"What are you, 12?"<br/><br/>"Tch, what are<i>you</i>? Oh, wait, that's right, you're<i>dead</i>," he spat out, driving the knife in deep, to the utter shock and surprise of the undead creature.<br/><br/>Zacharyah wiped his fist over the corner of his mouth. His hand came back red. He tasted the metallic tang of blood and licked it away. The vermin had gotten a couple good hits in but Ryah had gotten in more. He was better. Faster, stronger. He had to be, or he'd be the one with a silver knife lodged in his heart right now. Still, he knew he wasn't quite good enough yet. He could feel the throbbing in his right arm where it had taken the brunt of a hard slam into the brick wall of the dark alley, along with the bloody gash from the vampire's nails, cutting into his flesh. He'd gotten distracted for a split second. And really,  that was all it took. It was sloppy, it was silly, just hearing the name of his sister had been enough to throw him off his game. That kind of shit would get him killed one day.<br/><br/>The brunet pulled the knife out after twisting it for good measure. He wiped it on the vampire's shirt and sheathed it before retrieving the one he had thrown and missed. He took a moment to straighten his clothes, zipping up his black leather jacket to hide as much visible blood as possible. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to do.<br/><br/>Leaving the alley, his collar turned up, Ryah strolled out, as casual as one could be, under the circumstances. A woman gave him a wary look; he had a feeling his face was bruising up already.<br/><br/>"Vermin. Giant, giant rats," he said dryly. "Might want to keep out of that alley." The body would quickly decompose over the course of the next day, he knew from experience. Thankfully, it was New York. Bodies were found all the time; a mugging gone wrong, an addict overdosing, a jilted lover killed in an act of passion.<br/><br/>He liked to call vamps vermin, and to tell people he was an exterminator when they asked him what he did for a living. Heh, exterminating vampires, vermin. It amused him. Ryah made his way back to his hotel, easily blending into the crowd. He liked that about New York, the anonymity of it all, the city that never slept. You could be anyone, do anything, get anything, if you had the money of course.<br/><br/>It was also, unfortunately, home to one of the largest vampire covens in North America. He was sure, word would soon be getting out, about a hunter hell bent on revenge.