The moonlit beach made Aspen feel all the more alone. It was getting chilly out, so those visiting had gone in for the night or left the beach. Here and there people straggled and a few bonfires were lit, but for the most part Aspen was alone.

She walked along the edge, where the water had wet the sand earlier that day, but had gone down since. She let her small feet sink into the mud, curling her toes around it, enjoying the feeling of being alive. Her cheeks were rosy, as if she had just run along the beach. She wore a dark green bathing suit top and a low cut pair of shorts. Her dark hair fell to her waist and tickled her back as she walked along the sand, leaving her footprints behind her.

What was it like, for Bliss, when he walked in the night? Did he feel lonely? If he walked along the beach did he feel the mud squish bettween his toes? She giggled slightly at this thought, though she wasn't really in the mood for giggles. She wondered if he missed her now, when she wasn't with him and she felt guilty, though she couldn't place why. She had come to the beach hoping to figure it out. A night alone, in the quiet seemed as if it would help and seeing as it wasn't too far out of the way, she had gone and spent the entire day there. Now her normally fair skin had a healthy glow to it and she felt exhilarated...except for the tugging in her belly that told her she was forgetting something.

Aspen walked closer to the beach, running her foot through the icy water and shivering. The waters were calm, so unlike the emotional turmoil going through her mind. She felt as if it should be raining in spurts, to better fit her emotions. She didn't know how to feel at the moment. One minute she felt as if she could fly because she was in love, and the next she felt like drowning herself for reasons unknown to her. What had gone on a few nights ago and what was bothering her now?

"Strange feeling isn't it?" Michael said.

If she had turned Aspen would see that Michael was right behind her. Had been for a good ten minutes. Hands in his pockets, his katana and sheath over his shoulder as he watched the horizan with a serious, contemplative air.

"To feel so complete and yet also to feel so ripped apart."

Aspen spun around, startled as she heard his voice. She almost fell over, but managed to stable herself by grabbing his arms. Just as quickly as she had touched him, she let him go and took a step back. He was one of them. She wasn't afraid anymore, because she had experienced their power, though she knew what he could do. He must have been following her a while because as she turned to look back, she could see two sets of footprints disappear into the darkness.

She wanted to say something back, something rude, because she was angry with him for invading her thoughts. He had known what she was thinking, her own private thoughts. Her eyes went wide suddenly, wondering if Bliss could do the same? But she composed herself and managed to be polite.

"It hurts, to love and not to love. To know and worse yet, not to know. I can't decide if it would have been better never knowing and never loving."

Her sad eyes met his and she took a deep breath, wondering what it was about her that interested this man...and the others. Bliss said it was her beauty...they like that...Jonas said something about her blood. The regular enchantments didn't work on her, maybe that was what vampires found so interesting about her. She thought that maybe it was just the fact that she was a woman in her twenties walking alone on the beach.

"How long have you been here?" What she wanted to ask was how long he ahd been following her, but she felt that if she worded it that way it would sound slightly rude. Either way, her eyes potrayed the same curiosity and confusion.

"Been here for here for two hours now." He said distractedly after checking his watch. "Been following you for the past ten minutes." His hands went back into his coat pockets with a sigh as a rain storm began to brew out at sea.

Aspen cocked her head sideways to look at him. He wasn't much of a talker and that suited her just fine. She was a quiet person in general, though lately she'd had a lot of questions that needed to be answered.

"Why were you following me?"

Aspen's eyes followed his, out to sea. A storm was coming, though she didn't mind so much. She actually loved the rain. At that very moment in time though, she was wishing that a big wave would rise out of the ocean and come down on her, wisking her away to some sort of enchanted island where she wouldn't have to deal with all this...vampire stuff. It was amazing, how many she had met, since she first found out about them.

He shrugged. "Lack of anything better to do....and I want to know what you're going to do with this information on this city's ...hidden populace."

His question made her laugh, her green eyes sparkling with a hint of danger. Her first thought had been to give the story to the press. Throw it in their faces with proof. She was a writer, that was what she did and she would no doubt gain lots of fame from it. But she knew then, those that feared vampires...for they had good reason to...would start a war. That she would not be responsible for. Of course, it would also have boosted her fame, but she would not be responsible for hurting thousands or millions just to have a little bit of fun. She had to admit, keeping the new information to herself was killing her. She didn't talk much, so anything she got out, she wrote. That was how she expressed herself, but not this time...at least not in this way. There were a few vampires she did not care to hurt...especially Bliss, though she was sure she had already done that.

Her hand went up to the scar on her neck and she sighed, remembering more and more every moment.

"I plan to write a story, of course not one that anyone will believe. A fiction story. I don't plan to sell this one though. It is only for myself. I need to write what I have learned. That is a journalists instinct after all. I will write it in a form that is all fact, but covered in the pretense of fiction. That way, if anyone were to read it, that would be all it was to them...only a story." She winked and turned away from him, walking just a few steps.

"The rest, I plan to keep to myself. It won't be too hard."

He grunted in approval of the plan.
"You'd be surprised how much truth is actually written in fiction."
Then his head snapped around to the city as his ears picked up siren on high frequency, far to high for mortals to hear and to just high enough to escape common vampire notice. Unless of course that vampire knew what the siren meant.
Someone was attacking the Unmei dojo.

Aspen turned back at the sudden silence. Of course, he had been mostly silent durning the walk, but this was different. Something was happening.

"What is going on?" Her voice was curious and had a tone of urgency in it. She suddenly felt like she needed to know. Her story was forgotten, for the moment.

He took a moment to listen to the siren. It wasn't tuning down which meant someone, or something, was causing large scale trouble on the grounds of which he had promised protection.
He scowled, possibly one death already.
He began drudging off the beach but stopped to take one last glance at mortal girl.
"Not all vampires will allow mortals your knowledge and a scant few will let you live possessing that knowledge. Bliss is among these few."
He began taking more steps. "I'll be around..... I look forward to your story."
Then he leaped in midstep, corkscrewing end over end in the air to land on the road a good thirty meters inland from Aspen and disappeared from her mortal vision as he ran at full speed towards the Unmei Dojo.

((c:Bitter Work))

Aspen was left, standing alone, with the sudden urge to follow him. But of course, she could not. He was already meters away from her and, in the dark, out of site. She sighed and kicked at the sand. One more thing she was out of the loop on. Could she stand not having more questions and even more answers?

She sat down on the cold, wet stand and let the waters run over her feet, wishing once again, that the waves would guide her away from here.