MIDNIGHT MASS.

one.

Her skin felt as if it were on fire.

Sartha curled and uncurled her fists, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up as she shoved down the urge to grab onto the gun, wrapping her fingers around the grip and pulling the trigger, from where it was tucked on her waist, and throwing it at the man who had been following her for the past thirty minutes. It would not do her well to pick the fight the moment she stepped foot in this city, not when it would attract attention she didn't want on her.

Sartha let out a deep breath, closing her eyes and taking a moment for herself, letting the honeyed notes of brass bands and the laughter of tourists overwhelm her senses. But as beautiful as the city might be, with its Creole architecture and ever-bustling crowd, New Orleans was more dead than alive.

And it made her skin crawl.

Squeezing past the tourists and locals, Sartha tried to make her way over to the Church, wanting to get this trip over as fast as possible. She kept walking, ignoring the eyes in the back of her head and the way the itch was getting more and more unbearable by the second.

"Sor.." Sartha stopped mid-word as she felt the part of her that had crashed into the stranger burn, the pain almost white hot, and scalding. She clenched her jaw, realising it was yet another leech that had caught the scent of her and wanted to hunt her down.

Easy picking, it probably thought.

Sartha felt a flicker of irritation which quickly shifted into fury, a voice in the back of her snarling to tear them apart. She gritted her teeth, looking at the leech in front of her.

And as expected, the stranger━ vampire, looked almost amused at her fury, with the corner of her lips twisted upwards, eyes shining as it looked down.

She hated this damned place.

Sartha rolled her shoulders, tapping her fingers against the gun on her hip, knowing that the vampire in front of her and the one that had been following her could both hear it. She moved again, weaving her way through the crowd until she reached a relatively secluded alleyway.

She bit back a smile when she heard the second step of footsteps come to a pause followed by a light thud. She turned to the one that had knocked into her and leaned against a wall, an amusement twinkling in their eyes.

"Place isn't safe, pretty lady," It was the one that had been following her on the roof that spoke, a slight drawl to his words as he gave her a smile, cocksure and amused. He took a few steps forward, eyeing her and the weapons that were strapped to her. "Certainly not for people like you."

Sartha let a small smile curl on her lips at that. "Marcel doesn't teach you leeches anything, does he?" She drew out as her hand moved to rest on the gun while her other hand moved to the knife that was tucked into the holster on her thigh. Just as she was about to pull the weapons out, the vampire lunged.

She ducked down, avoiding the fangs that were aimed at her neck, and kicked at its knees, making the vampire wince and stumble back. It paused for a beat, almost shocked at her strength and that was all she needed to take out the weapon and shoot, a wooden bullet embedding itself in the vampire's chest.

The other leech that had been watching so far let out an enraged scream when she saw her companion fall, running towards Sratha at full speed.

Sartha felt the air get knocked out of her lungs as her back collided with the wall, a sharp pain emanating from her skull from where it was hit, the grip on her gun loosening and causing it to fall. She let out a hiss, raising her hand and smashing the back of the knife against the vampire's head causing it to let out a wince of pain and loosen its grip on her neck.