a year, I was lucky to kill one, let alone two in one week but this was not what unsettled me. There were more. At least another dozen and from what I could tell all new to the immortal life.

t quick enough. Newborns had little to no skill, relying purely on instinct making them predictable. I knew her move before she did and I was prepared. I was as efficient as ever, thrusting by blade into her neck and decapitating her now immobile body. She fell to the ground with the smallest thud, her head rolling a few feet away. I concentrated for a moment, making sure no one was nearby before I proceeded with the clean up. When I was sure I was alone I carried the twitChrisng body to a trash-can, her skin not bothering me as it had in the past, and placed her inside. I pulled out my matches, struck one and lit her on fire, the fire spreading quickly. The smell was vile and I covered my hand to reduce its potency. As the flames and thick smoke rose higher I could not help but feel guilty for what I had done to the young girl. She was human not so long ago and was changed, most likely against her will, into this deplorable monster. She had a family and friends and they would never know what happened to her. I continued to stare into the flames, making sure all evidence was destroyed. As I prepared to leave my head instinctively snapped east ward as I felt another close by but this was different than the others. She was no new born that was for sure for she had to be about 215 years old, give or take. I knew she was watching but almost as quickly as she came, she was gone. This was going to be a problem. She had to be the one creating the newborns, there was no one else. I couldn't keep killing new born after new born for God knows how many weeks. Their numbers were growing by the day and I had to admit to myself I couldn’t keep up. Nor could I take them all on at once if they decided to attack together. I was good but not that good. I had to cut the head off the snake, stop this at its source. That woman was causing this and only her death could end it. Once she was out of the way I would slowly cleanse the city but there was no point until then. As walked back to my motel pondering how to trap her I couldn’t help but wonder why again. Why create so many new born vampires? It was almost as if she was building an army. But if that was the case, who was it for? A Chrisll ran down my spine and my grip tightened around my blade. — A Week Later — This past week had been one of the most frustrating of my life. Since Yvonne, I had found out who that young girl was through the missing persons reports and photos, I had not managed to kill any other vampires. I had focused my efforts of finding the one woman, ignoring the others for the time being and being even more cautious so as not to fall into an ambush myself. She was tricky this one, I’ll give her that. She never came close enough for me to sense her for long. Ten seconds if I was lucky. She was suspicious and I had not found a way of trapping her yet. I had nearly searched the entire city, but it was clear she kept moving, never in the same spot twice. I couldn’