Some months after her embrace Heidi had gotten a nagging feeling that would not stop.  It was in turn making her frustrated and generally miserable to everyone who had the misfortune to cross her path.  Trowa had also decided he did not like this side of  Heidi and aimed to put a stop to it by any way possible, right after she woke up on her own.  No sense in making things worse by getting her up early.  There was no need to wake early since it was too cold outside for any prey to be out and therefore no reason for the predator to hunt.  When he realized she was slowly waking he sat down next to her and waited for her to notice. 

 

Trowa had found he enjoyed looking at her while she was like this.  Her face was not guarded and he could see small hints of what truly lies beneath her mask. She was not one to lead but instead was happy to follow.  She did however have the will to want to do things her own way.  Learn them in her own time and hated to be pushed into what others believed was what she should act like. 

 

He brushed his fingers across her cheek letting her know who it was.  The motion keeping a very deadly blade from finding a way into his throat.  Her eyes opened and she stared at him wondering what he wanted from her.  He hadn’t been by her side like this in a few months.  Since she had gotten used to the gift he had given her. 

 

She didn’t need to ask the question for her eyes asked for her. He really didn’t answer her question but asked her on instead.

 

“Why have you been on edge lately?” He saw as she was going to protest, but stopped her with a stare.  “You’re unhappy.  Something is bothering you and I would like to know what so I can get you back to your normal self.  You haven’t even wanted to go on a hunt last week when it was to first time in two months that you would have been able.  Your lousy attitude is making everyone suffer.”

 

She was surprised, not at her sire’s want to help make her feel better, for that was not what he was truly interested in, but at the amount that he had spoken.  It was the first time she had heard him speak so much at once that did not involve a lesson in one way or another.  He handed her a bottle and watched as she drank a few gulps knowing how much hunger could direct a conversation with her.  She did answer his question when she was finished.

 

“I wonder what happened to her.”  Trowa’s face frowned in confusion asking her to continue.   “My mother…”  there was a long pause as she tried to form together the right words to describe the thoughts in her head.  “I know she had been following me when I had run away.  I had seen her on my trail two weeks before I met you.  Why do I have this need to want to find her or rather what has happened to her?”

 

It was then she heard her sire speak to her.  His words sounding nothing like their normal textbook manor.

 

“You want closure to your mortal life.  You were running from her and now you need to finally sever the link that connects you to the life you used to have.”  She was taken back by his words unable to speak for several moments.   He was right.  He had been able to put into words what her mind was unable to form into cognitive thought .  She needed closure. To cut the last thing that grounded her in life.  

 

“How to you suggest I do that?”

 

“Well finding where your dear mother is sounds like a start.”

 

XxXxX

Trowa had been very understanding over that last month.  It had taken them nearly a week to reach the last place she could remember seeing her  some miles north of where they had come from.  Trowa was content to sit back and watch her run from place to place in the small city flashing a small photograph that she still had of the mother she had abandoned.  It had done the trick thought for her mother had always left an impression on people she would meet.  Most people did not know what had happened to her, but one of their fellow kind remembered her following a group east.  With the small lead the pair made their way east.  Heidi was unsure what she would do when or if she found her mother.  Trowa was quick to point out that sending her to her grave was one sure way to cut the ties that bind one to a mortal past.  She didn’t wonder what the look of hunger that passed through his eyes was for.  And she admitted to herself that it didn’t sound like a bad idea.  Was the taste of family blood different than everyone else’s?  

 

Three weeks later, Trowa and Heidi found themselves farther east than they thought they would need to be.  Her mother must have been quite stubborn to have made it all this way in the cold weather and in the middle of a war no less.  Not that he was admiring or anything, but it was the same thing he saw in Heidi.  Her stubbornness to keep going and natural ability at fighting had been why he embraced her.  Once she got a few years under her belt she would make a great addition to the clan Brujah.  She just  needed to loose the weight of those that will remember her. 

 

He understood the need.  He had run into his own sister years after the death of their parents and the night he had been brought into this wonderful world of unlife.  He had still been young and done the foolish thing and gave his sister a taste of the world he existed in.  It was annoying to know that your own sister would never be able to truly leave you alone again.  He wished now he had never done it and so he and his sister would forever be stuck arguing over who got to feed off the poor person who wondered into their grasp, never mind that he was her sire.  It didn’t dissuade her from starting the arguments.  He could never get her to treat their relationship  as anything other than brother and sister.  It was always Brother this and Brother that.  Not like with Heidi.  She had this inherent nature that made her talk to others with at least some respect.  It was always Sire.  So far to this night he could not recall her ever uttering his actual name even though he knew she knew it, his sister screamed it at him enough.

 

Looking at the sky he glanced to Heidi.  While she didn’t show emotion well on her face her body language was very readable.  She twitched as the cart crawled down the street.  She was nervous.  Maybe a little angry although he wasn’t sure at what.  They could have tried to steal one of the cars that were left unguarded by the military but military attention was not a good thing so there had been a cart and a vary reluctant horse acquired.  It was faster than going by foot and easier to hide and didn’t drive his sense of smell crazy like the cars did.

 

As the two reached the city. Trowa watched Heidi go through the process of locating every person who was out to look at the photo .  Trowa began to look for a place to stay so they were not stuck outside come morning knowing Heidi would come find him only and hour before sunup.   He was surprised to see her come back only two hours into her search in the city. 

 

“She’s here Sire.  In this city, right now.”  It would seem she had found her needle in a haystack.

 

“What do you want me to do, hold you hand?”  It had come out in a cruel tone that he had intended it to and was surprised at the glare he received.  She was never one to speak out against him but this was as close as he imagined she would ever come. Probably the result of her not sleeping well and not feeding well over the last month.  All of us are prone to loose their tempers, even  he had done it and his sister was usually the one on the other end.

 

“No.  I just needed to know where we are staying the day.  I  probably  won’t be back until just before the sun comes up.” 

 

Rattling off a place and the direction to where it was from their current place he watched her take off. 

 

“I wonder what you plan to do once you get there?”

XxXxX

The place indicated by the man sitting on the corner of an ally was across the street from a large church.  A church that was in bad need of repairs, but so were most of the buildings around the city she had passed.  The one that the man had insisted her mother had been staying in was no exception to this.  Heidi was also surprised to see a round woman in her thirties step out onto the street wearing the garb of the previously mentioned church.  There was something strange about the woman and the building she had come out of.  As far as she remembered those that served the church resided within it’s walls not across the street.  She waited until she felt no one was watching and darted through the opening and shut the door behind her.  She instantly knew what was off about the woman and the building after looking around.  Everyone here was sick.  Sick and dying.  While it didn’t bother her in any way that would be normal for a human she felt disgusted and filthy.  Beds lined the walls and two rows down the center.  Full of the humans that were too stupid to just let themselves die and get it over with. Heidi was annoyed when one of the apparent nurses came up to her and asked what she needed.

 

“Are you looking for someone dear?”  Heidi only held up the well used photograph and pointed to the woman on the left, not wanting to really speak to the annoyance in white. 

 

“Ah…she’s been here for a few months now.  Come with me, I’ll show you to her bed.”  These people were idiots to not notice that she was not normal, but she guessed spending so much time with the dead and dying found it hard to tell the deference between those inside and outside these walls.  Heidi allowed herself to be led to the bed stopping several beds away and looked at the frail thing there.  The nurse brushed past her in the isle saying she would leave giving the two some privacy as she placed a wooden chair next the bed.  Heidi could only stare for the first few moments before coming to sit in the chair.  The woman on the bed looked old and pale.  She was gasping with every breath and the vampire could see her body shake trying to take in the needed oxygen.  She was thin and no where near as beautiful as she had been in her youth.  She had not aged well over the last ten months.  She was sick, Heidi could only guess it was the same thing that was killing everyone else in the room.  If her guess was right it was from being out in the cold too much over a long period of time.   Finally coming to terms with the fact that the near death body on the bed was her mother she still had no idea of what to do from here.  She was not sad, or sorry or any other emotion other than confused.  She could not just kill her here; Death was already on his way.

 

Leaning closer Heidi decided that the best course of action would be to simply say goodbye, but fate was not going to make it that easy.  Tired and warn dark eyes opened and looked upon her paler face.  There was almost immediate recognition in them and the old woman began to whisper out her daughter’s name.  She barely managed the first letter before she was out of breath again.  Taking a deeper and more painful breath she spoke again.

 

“I…foun…d you….I had…thou…ght you ….were dead…”  she was out of breath and began to really struggle to breath.  Heidi didn’t let her continue feeling the need to talk to her mother. She spoke in a very low voice so only her mother would hear ever watchful of the women in white.

 

“Your all that’s left of my life and you are quickly fading.  I will make this quick.  I did not come here for your benefit, but to free me of you.”  It was clear her words were confusing to the old women even though she was only in her mid fifties.  “You spent all that time looking for me when I did not wish to be.  I was lucky that death found me first.”  She did another glance around before giving her mother a very good look at what she was until her mother’s eyes showed she understood it.  Her mother to her credit did not flinch away or really seem change even though she knew what she was looking at. 

 

“Wha    happen…ed to …”

 

“Your little girl?  I had the idea of finding you and killing you. You are the last thing that connects me to this world mother.    After you die I will be free.  I won’t kill you though, you’re close enough.”  The old woman looked about to speak again but stopped as she felt a sharp pain in her chest.  Grasping for it she let out a squeak. “I just wanted to say goodbye and let you know that I won’t be joining you in heaven.”    The woman was gasping and was in obvious pain as she just sat and watched.  Eventually the gasping slowed and stopped and the woman’s arms fell back to her sides, eyes rolling back into her head as the lids shut.  Heidi’s hand shot out to rest against the chest of the women.  She liked to feel it as the heart stopped. Knowing and truly feeling free of the life she was not part of. 

 

Looking around Heidi did not find the nurses.  She spotted three of the four when she approached the door all holding small bowls of steaming soup.  She didn’t say a word to them as she left. Not even when one tried to inquire about where she was going to stay.  She just wanted to get something to eat herself.  She did stop when she saw one of the three go back into the building.  Going to check on the people inside.  The other two went in moments later probably having discovered the old woman was dead.

She let a smile cross her lips when she saw  the fourth nurse walk out of the church and felt the hunger begin to pull at her. Decision made she pulled on thick gloves and rand to the nurse catching her attention before she was half was to the death house.  She turned and veered in her direction.  Once within reach Heidi grabbed the nurse’s hand and began pulling the woman towards the place Trowa was going to be at, throwing words over her shoulder.  Brother…hurt….help.

 

It is funny how easy it was to lie to people when you weren’t actually looking at them and almost dragging them behind you.  The woman probably thought it was an emergency and didn’t question the lack or emotion on her face.  Heidi was just happy that no one had seen her drag the woman away. 

 

The building where they were going to be staying was not large but was abandoned and no one was around, not living anyway.  The cellars in these buildings made a good safe haven from the day’s light, that was why Trowa had probably chosen it.  No one around and no one to hear the screams.   Trowa would still be inside, she knew.  He was very careful to check for any holes in walls or to cover up any windows when h stayed in any new place.  She found the cellar doors and heaved one side open pushing the woman in front of her.  She didn’t care that the woman fell to the bottom.  Pulling the door closed behind her and going down the stairs she found Trowa standing over the nurse. 

 

“How nice of you to bring home dinner.  Although I was not expecting you so early.”  He looked up to study her face and could see the difference.  She was back to her normal self already and she was hungry.  The woman was frightened and had started to crawl to the stairs, but only go a foot before Trowa bent and grabbed her around the neck and pulled  her to her feet.  “Care to join me.  It has been a while since we shared a meal together?”  Heidi needed no other invitation as she stood up against the nurse who was shacking but to terrified to utter a sound.  Sandwiching the woman between them each took a side and sank their teeth into her flesh.  Happily rewarded with the shrieking of the woman giving them the perfect dinner music.