It was hard to believe how much 150 years could change a place and it would take much longer for Carmela to feel comfortable in her new surroundings despite the length of time she has already been in the city.

Her early nights had been filled with a sort of confused desperation, an animal like existence, which thankfully passed. Instead it was replaced with a cautious, but human unease, and while this was an improvement the memory of those first nights still ate away at the back of her brain.

Tonight had started out well enough all things considering and she didn’t get near the amount of stares now that she had acquired some modern garments. The last thing she needed was more attention. The thought of spending any time in torpor made her skin crawl and she resolved to make sure that didn’t happen again.

On her way to the park, Carmela passed by a young woman who was dressed in a miniskirt and what appeared to be a transparent shirt. Doing her best not to stare at the woman’s unseemly manner of dress, she tried to remind herself that times were different.

I thought that the way I used to dress was unladylike. Clearly this will take some getting used to, she pondered silently to herself.

The further she went into the park the more deserted it was which wasn’t surprising given the hour and it wasn’t long until she found what she needed. A man was walking her way along the path all by himself.

The man noticed her about the same time that she noticed him and so she quicly went to work. Carmela approached the man with a slightly fearful look about her and when she was close enough spoke up. She noticed that the man seemed to tense up the closer she got which was a little expected given the fact that a stranger was approaching him at night.

“Pardon me sir could you please help me? I'm lost,” she said with her bottom lip trembling.

“What happened? Are you ok?” The man asked while his wariness seemed to melt away at her act. It was instead replaced by interest judging from the way his eyes roamed over her.

Just a few steps more. So close, she said calming herself and approaching her prey.

“No…I was...trying to get away from a dog...and now I'm lost,” she haltingly began. Then when he relaxed a little more she suddenly startled and looked behind her while clinging to one of his arms.

“There it is!”
The man looked behind her behind her but obviously was having difficulty seeing anything. “I don’t see…” he began before suddenly being cut off as Carmela’s fangs pieced his neck.

She drank greedily until the man slumped in her arms and passed out. Closing the wound she laid him down and patted him down looking for his wallet. Then once she found it she pulled out the cash and tossed the wallet to the ground.

As her head began to clear from the euphoria of feeding she frowned slightly and looked down at him once more before finally she kicking him in the back of the head just hard enough to give him a bump when he woke up and not to seriously hurt him. She smiled to herself as she turned and walked away.

Times may change but men are still men, she thought with a smirk.