For the first time in a while she was cold... Or at least she felt cold... She felt tremmors run through her, shivers of an agonizing pain that originated in her stomach. But her whole body cried for blood, cried for the life and nourishment that the warm elixer brought.

But Sera resisted with all her heart... With all her soul. Or what was left of them anyway.

She had lived like a monster for too long... Trying to forget the pain of her betrayals... She had tried to find happyness with another man, but he was obsessed with another... Just a stupid mortal who he wanted to sire.

Ambros' dissaperance had been more to hurt her than she had ever thought. She had loved him, had trusted him and given herself to him, given him her love and devotion... And he just... Just left her to suffer alone. So weak... So weak now, Sera's pale, slightly withered body lay curled on the grave of her mother, trembling in the cold night air despite the jeans and thick black hoodie that covered her pale skin and dull brown hair.

She had bairly been able to crawl there from her hiding place the night before. So weak was she. The only way she could garuntee her death was to stay away from people... Now... If there was blood, she would feed. It didn't matter what kind. Vampire... Human... She was a little more than a whispere of life now. Come sunset... Come sunset she would be at peace for the first time since she had been turned.

It was near three in the morning now... She had been here some time and was still as any other body in a grave. She lay there, clinging to her teddybear, trembling with hunger and fear as she just waited... Waited for death to take her to a peace that she desired... To be with her mother once again. That was all she wanted. To be with her family... To be happy again...

Rosa had been up all night hunting, and enjoying watching men kill themselves or die of sudden heart attacks. Now it was time for her to head back to the Coven before the sun came up. A pair of black leather pants and a brown skintight T-shirt was what she wore for the night's festivities, and a pair of high heels was hung over her shoulder as she walked barefoot through the graveyard towards the entrance to the crypt where she usually slept.

Slowing down Rosa felt a weak presence close by. Definitely another vampire, but it was weak maybe a young fledgling. Straying off the path to her resting place Rosa found herself drawn to a grave where there was a girl laying on a grave. Looking at the grave the woman took a second to plunge into the girl's mind, but she didn't dive too deep, just enough to learn her name.

The vampiress knelt down next to the girl reading the headstone. "Is this your mother?" She asked even though the girl was still she could feel the girl's hunger. The girl was starving herself, and that wasn't a good sign if a vampiress was starving herself.

She felt the probe into her mind. Felt the mind brush at hers but she was too weak to do anything about it but give a small moan of protest.

"Leave me alone..." Was her responce to the woman's questions as she closed her eyes tigher. "Let me die please... I just want the pain to go away... Want it all to stop." She sobbed weakly.

The pain of her father's suicide... Ambros' abandoning her... The tourture that others had put her through to 'help' her...

It would be better for everyone if she was just dead. No one needed her, no one loved her or cared about her anymore. Her parents were dead, Ambros didn't love her... She had no reason to live anymore. She hated life, hated everything aobut it but still she was always too weak to starve herself. She always gave in in the end.

She didn't want to. She really didn't... But...

"I don't want to live... It hurts too much..." She shook her head. "I wanna see my mama again... Be with papa... I don't want to be here forever... I just want to be with them... Want to die..." Her body began to cry then, squeezing out several drops of blood that it fought to hold on to as they leaked down her cheek, dropping onto the grass.

Rosa sighed as the girl answered her and rested on the balls of her feet. "Did a man cause you to hurt like this?" She asked in fluent Spanish. "Do you want to die because of a man?" It'd be so easy to find the answers for herself, but it was better for the girl to tell her. Maybe Rosa could help this girl see how evil men were, and how the world didn't need them.

"I can help you if you want." She said returning to english. "Living doesn't have to hurt." Rosa said as she reached out and caressed the girl's cheek in her hand. The girl, Sera, was ice cold and would really need to feed if she was going to survive the night. Rosa gently wiped the poor girl's tears away and sighed laying on the ground staring at the sky. "I used to hurt like you." Rosa was still hurt inside, it almost drove her to insanity, but what she did was a kind of therapy to keep the pain in check. "A man I thought I loved hurt me very badly...He gave me up to die." Her voice was calm but held the edge of someone remeniscing on a memory they'd rather forget.

A man...? But how oculd she know "Si..." Sera answered back in a whisper. "el que me creó..." She answered back in Spanish. It had been so long since her tongue spoke the words, since her mother died. But they came from her tongue now as she began to sob. "He loved me... Cared for me... He said he would be with me forever... He wanted to save me, so he made me like this." Her sobs began to grow louder as the woman touched her, her flesh warm compared to Sera's lifeless coverings.

It was the first nice gesture she had since... Since she could remember.

"Mi padre... Mi padre se mató, culpable con dolor cómo él me había lastimado." She murmured with a hiccup as she began to shead more tears, simply draining her strength even quicker. Sera wanted to curl up against the woman for some... Final comfort. But she was too weak to do much more than whisper in her near lifeless voice.

"I want to live... But it will only hurt... The pain won't leave... Never ever. I will always hurt because I love him so... But he left me alone... Ashamed of the thing I had... Had done that he couldn't control. It was my fault he left me... I am a monster. I can't help it... And... And with my father dead... I have no one... No coven. No sire. No family. Why should I live... No one will cry over my corps." She pointed out with weak but heart wrenching sobs.

Rosa listened to the poor girl's story, and gently pulled her onto her lap where she gently caressed the girl's face. The one who created her had hurt her like this, and now she wanted to die, she had no one. Just like Rosa this girl had no one to care for her now. The older vampiress had been in the same position as Sera, and she even had a little bit of an episode like her after killing her husband. "Shhh..." Rosa ran her hand through Sera's hair. Poor girl, Rosa had to help her.

"I've been hurt by men too...They are nothing but a problem for women like us." She paused for a second. "He only abandoned you because he couldn't control you Sera. He might've loved you, but he wanted control." Just like her husband. He wanted her to be more of a housewife than help less fortunate people in their city. Just like every man...all they wanted was control over women. All men were like that, and the world was better off without them.

Quietly Rosa bit into her own wrist. "Bebe mi sangre Seraphina Montoya." She said calling the girl by her full name. "Drink my blood and live with me, we are not monsters. Men are the monsters that drive us to these extremes." Rosa wanted to help this girl, and she wanted her to see that men were useless, and that the world would be better without them.

Weakly Sera curled up into the woman’s arms, her body trembling terribly from weakness and hunger. But the feeling of the fingers through her hair relaxed her body. The woman’s touch on her face was warm, soft like her mothers when she wasn’t feeling well.

Control…. He… He wanted to control her… “No… He… He saved me. He didn’t want to control me… Ambros… Ambros loved me…” She murmured as she shook her head weakly. It wasn’t possible. He left because she didn’t deserve him… She had shamed him and embarrassed him with her behavior.

A spasm ran through her body as she smelt the blood, making her cry out with an echoing voice.

“No…” She whimpered as the blood was nearly at her lips. “Let… Let me die… I can’t live … It hurts too much. No one loves me. No one will care.” Her body begged for the blood, her lips opened to it even. But she didn’t want it. She couldn’t drink it. Why… Why did this woman want her to live? Why did this woman care about her?

Her mother was the only one… Her father didn’t care about her until he realized what the drugs made him do. Ambros… Ambros didn’t care. No one cared about her… Her father’s words began to haunt her mind as she thought.

She was worthless… Weak. She was a pathetic little girl who would rather just lie there and cry instead of try to change things. She was too weak to change anything, to weak to do more than just take everything people did to her. “Why… Why should I live?” She said as she turned her head, opening her blurry eyes to look at the woman who held her even though she could make out nothing of the woman’s face. Her brown eyes were clouded over as if blind, dull and lifeless.

Rosa nodded listening to the girl as she spoke about the man who saved her. "All men are like that at first Sera...That's why he left you. He saw that you were changing from what he wanted you to become and left you." Like pouring salt on an open wound in Rosa's heart speaking like this, but it was true. "I'm sure he loved you, but it doesn't last forever. He was going to leave you." It hurt but that was her experience with men, all men.

"You need to fight Sera. Life hurts, but you need to fight through it...Your mother wouldn't want you to die like this." Well that was speculation, but every mother wanted their child's happiness. "I don't want you to die...I care about you." Rosa cared about Sera so much, because she reminded the older vampiress of herself. "I want to help you through this suffering...You don't have to suffer alone."

A sob choked up from Sera's throat as the woman said that he would have left her. He wouldn't have loved her forever. That he had lied... Knowingly lied to her. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.

"No... No, it's not true... He loved me..." Sera sobbed as more tears fell slowly from her clenched eyes.

But... But why had he turned her when she told him that she didn't want to be turned yet... Why didn't he save her some other way? It wasn't true... He... He loved her didn't he? Her father-

"No..." She sobbed and trembled. How could it be true... It was just the drugs, the alcohol that made her father forget his love for her. It was the evil of the drugs, that was all it was. It had to be.

"Why... Why would he do that?" She wailed as her glassy eyes looked towards the woman's face. "He wouldn't... He was saving me... Saving me when I nearly died. It was his only choice. I would have died." Wouldn't she have? That was the truth wasn't it? "He didn't have a choice." Sera choked once more.

She tried to push out all the thoughts of her father beating her, raping her and sharing her with his friends. The times he struck her, the time he nearly killed her. It wasn't true... They loved her, they loved her dearly didn't they?

"Mama.." She whimpered, wanting to hear her mother's voice, hear her songs. To feel her mother's arms rocking her back and forth until she was asleep.

A vicious tremble struck her body and she cried out louder than before in pain as her whole body tenced with hunger.

Rosa felt for the girl as she sobbed in her arms, but the older vampiress had way too much experience with men that even if they loved someone it wasn't going to last forever. Men were selfish, disgusting creatures, but if it wasn't for her husband betraying her Rosa might've ended up like Sera. She listened to the girl as she sobbed and Rosa tried to comfort her as much as she could. "Did he try any other ways Sera? Did he tell you that he tried any other way before resorting to changing you?" The vampiress could've easily found out the answer, but she didn't. It was better for the girl to talk. Rosa felt horrible now for saying those things, and slowly rocked the girl back and forth. "Shhh, it's alright Sera. I'm sure they both loved you." It was hard to ignore the girl's thoughts about a man beating her, raping her. It was probably her father, and Rosa felt the utmost hatred for the man. Who would treat their own daughter like that? What was worse was that he actually shared her with others. What a despicable man.

"You need to drink Sera." Rosa recut her healed wrist and held it closer to the girl. "Please, I want to help you. I want to help like your father and Ambros couldn't." She kept rocking the child in her arms. "I can help you."

"No..." Sera whispered her answer. "He didn't have a choice..."

The girl's sobs grew louder as Rosa said that she was sure that they loved her. Did they? Did they really? Did he really not have a choice? Was it really just the drugs?

No. Of course they loved her! Why else would he have saved her? Why else would her father feel so terrible about what he had done? They had to love her... How couldn't they.

"No." She sobbed as the woman began to rock her back and forth. She wanted her mother more than anything, wanted to be with her mother, wanted to feel her mother's touch and hear her voice. She wanted to see Ambros again. To know that he still loved her.

"He didn't... He couldn't have left... No..." She whimpered, the tears leaking faster. Sera turned her head though as she melt the blood near her lips, she didn't want it. He wanted to be with her family, with her mother and father... She wanted to be with them forever now and she could...

But she want the blood, wanted to live. Her body wanted it and a part of her really didn't want to die either. But her mind was so weak and weary now that she wasn't thinking right. "Why... Why save me?" She murmured weakly, her voice still shakey. "I'm not worth saving... I'm not..."

Rosa listened to the girl in silence. Sera was a weak girl who just wanted to be loved. Now that both Ambros and her father were gone there was no one to love her. That was why she wanted to die. The older vampiress probed into the girl's mind again, but much gentler. Rosa wasn't searching for anything, but the girl's memories flooded her mind and the older vampiress got a picture of what it was like for the girl.

"He left you Sera." Rosa knew that for sure. Ambros had left Sera for Romania, and he wouldn't return for her. She gently placed the visions into the girl's mind, though she hated to do so. The girl was weak and needed to feed on something. "Your father and Ambros left you. Ambros won't return."

Then Sera said that she wasn't worth saving. "No you are worth saving." Rosa said this gently but with force behind it. "You have as much right as those who mistreated you to live. I know what it's like for you." Rosa showed Sera her own memories, of how her husband threw her to the Inquisition, and how she kept on trying to say that he loved her, but he didn't. She showed Sera how she found her husband with another woman, and killed both of them. How she met men like Sera's father, and how women were beaten, raped, and killed by men. "This is the truth Sera."

No. No none of this could be true. It couldn't be.

Ambros had never lifted a hand to hurt her, even when she had nearly killed him he had never struck her, never said an unkind word to her.

He never wanted to control her did he? He wouldn't have tried to do something so horrible as that. No...

Her father...

The memories came to the surface as Rosa probed her mind, Sera couldn't even tell. Her father beating her... On night when she had refused to let him take her... She felt every blow again, and screamed with pain as if the scar that had been left by the thick leather belt was being cut fresh. "Stop it! Please!" She begged the woman as the memories cut deeper than any knife. The bloody tears were falling faster now, robbing her body of precious life.

And then the woman's own memories...

Sera felt her heart being renched appart, as if it had been her husband... The overwhelming visions the woman was sending her made her body twist and scream with the torture of her mind. "No! No, it can't!" She sobbed, trying to deny what the woman was showing her, what the woman was telling her. Not all men were like this, no. Her father hadn't been like this before her mother died... Before he started using drugs.

Clinging to Rosa, Sera was sobbing her heart out muttering and begging for her to stop. To stop the visions, the memories.

But slowly... After so many tears her body fell still. Her sobs were silent. Her body had fell into a coma, to preserve her life. She had been counting on this and planning to wait for the sun to rise to kill her painlessly.

Sera lay limp in Rosa's arms. Her pale, drawn body lifeless, like a corps really, streaks of bloody tears down her face.

Rosa held the girl as she pleaded for the woman to stop. She didn't, though it pained her to do so. It was what she had to do to show that men were evil. Memories of her journeys...men beating and raping women. It was to show that men were evil, and even if they seemed good would eventually become like that, or at least leave them when they got bored. Men changed end of discussion.

Rosa caressed the girl as Sera clinged to her. Then slowly the girl passed out, and Rosa picked the girl up with a grunt, she wasn't exactly the strongest person, especially in vampire standards and brought her to the safety of the crypt. There they were home, safe from the sunlight, but of course men plagued the crypt, but she didn't say anything knowing full well that they had a little bit of an non-aggression agreement.

Placing the girl near where she slept Rosa cut her wrist yet again and placed it just centimeters above the girl's head letting the crimson liquid drip into her mouth. It was for the better if Sera lived. She'd come to realize what Rosa knew already, and she wanted to help the girl.

It was just nothingness to Sera as the woman carried her down into the depths of the coven. Her body was cool, pale and limp. The life and desire to live had gone from her completely.

Ambrose... Her father... They had driven her to this... They had turned her into this shadow of herself... Her father had started it... Made her think she was weak... Had made her think that everything was her fault. But wasn't it?

"Mama...?" She murmured as her body stirred. She had began to drink the blood willingly, and pulled away with a soft sigh. She felt the body close to hers and wondered. Was she dead? Was she with her mother again? She... It... It smelt like her mother. But she was cold... No Sera was cold... She could feel a cold chill...

She pulled herself closer to the body, seeking some warmth from the person, but finding none. "Mama... Hold me... I'm cold..." She murmured as she curled up against her mother. And she was hungry. Her usually hidden fangs were full length, poking out between her lips ever so slightly.

Hungry... So hungry but there was no warm blood... No blood that she could smell. She needed blood... She needed it and her body cried out for it with soft little murmurs of discomfort.

Rosa smiled as the girl came to and started drinking the blood she offered the girl. "Mama's here." She whispered softly wrapping her arms around the poor girl. "Don't worry I've got a warm drink for you." She said as she projected to a live human that had been kept as extra food for the Coven. She controlled the man's movements making him walk awkwardly over to her and the girl even though he was weak from having vampires drink from him earlier. It was enough to quench the girl's thirst and heal the damage done by the starvation. "Drink..." She said forcing the man to slit his own wrist and offer it to Sera, nice and deep so the blood started flowing into the girl's mouth. "Drink this, it'll warm you up."

Sera thought Rosa was her mother...that wouldn't last long, but it felt good for the vampiress who never had a child before. It felt good for her torn heart. "You're in the crypt of the cemetary." She said quietly stroking the girl's hair.

Still too weak to open her eyes she smelt the blood finally as the man cut his wrist. Her heart began to race in anticipation of the blood.

Sera fed hungrily from the man, draining him dry in a matter of minutes, his limp body laying lifeless by the bed. But her small body was stated, and she shivered and sighed in delight as she curled up once again against Rosa.

Her body wanted rest right now as it rejuvenated and worked to repair her broken and worn body.

The cemetery... She was with her mother... She was with her mother at last and... And she was happy. Nuzzling against Rosa's cooler body she murmured softly in Spanish. "Mama... Can you sing me a lullaby? The one you always sang me when I was little?"

Rosa smiled as the girl drained the man, and curled up against her. She felt the joy of watching the man die, just stand there until he couldn't, then just lay there all his life was drained from him. Beautiful, his face was contorted in pain though he couldn't do anything about it with her controlling his body.

Then Sera asked her to sing the lullaby that her mother always sang. After going in as secretly as she could without warning the girl Rosa found the lullaby within her mind, and started singing softly repeating the words she heard the mother sing. Her voice wasn't as sweet sounding as Sera's mother, but it was close.

After finishing the song Rosa kissed Sera's forehead. "Go to sleep Sera." She said in Spanish running her fingers through the girl's soft hair. Even though she just drank blood Sera's hair was soft and shiny.

Sera hummed along with a soft smile as Rosa sang the song her mother always sang her when she was little. In Spanish or English the song made sense and fit the tune, but she always liked it more in Spanish, just like Rosa was singing.

The exhausted girl even mumbled the last few words as Rosa's hand pushed back her hoodie revealing her repaired hair. Dark earthy brown, curly and glossy like it always had been in life.

"Ninight mommy..." She murmured as she nuzzled against the woman, slipping off into her near comatose sleep that she stayed in during the day. "I love you so much..."

Rosa ran her hand through Sera's hair as she fell into the deep comatose sleep that plagued some vampires. She didn't have to worry about that, but she was pretty tired. Smiling sadly Rosa kissed Sera's forehead after she said good night to her mother, not Rosa.

Sighing Rosa stretched out and changed into her pajamas, a simple tank top and panties and slipped under the covers making sure Sera was underneath them as well. The girl's hoodie was nicely folded on a nearby nightstand, and Rosa fell asleep dreaming of having a daughter like Sera. How they would enjoy days out in the sun without a worry in the world.

Rosa stirred slowly as the sun was starting to set and the woman yawned stretching her body out. Letting out a sigh the vampiress slowly blinked her eyes and stumbled out of bed to get dressed for the new night.

It was nearly a half hour after sunset when Sera began to stir.

Her skin was it's healthy tan color and full of life as it hadn't been before. Waking up in her ragged t-shirt and sweatpants she... She missed the body that was there...

"Mama?" She murmured as she pushed herself up, rubbing her eyes. "Mama... Where are y-" But there was only an... An unfamiliar woman there, a woman more beautiful than she had seen in a long time.

"Where... Where's my mother?" She asked with a furrowed brow. "Have you seen here here? My Mama... She... She was here last night."

Rosa was already dressed in a comfortable pair of tight jeans and a black t-shirt. She watched the girl as she stirred and smiled sadly at her. "I'm sorry...your mama's still in her grave...You were starving, and I wanted to help." She left it at that knowing Sera would be able to tell what she was saying.

"I did it to comfort you." She sat down on the bed and looked down at the floor. It was cool against her bare feet. "I'm sorry."

Shaking her head Sera frowned.

"No. It couldn't have been. She... She sang me her lullaby. The one she always sang me when I was little. It was her, it had to be her. No one else knew the song she sang. Not even papa." How could it have been someone else? No, it couldn't have been the woman, no one else knew the song.

"Did she really die? Is... Is she a vampire here in this coven? She has to be."

But looking at the woman...

It... it had to be true. Why would she tell her her mother was dead if she really wasn't. Sighing and giving a slight sniffle she hung her head, falling back onto the bed with a vacant expression on her face. For a moment... She had thought her mother alive. Thought that... That she would be happy again with her family.

But apparently that was not to be the case.

Curling up she closed her eyes with a sigh. "Why... Why didn't you just let me die...?" She nearly whimpered. Didn't this woman understand her pain? Couldn't she feel the suffering that she underwent every night? Death would be her only release, her only freedom from this pain that Ambros had caused her... He had pulled her from death only to make her suffer more. Instead at her father's hand she suffered at his.

His lies... His empty promises...

Her father had only broken her body, but Ambros He had broken her heart and soul... Things not so easily mended...

"Why did he do this to me... He knew I didn't want it..." She asked, as if the vampiress would know.

Rosa looked at Sera weakly and shook her head. Her mother wasn't a vampire in the coven, no she died years ago and wasn't going to come back. She felt bad about doing what she did to Sera, but she did it to comfort her. The older vampiress watched as the girl finally realized that her mother was dead, and felt as if someone was squeezing her heart. It felt horrible as Rosa sat down closer to the girl. "I'm sorry Sera...You reminded me of myself, and how I wanted to die after I was turned. I was like you." She knew she didn't answer the question, but she was still thinking of why she saved Sera. "I didn't want you to die like that." She said truthfully. It was the fact that this girl was going to die in the state she was. Rosa didn't want that to happen to her. "You're a much stronger girl than you look." The vampiress felt it in her heart that Sera was stronger, and was to become greater than this. She wanted to help the girl.

Rosa reached out and placed her hand on the girl's cheek. "What your sire did to you is unforgivable...I don't know why he did it, but men like him are the worst." She sighed thinking of how to say it. "I think he did it at first to help you, but soon he realized it was a mistake, that you weren't going to turn out like he wanted you to." She closed her eyes feeling the grip on her heart loosen a bit. "That's what I believe...I want to help you Sera. I want to care for you like he didn't."

"But I tried! I tried so hard to be what he wanted me to be. I tried to be as strong as he was, but... But I just couldn't."

She didn't even ask how the woman knew her name. It didn't really matter in the long run...

Rolling over Sera curled against the woman. "I'm all alone though... I don't want to be alone, I can't stand not..." Not what? Being loved? Being close to someone? Sera needed something to cling to. Her mother... Her father before he became horrible. All she had then was herself. Her stuffed animals...

But then Ambros had come around... He was so kind... So gentle. It was hard for her to believe that He had simply wanted... Wanted to control her and then... After she had tried so hard. So very hard to please him... He left. He had promised her that he would never leave, that he would always be with her. But one night... He had been there when she fell asleep an hour before dawn... And he had disappeared as the sun set...

"And why did papa kill himself? He didn't have to. I told him that I forgave him. I told him that I still loved him. I just wanted to have my real daddy back again, and when I did... Did he hate himself so much for what he did to me? Even after I told him I loved him?"

Rosa was silent as Sera spoke. She said that she did her best to change for Ambros, Rosa had tried to change for her husband, but she couldn't help but keep going back to treat her family and friends. It was impossible for her to adapt to the lifestyle her husband wanted, a housewife, someone to look after the mansion, no that wasn't her. The vampiress held the girl in her arms as Sera curled into her. Her hand gently gliding through Sera's beautiful hair.

"You're not alone Sera...there are many people like you. People who don't have anyone else...I care about you Seraphina...Even though I don't know you, I can feel that you and I are similar in many ways." They were kindred spirits, both lost, but Rosa had found her way, she wanted to take care of Sera.

Then she asked Rosa why her father committed suicide. "I honestly don't know Sera. People do things like that for many reasons. I believe that he was one of the few men that realize their mistakes...and the grief of what he did to you drove him to that, even though you said you forgave him." It seemed that way to her, and her gut told her that she was right.

"I... I know what he did was bad... Wrong. But I still loved him. Because that wasn't what he was like before it wasn't him hurting me. And I didn't want him to die. I wanted to be a family again. I wanted to be with him and... And make up for so much time lost. I just wanted to be a family again, like we had just after mama died... We were there... There for each other." Sera murmured as she felt the woman's fingers run through her hair.

But no matter what this unknown vampiress said... She was alone. She was alone in the world with no one who cared about her at all... The vampiress could pity her... But she didn't love her or care for her, and that was what Sera needed most.

"Can you sing me my mom's lullaby again?" Sera whispered as she closed her eyes again. She didn't care how the woman knew it, she didn't care about anything at all really. All Sera wanted was to hear the lullaby. The woman sounded so much like her mother... And looked a lot like her as well. She knew it was crazy, but maybe she could pretend. Maybe there was a vampire who could alter her memory so that she would think this vampiress her mother.

It was cruel yes. But it would help. It would put her at peace, even if it was a lie, even if it wasn't remotely the truth.

Rosa listened as the girl spoke about her father. The vampiress only nodded knowing that Sera only wanted someone to care for her...someone to love her. Silently Rosa kept on running her fingers through the girl's hair. Something beyond the girl's experiences reminded Rosa of herself, and she could see a little bit of herself when she was younger.

"Before I sing you her lullaby, could I ask you what your mother's maiden name is?" She asked remembering the lines of the lullaby she sang the night before. Rosa would sing after getting her answer.

Curled up around the vampiress who she still didn't know, Sera gave a soft murmur as the woman's fingers ran through her hair. It was comforting, like when her mother used to do when she was sick.

"Huh? Um... Velasquez... My name... Seraphina Montoya-Velasquez... But I go by daddy's name..." She was almost lulled into a dozy trance with this woman... It was like... Everything was wrapped around her, making her warm and comfortable. "Sing me the song please? I would really like to hear it... No one else has ever known it, and I haven't heard it in so long... Since i was little." She murmured as she shifted her position to curl on to the woman's lap like a cat.

Rosa nodded listening to the girl. Velasquez? That was very close to her own surname, but maybe it was her sister's family. Rosa remembered that her sister's name was Sondra Velasquez, but it just might be a coincidence. "Okay I'll sing her lullaby." She said happy with what she got from the girl.

The vampiress started in a low hum, but built it up to the words that she remembered from the girl's memories. Her voice was soft, at least as soft as she could make it with Sera curling up in her lap. She sang the lullaby until she felt Sera fall asleep, and then the vampiress gently placed the girl in bed and brought the covers up around her.

Moments later Rosa was out hunting for a meal, and to torture some men. After doing what she wanted to do before sunrise she returned to the bed where Sera was sleeping, and tucked in getting close to the girl. She even wrapped her arms around the poor girl before she fell asleep as well.

She was asleep shortly after the first verse of the song, her body still and limp, unaware of the going ons around her.

When she next began to stir, she felt loving protective arms around her, holding her close.

Smiling softly she nuzzled against the woman, pressing herself close against her protector, the one who saved her. She might not have been welcomed by the coven, might have been abandoned by all, but she had been taken in.

"M-madre?" She whispered softly as she nuzzled the woman. "Madre, despierte por favor?" She nuzzled at the woman's face, tugged on her dark curls with her teeth almost hungrily. "Madre... Tengo hambre..." She murmured.

Rosa was awake and simply lying there with the girl. She had woken up an hour before Sera, but she just laid there. Then Sera stirred and nuzzled into her. "Estoy despierto." She said in response to the girl's plea. "Quieres salir y conseguir algo comer?" She asked kissing the girl on the forehead.

Sera must've been pretty thirsty, and Rosa wanted to go out to do a little feeding as well. She wasn't that thirsty, but she felt it was a better time than any to go out. She would show Sera what she did during the night.

"Yeeeeah." Sera said eagerly as she nodded her head. She nuzzled against the woman aggressively because of her deep hunger, nipping at the woman's neck. "What's your name though? You haven't told me what it is yet... I dunno what to call you Mama" She murmured in their shared tongue as she continued to nuzzle and rub herself against the woman like a cat, or a lost child who had after so long found it's parent.

"But yeaah. I'm hungry. When can we go hunting?" She nearly moaned as she settled herself, her head laying on the woman's lap, looking right up to her. She was almost begging like a hungry child, gazing with deep brown eyes up at her guardian.

Rosa smiled as Sera nodded and then nuzzled her neck. Sighing the vampiress sat up, and smiled. "Call me Rosa." She said in their native tongue. "I am Rosa Vasquez." Then she stroked the girl's head. "We can go hunting as soon as we get dressed."

Then Rosa got out of bed gently pulling the girl with her. "I'm sure I've got some clothes that'll fit you." Rummaging through her clothes Rosa found a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that she didn't wear that often. Looking for a second she nodded. "These'll fit you perfectly."

Then she found herself an outfit to wear, a black skirt and a matching tanktop. "We need to at least look presentable." She said to the girl as she started to strip out of the clothes she slept in.

"But... I don't need to get dressed... I'm already in clothes..." She said simply. It wasn't that she wanted to stay in her dirty, bloodstained clothes... That she wanted to be filthy and smelly... But... She just didn't want questions about her scars. She had a feeling Rosa would be the type to ask, the type to want to poke and pry if it would help her.

"And these fit fine too. I don't need to change." She said, almost defiantly this time.

Rosa sighed turning to the girl. "I insist Seraphina. I'll step out if it makes you feel better." She had almost completely stripped down leaving only her panties as she held the tanktop to change into. "Please I don't want people asking questions about the way you're dressed." Rosa countered to the girl's defiance.

"I understand that you have secrets you want to keep, and I won't pry if you don't want me to." Rosa said reassuringly to the girl standing before her. "Please?" She asked as she started putting on her tanktop and skirt.

"Then could you please?" She asked switching back to English in her agitation. She was fluent and comfortable with Spanish, but English really was her first language. Well her primary, as she had learned both growing up.

"And... Do you have something with long sleeves? I mean... I know beggars can't be choosers, but I would feel more comfortable. A sweater, or a jacket... It doesn't have to be anything fancy or special." She said as she crossed her arms over her chest, looking down slightly.

All it had to do was cover the scars on her arms. That wasn't asking too much was it?

"Later we can go by the appartment... I dunno if I'll be able to find anything, but if I can get some clothes, I'll do that..."

Rosa nodded listening to the girl and sighed. "Alright. I'll wait outside for you." She grabbed a pair of shin high leather boots and started walking out. "I've got a leather jacket on the top shelf of the closet." She said thinking what to do so they'd have time to stop by Sera's apartment.

Rosa walked over to the door and closed it behind her as she waited just outside of the door. "Did your mother ever tell you about your ancestors?" She asked loudly enough to be heard through the door. Rosa thought they might've been related, but she didn't know, and she didn't want to get her hopes up.

Rosa leaned against the cold stone wall of the catacomb as she pulled the boots on, and tying the laces together.

More sensitive than most others, Sera's ears rang with Rosa's voice.

"You don't need to shout Rosa. You're hurting my ears, the stone makes it echo." She pointed out as she pulled the shirt and hoodie off over her head. She would probably do well with a shower too... But all she saw was a simple stone basin and a washcloth...

"But no... Not that I can remember anyway. I was very little when she died... I... I don't remember too much about her. Just some things still stick." She said as she soaked the fabric. "And well... Papa never said anything really..."

She scrubbed at the dirt on her face, neck and arms for a moment and put the cloth back with a sigh. Yeah... A shower would be nice. Nice and hot... With thick fluffy towels. That was one thing she liked about Ambros. He had brought her all sorts of nice stuff... Would it still be at that apartment too? No, that place was torn from end to end... Gutted like a fish.

He had deserved it though. If he ever came back, he would know that it was her. It was her who destroyed his home just like he had destroyed hers.

With a sigh she pulled on the t-shirt and jeans, tugged on her dirty socks and tied up her shoes once more.

"Do you have anything else? If not that's okay... But it would look a little odd, me walking around in a leather jacket..." Even if she didn't have another jacket... You couldn't see a lot of scars... A few cigarette burns... One gash along the underside of her left arms where she had tried to kill herself before.... And a few smaller cuts from some glass when she was little... From falling on broken beer bottles.

Rosa sighed as the girl spoke from the other side of the door. "Sorry about that." She said softer now. Rosa sighed as the girl spoke about not knowing her family. Looked like she'd have to do it the hard way, and look up the family history when she had the time to.

"Sorry about the lack of a shower." She said still leaning against the cold stone wall next to the door. It was a guess on her part really. She wa a girl herself, and she'd want to take a shower right away if she was as dirty as Seraphina. "I should get one installed." She said with a sigh. It was hard not being able to take a shower whenever she needed to. Hell it was hard washing her clothes.

Then she was asking about another jacket. Thinking for a second Rosa answered. "I think there's a long sleeved satin shirt in the second drawer." Sometimes it was hard to keep track of what clothes she had at the Coven, and what clothes she had elsewhere, but she was pretty sure she had that shirt in the closet. It was a maroon shirt with sleeves reaching down to her wrists, long enough for the girl, but she couldn't think of what else would look good on Sera.