"A vampire that feeds off vampires?" Sage asked in surprise. "I've never heard of that before. Sure, some have tried but firstly, it tastes bad, and secondly, it doesn't benefit our bodies."

"This is what I thought too. However the woman, Calla, has only been a vampire for just over six years and we believe she has become a Blood-letter." Eleus responded.

"Eleus." Metrix said as he appeared to ponder. "Tell us how long it takes for one to reach that stage. It's been too long."

"To become a Childe, even at a fast pace, takes a minimum of ten years. And the quickest known vampire to reach Blood-letter, that I've found in records, took thirty four years."

"My.." Sage said in awe. "How long do you think until she becomes an Elder?"

"Honestly? Under a decade if she isn't captured or killed."

"If it's anything similar to the Soul Swallower ability then progression will be faster the stronger the target. I think if she consumes newborns alone then she'll be stuck at Blood-letter for a very long time. Whereas if she consumes other Blood-letters, she may be able to become an Elder within months." Metrix said.

"It is possible." Eleus responded. "She also seems to have some mental issues which the Swarmer clan thought might stem from the ability. From what I gathered, she lives in complete solitude, only interacting when necessary."

"That'll slow her down then." Sage said gently as Eleus looked at her inquisitively. "If she works alone then it'll be very difficult for her to capture and drain other Blood-letters, most of whom surround themselves with Childe and newborns."

"Eleus, this child..." Metrix said as he thought it over. "I want her alive. Draw in the moderator clans from other cities if need be. Whether they be Elder, Reagent or Ancient, I want them to bring the girl to us. Go." he stated with no room to question.

"My King, my Queen." Eleus said seriously when he heard Metrix's change of tone, as he bowed and left the manor.

"You've given him an ugly job Met. The higher ranks aren't going to like him treading on their toes." Sage spoke with a small chuckle.

"Yes, well, they'll have to get over it. This is a vampire that willingly allied itself with werewolves and is gaining strength by killing our own kind. We'll be able to manage her whilst she is still a Blood-letter or even an Elder. But if she becomes a Reagent, able to walk and move around unhindered in the daylight, it will be much harder to pin her down."

"That she could engage so many Childe in Sostine without anyone else knowing shows she already knows how to hide herself. Maybe she can already move through the light?" Sage suggested with a grim expression.

"I certainly hope not. Not like it matters anyway, as she grows in power she'll need to consume stronger vampires. Her strength will plateau and only grow with time once she hits that wall. And she isn't a worry for our society in general, as a loner she could never hope to overthrow the balance that's been here since time immemorial." Sage smiled at Metrix knowing what he said was true. She did wonder, however, how many lives would be lost before the child was captured.

Elsewhere, Calla was dealing with her own issues.

'We decided we didn't need to hunt them yet. We'll get them later, we can't go back now.' In her hole with her duffle back beside her, Calla was hiding from the sun. 'We want to go back, but we can't.' she thought sadly. The euphoria of achieving Blood-letter and the danger she was in led to her quick decision to abandon Sostine. But now that the positive feelings had gone away and she had time to think, as the sun was out, she was beginning to regret the decision. 'Maybe we could of got the child-lover. We could have chased.' Shaking her head, she tried to clear her mind. 'Don't dwell, we'll get them later. For now, we must go forward.'

When night rolled around Calla hopped out of her self-made hole, covered in dirt, and cringed as she looked at herself.

"We're dirty." she said aloud with a pout. She only had one trench coat with her and she didn't know where she was at the moment, other than it was a forest. "We forgot a map, we forgot our phone." She pulled her duffle out the hole and set it down beside her as she crouched and hugged her knees. Calla buried her face in her thighs as she rocked herself back and forth.Things seemed to be going wrong lately. Her snapping at Zaros for no reason, her failing two hunts and now forgetting important equipment she needed.

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"We're stupid." she grumbled lowly as she stood and patted off her knees. She was suffering a bit of sensory overload since becoming a Blood-letter and she found it a bit disorientating. This was because her mind was being forced to adapt to her Blood-letter abilities far quicker than was normal, but she was unaware. All it felt like to her was that her brain was moving a bit slower than usual.

"The feeling is stronger." she said as she placed a hand on her heart and looked up dazed. Since being a lowly newborn she'd always had the feeling of being connected to something or someone on a much more base level. It was the feeling that drove her to cover up and spur others' advances. The feeling that stopped her from sating her own lust and drove her to feel sick at the images that sometimes fleetingly crossed her mind. She picked up her duffle and began to walk nowhere in particular. She didn't know where she was. The question of direction swirled round her mind and she tried to stop thinking, let her instincts take over. A pulse hit her and it rippled across her conscience hinting where she should go.

"It's pulling us." she said with wonder as she looked down at her chest where the feeling had been. Never one to second guess her instincts she broke into a sprint, following the elusive feeling that had become much clearer. The forest became denser and the tree wood darker as she tried to keep a hold of it. But to her dismay, after two or three hours chasing it, it faded into obscurity and she was left more lost than she had been before.

'What should we do? Keep going straight?' she narrowed her eyes at the trees before her. Suddenly she caught the scent of wolves. 'Two...no, three. Shit.' she thought with a frown. They had triangulated around her and she stood still, her eyes flicking and all her concentration going into her hearing. A snap of a twig was all it took for her to dash left and throw out a punch, only to be met by the firm hide of a tiger.....her eyes opened wide with shock.

"A tiger?" she muttered as she recoiled away from it as fast as she could. She looked back at the beast and could tell that neither of the others had moved. The tiger before her seemed to have a smug smile, which was impossible because it was a tiger. "Tigers aren't that strong....a weretiger?" she asked the creature with genuine curiosity.The big cat merely snickered at her before jumping and swiping at her with its claws.

'Fast. It's faster than us.' she thought as she managed to back away but still taking a small scratch down her forearm. When the tiger landed it just watched her back away and tilted its head in amusement which caused Calla to let out an involuntary growl. She quickly drew her handgun and shot at the tiger, only for it to dash away and the bullets to find themselves in soil and wood. It landed next to Calla and threw its upper body down making Calla duck under and slip round the back of it. She shot a couple more times, both of which made contact. Calla smiled as they did but the tiger simply looked where it had been shot and tightened its mouth. It wasn't bleeding and Calla was at a loss what to do as her previously smiling face dropped.

"We don't want to fight." Calla said as she changed tact and put her gun away, raising her palms. The tiger looked....disappointed and Calla couldn't prevent her eye twitching at its pitying expression. Swallowing any lingering anger she tried to put forward her case. "We were just running and ended up coming this way."

"You are lucky," the tiger growled lowly. "That we are tigers and not wolves. And that we know you coming here was an honest mistake."

"Yes, yes." Calla nodded in agreement. "We are very sorry for trespassing and will be on our way?" she requested as she began to slip by the tiger. It said nothing as she went back the way she had come from, its glassy black eyes following her every movement.

'Stupid stripey cat, we'll get you later.' she licked her lips and her tongue grazed her sharpened fangs as she moved into a sprint. She didn't go back directly the way she came, that would be a waste, she changed the angle just a little and after a few hours came out of the forest without seeing the tigers again. 'Oooh.' she smiled and her eyes squinted in mirth. It was pure chance and Calla considered it a happy coincidence. The place she saw before her was her home town, the place where she became a vampire.

'We forgot about him.' Calla's thoughts turned to her father. 'What would he say if he saw us now?" Checking her watch, she saw it was four in the morning and frowned. 'If we want to have fun with him we need more time...we'll get him tonight.' Because she was still in her dirty clothes Calla retreated a few tens of meters into the forest and quickly dug herself a ditch. She lay in it with her duffle, using her trench coat to cover herself, and reburied herself with dirt. The trees in this forest were much too thin for her to hide behind and she didn't fancy using the spray she had when she didn't need to. 'We can also get that Sandra bitch too.' her mind added darkly.

Although she had become a vampire in body and mind, she still lived as a human for twenty three years. And deep down she resented the lack of love her parents had given her. It didn't often rise up but the spite and anger was definitely present. With no need for sleep she often found time to reflect on the past but these feelings could be deadly. They were too human, harmful to her vampiric self. Yet she couldn't always stop them. 'Were we so unlovable that our mother and father had to ignore us?' she thought with a frown. 'Even vampires consider us scum. But that's not our fault. They are vampires, why do they act so human?' her thoughts swirled. As she waited for day to pass so that she could tie up her final connection to the human world, one thought kept returning to her mind. 'If we are such a monster, who will love us?'