The cold air whips around my face as I crouch on a tree branch in the shadows.

The evening sun bathes the forest in a red light, turning the tops of the trees into a golden shade. The little of the light which can filter through the dense leaves brightens the surroundings, which are always dark. It is beautiful and ethereal. But all good things have a bad side, and the forest floor with its rotting leaves, rotting bodies and pale creatures is just as ugly as the sun's glow is beautiful.

I wrap my arm around the tree trunk and stand up slowly to watch the last of the sunlight fade to give way to inevitable darkness.

As the last last of the light disappears into the darkness, I reach into my the pocket of my black, tattered jacket and pull out a slightly damp, soft, dark clothe the size of my arm.

The pungent odour of acid invades my nostrils as I tie it securely around my nose and mouth, effectively masking half my face and covering my ears.The tightness of the knot hurts, but I'm more than used to it, so I wait for the pain to subside while reaching into my jacket again.

This time, I pull out two short daggers with long, but thin hilts. The blade is, again wrapped in a soft, black cloth which smells of acid.Holding on to the hilt like my life depends on it, which it does, with the hard ridges digging into my palm, I unwrap the cloth slowly, revealing a sharp, black blade, which glows sinisterly in the last of the sunlight.

The blade is shaped like a diamond, slightly thick on two sides, dangerously sharp on the other two, the perfect machine for impaling anyone if they get close enough.

It is short, but deadly. Just like me.

The inky blackness of night fills the atmosphere and I arm myself with another dagger, identical to the first one. There are multiple daggers, all of them of varying sizes and uses, tucked into my belt. Blades of different sizes are strapped all around my body, and I can feel the cold edge of the weapons everywhere, adding to the bitter cold of the night.

Although it is freezing, I remove my jacket and drape it on the edge of the branch, along with my boots, gloves and huge trousers, then all I'm left with is my tight, full-sleeved body hugging shirt, tight pants and a thick belt, letting the wind have its way with my body temperature in my sheer clothes.

I blow out a deep breath which would have fogged up the air if it hadn't been for my acid-soaked mask.

Once my body adjusts to the freezing temperature, I crouch back down on the branch, tucking my daggers in my belt to free my hands and wrap them around the middle of the tree trunk. My eyes, which are slowly adjusting to the darkness, scan the forest floor as it becomes clearer by the second.

Nothing. There's no movement, not that I expect any, not this early anyway - soon, when it is so dark that even the brightest steel can't glow, there will be plenty of movement, sometimes more than plenty - all I need to do is wait, which is tiresome, but worth it.

Moments later, almost like it is meant for me, I hear a scream, so high pitched and painful that it startles me before it subsides into wails and shrieks until it is nothing, until it is back to the normal, artificial quiet.

But I know better, my trained ears are already pointing the direction of the scream, my body goes from a relaxed state to a coiled spring and I move to the edge of the branch to hang precariously and wait for my prey.

The first one is as pale as any other, but much smaller and definitely much weaker, he looks so easy that I almost consider letting this one have his way with the women he is dragging along with him, the women who has her arms, legs and mouth tied and tears streaking down her face.

The pale one dragging her has an excited expression on his face, he doesn't even look hungry, he is doing this only for its enjoyment.

Rage turns my blood hot and my sight red, but is soon replaced by a controlled, trained calm and I hold my breath, letting the vampire pass with his supposed 'prize' before I hunt him down.

As he passes from under the tree I'm perched on, I hold my breath, expecting his super-sensitive senses to react to my presence.

Vampire senses, especially at night, are very powerful, they can smell humans from miles away if they want to - but this knowledge makes them so overconfident that half the time, they don't notice even if I'm few metres away from them, they think they're so invincible that no human would dare come close to them. They also think vampires can't be felled.

They don't know how wrong they are.

He doesn't stop on his way deeper into the forest, all his attention is on the girl he is dragging along the rough roots of the forest.

I can finish him even as he passes from under my tree, but this is the outskirts of the forest, very close to the main city and killing a vampire this close to the city may alert other vampire to this one's death, which will lead to mine.

Vampires are, after all, very sensitive to their own blood. For a vampire, smelling another's blood is like lighting a torch on their faces, it will have them surging to this spot in seconds to find out who actually spilled the blood. And although I'm fast, I can never outrun or overpower a single vampire, much less a crowd of them.

They are much more sensitive to vampire blood than human blood.

Deciding that I have given my prey enough time to move a little into the forest and not hear my movement, I bend down and flatten myself on the edge of the branch, readying myself for the jump.

My eyes focus on a tree standing a few metres away from me, it has a thick branches and an even thicker trunk, the perfect tree to catch me mid-air.

I tighten my hold on my branch harder, the bark digs into my palms but not enough to cut, then I take the leap.

There is a moment of practiced, usual weightlessness, then my body hits the next branch with a satisfyingly soft thump, barely audible in the quiet night, which is soon going to be filled with loud, nightmarish wails of despair.

Slipping down the branch, I wrap my arms around it and hang on the edge.

Preparing myself for another leap, I take in a deep breath, which does nothing to make my next jump easier, and launch myself on to the next tree, which is much closer than the last one.

Tightening my hands on the branch for a moment, I jump again.

Leaping from tree to tree without letting your feet touch the ground like a squirrel and not making any noise in the process is not an easy task, it is, in fact, considered impossible - doing it without letting vampires hear it is even harder. But that is one thing I have always been good at, and the thickness of the forest with every tree's branch entwining with another makes it as easy as walking on the ground for me.

A few trees later and a little deeper inside the forest, the branches are so thickly wound together that the I don't even need to jump to get from one tree to another, I simply walk from one branch to another - the entire forest is more like a big tree. There are a few trees which are isolated, but most are connected to at least one more, leading you deeper into the forest until you reach the Mother Tree.

It is like a network of trees, every tree is connected to a few others.

The deeper I go into the forest, the easier it is to kill my prey, and being the cocky fool he is, he is, according to my assumption, digging himself as deep inside as he can.

I step lightly from branch to branch and tree to tree, the bare soles of my feet making no sound while at the same time, chafing against some rough tree bark.

I ignore the pain and the bitter cold, my eyes solely focused on the floor of the forest. My vision is hindered by the thick, knotty branches just below me, but spotting a vampire, which is rightly called the 'pale one' is mere child's play.

Vampires, with their marble hard skin, pale faces, sharp fangs and stone cold hearts, use nature as their feeding grounds.

I don't have to walk long, moments later, my eyes spot something so white that it is the ultimate contrast to the black forest, I hold my breath and edge as slowly and quietly towards it as I can.

As I get closer to it, the scene becomes more clear and as horrendous as it is everyday.

The thick foliage could have hidden a little of what is happening if I had been standing on the ground, but from the top, the view has a terrifying clarity. The women, still sobbing and shivering, stumbles on the gnarled roots as she is pushed against a tree, her arms and legs shaking uncontrollably. But she doesn't shout, or fight him, she is resigned to her fate. She, like every other vampire and human alike, thinks that she is too weak to stand against a vampire.

And I'm about to prove her wrong.

I move with the stealthines of a cat, my intentions more than cruel for the vampire. I crawl over connected branches to get a good angle to attack him.

The creature is already making his move, his two white arms are pressed into her heaving chest, the strength in them probably breaking a few ribs, if her quiet whimper of pain is anything to go by.

I crawl closer, my eyes fixed on him as he leans forward towards her with a sneer on his face, appreciating the fear on her face.

Closer. A few metres more and I'll be in the right position to attack - I move my palms forward across the next extension of the branch, trying to find something to hold on to propel my body. Wrapping my palms around a joint in the tangled branches, I pull my body along with it. My nerves are on the edge and my anxiety reaches a peak at the thought of not being able to attack in time to save the women - the vampire is already closing in on her, his fangs, which are paler than his skin, are out. His head is slowly being lowered down to her neck.

Positioning my body in a crouch, I reach for the blades clenched between my belt and hold one in each hand. Holding a weapon that can destroy this deadly creature makes me feel exhilarated - the same feeling I get everyday before I go for the kill.

I adjust myself little more to get a direct landing on his back without having to disturb the surroundings, hoping to make as little sound as possible.

Although the branches are so tightly knit together that sunlight can barely reach the forest floor, much less let a human pass through them, there are small holes here and there, just big enough for a cat to fit through, which is enough for me .

Lifting my arms up to pounce on my prey, I slowly lift my body from the crouch - my legs tensing as they ready themselves for action.

The women trembles, and takes in a long breath, followed by a short gasp which sounds loud in the quiet night.

I straighten up more, bracing myself for the impact any moment now.

The vampire pauses and lifts his face up, a smile - which looks more like a delighted sneer combined with a grimace gracing its delicate features.

"You mortals... so weak... so fragile.... and yet, so delicious. What would we do without you?" His voice is as soft as the wind and as silky as the caress of a mother's touch. Vampires have an uncanny ability to manipulate, their voice is something that can't be resisted unless you are aware of how dangerous they can be.

Which I do, and so apparently does the women he is about to devour, because unlike an unwitting human who would've surrendered themselves to that voice, she gasps again and shudders, her shudder vibrating my tree so much that it moves like a living thing for a moment, startling me out of my balance.

The movement surprises me and my hands move of their own accord to catch hold a support to make sure I don't fall.

I gulp slowly, afraid that he might have sensed my movement.

The vampire freezes like the cold statue he is, his mouth inches away from her neck, his face slightly upturned, allowing me to see the expression on it.

The expression says it all, there is a moment of confusion, a dilemma between all his senses which are saying that there might be a human around, and his instincts, which are urging him to ignore all good sense and feed himself.

I tense, my feet, which are still in an awkward crouch, and not in the right position to attack if his senses win the dilemma.

The confusion on his face is suddenly replaced by a determined look as I move my legs just a little, aligning my body for the jump, and he starts turning his head upwards.

The women exhales sharply, glad to live longer, glad that his attention is off her - the vampire is is still turning his head, possibly sensing my presence because of my slip-up.

Stupid.

My hands tighten on the hilts of my daggers, and I jump.

I pounce on the vampire with my blades flashing in the limited moon light, both my arms raised above my head, my daggers pointing downwards, aimed at his delicate-looking throat.

He turns his head up completely just in time to see me land not-so-gently on his back, knocking him to his knees with the weight of my landing and surprising him into stillness.

My legs are wrapped around his midsection, his skin feels like cold marble through my thin clothes. My arms are still raised, both the daggers more than ready for action before he can overcome his shock and kill me.

I don't think twice about it, my right hand instinctively puts the dagger to good use, the sharp dagger slices through his thin neck like melted butter, his head comes away from his body and falls in front of his bowed neck. There is no blood.

If a human is killed, blood would have come out like a fountain, spurting everywhere, but vampires don't have a heart to pump blood, so the blood simply stays inside or drips out of the body. It probably makes the cleaning part easier.

Stepping away from his mutilated body, I wipe the little blood on my knife on the rotten forest floor and look at the women, still in the same position.

She doesn't look older than twenty, the age when human blood, according to vampires, is the freshest. If it weren't for the mistreatment, she would've looked beautiful - she still does though.

Pale blonde hair which goes past her waist is matted and tangled, her face has a light complexion, almost like a vampire, she looks like any women that a leech might consider fresh meat, but the one thing that stands out is her bright blue eyes, which make her look innocent and weak. She's the kind of women men claim their undying love for in fairytales.

She stares at me with fear in her eyes, bright tears falling down her dirt-streaked face. I don't blame her for the fear.

Doing my best to ignore her expression, I walk up to her and cut her out of her ropes, then step back to see her reaction.

There are, usually, multiple ways in which they react to being rescued - from fear to resentment to utter shock, it can be anything.

She chooses the third and most common reaction, she goes into shock, her eyes become dull and cross, and then she crumples to the ground like an autumn leaf.

I sigh, partly in irritation and partly in relief.

At least she's not running away from me while shrieking and possibly alerting every vampire on earth to my presence.

Vampires are the most feared species in the world, they're powerful, fast and cruel. They're skilled in the arts of lying and seduction . That's the reason they rule us.

Vampires are so feared that no one will, or can raise a protest against them, they kill us and suck us dry off our blood on daily basis. To them, the strongest human can be as easy to defeat as it is to crack a twig.

So, a rational person fainting after watching a very short, not very strong-looking girl murder a vampire in front of her is not completely irrational on her part, I suppose.

Sighing again at my bad-luck for finding another weak-hearted human, I make my way to her and slap her awake.

Her cheeks are still cold and wet from her tears, and I feel slightly guilty for not being able to help her more.

Her eyes open as I continue shaking her back and forth, I need to leave before any more vampires come here, but I can't leave her on the ground in this state.

Her eyes are frantic, she looks around wildly while I pull her up with her shoulders. She isn't heavy, she might not last long.

"Run." I whisper to her.

She looks at me, tears start falling down her face, she's both confused and scared.

"They're coming, run." I whisper again, fear takes over her face and she looks around agitatedly. Her brain slowly processes where she is, and her mouth opens wide at the revelation.

"Run." I whisper for the third time, pushing her forward

This time, she runs, she turns around and runs deeper into the forest, although I'm not sure if she's running from me or the vampires.

Running from me probably makes more sense to her.

Not that running from vampires is physically possible for humans, especially at this time of night and in a forest which is full to the brim with those creatures.

It won't be long before she's claimed by another blood-sucker.

But, there's no option, it'll be moments before some vampire smells and reacts to the spilt vampire-blood, which they so conveniently steal from humans.

I tuck my daggers back into my belt and reach up with my hands and pull myself up on to the first branch that touches my hand.

Staring down at the beheaded body, which is laying flat on the ground, I smile before hopping onto another tree which leads me to the outskirts of the forest, my work tonight is not over.

If the rest of the night's kills go as smoothly as this one did, I'll go home with a smile.

..........................................................

Today has been one of my easier days, just as I had hoped. Most of my kills happened like my first one, with barely any resistance and I walked away from my kills with little or no incident. I'll most definitely go home with a smile if the current one goes as well as the others.

The vampire I'm targeting isn't the usual royalty that comes here, his slightly worn clothes suggest that he is one of the rougher ones. If the clothes don't give a big enough hint, his choice of food does. The human he is about to suck blood from isn't the preferred child or women - no, it is a grown man.

The vampire seems to be in a hurry, he is already bending down over the man's neck, ready to feed himself. These are obvious signs that he is very hungry, maybe even starving, because if he isn't, he will not be so eager. Most male vampires hate taking the blood of grown men.

I clutch my daggers, preparing myself for the plunge and possibly a retaliation - while pampered royalties are easy to finish, the rougher ones have sharper senses and better reactions, they can seldom be taken by surprise like my first kill today. It is only the rougher ones who don't mind grown men satisfying their hunger.

I'm is on the verge of completing the task when it happens. The man, the one about to be killed by the vampire, looks up and his eyes meet mine.

There is enough sunlight for him to make out my shape in the trees.

Lifting up my hand, I place a finger freezing on my lips, rather, on the mask on my mouth, motioning him to be quiet.

It doesn't work. His eyes widen and his mouth falls open, in spite of being in mortal danger and minutes from dying. The fool.

There's no way the leech hasn't noticed the change in his food's demeanour; my fingers loosen their hold on the dagger's hilt, artfully positioning it for a throw.

I normally don't prefer throwing around my weapons, but some cases, like this one, leave me no choice - the vampire is alert of my presence.

I hold my breath and loosen my grip more as the vampire turns around, the stupid human is still staring at me, open-mouthed. I ignore him and watch the vampire instead, there is no point in dwelling on idiocy.

The moment the vampire has turned halfway round until the side of his body is facing me, I narrow down my vision to his neck which is just covered by a thin, cheap cloth through my dagger will go just fine. Once my aim is clear and my dagger is held in the right angle, my arm shoots forward, letting the dagger slip from my fingers with the right amount of speed. The dagger spins in the air for a split second before speeding its way precisely to the spot on his neck where I want it to impale him. I don't wait to see if it does.

Once the dagger is halfway there, I hop off my tree, already grabbing one more weapon from my belt, lifting my hands up , already expecting a retaliation. And retaliate he does, he dodges the blade - again, unlike royalty who would have caught it and burnt their skin along the way and springs up from his place on the ground, meeting my attack head-on with his arms out for crushing my head or imprisoning and using me as his source of food, I don't know. I don't want to find out.

For a moment, human instinct comes in and I consider actually trying to dodge his hand and fighting him on the ground, but thankfully my experience interferes with my fool-hardy plan and I strike forward with my right hand, trying to slice through his arms as our bodies collide mid-air.

His arms move out of the way of my attacking range just in time and quick as lightning, with speed that befits a hardened locust, his steel-like hands wrap around my throat, the force of his jump takes me down with him and we fall backwards, crashing hard against the ground, with him landing on top of me. His strong arms and heavy body keep me pinned down on the floor.

The weight of his body on mine crushes the breath out of my lungs and possibly breaks a few ribs, his elbows restrict the movement of my arms and the weapons in them. Without my weapons, I'm useless, fighting head-on with a vampire is practically impossible; so I make an attempt to push my body sideways and roll over while forcing my arms out of his grip. He growls ferociously and his fangs come out, they are inches away from my face and instead continuing my effort in freeing my arms, I make the mistake of looking at his face. His black eyes are a swirling chaos of black and a streak of brown.

It's the brown which gets to me and makes me think irrationally. Was he a human before this? Was he just a normal human before he turned into this...creature? What if he had friends, a mother, maybe even a lover?

They're dead, all of them. Killed by this soulless beast.

That snaps me out of my thoughts, and I start struggling to get out of his grip, surprised that I'm not dead yet; vampires are too fast to let you have any thoughts before they kill you, but for some reason, this one seems to be hesitant; almost like he's studying me, attempting to figure something out.

"Human!" He growls, his growl still sounding as seductive as vampires do. "You're human." I ignore his reaction, this is not the first time a vampire has figured that out.

In an effort to get my arms free, I lean back as far as I can, then throw my head forward, spitting on his marble-face.

That shocks him so much that the force of his elbows lessens, it's not a lot, but that's more than enough. "But you're human." He protests, so focused on me that he doesn't notice my arms, with their weapons, moving out of his grip.

He leans closer until our noses are almost touching and his lethal fangs are centimetres away from my face, and frowns - even his frown doesn't affect his looks. Although he is starving and wants to satisfy his hunger, I can see that he won't do it; not right now anyway, he's too fascinated by a human who can sneak upon a vampire.

My arms slides out from under his slowly, the blade makes a grating noise on the forest floor, my heart skips a beat, and I freeze. "You're human." He repeats.

Lifting my dagger a little into the air by flicking my wrist, I start sliding my arm from under him again, praying that he'll be too focused on me to notice the deadly weapon coming closer to him.

"You're a human trying to kill me." He realizes. I stop moving again, afraid that he has always been aware of the movement of my weapons, but his eyes don't leave my face, so I assume he's talking about my earlier attack and relax a little; well, as much as I can with a blood-sucker lying on top of me with his fangs out.

My arm slides out from under his.

"No." I disagree aggressively, my blade angled for killing. "I'm the human who kills vampires."

My hand is just out of his grasp when his eyes finally catch on to what I had been doing, but it's too late. He reaches out to catch my wrist and stop me, but that frees my other hand. I grasp my dagger and plunge it forward into his head until the entire blade is in his head and only the hilt is visible.

He stops moving and slumps on top of me, his head on my chest, hurting my possibly broken ribs. Blood drips out of the fatal wound in his head and onto my body, staining my dark clothes a bright red. I let out the pent up breath and lay back on the ground.

Taking a deep breath which hurts my definitely broken ribs, I prop my elbow against his neck and push him off me. His body is heavy and almost doesn't move for a moment, so I use my other arm too and soon he's lying down beside me instead of crushing my body. Air enters my lungs easily now.

Gritting my teeth at the pain in my chest, I push myself off the ground and stand up using a tree and look around. The vampire's blood is covering half my shirt, there are a few cuts on my arms and legs, there's no serious damage, except my ribs, which don't hurt as much as they did before, maybe they're only bruised.

Bending hurts, but I do it anyway to pull out my dagger from the vampire's head. The dagger comes out cleanly, without a protest and I wipe it on the ground before stuffing it back in my belt.

I look up and realize the human is still alive, a little shaken, but alive. He isn't even tied down with rope and he has the dagger I had thrown earlier. His arm is stretched out with the dagger in his hand, he's offering it to me.

We stand, unmoving, still, as I asses him. He is tall, there is enough muscle on him to show that he isn't a weakling. Vampires normally prefer keeping the stronger ones as servants, this one must have done something rebellious to be demoted and sold off as food at a small price. I like rebels. Moreover, his eyes don't show the usual fear or shock; they hold curiosity and fasciation. He might have been taken by surprise earlier when I appeared, but now he is carefully calculating the situation and doing his best to get out of it.

Maybe, given the right resources, he can survive. But I hate losing any of my weapons.

A sigh escapes my mouth as I make my decision, a part of me still hates the decision. "Keep it." I tell him, jerking my chin towards the weapon in his hands.

Surprise flickers across his face, his hand doesn't move back. He stares at me, his face filled with questions and wonder. He doesn't need to say it. He wants to know how the blade can go through a vampire's skin. He wants to know why I'm giving it to him.

He's not as stupid as I thought he could be. Now that he knows I'm not hostile, he is expressing rational questions, but he's ready to jump back and run away if his questions trigger a negative reaction from me.

"The dagger's made of something special. It can cut through the Higher Race. I trust you to make good use of it. Run from here." I cringe at having to use the name that vampires have given themselves. I refuse to believe that they are the Higher Race.

He opens his mouth to say something, but I'm already running away. My arm reaches for a branch and I pull myself up the tree, my ribs protesting against the movement. The moment I'm on top, I start sprinting through the thick network of branches, using my arms here and there whenever I lose my balance. The sun is up and shining and it won't be long before the guards come in. I need to get back and change my blood-stained clothes, the vampire blood must have already alerted a few of them. If it weren't for the sun and its ability to dull their senses, my body would have joined all the leeches I have killed today a long time ago.

Author's Note: Hi. Although I'm busy, I couldn't help but write that down, then I just wanted to post it, so I did. It might be some time before I update. But if anyone is reading this, please comment and let me know what you think.

Thanks:)

Cyan