looks down at him and then at her and snarls an ominous warning.

"You b***h!"

With a flick of his wrist, he whips a switchblade from his belt and slashes the weapon across her face, tearing her flesh open and letting loose a flow of crimson. he stands there, anger etched on his face and breathing heavily, when he realizes she has yet to move, or react.

The woman stands there, staring at him, as the wound he just inflicted begins to seal itself up until no trace of it is left. He takes a step back, mumbling in a barely audible voice...

"Holy..."

The woman smiles and coyly replies,"Not...quite."

She wasn't in front of him any longer. With wide eyes he looks arounmd his surroundings, not seeing she was now standing behind him and she rears her arm back and with a savage blow, plunges her arm into his back - and thru his chest! He has no time to yell, he is dead instantly.

She pulls her arm from his body and lets it fall loosely to the ground and her head turns to find his fallen friend staring at her in horror. She takes a step towards him and he scoots back instantly, still clutching his wrist.

"S...stay away from me!?

She stops, but just long enough to c**k her head to the side and open her mouth to allow a brief hint of the fangs within, saying,"Ah, just as you intended to do with me, thinking I am nothing more than some woman subservient to your own pleasures?"

Her hand was around his throat and she lifts him up into the air, off of his feet, choking him. He struggles, clawing at her wrist with his good hand but to no avail. Thru chokes and sputters, he gasps,"Please...!"

"Shhh..." She whispers into his ear. "This will go more peacefully if you would not struggle."

And she sinks her teeth into his throat, instantly unleashing the blood within his carotid artery and drinking her fill, his body slwoly ceasing to struggle until he goes limp in her grasp.

Pulling her head back, she frowns while licking her lips.

"I've had better in all my years."

And with a flick of her arm, his body is thrown to the tracks below as a light is seen coming from within the tunnel and a horn blares. She turns her back and begins to walk away.

"How times have not changed these wretches."

Having the intention of leaving, the voice peaks her curiousity and she can not help but bring herself to turn around and gaze upon the man who had just addressed her.

He was short, but she suspected impressive beneath the hulking jacket that he wore about his body. Dark hair and a face that bore confidence, she stared at him, knowing he was a mortal by his eyes, but a rare breed of one. He was brave.

She folds her arms in front of her trim waistline, allowing the cloaked robe around her body to drape loose as she in turn addressed him, her head turned slightly to the right but her eyes not leaving his.

"I did not rule the known world in my time by being...nice."

She takes one step closer to him and her arms fall to the side.

"The conceit of humans, the arrogance they carry on their shoulders, that is what brings about their own deaths before it is time. Those two saw their right to have their way with me simply because of their ego as mortal. Well..."

She lowers her head slightly, her eyes gazing upward at him from the distance between them.

"Now they no longer have that concern on their shoulders."

She watches him, her eyes taking quick note of the weapon in his possession, one of them at least. An impressive looking dagger, one that has seen it's fair share of blood spilled she would guess. She then looks back up into his eyes, her ember shaded eyes now gimmering with a crimson tone of color as a result of the fresh kill.

"I might just as easily ask you to tell me what gave them the right to attack me as they did, simply because I am a female? I might ask of you, what gave the one the right to use his own weapon against me, not that it served any purpose save for his own death."

She turns her back to him and takes a few steps away from him, continuing to talk in her thick, Slavic accent.

"But then again, that is the way of you mortals, is it not? To condemn others for the ways of your own kind. It is that conceit that led to your own downfall over two thousand years ago."

She turns back to face him, her red eyes burning with the heat of the blood she took.

"Conceit breeds hypocrisy child. What gives you any more right to do the same things such as I?"

For the first time that she can remember, a smile, a brief one but one never the less, curves the corners of her lips and a gust of wind blows this man's trench coat open, revealing the extent of his weapons.

Her smile fades as she stares at him.

"No, I did not have to kill them, but such are the ways of things when you deal with common cattle who expects nothing but violence as a way to solve things. It is after all, the way you seek to attone for one's crimes, true?"

She again wraps her cloak about her body and sighs.

"Perhaps one day you humans will cease to sicken me, but for over two thousand years that expectation has done nothing but sorely disappoint me. Your arrogance leads you to believe you are the lords and masters of this land. I did not ask you to tremble under my gaze. I did not ask for you to confront me, and as for your...threat? Do you think I have walked this earth since before Christ himself was brought from Heaven without having my share of dealings with - hunters? You walk about this land, decrying my kind, all the while speaking out against our way of survival by doing the exact same thing you cry foul of."

Her hair blows in the wind, hiding her feral but lovely features.

"I don't look for trouble my dear, it has it's way of finding me. I look for survival, and to set things right that were wronged so very long ago. remember, you were the one who confronted me."

"Spoken like a true mortal."

She says, bringing his attention back to her. Her eyes briefly watch as the subway blows past them, never once stopping, not even making an attempt at slowing for the dead body lying in the tracks. Once the horrid noise of the subway fades in the distance, she again meets his gaze into her own.

"A hunter with a heart. In all my years walking this land, I thought I've seen everything...until now."

She vanishes from his line of vision and when he sees her, she is now on the stairs above him by a few feet, looking down at him, her hand resting on the railing and her face hard.

"You might see yourself as ... nice, but your kind abandoned me eons ago for a liar and pretender. One whom you still worship as a savior to *scoffs* evil."

She sneers.

"Evil is in the eye of the beholder child, and forgiveness is not one of my better virtues. After so many years, one tends to grow...bitter for, betrayal."

She shows no signs of emotion, no anger, no distaste, and certainly no fear as she steps down the small flight of stairs. He challenged her...her! She reigned with an iron grip over the lands of Egypt and much of Africa, worshipped as a goddess, and rightly so. To be spoken to in such a manner...

"I will not be dictated to by a mortal."

An overhead light explodes above him, bathing them both in darkness for what could come, but then a sounding horn and a light from the tunnel tells of another subway coming thru, one that is slowing down. Their eyes remain locked as the train slows to a halt and a bevy of late night passengers gets off and goes about their way, crowding around them as they take seats on benches and some head up into the night.

She watches some of them make their ways amidst them, and both seemingly disappear into the crowd.

Sebastian rears up his head and says, hey, finally people! wha! that girl! he gets up and runs to her but she is gone... but not quite. Damn! he says with dissapointment within his own self