The air was crisp with the threat of frost. The stars are lost in the blur of urban lights.

After the raucous din of The Broiler and the nearby freeway, the riverside Trail offers a quieter time to savor the fresh Blood of her most recent victim.

But the solitude of the footpath was soon broken by...

Footsteps! Running footsteps approaching through the dark. Deep shadows are cast by nearby trees. Though these are not deep enough to obscure her line of sight. Matching the unmistakable sound of staggering feet on the gritted footpath, she can see a stumbling figure. As he comes closer she can see he's clutching at his chest with both hands. Gasping for breath. His tall, broad shouldered athletic silhouette shouldn't be making those sounds!

The rich scent of fresh human blood reeks in the air as the man comes closer and closer...

Even though Tracy had fed not too long ago, the Beast inside of her urges her for more as the scent of fresh blood fills her nostrils. She notices the tall shadowy figure approaching quickly, and her instincts kick into survivor mode.

Huh? That's not normal...what's wrong with this guy?

She knew it wasn't usual for people to be running around the park this late at night. Doing so was just asking to get mugged...then again, maybe that's what had happened to this guy. Maybe he got stabbed. That would explain the smell of fresh blood in the cool breeze of the night.

Tracy is young, but she isn't stupid. Instead of calling out to the man or approaching him, she decides to hide behind a nearby tree and observe what's going on before making her presence known to him.

The man appears mortal. All too mortal, in fact, as he slumps to his knees. His body jerks as the impact of his knees on the ground seems to expel the last of his strength.

Now she has a clearer sight of him. He's white and in his early 30's and looks fit and well groomed. He has the build of someone keen on physical exercise. His jogging wear is expensive and well chosen. His running shoes are high quality. He must take his running seriously, or wants people to think he does.

He whimpers a frightened Nooo and falls on his side. Gasping for air. He doesn't seem to have spotted Tracy. He sobs a moment as he studies his chest. Blood is soaking into his jacket. Spreading a larger pool of fresh Blood. He risks letting one hand leave his chest and begins to smear blood over his jogging pants as he ineffectively gropes for his pocket. Shivering, his efforts are growing weaker and soon stop altogether as he slumps as if in sleep.

The distant sound of the traffic on the freeway. The steady rush of the adjacent river. The rasping gasps of the bleeding man.

His shortening breath is fogging in the air. The interval between gasps is growing longer and longer.

Tracy observes the man with some curiosity, while the animal inside of her urges her to give in to the hunger. It begs her to feed on the now motionless man, but she pushes the Beast back as she fights back her bestial nature in order to focus on her surroundings.

Shut up for now! He must have been attacked, which means the attacker must be nearby...

The petite Gangrel closes her eyes for a moment as she tries to tune out the ambient noise, hoping that she can concentrate enough to pick up signs of someone nearby.

Her potent vampiric senses do not let her down. Tracy hears, perhaps 40, maybe 50, yards away, just beyond the screen of trees, out of immediate sight, the sound of running feet.

The running seems to be toward the open lots used as the car park for the Cash and Carry centre.

Yep. She can be confident. Running feet. As she listens, the sound of running stops.

The overpowering smell of fresh and pumping Blood is so vivid! Scarlet red. The Blood seeps through his fingers. His grip on his wound slackens as his strength leaves him.

The man's breathing becomes laboured. The gasps shorter.

A growing pool of Blood spreads from his chest wounds. The grit and gravel at the edge of cycle path is beginning to soak up much of the precious Blood.

Someone is approaching...I don't have much time.

Tracy comes out of her hiding spot and rushes towards the wounded man. The young Gangrel isn't sure of what to do in this situation; give in to her Beast and its animalistic urges or help the man. She didn't really have any first-aid experience, but she tries to check the man's vitals anyways. However, she is unable to discern anything useful from her attempts.

Fuck! What do I do? He's just lying here...it would be so easy to just...but, what's the fun in that anyways? I'm a hunter, not a scavenger!

Tracy had never found herself in a position like this one before. She was not going to feed on the guy; but should she leave him there and let him die alone? What if the attacker showed up? She was running out of time and had to make a quick decision.

I'm probably gonna have to pay for this later...

In a moment of unparalleled humanity, the young Gangrel decides she will try to save the man's life the only way she knows how. Tracy pops out her fangs and bites down on her own left wrist, holding the man's head up softly as the red substance starts slowly trickling down her arm.

"Drink."

She urges the man to do as she says, forcing her wrist onto his lips.

His Will to Live is strong. Though his Soul might tremble at the Gifted Blood, the oblivion of Death far too stark. The offer of Darkness was accepted.

Hungrily. With a passion. His body stired. His cooling lips wrapped about the opened wound. Trembling hands creaked and cracked as the tension in tendons eased to grip hold of her offered wrist. Heedless of anything else, he began to drink.

His appetite was huge. Tracy might well realise she had begun to offer too much!

His body craved more to replace that which he has lost to violence. He still bleeds, but his body knows what to do with the Gift. Pulling his body away from the very brink of death, slowly the deeper of the wounds begins to knit and heal. Slowly, painfully. He grimaces and winces.

The sweep of headlights passes over them as a vehicle pulls away from behind the trees. From a moment, Tracy's casts a long shadow across the river.

His eyes open slowly to look upon his saviour. His tongue struggles to lap up each precious drop from her wrist and his lips. He has no words at present.

The petite Gangrel winces slightly as the man drinks from her, feeling slightly weakened by the loss of vitae. She slowly pulls her wrist away from the man and licks the wound. Her Beast urges Tracy to feed on the man, but she does her best to keep it leashed for the moment.

She looks down at him with some curiosity, before turning her attention back to their surroundings. Tracy closes her eyes for a moment as she listens to the sounds of the night. Had the footsteps stopped?

Shit. What do I do with him now? We can't just stay here...we are sitting ducks out here!

Tracy looks back down at the man. "Can you stand up?" She studies him closely for a moment and then offers him a hand and a kind smile. "Here, let me help you up."

Tracy realises, after pausing for a moment to listen, that the car headlamps are receeding and pulling away. Another sweep of the lamps over Tracy and the victim give a clue that the car was executing some intricate reverse procedure and was now heading away at some speed. A speed greater than might be expected for simply pulling out of a make-shift car park at the rear of a cash and carry depot. The footsteps have stopped too.

The man isn't wasting time. In the pause while Tracy listens for danger, he licks at her wrist again and struggles to stand, but, even with his new found power, he is too wounded to make more than trembling efforts to stand. As he attempts to do so, he slumps to his knees with a groan. Blood dripping from his open wounds. Dry retching at the Blood in his throat. Shaking with the adrenaline and sweat across his body from his brush with Death. He makes a miserable sight.

"thanks" he whimpers between retching as Tracy helps him stand "oh jeez...oh...jeez...I think he cut me up bad...I need a doctor...are you a doctor? Am...am I gonna die?" he looks to Tracy with eyes that shout with adoration: I think you just saved my life!

Tracy looks at the man with pity in her eyes. "No, I'm not a doctor. But I'll do what I can." The Gangrel takes her leather jacket off, and then takes her shirt off. She rips the shirt into pieces, in hopes that she can use them as bandages to stop the man's bleeding.

She slowly starts bandaging the man's wounds with the pieces of her shirt, working as fast as she can. However, the Beast hungers inside of her and Tracy knows it won't be much longer until she can no longer control it. As she finishes bandaging the last wound she looks into the man's eyes.

"Wait here, I'm gonna look for help."

Tracy puts her leather jacket back on and stands up. She starts walking away, looking for animal tracks nearby. It had been a little while since she had to feed off an animal, but desperate times called for desperate measures. However, she has difficulty finding any tracks in the dark.

Fuck! I need to think of something fast...

The winter earth and undergrowth reveals no tracks. There is the fresh smell of exhaust fumes on the air as Tracy wanders closer to the car park in search of evidence of life.

Back on the edge of the cycle path, her rescued jogger is trying to stand. But gives up with the effort and lays still. The Blood in his system is slowly doing it's work and knitting the stab wounds together. It is a painful process and the man's winces and hisses of pain carry on the cold night air.

Not even a squirrel appears on the branches nearby.

As the Gangrel's nostrils pick up the smell of fumes, she recalls the car driving off and gets an idea. Perhaps it wasn't the best of ideas, but the hunger was clouding her judgment at the moment.

Hmm...maybe there's someone in the parking lot nearby?

Running out of time and the will to keep her Beast under control, Tracy decides to walk up to the parking lot in hopes that she may find a solution to her problem there. She hears the man's cries of pain in the quiet of the night, and while part of her feels sorry for him, her more bestial nature takes a certain joy in the sounds of agony.

Her Beast urges her to return to the man whose life she just saved and finish him off, but she does her best to restrain her animal urges. However, the leash she has on her Beast is quickly slipping away...

I must hurry!

Tracy picks up her pace as she trots up to the nearby parking lot, keeping a look out for any signs of life.

She is quick enough to spot the tail lights of some van drive away from the Cash and Carry. It disappears from sight. Perhaps it was a Chevy "A Team" style van?

With that, the car park is empty for a few moments until a side door opens at the Cash and Carry and a tall, slim and unhappy looking guy in his late teens, dressed in the coverall brown coat of a janitor or warehouse worker, steps out into the cold air. His slender arms grasp a bulky cargo of flattened cardboard packaging and sheets of old bubble wrap. Physically he's more suited to playing Modern Warfare 2 than doing heavy lifting. He huffs to himself at the burden he is asked to carry to the large metal garbage container close by. He pauses. Watches Tracy for a moment. Clearly pauses to think about asking her something, then plods over to the large heavy duty "20 yard" metal bin. His iPlayer ear plugs and Linkin Park block out the whimpering of the man on the side of the path.

Tracy loses hope as she spots the van driving away, thinking to herself that she is gonna have to go back and feed on the man whose life she just saved to satiate her thirst for blood. However, a devious smile forms across her lips as new hope appears in front of her eyes in the form of a skinny teenager.

Perfect! Must be my lucky day! This should be fairly easy...

The redheaded Gangrel starts walking in the young man's direction; her green eyes fixated on him. Her Beast urges her to pounce the weakling and suck him dry of all his blood, but Tracy does what she can to push back these urges. She was a predator, but physical violence wasn't the only way of hunting down prey, and she knew this all too well.

Her pace is calculated, her strides seductive as she approaches the kid. The fact that she had gotten rid of her shirt in order to bandage the other man only made things easier for her. Tracy looks intesenly at the kid, a lustful look in her emerald green eyes.

"Hey there handsome."

He might only be getting a visual to go with the soundtrack to Transformers, but...he is clearly thinking: what a visual! He smiles as he sees her approach. Shirtless. Red headed with flashing eyes and walking the skilled stride of the predator, he is going to be putty in her hands. His smile is affable. He tries to make it appear as if his load is an easy one. Casually hefting it into the 20 yarder before he flips out the ear plugs. "Hi!" he offers.

If he hears the whimpering on the path nearby, he ignores it. With each step Tracy takes towards him, he's got much more on his mind than the pain of others...

Tracy comes to a stop a couple of feet away from him. She places one hand on her waist, and uses the other to play with her fiery red hair. To another predator like herself it would be obvious that her movements are just part of her strategy; she is an experienced hunter and she knows this all too well. Her green eyes look deep into the boy's eyes as she bites her lower lip softly.

The Gangrel inches closer to her prey slowly; she places her index right finger on his chest and moves it in a swirling motion. "You are too cute! What's your name?" Tracy doesn't really care for the answer, but knows the facade is necessary. She may be a Savage, but she would not just give in to her Beast. Being an apex predator takes a lot more than just raw physical prowess, which she doesn't lack of course. It requires carefully calculated strategies, the ability to think quickly and react to each situation appropriately.

The best predator is a smart predator.

Tracy knows she is out of the boy's league, and she is using that knowledge to her advantage.

"Mark" he says. He cannot take his eyes off her. He cannot allow himself to suspect she has sinister motives. "er...what's your name?" he asks, unable to sound casual about any of this. He hadn't even dreamed of a moment like this...one hand raises and then hesitates. As if he is toying with the idea of risking an opportunistic fondle of one of Tracy's breasts. At least, that is where his attentions are momentarily focused.

She giggles and then grabs on to the kid's shirt with her right hand, pulling him closer to her and looking him right in the eyes in a seductive manner. "My name is Tracy." Her free hand begins to explore what is probably uncharted territory. After all, the boy does look like a virgin to the Gangrel. Something about the way he is starting at her breasts; he totally fit the bill.

"So Mark, what do you say we go inside and you take a little break with me?" Tracy licks her luscious lips as she finishes asking the question, pulling the kid even closer to her. "I promise I won't bite...unless you ask me to..." she gives him a playful wink and lets out a little laugh.

Sorry kid, but I'll definitely take a bite. You'll enjoy it though.

As her free hand explores, his excitement at this event is all too obvious. He nods to everything she says. "Sure..." he offers meekly, "inside..." he nods and gives no thought at all to the presence of any superviser or co-workers within. His thoughts revolved around one thing.

Breathless, he staggers back to the door, opens it with the same fumbling gesture he was giving to her breasts a second or two before. The heavy safety door opens. The sounds of a busy warehouse space are clear. Eager to keep his close contact with Tracy, he inexpertly tries to lead her inside.

Tracy follows the boy, giggling along the way. She figures she may as well have a little fun with him while she's at it. Just when she thought this was way too easy, she hears the sounds from inside the warehouse. The Gangrel is a bit reluctant at first, but she know she is at the point of no return.

If she turned back now the kid could become suspicious, so Tracy lets him lead her inside. Once they have walked through the door, the Gangrel glances around the area to get a sense of what she's dealing with. She has a feeling that the boy is not the only one working that evening, and she knew better than trying to feed on him in such an open space.

Tracy leans in close behind the boy, whispering in his ear. "So Mark, you got some place where we can go have us a little fun?" She gives his earlobe a little lick as she finishes saying those words.

Still having no idea as to how or why this is happening to him, Mark nods. "I guess...I guess so...we could go this way..." he nods towards the restrooms. Tracy can see four other men in the warehouse space. Three men dressed like Mark, are crowded around a PC terminal at a desk, laughing with each other as they watch something on YouTube. The other is the source of a lot of the heavier industrial noise. He's carefully driving a standard fork-lift truck. His truck carries a slab pallet laden with some boxes. He's busy concentrating on driving his truck to the loading bays and pays no attention to Mark.

Mark begins to excitedly lead Tracy to the restrooms. They are concealed from everyone's veiw by towering stacks of boxes. "Yeah...in here, totally!" he enthuses. Unthinking, by habit, he pushes the door to the mens restroom open.

Tracy observes the group of men around the computer for a moment, then shifts her attention to the guy driving the fork-lift. Once she is convinced that the none of them are paying any attention she begins to follow Mark. As they walk up to the restrooms the Gangrel can't help but smirk to herself.

Hell, it wouldn't be the first time...

She follows the boy as he pushes the door open, licking her lips as she gets ready to claim her prey. It wouldn't be much longer until she would lose control of her Beast, so she urges him forward into the restroom.

"Hurry! We don't want any of your buddies to walk in and ruin our fun."

"yeah...yeah, you're right!" Mark nods. He clearly hadn't thought of that either. He smiles. Urgently, he begins to taking off his outer tunic. Letting it, like any teenager, sprawl on the floor of the restroom. He begins to undress. But he has no idea which item of clothing to take off first. He's half way reaching for his pants when he stops. Tracy was exuding wisdom and expertise though, so he looked to her with lustful eyes. Hoping she might, like a mother, take the next guiding step. Freud would have understood.

Tracy slips off her leather jacket and is about to undo her bra, then she notices that Mark seems a little lost. She takes a couple of steps towards him and basically takes his shirt off for him. She then pushes him into one of the stalls, closing the door behind them just in case someone did walk in. She starts rubbing his chest with her hands and then she leans in to kiss him; her breasts pressing close against the boy's chest. The Beast urges her to take a bite, but she restrains it once again.

Just a little longer! This shouldn't take too long...

She undoes her bra with one hand while she is still kissing the boy. Tracy stops swapping spit with the kid for a moment and licks his chest, then moves on to his neck. The Gangrel starts unbuckling the boy's pants, as she gives in to a different urge than the one her Beast keeps reminding her of...

Fade to Black...before a fade back to the restroom


Here, in the warmth and well lit restroom, for Mark, it was over too soon. He is left sweaty, drowsy and bewildered. His pants about his feet. His overcoat on the floor. Tracy, very probably, feels great too! Mark's virile Blood, jam packed with vitality and youth, is hers.

Meanwhile, outside in the cold and dark, the wounded man has unsteadily crawled away from the edge of the path. Desperate to find help and shelter. Blood drying on his sweating body. Each muscle aches. "oh god..." he whimpers. He remembers something. Weakly he reaches in his blood soaked jogging pants for his cell phone...

Tracy licks the wound on the boy's neck as she finishes satiating her hunger. Then she dismounts as she fetches her clothes from the floor around them. Once she has most of her clothes back on, with the exception of her jacket which she is holding in one hand over her right shoulder, she turns to Mark and gives him a playful wink and a flirtatious smile.

"Thanks for the quickie Mark."

The redhead laughs as she turns around and storms out of the restrooms. She doesn't really bother to check if the other men in the warehouse notice her or not. Tracy got what she came here for, and a little extra too. The Gangrel tosses her leather jacket back on as she rushes out of the place, heading back towards where she left the wounded man.

I hope I didn't take too long! He should've healed some with the blood I gave him though...

Dashing out, Tracy spots that Mark was hoping to say something, but was too late. The forklift driver was still mounted in his truck and was in conversation with two of the YouTube men. The heavy door slams behind her as she dashes out. Tracy can feel confident that no one spotted her.

The short run across to the cycle path is covered quickly. The wounded jogger is laying face down on the frosted ground. His cell phone in a blood stained hand. The cell screen is illuminated, but no call seems to be active. He is alive, but the rise and fall of his torso is small. The stench of drying Blood and wasted Vitae might appal Tracy had she not just Fed.

With great effort, the jogger slowly lifts his head to look up to Tracy as he hears her footsteps come closer. His eyes light up. His angel has returned.

Now that she has satiated her Beast's urges, Tracy can focus on what to do with the man. She smiles at him as she kneels down to look into his eyes. "Its gonna be ok, just breathe." She takes a moment to look at his wounds, hoping that some of them have healed by now. "I didn't find anyone in the parking lot nearby, but here let me help you up and I'll try to get you somewhere safe."

Tracy offers him another smile as she wraps one of her arms gently around the man's back, attempting to help him up slowly. After all, she didn't need him screaming in pain and calling unwanted attention to themselves.

There's no way I can take him to a hospital. What the hell am I gonna do with him now? Maybe a motel, there I could continue to feed him and hope that will be enough to heal the rest of his wounds.

At that moment, she realizes that having a doctor buddy would come in really handy. Not that she would ever really need one for herself though. Tracy looks down at the man as she tries to help him out, unsure if she has done the right thing by helping him.

What have I gotten myself into?