The blue eyes of the young woman narrowed as she watched her target from her perch on the top of a nearby building. The man, if you could call him that, was stalking his next victim, a young woman unfortunately enough to have caught his attention. Arya leapt from where she had been observing, landing gracefully on her feet and tucking herself into a roll to distribute the impact before effortlessly springing to her feet and taking off towards the man and woman.<br/><br/>The man had been too distracted by his prey to notice her until it was too late. Just as he was about to sink his teeth into his victim, two darts sunk into his neck. Poison flooded into his system, which would weaken him enough to give Arya an advantage. The momentary distraction also allowed the other woman to escape his grasp and take off in the other direction. The vampire momentarily looked between the two women before deciding to go after Arya instead of his intended victim.<br/><br/>The man came at her at a slower speed than one would generally expect from a vampire—due in large part to the poison running through his system. He rushed her and swung, a right hook with just about every ounce of strength he had behind it. She ducked to the left just in time to avoid the blow, causing him to stumble, pulled forward by the force that was meant to strike her.<br/><br/>Before he had time to recover from the mistake, it was already too late. His wide swing left his core unguarded, and that coupled with his forward momentum gave her the chance she needed to drive a stake through his heart. She pushed his body backwards before the force brought it down on her, watching as his lifeless body fell unceremoniously to the ground. She didn’t take pleasure in taking the lives of anyone, even one as vile as the vampire before her, but she didn’t feel bad about it, either. It wasn’t like she went after all vampires, only those with no regard for human life, who killed humans without remorse, and often without any real reason.<br/><br/>Her own family had been killed by vampires when she was young, and they had hunted her for years, but she was not easy prey and now the hunted had become the hunter. She supposed that she owed her survivability in part to the fact that she was faster, stronger, and more durable than most humans. Not to mention that her wounds healed significantly more quickly and she was far more intelligent than your average person. She had no explanation for why she had many of these abilities, so she generally tried not to think about it.<br/><br/>It wasn’t that she wasn’t curious, she was, but in the end it was neither here nor there. She was the way she was, the reason hardly mattered. She hoped to find answers one day, but she had far more pressing questions she wanted answers to, such as why her entire family had been slaughtered, why she remembered nothing of her life before that day, and why she was hunted even now. She had a lingering suspicion that the answers would be all intertwined, but she had no proof to back that up.<br/><br/>For now, she would continue using her abilities to protect herself and other innocent people while she continued searching for answers. Whatever the reason behind her abilities, they couldn’t be all bad if they allowed her to deal with scumbags like this guy.<span style="font-style: italic">Speaking of which… I should probably get rid of him before someone is unfortunate enough to stumble upon us.</span>She thought to herself before deciding to get rid of him the same way she got rid of most of them: get him out of here and burn the corpse.<br/><br/>Before she had a chance to do anything, however, a bright light appeared in front of her. She had to look away to avoid being blinded by it. When she opened her eyes she was in an unfamiliar setting, and the body was gone. She looked around cautiously, a suspicious look coloring her delicate features. Her wavy blonde locks were tossed about as she looked from side to side and tossed a glance behind her. She found no one, so she cautiously moved forward towards an open door. Rather than saying something typical like ‘hello’ or ‘is anyone there’ she decided to stay quiet, just in case whoever had brought her here had malicious intents.<br/><br/>She peered around the corner into the room, but before she had a chance to see anything the voice of an older man broke through the silence. “Do come in, Arya.” The voice called to her. She frowned slightly before slowly pushing the door open and walking into the room to find an older man sitting behind a desk, hands folded on the desk in front of him. “Who are you?” she questioned, though she dared not ask the next obvious question: how do you know my name?<br/><br/>“All in due time.” The man explained. “You seek answers. I cannot give you what you seek. Not all of it, anyways. I can remind you who you are. The rest is up to you.” The man replied cryptically. Arya eyed him skeptically, noting the airiness of his presence. “It will all make sense in time. For now, do you wish to be reminded of who you are?” the man questioned. “It was your parent’s wish that such things be revealed to you when you were ready, so I would grant their wish, if you will allow it.” He looked at her with a stern, yet somehow kind gaze.<br/><br/>Arya hesitated, unsure of what was going to happen. It almost seemed too good to be true, but she had been waiting for this moment for years. After a moment of consideration, she gave him an affirmative nod, hiding the hesitation she still felt. “Very well.” The man rose and crossed the room to where she stood. “It shall be done.” And with that he touched her forehead and the world went black.<br/><br/>She didn’t know how long she was out, but the next thing she knew she was waking up in a soft bed, feeling like she was in a fog. Her eyes slowly fluttered open and the world began to come into focus. She blinked several times before the scene before her became clear. Once again she had no clue where she was. She slowly looked around until her eyes fell on the man sitting in a chair nearby. She fought her instinct to react defensively. If he wanted to kill her, he’d had his chance. Still, she was more than a bit surprised to find yet another mysterious person in another mysterious place. What a weird day.<br/><br/>She managed to keep most of the shock from showing in her features, that is, until she sat up and felt something weird on her back. “…The hell?” she peered over her shoulders and her eyes went wide. Was this what the older man had been talking about? Of course, he wasn’t around to give her any answers. Figures. Her eyes flitted from the mysterious wings to the man nearby. “Where am I?” she questioned, doing her best to remain calm and keep her usual air of nonchalance, despite how incredibly difficult that was right now. “And who are you?” she continued, deciding not to ask the other million questions that flooded her mind at this particular moment.<br/><br/>She rubbed her temples and sighed, fighting back the headache she could feel coming on. She realized her manners were currently lacking, but all things considered, she figured that she hadn’t freaked out or tried to kill him, so she was doing pretty darn good. She could tell that he was a vampire, and she could guess where she might be, but it was merely a guess. As for who he was, she really couldn’t even guess at that. She’d never seen him before, she was at least certain of that. For now, all she could do was wait and hope she got some answers pretty quickly so she could figure out what on earth was going on.