It was a crisp winter's evening. The New Year had just rolled in. The ball had just dropped and friends, family, lovers, and strangers were still celebrating the beginning of something new.

But celebration, especially on this magnitude, can leave people vulnerable. A young couple stumble-strolls their way out of one of the many brightly-lit bars on their way to their parked car. They're laughing and hanging onto each other, stopping under a street lamp to share a kiss as deep as their love for each other.

"Why do you have to be so damn cute, babe?"

"Oh! Is that a crime now? Are you gonna call the Cutie Police to lock me up?"

"Shut up! Where's the fucking car? I wanna get home and..."

They devolve into a giggling, happy, loving mess. Their night couldn't possibly get any...

*HOOOOOOOOOOOOONK*

The couple jerks back onto the sidewalk, having ventured dangerously close to the side of the road. Another merrymaker swerves just short of a collision on their trip back home, undoubtedly to make a quick pit stop with the Sacramento PD.

"Hey! What the fuck!"

"Oh my God! Babe, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but that asshole..."

But no harm done. The couple stands in an alleyway just on the threshold of the city street. They squeeze themselves tight as the shock of the experience fades. Before long, they've gotten a hold on themselves and start crossing the street.

***

Conner breathed a sigh of relief. Was I ever so damn foolish? Yes; damned foolish. The Mekhet is pulled snug against the shadows of the alleyway with an unconscious man in his arms, held so that his back was facing the alleyway. His hands were hanging limp and a small handgun sat on the ground below his right, the clattering sound of its fall masked by the car's horn. In a brutal act of providence, the hunter had become the hunted.

Satisfied that the young couple were now out of sight and mind, Conner sets the mugger down and looks in the direction the lovebirds went. You could've taken them. Sweet and savory all in one go. Or maybe you could've just asked them for a ride home? Who knows where that would've...Not happening! That's not the Lancea's way. That's not my way. Conner hears the stirring of the man; this joy-killer who thought he could play God with the lives of a couple of drunk 20-somethings. Self-reflection turns to protective rage, and he grabs the man by the throat and hauls him to his feet.

"What the GUAAA....."

Conner lunges with a snarl, and his fangs sink into the man's neck. His protests drowned in a gurgle as he is condemned to the blurred sleep of the Kiss. Conner graciously...carefully...sets the man down after he's had his fill. He shudders and licks the last traces of blood from his lips. "Not tonight." The Shadow turns on his heel and leaves the mugger in the alley, where he would undoubtedly awaken with a headache and a tonfa-sized welt on his head.

As Conner exits the opposite end of the alleyway, where the young couple, the mugger, and he himself had entered in that order, he briefly takes in the sensory barrage of light and sound and smell and blood pumping. Perhaps there would be more lesser predators out to feed on?

Either way, he'd gotten to show a little mercy tonight.