There was an old man who was a commuter in the lower city. He wasn't that special, he was wearing ragged clothes and kept his head low. But, a clear eye could clearly see that the man was being neglectful of his pouch. He just hung it loose behind him, being covered by a spare sheath of fabric that was also hanging from his belly.
Sera could clearly see faint glints of gold from the man's pocket. Contrary to his appearance, the man was rich. It was something suspicious to say the least, but Sera's eye for fortune clouded her judgment. The old man looked dumb enough to convince her to go for it.
Quickly navigating through the crowded streets, her 9 year old body was able to squish through the sea of people. Her small body also masked her approach to the old man, he was oblivious.
As greedy as she is, Sera understood that the pouch couldn't be taken from him. It was tied to a tight knot, and snapping it would definitely make the old man aware of her action. Instead, her small hand would carefully draw two or three-maybe perhaps four gold coins from the man. One of those coins could feed the entire orphanage for a year-not that she cared about those pigs anyway, and that man just left it hanging, as if he wanted someone to take it.
Nevertheless, Sera accepted the challenge. She had pickpocketed people countless times in the past, surely this won't be any different.
Sera was closer to him now. One single step and-
"No! He's getting away!" Sera cursed under her breath. The old man turned away and was about to be out of her grasped when-
Sera suddenly felt her body lighter, her visions darkened, and her entire presence was somehow as noticeable as still air, invisible. She didn't know what was happening, she felt her body blitzed through the crowd, who was unaware that a high speed cloud of black hue was going around them. When she regained consciousness, she was behind the man himself.
Thinking quickly, she buried her hand carefully into the sack, careful enough not to make the metal coins clank against one another yet fast enough to take it before she was discovered. She grabbed the first coin and was about to pocket it before a hand grabbed her back collar and lifted her from the ground.
Sera was shocked, unable to fathom what was going on until she was staring directly at the old man's face. Her heart jumped and she looked in fear.
The old man's face was the stereotypical beggar insane people. It was covered by facial hair that ran from side to side, circling his face and covering his mouth. His eyes were neutral, yet a clear scar could be seen tearing his skin, through his left eye, making the pupil white. He was gripping her tightly with his left hand.
An old fear came up from within her, something that every child feared.
Sera always listened to the old lady Rena's story about old men kidnapping children, child predators. They would do horrible things to them, torturing and killing kids. It was something to prevent the kids at the orphanage from going outside at night. Whether the story really existed was doubtful. Nevertheless, Sera always feared something like that, it always got to her head.
Now, she is probably in front of one. His face gave a smirked and a clear view of his teeth.
"Heh, look what I found here. Your aura and presence were clear as the day lass, or night-"
Sera suddenly felt very exhausted, every time she happened to blinked closer from the shadow towards her target, it always made her body feel tired. She was unable to release the old man's grip on her.
"Still not in full control huh? Guess you're still a child…"
Sera didn't know what the old man was saying. Her anger-or lust suddenly got up to her. Her vision darkened as she quickly saw long traces of red inside the man's body. She could hear the beat of his heart, how it pumped blood from it and distributed it all over his body, and then back inside again. It looked delicious, it smelled delicious.
Whether she was in control or not, Sera bit the man's hand that caught her. She bit the closest those arterial pipes got into the surface of the skin, just right in the wrist. Her fangs stabbed the old man's skin, she bit it off as hard as she could. Her intention was unclear. One side of her wanted to use it as a reason to make the man lose his grip on her, but the other side wanted…blood, only blood.
Nevertheless, both were satisfied. The old man hissed away his left hand in pain, wiggling it, and in the process letting Sera out of his grasp. Sera's hunger was also satisfied. She took the opportunity to dart away into the crowd, trying to lose the predator.
But when she looked back, the old man was just standing there, smiling. Sera didn't dare to know why, as she had become invisible in the bustling and moon-forsaken lower city.
***
After hiding for a while, Sera creeped her right hand into her tunic's pocket and took out the two coins she had taken. They were shiny, it was in fact pure gold coins. Only the aristocrats of Calenon could afford something like this, and yet, the old man had it in large stock.
Sera noticed the day was coming to an end. The afternoon sky had given away to the incoming dusk. She never liked the orphanage, the old lady and her orphan-mates all hated her. But she had no other place to go. It has been her home since forever, and it's not like she'd ever get adopted.
Old Lady Rena made it clear that she was never going to attract any family that wanted to adopt her. Even the chance of her peers getting adopted was already low enough, no one in the lower city wanted to adopt a child, they either can't afford one or prefer to have their own biological children. And people inside the walls never ventured to this place.
So, she was surprised when the old lady announced that evening that someone would visit the orphanage.
"They will be here in the evening tomorrow, I expect you all to be present and in your best condition!" The old lady said. Her strict act had seen better days, evident by the many loose skins she had now.
All the children murmured in enjoyment, finally, someone who was willing to take them away from this place.
Of course she wasn't talking to Sera. She was talking to the kids who drew her attention the most, attention lickers. They were the leaders of the cliques inside the orphanage, unlike them, Sera was an outcast. She had always been one.
It happened when she was 6, her lust for blood crept up that one time and she almost bit one of her bed mates. After that, everyone started to call her a monster, maybe they were right, maybe she is one.
So, uncaringly, she stayed back during the entire dinner and adoption announcement session before going back to her separate room on the second floor, which had a hole on the roof. She never cared, coldness was never something she worried about. During winter she had stayed in her room, while snow and chill wind made their way inside, yet she didn't feel anything.
Sera stayed locked in her room. She wasn't allowed to venture outside the next day. Because there was a sudden cleaning session.
The old lady wanted a good impression from the adopters and she wanted every kid to prepare the entire day for the visit. The entire floor was cleared, the walls were patched and any sign of neglect was taken away. If it were a normal day, the troublemakers would vandalize or break something in the house, but today they were obedient and fixed everything they broke.
As for Sera, the old lady was kind enough to make her take care of the entire second floor. If it were any other kid, they would cry and beg not to be assigned that, but Sera just kept her mouth shut and do it.
She practically had the entire second floor all to herself since no one lived besides her. The problems she would took care are the cobwebs, the stack of boxes and watering the plants, which were hanged outside the window on the second floor.
As undead as she had looked, pale face, unable to sense the cold, the thirst for blood, Sera had one activity to wither away all her thoughts, which was to take care of the plants. It felt like an irony, a monster such as herself had satisfaction upon seeing life grew. But it was something she enjoyed.
Sera hadn't noticed that it was evening already in the cleaning session, and it was time the family had visited the place. Sera could hear the commotion below, even though there were stacks of wood between the two floors. Then, the door creaked open, and the commotion stopped.
What happened next, Sera couldn't care about it. The old lady seemed to have a conversation with them, but Sera didn't hear it, couldn't or didn't want to, she had to take care of the plants.
It was night, but Sera hadn't given them fertilizers yet. She opened a small pouch full of Animal wastes, the smell instantly filled the entire floor so she had to walk fast to drop them all in the pots. Afterwards she opened the door to her room and all the windows on the second floor. The smell went away, escaping through all the holes that lead outside.
Suddenly, there was a conversation outside the trapdoor to the second floor. Seemed like the old lady was desperate to not let them into her floor.
Sera's heart thumped. The prospect of being adopted had never come up to her mind. She was prepared to dig her own grave here, but maybe….just maybe…
The door opened to reveal a small girl about her size. She had her lower face covered by a thick black mask. But her blue eyes were visible and she saw Sera straight to her core.
Behind her, was him. The man from yesterday, who she stole those gold coins from. Her curiosity turned to despair, her face fell as she saw the old beard-covered face of the man.
Behind them, Lady Rena was desperate to prevent them from going through, but it seemed the young girl that was with the old man insisted on checking this floor.
She opened her mask to reveal the most beautiful face Sera had ever seen her entire life. There were no defects, no dirt, her face was clean. Sera was so entranced that she didn't realize the girl was snorting and smelling the air.
*sniff* *sniff* *sniff* "you're right, Yohan. It does smell like your garden here" The girl smiled at the old man than gazed on the many plants Sera had. "And it looks like the real deal too!"
The old man nodded before inspecting each plant Sera had grown over the years. Some were indoors and some were left open near the window.
"These are good products" The man named Yohan caressed the green leaf of a plant carefully. "You took care of them?"
"Ye-yes… no one else lived on the second floor, so..." Sera's nape hairs were all raising, she was very scared, yet held it back as hard as she could.
"Mr Elden please! Don't converse with that child! She's not appropriate for anyone, she's a delinquent, I assure you she would only bring pain!" Rena's face showed disdain as she chased the both of them to the upper floor. "Ugh… What's the smell here! Sera! What kind of dirty things have you brought in here this time!?"
"Pig manure" Yohan quipped.
"I'm sorry?"
"It's pig manure Lady Rena, great fertilizers for plants. Me and my daughter here used it often at our garden"
Rena made an 'o' sound.
"Well, looks like we found your new daughter Yoh-Dad…" The girl added.
"It seems so. Lady Rena, I have made my choice. I'm going to take Sera here as my own daughter"
"Please Mr Elden!! I beg you to reconside-"
Yohan threw his pouch at Rena, who managed to catch it. Inside of it were stacks upon stacks of gold coins. Rena's mouth was left wide open.
"Consider it as payment for Sera's trouble here, as well as the service to repair your orphanage" Yohan said as he went back down.
"We would also be taking all of Sera's personal possession as well as her own plants here. Tomorrow at noon, two city guards will come here, they'll be there to take away the plants." The girl who was with Yohan added as she put her mask back on.
Rena looked like she wanted to ask something, maybe who these visitors were, but she couldn't, she was too much flabbergasted.
The girl then faced Sera and lent her a hand. "Let's go".