Chapter 1

I drove and drove until finally I saw the house. House wasn't an accurate word for what was in front of me. It was a fucking mansion. There were guards subtly stationed at regular intervals around the perimeter. I doubted the neighbours or regular humans would notice them. However they were obvious to me and any other supernatural creature that was looking for them. The perfect protection. Humans think you're normal. Supernaturals are scared of you. Very smart. But then no one ever called the dickhead who lived here dumb. I slowed the car as I came up to gate. It was the most advanced in his latest collection of electrical…goodies. The guard came out of the hut. I wound down my window as he approached.

"Do you have an appointment with Mr. Walsh?"

I smiled sweetly up at him. He was well trained there was no doubt about that. He didn't even glance at my cleavage even though it was practically popping out of my singlet top.

"Yes, I do."

And then I brought the gun up and shot him in the head. Kill shot.

The other guard brought his gun up. Too slow. Two down.

I gunned the ignition and slammed through the gates. Normal cars would never be able to that but like me this car has certain…upgrades.

More guards took aim at my car and opened fire. Dumb shits. My car shot them. No I'm not kidding. Maybe I should explain. My car has a special mode. I had no allies here so the car shot at everything human or well…not quite human. The guards ducked for cover as I fishtailed to a stop in front of the front door. I grabbed my backpack took out two guns and slung the pack over my back as I got out of my car. Instantly the guards changed their target from my car to me. I ducked as a bullet whizzed over my head and pressed a button on my car keys. Now nothing short of a nuclear blast could destroy my car.

I came up firing. Guards never stood a chance against me. My guardian always told me to harness my temper because if I let something get to me enough for me to lose it, then I was liable to do something stupid. Like walking into the home of a vampire who was over a thousand years old and for the past 300 years had been selling young girls to the highest bidder and had never been caught by the best of the supernatural's 'police'. Yeah I guess that would be stupid. Not that I could think now. I was too pissed.

More guards came running out of the house and I took them down too. No more came out but a quick scan of the house revealed that the rest of them were inside the house. Well I better not keep them waiting. That would be rude. I walked through the front door. Relax, it was open; I can't walk through walls, though that would be fun. The foyer was beautiful. It was like a museum. Artifacts from every part of the world hung on different walls. European on my right, Australian, American and African Native behind me, Asian on my left and Egyptian in front of me. I smirked and let loose a rain of bullets on the priceless collection. I'd regret that when I regained my rationality, I love history.

When my gun went dry a guard peeked around the corner. Blam. Guess he'd forgotten my other gun. I walked over to him and crouched down. As I picked up his weapons as a gun went off behind me. I rolled avoiding the bullet but others kept coming. Ah there it is. I picked up the grenade and tossed it behind me with speed none of them could match. They didn't even see it until it blew up. Grabbing a few extra goodies from the dead guard I continued forward, I was completely silent, not even breathing. Another head peeked around the corner a meter in front of me. Blam. Gone. I rounded the corner and fired at the two guards inside the room, destroying the room just to piss Mr. Walsh off.

I took the stairs three at a time and blasted four more guards in the first room I found. I paused and casted my senses. I could hear breathing in the next two rooms. A total of eight guards left. My extra senses however picked up much more. The eight guards were all humans vamped up on vampire blood (pun intended) until they nearly were vampires themselves. A small part of my brain wondered if they knew just how close they were to becoming undead. Somehow I didn't think so. They probably didn't even know it was blood they were drinking. In the basement there were five vampires. One was old enough to be the mysterious Mr. Walsh and the others were old, very old but none of them even looked close to match Mr. Walsh for strength. Except one. He was about 600 in undead years and very, very powerful. My mind latched onto his and I only got a glimpse before I ran into shields. I tried again. But I couldn't get past the shields. What. The. Fuck? I have never come across someone whose mind I couldn't read. I could even read Mr. Walsh's. Granted it took me two goes but that was expected because of his age. I moved through the next two rooms not really seeing anything. I cut down all eight guards but my mind was on the vampire down stairs. Mr. Walsh knew someone was here but he didn't know who I was, who I worked for or where I was until I shot something. All he really knew was that I was going to pay for what I was doing to his artifacts. I snorted at that. He didn't even care about his guards. I had hoped shooting his collections would piss him and knowing I was right made me very happy. Yeah I'm sadistic, I like pissing people off, get over it.

I crept down the two sets of stairs and paused outside the door. I had been border-line suicidal when I came in but not being able to read the vampire's mind had cured me of any suicidal tendencies. Don't ask me how I don't know. I cast my senses again to make sure no one was going to creep up on me. Only the five bloodsuckers in the next room. Three of the leeches were scared out of their fucking minds but they were more scared of what Mr. Walsh would do to them if they didn't kill me than what I could do to them. Under normal circumstances that would be a smart mind set but when it comes to me things are very rarely normal. Mr. Walsh was confused but waiting patiently waiting for me to arrive. He didn't know I was here. The fifth vampire knew I was here I could feel it but he wasn't saying anything, surprisingly. I was going to have to watch him.

I silently slid two knives out of my boots and palmed them. Two of the vampires were on either side of the door. I smirked and picked the lock. I knew they would hear it so I made it slow and menacing. God they were practically pissing themselves now. I swallowed my laugh and slammed the door open. I flung a knife at the first vampire. Dead. The door had slammed the second vampire into the wall snapping just about all his bones. Dead. The second knife flew through the air until it jammed into the third bloodsucker's throat, cutting his spinal cord. Dead. I paused in the doorway taking in the scene. The two leeches were gorgeous. All vamp's were beautiful but these two were amazing. One looked slightly older than the other. The younger one was the one with the amazing mental shields. The older one spoke.

"Who might you be, my dear?"

His voice was smooth I could imagine girls from every era giving up everything just because that voice had spoken to them. Add the body to that and I was no longer confused as to why the girls went voluntarily. I tilted my head to the side and studied him. About 5'9 but that would've been tall in his age. I smiled at him all innocence.

"Guess."

He loved games and frankly it's not like I was going to just tell him straight out. So this, ladies and gentlemen, is a compromise. His gaze roamed up and down my body. It was sensual but my body didn't respond. See self-control.

"I think that you are a werewolf from the local pack hopped up on drugs."

I rolled my eyes at that.

"Wrong."

He leaned back on his heels and studied me again. Out of the corner of my eyes I saw his friend smile.

"How about a little deal?"

His eyebrows went up at that and he leaned forward, encouraging me to continue.

"You tell me your friend's real name and I'll tell you mine."

I already knew Mr. Walsh's real name thanks to my superior mind reading. But his friend was a different story. His shields were natural; he probably didn't even know they were there. He has a natural resistance to me and had had it all his life but it was too strong for me. Mr. Walsh inclined his head to his friend.

"Giacomo Medici."

"Alice West."

Mr. Walsh frowned.

"I've never heard of you."

It was a statement and a question in one; he was asking why he didn't know someone who was as powerful as me. I took pity on him.

"You probably know me better as Little Red."

Recognition dawned on his face and he moved with lightning speed. He ran straight for my throat. I feigned to the right as if I wanted to get out of his way and he bought it. With his teeth millimeters from my throat I sliced a knife across his throat. He froze and then his head rolled off his shoulders and his body slumped to the floor. Dead. I was on the last bloodsucker before the body hit the floor. Even with my speed he anticipated my move and twisted out of the way. I checked my balance as I turned to him. He was just standing there, a thoughtful look on his face. That amazing beautiful face. I shook the thought from my head. He was appraising me like I was a piece of meat. When his eyes met mine again they were black. But the look on his face said he liked what he saw. A lot.

"You can't kill me."

It was the first time he had spoken, as the late Mr. Walsh had told me his name before. I raised my eyebrows at the certainty in his voice.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I am older than you, more experienced and I know your moves too well as I have been following you for a long time now. Also if you do manage to kill me your father would be very upset."

I raised my eyebrows at the way he said father like he knew I wasn't John West's daughter as I had been pretending to be for the past two years.

"Why would my dad be upset if I killed you?"

I purposely said dad instead of father implying that I loved him like a daughter should. From his slight smirk he understood the reference.

"Because he and I go way back and I had nothing to do with Mr. Walsh's…enterprise."

So he knew that Mr. Walsh wasn't his real name and how he got his money.

"So who are you, really."

"I am the person who killed your parents."

"My father is still alive and my mother died in an accident."

The accident that killed my 'mother' also killed the real Alice West but no one but my 'father' knew that. He smiled.

"No I mean your biological parents Christina and Peter Lowood."

My mouth popped open I couldn't help it, no one knew that Christina and Peter's sixteen year old daughter hadn't been murdered when they were. All traces of me disappeared and a body of Jane Doe was placed next to my parents and burned beyond recognition, all the medical examiners knew was that it belonged to a girl who matched my stats. Two people in the world knew that I had survived, the murderer and John West my 'father'. I stared at him disbelief etched on my face. I had never seen the murderer I had been blindfolded while I slept and then woken up.

Most people would kill him now. Not me. I stared at him and then turned and walked away. I didn't look back and he didn't follow me.