In an alley, at the edge of the town, she jumped from one shadow to the next. She might as well have been a shadow herself and no human eye could have detected her fast movements. The moon was high on the sky, but clouds chased it away without a sign of fatigue. The smell of humans was strong no matter where she went and it made her bite her lip in concentration. She was not used to towns and large crowds - she tried to memorize the last time she had been around so many people, but it must have been hundreds of years ago.

However, the scent of fresh blood overpowered all her other senses and the whiff kept getting stronger as she approached the site. She stopped near an old storeroom and rats fled from pile of trash near her feet. She could see their small eyes and long tails and hear the squeaking they made as they ran for their life. She did not despise rats, but only their manners in large towns. They lived like they owned the place, which was not far from the truth - at least, not during the night.

The building across the narrow street was a large stone house that had seen better days. The roof needed patching and she could smell the mold with her inhuman sense of scent. There were no lights in the windows and the place looked deserted, but she knew there was someone inside. She glanced at both sides of the street and when she saw no movement, she crossed the road in long strides and walked to the front door. It had been shut with several boards before, but someone had neatly pulled them out. The signs were fresh, merely a couple of days old.

She let herself in and the onslaught of scents made her wince. There were scattered furniture in the first floor but no signs of life expect for footprints in a thick layer of dust. One pair was small and light, and the other- she could have recognized it anywhere.

She followed the trail upstairs, not bothering to be careful in the rotting staircase. If the wood gave away, she would know moments before and jump to safety. Not that the fall would harm her. She could hardly remember what it felt like when she had still been a vulnerable human being and every turn had been deadly if she had not watched her steps. She felt pity for them.

The smell of blood was coming from a room with an open door while the other doors were closed and seemed as if they had not been opened in years. She walked to the door and blinked when the moonlight shined on her face from a high window with no curtains. She greeted the face of the moon with a nod, before she turned and saw the body in a corner of the room, lying on an old chair.

Another woman, she mused and approached it until her long shadow covered the body from small feet to the top of the head. The woman had died much more peacefully than the ones she had encountered before. Besides, it was a first time she found a single body from a whole town. When she had started the long journey, several months ago, she had found complete families dead in their homes. She could still see the deadly pale faces of children and parents with their throats torn open. They had been untouched otherwise. Killed for the sake of thrill.

But the woman under her had been fed on. She had died in the midst of a beautiful dream like they did when a vampire seduced them properly and skillfully.

Tzuyu was a little jealous of the woman, but left her as she was and disappeared in to the night.

-

As Tzuyu traveled farther South, she could see a type emerging. All the bodies were those of women of power, in the middle parts of their lives and usually killed in their own homes where paintings were abundant and carpets finer than she had seen in a long time. The women even smelled of wealth with their expensive perfumes from other parts of the world.

Yet nothing was more beautiful than the blissful look on their faces. The death had taken them like a lost lover and they smiled, knowing that the heartache was finally over.

Tzuyu admired the great taste, but it made her own heart ache that much more. All the soft limbs and red mouths, the beautiful fading bodies arranged like pieces of art made her want to make haste. The women were like messages, like a long love letter, but she did not want the words or the passages - she wanted the writer.

So, she continued her journey, careful of not moving too fast or too slow. They were already closer than they had been in a long time and it soothed her heart somewhat.

She, if someone, knew that nothing ever lasted forever.

-

Sometime after midnight, she slipped into a party close to the center of the town. The people there were already intoxicated on alcohol and lust, so it was not hard to slip past their idle bodies as they huddled together in small groups of two or three. She took to the stairs and walked to the second floor where the private rooms were located, not bothering to hide herself in any way. She knew that she looked like one of the women working in the brothel with her long dark dress, but nobody bothered her as her aura was too daunting.

She found that the room was the last one on the corridor and the silence behind it was in great contrast with all the noises coming from the other rooms. It was the sound of death amongst all the life and Tzuyu found it far more beautiful.

At the door, she hesitated for the first time. She wanted to tear the door open and throw it off its hinges, but she resisted the urge by placing her palms on the w