Menaces and intrigue.

That forest had been the bane of many naive and foolish people, those who did not know what dangers they faced in the haven of dark creatures presented there. To survive in the midst of the nameless creatures you either had to be batshit insane or even more of a predator then they were. Any other were lucky to be alive at all after a visit through the more than a little hostile forest.

There was one creture that was known for her nearly bipolar attitude, kind a moment and heartlessly cruel the next. She belonged to that forest more than most. Her years had taken her in travels all over the planet, visit countries where she could escape her fate. This woman was named Rayana, a master vampire, an elder of many years and a powerful ally. Not many would wish her wrath upon themselves.

Her black hair was tied back to the nape of her neck, braids running through the thick curly hair with beads of ruby, amethyst and deep green jade woven through them. She was wearing a tight fitting deep red long sleeved shirt with a pair of back nearly skin tight jeans. She, as usual, was barefooted even if in the forest the ground was still covered in melting snow in some places. Vampires aren't usually affected by cold because they are dead.

That was why the young looking woman was sitting on a tree branch somewhere in the middle of the forest, waiting for something to happen or her next meal to naively wander close. She wasn't particularly hungry for now though, the cadavre of the young man she had drain was still sitting a few miles away, destined to be eaten as soon as the sun set and the creatures went out of their burrow or wherever the heck they hid during the daylight hours.

Given her age, the light had long since stopped giving her trouble in the burning to death department and had been enjoying sunlight ever since she had discovered that fact.

Head titlted to the side, eyes closed in contemplation, the vampire feigned interest in her surroundings when in fact she was simply enjoying the peaceful time, if you excluded the sound of ripping flesh she could hear from a few hundred meters to the right, probably a wolf eating a deer or something much more sinister. She did not care, for the vampire were above almost every other species in the food chain.

Curled in the sun working its way through the sparse leaves of the high canopy, the balck haired woman sighed contently and shifted until the light was not glaring so annoyingly on her closed lids. That is, until the sound of quiet footsteps came to disturb her almost sleep. Those footsteps were most probably human, which were the most annoying of them all. If it was a 'monster' hunter again, she'd have to kill them again... it got annoying.

By the sound of it and it's position, she guessed that the person had found the bodies she had left all the way over there. Even more annoying.

-Yay! More annoyance for me!- She muttered to herself with fake cheer as she unfolded herself gracefully from her sitting position.

Jumping off the branch, she landed on the snow covered ground below, her feet sinking in the half melted snow up to her mid calves. Unbothered, she stepped out towards the half dried ground, careful not to step on anything sharp or easily breakable. Might as well check it out she thought as she walked towards the site where she had left the bodies, as silent as a shadow. Soon enough, she was close and heard what he said, that left no questions left in her mind, that was no human. No human was that cheerfully creepy when talking about bodies.

-Why the heck do I allways get the creepy ones?- she muttered to herself with a sigh.

Not impressed in the least, the beautiful woman stepped out to meet the other vampire, uncaring that the sun rays fell directly on her exposed skin.

-I see you found them.- She said with a shrug.

-They were a little hard to miss.- She replied with a small smirk.

Indeed, the blood covering their open throats smelled enough for the breeze to carry the scent all over the forest in a matter of minutes. The sun would soon embark on its decline but its rays would still make the corpses smell more than a little in the near future. That would certainly attract all kinds of unwanted attention, but in a place like this, evidence disappeared quickly.

-This just shows me that you do not know the forest as I do. Here, I do not need to hide. Within minutes of the sun completely setting, this place will be crawling with ghouls, snapjaws, firelizards, lycans and many more creatures that you can only imagine in your worse nightmares. Before the moon even could rise to its peak, there would not be enough left of these bodies to identify them.- She informed him as if she was talking about the weather.

The black haired vampire might not have looked like it, but she was prepared for almost anything (a nuclear bomb being hard to prepare for). Her carefree and unaffected appearance only insuring she looked a lot more harmless than she really was. She was after all 130 pounds of deadly woman.

-You are the one that called for me, give me your name first and only then shall I give you mine.- She said looking down at her long and sharp nails.

Her interest was perked when the twang of a mechanism being released reached her ears. Her eyes reached the younger vampire when the blades made their way to the blond's hands. Her mental reaction was an exasperated facepalm, It was always her that had to deal with that type of people.

-What are you going to do with those? Hurt me? Don't make me laugh.- She said with a snort of derision. -a century isn't all that long to hone reflexes, I doubt you could touch me even if I was half dead and hungry.-

-I'd imagine that it would be wound quite tightly from what I gather.- She replied.

The black haired woman was not anxious to be there though, very few beings would actually try to get a bite out of her. Not even most lycans, even if as a whole they were enemies of vampires. Although the new generation often didn't bother with making enemies out of other species because they had enough of the hunters already without having to fight on several sides at the same time.

-Ah yes lycans, wretched beings that they are, although I met a couple that were not so bad once you went past the animosity. Most of those were the oldest or the youngest though, those that have lived long enough to notice that we are all brothers and sisters or those young enough not to have known the wars.- She said.

She gave a perfect curtsy to go with his bow, graceful and her movements flowing with what spoke of long years of use. She didn't make it look too strange without a dress, but an outsider would not have understood the significance of it.

-I have also received many names, Lady Rayana of Gimrôdal, the black queen, the plague, Duchess Grey or even that bloodthirsty monster. Most simply call me Rayana though. It's a pleasure to meet you.- She greeted.

Indeed, she rarely got to meet characters as interesting as that young vampire was proving to be. Younglings usually were a lost more arrogant and idiot.

-You should not be in the sun if your body will not tolerate it yet.- She scolded, much like a mother would. -You have to wait to be at least a couple more hundred years old before you can stay out more than 3/4 of an hour before burning.-

She motioned for him to follow her and she walked in the surrounding bushes, avoiding all the branches in her path.

-Tut tut.- She said wagging her finger at him in a semi-serious manner when she stopped in the shade of a tree. -It is impolite to ask a lady her age and if I hadn't already stopped caring about it I would be offended. But if you must know, I was already a couple centuries close to my second millenia of life when Jesus Christ was born.-

-It is fortunate that today's clocks and watches are much more accurate and less likely to loose the right time.-

She leaned on the side of the tree, arms crossed in front of her chest, an amused expression on her face.

-You can call me that, if you want to die that is.- She replied with a large smirk. -There was only one person who called me that and the only reason he isn't dead is because he is much older than I am.-

She was of course talking about her husband, a drow from one of the most dangerous species alongside the vampires and lycans.

-A whole family! Oh wow, such an accomplishment!- She exclaimed with enough sarcasm dripping from her voice that anyone could literally drown in it.

Compared to what she might have done or not done in the past, just one family in one particular rampage wasn't that much.

-Do you really want to have a pissing contest at this time? My you really are an amusing one aren't you?- She said with a smirk on her lips. -And its not any of your business what I am doing here, but I will tell you anyway. I'm on vacation, ain't that just peachy?-

She tilted her head a little to the side and studied him for a second, The female vampire took a discreet whiff of the air and turned to look east.

-I know what you mean, for me it is much easier to just seduce the opposite sex because women are much more suspiscious of me. There is a wounded woman, in her late twenties half a mile to the east.- She said after another second of contemplation.