There were very few streetlamps in this part of town. As a result, there was very little light to light anyone's path. Generally, people steered clear of these streets. Go up to almost anybody and they could tell you horror stories of what had happened on a cold night here. Cerise smiled bitterly to herself as she surveyed the few foolish mortals who had chosen to disregard these urban legends. Sometimes, horror stories were true.

She could see everything around her perfectly, as always. The mortal world always seemed to be going to slowly, like stop-motion animation where the pictures had been left too long. Every breath the mortals took seemed to hang in the cold night air for eternity, frozen. She buried her hands deep in the pockets of the long burgundy coat she had 'borrowed' from a victim.

'Most people would be squeamish at wearing other people's clothes,' she thought to herself, 'but not I. It's not like I have a hell to go to.' She tried to ignore these thoughts as much as possible ; they reminded her of her mortality, this nonsense about heaven and hell she'd been taught as a young child. As a vampire, she no longer had mortality.

The humans who were rushing through these streets at close to midnight should have been thankful that Cerise was not hungry. At her worst, she could slaughter nineteen or twenty helpless mortals in one night. As it was, the humans were concerned with nothing except the ups and downs of their lives. They were failing to see the bigger picture here. They always did. After all, even as she killed the young woman the coat had belonged to the foolish girl was screaming about her siblings.

Siblings. Painful memories Cerise had repressed for years came flooding back to the surface. Red clouded her vision as blood welled up in her eyes. Tears.

Cerise could see nothing like this, and had to feel her way along a wall to find a place she could slump down against it. She hoped nobody would look down at her and see her like this.

She panicked, realising that like this, even as a vampire, anything could happen. She had to just sit back and let events unfold.