  London, England 1919 Arianna hoisted herself out of the window, reaching in to pull out her bag before dropping to the ground. It was hardly a long fall and she made it without twisting her ankle or worst, breaking her neck. Taking one last look at what had been her prison for the last three years, Arianna made a rude gesture, felt the exhilaration of Mrs. Riley not being able to reprimand her, and turn her back on the orphanage forever. She wondered when they would notice her absence. Probably when they wake us up for the early morning service , she thought. The services were another reason she detested the orphanage.
Every morning, Mrs. Riley would wake the children up and they would gather in the common room. Then she would say a prayer for the lost souls and thank God for sparing their lives. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven , Mrs. Riley would pray. If God was all-powerful, why couldn’t He stop the damn war? Arianna thought bitterly. Why couldn’t he have saved Mama and Papa?
But most of all, why couldn’t He save Robert? Although Robert was five years her senior, she and her brother were always very close. It sometimes seemed that they could even read each others minds. But then the war started and Robert rushed to enlist in the army. Her parents were proud that their son would be defending good ol’England. To them, it was an honour to have a son fighting in the war.
But less than a year later, Robert laid dead, a single bullet hole through his temple. From the minute she heard of her brother’s death, Arianna’s health deteriorated. She never was a healthy child to begin with. She was small for her age; her skin was sallow, her features pinched and her greasy dark hair just seemed to weigh her down. Now she began to lose weight until she resembled a walking skeleton. Then her parents were killed in an air raid.
Her mother’s brother took her in for awhile, before her constant fits of coughing and doctor’s visits became too much of a burden. She was abandoned at the orphanage at the age of twelve. Mrs. Riley took an instant disliking to her. The feeling was mutual. Despite her ailing health, Mrs. Riley set her a number of tedious tasks; scrubbing the floors, doing the washing, white washing the privy. Arianna’s face twisted in an ugly scowl as she recalled her years of imprisonment.
“Put your back into it, girl! I’ll never for the life of me figure out why I ever took you in. I’ve just got a big heart. And look where that’s brought me!” Arianna invited her to do something unnatural to herself. She didn’t say it out loud, of course, just thought it in her mind. Still Mrs. Riley frowned at her work.
“Look at this filth!” Arianna bit her tongue to stop herself from pointing out that she was the one who was trailing filth behind her by failing to remove her boots when she returned from pottering out in the garden. She tried to block out Mrs. Riley’s voice by thinking of her life before imprisonment and proceeded to scrub the kitchen floor harder. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Helen, another of the orphans, looking at her with pity. How come I get stuck with scrubbing floors while everyone else does meager work, thought Arianna. She had protested about it before and Mrs. Riley had responded by telling her that such work would humble her haughty attitude and curb her anger. Arianna readily admitted that she was a tempestuous child but felt that Mrs. Riley was really exaggerating by calling her haughty.
She helped whenever she could and never thought ill of anyone until she came to the orphanage. Right then she was praying that some unfortunate accident might happen to Mrs. Riley. “Hurry up, girl! Really you should stop being so lazy!” That did it. “Why don’t you look at your own self before criticizing everyone else? What was it the Good Book said?
‘Why, then, do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, and pay no attention to the log in your own eye? How dare you say to your brother, “Please, let me take that speck out of your eye,” when you have a log in your own eye? First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will be able to see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.’” Arianna watched with growing pleasure as the colour rose in Mrs. Riley’s face. She was a quick learner and previous lessons had taught her that, at least in Mrs. Riley’s eyes, Scripture from the Good Book should not pass her lips except in prayer. Any other occasion would be considered blasphemous. But she just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to show up Mrs. Riley.
Maybe she is right in thinking that I am haughty, thought Arianna. However, she only considered this possibility for a moment before dismissing it. Her sharp eyes were quick to pick up the warning signs. Mrs. Riley’s hands clenched into fists. Her eyes narrowed until they resembled slits. Instead of running away as she was always inclined to do, she braced herself for the beating to come.
She knew that running away did not solve matter. It just made things worst. The first blow was sudden and it seemed that Mrs. Riley had poured all her energy into it. Arianna fell to the floor, completely unprepared for the next blow. Blow by blow fell on her. It was completely methodical.
It wasn’t long before she lost consciousness. Ironic , Arianna thought. She had always told herself that running away solved nothing. Yet she was doing it right now. As she walked through the streets of London, Arianna caught glimpses of urchins and rogues hiding in the shadows. The Ladies of the Night, however, where openly flaunting their wares on the streets.
Arianna felt something else other than these common Londoners hiding in the shadow of night. A cold shiver ran down her back as she felt eyes on her. She quickened her pace, hoping to leave those hostile eyes behind her. Funny , thought Arianna. I can hear no following footsteps, yet I’m positive that someone is following me. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder and saw nothing but shadows.
Instead of reassuring her, however, the emptiness just frightened her more and she broke into a run. Even then she heard nothing. As she ran, her untidy mop of hair escaped the ribbon she had tied it in. A sudden sharp wind swept her hair across her face, slapping her cheeks painfully. Still she ran. Still she heard and saw nothing.
All of a sudden, Arianna found herself face to face with a brick wall. She spun around and looked about her in search of a weapon she might use to defend herself. There was nothing lying on the ground she could use, but just as she gave up hope, her eyes light upon the boarded up windows of the two buildings forming the alley. Casting her bag aside, she reached up to the nearest window and attempted to pry loose a board. She was still hard at work when the figure appeared at the other end of the alley. It was wrapped in a voluminous coat, making it impossible to distinguish if it was a man or woman.
Slowly, it made its way towards her. Arianna increased her efforts and at last one of the boards came loose. It was rotted through at one end, however, causing it to break away leaving a jagged edge. All the better , thought Arianna. At least now I have a potential weapon. The figure laughed as she swung her ‘weapon’ in front of her.
Arianna was rather taken aback. The stranger’s laugh wasn’t as harsh as she expected it to be. In fact, she found it sounded sweet and gentle. Yet she could sense the danger hidden behind that laugh. As the figure neared her, Arianna was able to distinguish its features. His skin was unnaturally pale, made even paler by his jet black hair, which was cut in the latest fashion.
His dark eyes were cold and expressionless. “Why don’t you put that down before you hurt yourself?” His voice was heavily accented. Definitely not English , thought Arianna. “Why don’t you back off and leave me alone?” retorted Arianna. “Why are you following me anyway?” The stranger’s lips curled in a feral-like smile. He simply said, “Your anger.” “What?” “You asked me why I was following you and I’m giving you my reason.” “You’re following me because I’m angry?” “Well, it’s not only that.
It’s basically your hatred for everything that attracted me. It’s like a dark aura you’re emitting. It’s really irresistible to creatures of the dark like myself.” His answers intrigued her, yet she still held her ‘weapon’ in front of her, not loosening her grip for a second. “Creatures of the dark?” He smiled his feral-like smile again. He moved closer and as he did Arianna noticed his strange teeth. She gasped.
The canines were at least an inch longer than any normal human’s. “No,” she breathed. She held onto a thin shred of hope, however. The ‘weapon’ she wielded was of wood and from what little she knew of vampires, wood could kill them. All she had to do was stake his heart. “Take one more step and I’ll take the liberty of introducing you to the sharp end of this stake here,” threatened Arianna sounding a lot braver than she felt.
The vampire laughed again. “Now, really, do you think you can hurt me with that?” “I mean to kill you not hurt you.” The vampire looked amused. He stepped closer and Arianna swung out wildly at him. However, all the running and her efforts in obtaining her ‘weapon’ had weakened her considerably. He easily side-stepped her swing, but Arianna was determined not to be defeated so easily. Halfway through the swing, she changed directions, swinging her ‘weapon’ towards the vampire.
He was taken aback, and was barely able to get out of the way this time. Arianna heard his shout of rage as her ‘weapon’ hit him. It hadn’t done much damage, however, and the amount of strength she had put in the swing threw her off balance. She fell and, before she could stop him, the vampire had kicked her ‘weapon’ out of reach. Pulling her up roughly by her hair, he hissed, “That was a really dumb thing to do. I should kill you for even trying that.” “Go ahead then,” Arianna challenged.
The vampire’s angry expression changed to one of puzzlement and amusement. “Are you not afraid of dying?” “No, I’d welcome death. Go ahead, kill me.” He smiled that feral-like grin that Arianna hated, and that made her skin crawl, revealing his pointed teeth. “With pleasure.” Arianna felt his teeth pierce through her skin and felt the pain that accompanied it. He drank deeply. She felt her heartbeat weakening.
Slower…slower…Before he had finished, Arianna was enveloped by darkness and felt nothing. 
