For over five hundred years Riale had walked the earth, this night she drove - and she did so in an expensive new convertible. The modern world seemed to revolve around money, fortunately the coins in a five-hundred-year-old vampire's piggy bank were worth quite a bit in the modern world. Old money seemed to be worth a lot at present, even in a world that valued the new above all else; Riale's life savings of five hundred years allowed her to live comfortably - even by the standards of this New World she now lived in. Funny, how I can still consider North America the New Wold . . . . she mused - but then again, why shouldn't she?

The majority of Riale's existence had been spent travelling across Europe in a nomadic existence - keeping on the move was necessary if she was to keep safe in lands where humans had always, and in some places still did believe in vampires. Irritation and annoyance caused her eyes - normally a grey that was almost pale enough to be the colour of cloudy ice - to flash a crimson red. If only the humans of the old country were as ignorant as those in this place! With the wind whipping through her long black hair, the pale, angular features of her face twisted into an annoyed snarl, with her ruby lips pulling back to reveal her pearly teeth as she contemplated the vexing truth. It was the all- too-prevalent awareness of vampires in the humans of Europe that had motivated her to move to the New World.

As recently as a decade before, Riale had been the target of a vampire hunter's attack. The assault had convinced her that a change of address was in order. With false passport and other false identification in hand, Riale Nemonaelies - her chosen name, of course, only a fool used their true name - left Europe for a New World conveniently populated with skeptics.

Without having to fear someone suspecting her true nature, Riale thought she might be able to settle down somewhere permanently for the first time in her five hundred twenty-three years but no place had yet managed to catch her attention long enough to make her want to stay. Perhaps her years had made her jaded, but the colonies failed to awe her. The sky scrapers and traffic in the major cities of the United States had no power to impress her - they were nothing (not even New York City) when compared to Paris, London or Rome - and life in the country's small towns was too quaint for her tastes. After abandoning America, the vampiress began exploring Canada, deciding to give North America one last try before she would give up and move back; perhaps Europe did have vampire hunters, but at least it wasn't dull.

And so she came to be tearing down the Trans Canada Highway, driving forty kilometers over the speed limit. Canada, thus far, had been as disappointing as the U.S. She was now in Ontario, somewhere past the city of Ottawa. Neither Ottawa nor Toronto, had impressed her and Riale was currently speeding her way out of the province when sirens began to sound behind her.

Pulling over with an annoyed sigh, she tapped the steering wheel with an impatient finger. As the officer walked up to the driver's side, she turned to him, her features twisted into a vexed scowl, her eyes once again shifting from their natural icy grey to an angry red as a rumbling growl emitted from her throat. Disturbed by the unnatural appearance of the irritated vampiress, the officer retreated back to his car and continued on his patrol. Rolling her eyes as he drove away, Riale became aware of a strange sent on the air.

Carried on the breeze was the smell of food - the smell that permeated the air near all human settlements - but mixed in with that odor was a smell of things much older, of things beyond human. Exiting her car, the tall gaunt vampire walked to the top of the rise on which her car was parked and was greeted by the sight of a human city stretching below her.

She breathed deep of the air - it was from here that the strange smell came. With a start she realized that the scent in the air was that of vampires. Riale had never associated much with other vampires, especially not since her Fethair - her beloved as well as her vampiric sire - had succumbed to the wound of a silver dagger, but the spoor was unmistakable. Vampires resided in this city, a large population of vampires - but what was more, there was something else mingled among the original scent of human and vampire. She could not remember the last time she had scented such creatures but the vampiress could still recognize the spoors of the other elder races, down in that seemingly unassuming city were the homes of Werewolves, Juventus, Aeridar, the savage G'laek and even the warrens of the secretive Tagabren.

"Intriguing," she muttered. Ahead a highway sign standing beside an exit ramp declared Welcome to Ruby Falls! Deep red lips parted to reveal sharp pearly teeth as a smile quirked the lips of Riale Nemonaelies. Such a melting pot of humans and the elder races was bound to provide entertainment. "Perhaps there are places in this New World to interest me after all?" The question rang of hope for amusement as the vampiress got back into her car, pulled the convertible onto the highway and took the exit that would take her into the city of Ruby Falls.


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