Dorian lifted a small scrap of parchment from the rubble. Its edges frayed and charred. Printed along the top in bold cursive was an ad for the London Opera. With a snort of disgust, the immortal allowed the the remnant of the past to fly from his grasp. The wind carried it into the broken facades of the city. 'Bloody<em>waste.</em>' His contempt for the mortals was almost as great as his growing hatred for the animals who owned him.<br/><br/>As he wandered the ruins that was once the center of the known world, he allowed himself to remember.<em>'There. That was once the library.</em>' A flicker of a grin played across his features.<em>'So many nights I spent in that park. Watching the librarian as she locked up the building.'</em>A small overgrown patch of weeds was all that was left of the once grand garden park. He savored the memory of how she had fallen into his web.<em>'She was so pure then. Not so after a few nights in my company.</em>' He chuckled.<br/><br/>Lost in his thought he did not see the rusty bit of iron re-bar sticking out of a slab of concrete. A traitorous stone shifted below him as he picked his way through the rubble. With a gasp he felt the cold metal pierce his flesh as he tumbled forward. "Damn!" Cursing he looked down at his knee. The bloody iron thrusting out from his leg like some strange third leg.He gasped as he pulled his limb away off of the metal. "Ruined a perfectly good set of slacks. Getting careless Dorian." As he spoke the bleeding slowed and then stopped.<br/><br/>Off in the distance a low rumble of an engine echoed through the canyons of the city.