Time skip of six years....
Ash's P.O.V.

"Hey, Ash, are ya listening?!" I snap my head up to look at someone who I am not too fond of.

"No."

"What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing in particular." The blood. The flames. The pain and hurt that are resurfacing. Nothing Andrew knows about.

"Okay, then don't tell me." I have no desire to anyway. "So... do you know when Katie is coming back?"

"She said she would only be a few hours," I mumble and tuck my head back behind my arm wrapped atop my knees.

"And you aren't worried?"

"Andrew, it has been two hours. Stop worrying so much. It's annoying."

"I'm sorry for being concerned about my friend," Andrew snaps and I smirk.

"Angry now, are we? There is no need to worry. She can kick your ass anytime she wishes and be a good match against me, too."

"Tsk."

"Just shut your trap and use your brain for once. Thinking might do you some good."

"At least I don't mope around everywhere." I perk my head up, ears up and forward: alert.

"And since when do I mope? Not speaking much and not smiling doesn't mean I'm moping."

"It kinda does."

"Do I seem sad to you?"

"Well... you seem... off. The whole time I have known you, you have always acted strange."

"Well, I act how I normally do. Get use to it."

"I can't believe that you and Katie somehow became friends..." Andrew says bitterly, which shocks me. Is he showing his true colors now? I have known him for only a couple months, as Katie and have just returned to this region and pocked him up off of the streets: we never travel too far, though.

"Chance. It was just, chance. She reminds me of someone I knew a long time ago and right when we were at each other's throats, we just kinda both backed down."

"I still don't see why she didn't take you out, though."

"Great question. Maybe it would have been better...."

"And your back to being your depressing self. I'm going to the surface to wait for Katie." I do not reply to Andrew as he walks up the stairs after grabbing hold of a small knife and placing it in his pocket. I honestly don't think he needs that when he can claw people in half with his lion claws, a fairly rare form of splits.

I sit alone in the dark room beneath the surface and stare at my hands.  Brooke, Maria, Nash... I miss them all....  "Hey, Ash.  Get your ass up here!"  I groan, wondering why I have to bother, and head up the stairs with my hands tucked in my jean pockets, fiddling with one, small knife in my right one.  "Ash!"

"I'm fucking coming, you retard," I snap and get to the top of the stairs and kick the door open angrily.  I find Andrew facing five unfamiliar people holding guns aimed at him.  "What the hell did you do now?" I say calmly.

"Are you blind!?  They want our place."

"What makes them think they will get it?" I ask, my face still stoic.

"Two against five," one of the bigger men says.  Personally, he is repulsive.

"And?  You're point?" I say with a shrug.

"Are you that stupid?  Survival of the fittest."  At the man's last words, shots ring out and I quickly move.  Instead of heading backward, I sprint forward, low to the ground while dodging bullets that fly at me.  I draw my pocket knife and the last thing the man sees is my blank face as I plunge my fingers into his eye sockets with one hand and hold the small knife to his throat with the other.

"So," I begin with a yawn.  "This guy is your weak leader, yes?"  I find it difficult to speak over the man's yells of agony and decide to kill him anyway, plunging the small blade deep into his throat and swiping it away, blood spattering everywhere as his yells turn into drowned gurgles.  "This is a waste of my time."  The other people just stare at me with terror in their eyes.

"He's a nocte sanguis!" shouts the only woman of the group.

"And maybe I am.  Do you wana stick around and find out?"  The people immediately sprit away as fast as they can, the stench of fear following them but still polluting this area.  "Stupid humans," I mutter and pick up the body of the man with a grunt.  "Just because I seem really fast and strong and slightly crazy, doesn't mean I'm one of them," I say to myself as I throw the body into the wall by our door.  It is cruel, but piling up dead bodies by our door looks intimidating and scares people off.

"What did I just whiteness?" Andrew says, his mouth agape.

"Oh, that's right.  You haven't really seen me fight before."

"And you and Katie were neck-in-neck!?  I'm happy I am not your enemy."

"You never know.  Things change."  Yea, things change, but most of the time for the worst.  All I have done is suffer, and now I just feel empty.  My heart has been shattered and I no longer can trust anyone.  Katie is the first in a long time, and I still have doubts after knowing her for about a year and a half now.

So shit changes, but that doesn't mean I will forget.  I promised to make a change, and that promise is what I made to Nash seconds before he died.  To never forget, I even changed what I was called to Ash, something to remind myself of my dear, deceased friend.  I am a new being, no longer Finn, the hopeful, quiet, caring child, but a strong, brave, empty soul who will change this world.

"Hey, I smelled the blood a mile away, and quite literally.  What the hell happened here?"  I turn to Katie with a shrug.

"Nothing too important."

"But I wanted to fight," Katie says with a pout.

"Sorry, but it wasn't even the slightest bit challenging."

"Nothing is anymore," she says with a sigh and Andrew stares at us like we are crazy.

"You two are insanely fucked up."

"No.  We are just normal and have adapted.  If you want to live, you'll soon follow suit.  After all, me and Ash won't always be around here to baby you."

"Suck it up and take a life.  I'm sure many lives of those who were close to you were stolen, so just think about it as... equivalent exchange."

"And what happened to that spunky man whore I knew who was kind enough to even give the woman you slept with money instead of them paying like it should have been?  Your dark now... I like it."  Katie comes up behind me and wraps her arms around my neck.  "Now carry me, slave.  I must rest."

"Whatever," I say and carry Katie inside on my back. 

"So, what happened?" Katie asks my quietly.

"I don't even fucking know.  Andrew just called me and those people thought I was an easy kill."

"Huge mistake."

"Yup."

"So, Andrew did nothing?"

"He is so weak," I say with a shrug.  "He is dead weight.

"Yea, but he isn't a horrible person."

"I never knew you were so oblivious, Kat.  I thought those cat senses of yours would do you better than that."

"Oh, shut up, ya asshole," Katie says and flicks the back of my head gently.

"Just try and silence me."

"Oh, I will, Ash.  I will."

"What are you two whispering about?" Andrew says with an irritated look on his face as I lay Katie down on the beaten couch in the main room.

"Nothing that concerns you~" Katie says in a singsong voice.

"Yup."

"You two and your secrets...."