Matt coughed, but he didn't need to do much for attention. People stopped the moment they saw a good looking guy walking with a giant camera in tow. Curiosity would be the death of human kind before anything else with how they flocked to danger in hopes to grab a video with their phone or a glimpse of what was going on.

"This is Matt Astra with Levi Valley News coming to you live from the mage complex in downtown Levisca," Matt announced with his best deep reporter voice.

People leaned in from the other side of the sidewalk as they chatted about knowing him. Matt was the biggest news face they had in the town, so a few girls giggled and tried to get closer. The mages on the door, not so much. The blond man on the left, leaned to the door and a woman scurried in.

"Today I'm here to tell you about the truth going on inside of the mysterious building cordoned off only to private visits and scheduled interviews. Just what are they hiding inside? What is it the mages don't want us normal humans to see?"

The man on the door cursed and leaned in the front entrance again as Matt attracted people like ants to a melting sugar cube. If nothing else, Matt could gather a crowd and entertain, even if he was a waste of a human being.

"Levi Valley News was given exclusive access to the mage complex, and we've got a juicy scoop on the latest cover up." Matt turned to a man who was lingering on the sidewalk behind him and lowered a microphone. "Tell me sir, what do you think they do inside these sinister walls?"

The pedestrian opened his mouth to speak, but didn't quite make it before two men came out of the complex building, grabbed them both by their shoulders and tugged them in the doors. Tara was thrown so off balance she dropped the camera, but Matt dipped and caught it to set it down on the floor before standing up and crossing his arms. Tara took the hint and shrunk back into the shadows as he took center stage.

"Got your attention, did I?" Matt near growled, and Tara wasn't sure she'd ever heard him use an aggressive tone with anyone except her. The man was greased in people-pleasing sauce when he worked for the station. One could even say he was smearing his name putting bad attention on the station like this.

It seemed uncanny to do for someone like her.

"Matt Astra," the angry blond from the door spat his name, regarding Matt much like she did. "We have an agreement with Levi Valley News to be transparent with the station granted you report the truth."

"Transparent?" Matt smirked as he walked up to the main desk and slammed his palms down.

With Tara hiding in the corner with her head down, the remaining mages headed behind the desk or behind him. That was the benefit of the news world, she guessed. No one ever saw or cared much for the cameraman, especially while the camera was down.

"We have hidden nothing from you?" the man insisted.

"Nothing?" Matt yelled, drawing every eye in the room, and Tara slipped along the wall as they redirected their attention. "I have several good sources saying you silenced–"

Tara lost Matt's words as she ducked into a slim corridor on the side of the main room. The attention of the mages there would only be focused on him for so long, and she needed to speak with someone past the door guards quickly or avoid getting the final boot for both of them. Who to talk to was up to Tanya, who whisked down the hallway with her and kept her eyes peeled for people of relevance.

Tara ground to a halt as a cacophony of voices drifted to her ears, and she leaned just barely around the corner to find a group of men hovering around a small girl. They were clearly apparitions, but the girl had her hands on her ears and her eyes downcast as she tried to block them out, which meant she could see and hear them.

And they weren't saying anything nice.

"Covering your ears won't get rid of us, you half breed monster."

"There is nowhere something disgusting like you can crawl to escape your fate."

"Such an abomination, no wonder your parents were happy to leave you alone."

"It must be a relief, not having to deal with such a filthy, loathsome brat."

The poor girl crouched to her knees, huddling in terror, and Tara, for a moment, forgot she was supposed to be sneaking around. Stepping around the corner with more rage than she knew possible for one person to hold, she drew the attention of the apparitions instantly. Raised emotion drew specters just as Matt could a crowd. They fed off of anger, sadness, and despair when they lingered in the human realm. Those who couldn't find peace craved to further other's suffering because they could not rest themselves.

"What the hell is your problem?" Tara snapped, and half a dozen specters raised their eyes to her.

By their strange white and black garb, they were mages from this complex. Tara has seen the astral designs, though these garments seemed more archaic. These were the ancestors of the mages, and of this girl if they were capable of lingering near her. Why would they harass a child who had likely just learned to make full sentences this year?

"A human?" A ghost spoke from the back of the room, one Tara hadn't noticed, and she glanced to a man with his arms crossed in the corner. His voice was so soft that it had been muffled under the rancid screams of the others, and his blue eyes and short blond hair barely registered before the other apparitions got in the way.

"Don't you think the girl is ugly?" a specter slipped around Tara before glancing up at Tanya and grimacing to show his white teeth like a vampire would their fangs. "A cursed mixing of the dead and the living, subsisting as if it won't just slouch away from its corrupt making."

Something rose within Tara alongside her disgust, a sort of feeling that she could make them go away. All her years as a child, she'd tried everything possible to get rid of them before she'd learned to just ignore them as an adult. It had all been futile to rid herself of pain, but never before had she felt as strong as she did when she knew she was the only thing standing between this tiny girl and hell. A protective urge rose in her, and the air sizzled around her as she took a step forward.

"If anyone is ugly here, it's you!" Tara growled and the ghost flinched back from her, easing back into the corner with its cohorts. Satisfaction settled into her as she garnered strength and pushed forward. "Piss off back to hell you came from!" Tara snapped the last and like a wiper on a car windshield, the ghosts cut out and disappeared.

All but one.

The one in the back remained, and Tara met his stark blue eyes as his lips curled into a smile, one that seemed friendly. Dressed in an elegant navy tunic, he was clearly a mage, but his clothes were medieval in nature. Silver thread wove through the fabric in elegant embroidery, depicting the moon raining down stars to the fringes. Without the mob in the way, Tara could see he was relaxed in the corner, not at all appearing hostile or lacking the ability to pass on.

What then was he lingering for?

Tara didn't have the time to ask as the girl unfurled from the floor, removing her hands from her ears and looking to Tara. Even standing, the poor thing couldn't be more than a few feet, and her teal eyes shined an innocent and appreciative light as she scanned the room and found only her solitary companion ghost. When the girl realized she was alone, she sunk a bit into her knees and tears lined her eyes.

Tara wanted to go to her and tell her it was all right now, but she took one step and ran into a wall of angry static, nearly passing out as Tanya blocked her path. To save consciousness Tara backed up, but glared at Tanya. It lasted all of a moment as she realized Tanya's expression was more fearful than anything. Something had the ghost's eyes wide and her body spread out like a safety net.

"Don't approach her," Tanya warned.

Tara looked around Tanya, and the small girl met her gaze again.

"You scared the ghosts away," the girl said, and a smile spread across her lips, smothering her agonized expression from before. It really lit up her light teal eyes, against the gentlest tanned skin Tara had seen. It contrasted beautifully with her straight blond hair as it fell on her shoulders and down to her navy dress shirt. It was stunningly like the man in the corner's, navy speckled with stars, and a moon shaped button at the collar.

A shadow stepped out of the adjacent hallway, and Tara took another step back as Tanya corralled her with her unfriendly charged air. Around the woman's shoulders, she caught an identical pair of teal eyes as they raked over Tara. In a flash, the man was at the child's side, and the girl reached up for his hand. Their skin touched, and the man's was a few shades darker as he hoisted the girl off the ground into his arms.

"The parent," Tanya whispered even though she was dead, showing just how dangerous the man was. "A dhampir hasn't been born to this world in centuries. That is why the girl is hidden away back here, and you trespassed to interact with her. When you yelled a moment ago, the man's hostility was near palpable. He has since calmed, but if you at all appear threatening to that child, he might just end you."

"How did you get back here?" the man asked, his voice soft and inquiring more than the reprimand she expected. The man didn't look all that threatening either, with a normal set of clothes for any office worker–a collared grey shirt unbuttoned at the top two, and a pair of black slacks.

Even so, Tanya's hostile demeanor sizzled up her arms with how close she was. Such fear. All Tara saw was a confused man with a strange, long on one side–short on the other, hair style, all in pitch that was completely contrary to the girl's. While she had his eyes, the girl appeared to have gotten a lighter continence and hair color from whoever the mother was.

There was no question that he was a vampire, with that piercing gaze, perfect muscled form, and stillness as he watched her. Not many people hung around without breathing and stood like statues. Tara had to walk on egg shells with him, knowing exceptionally little about how to deal with a normal vampire. Somehow, she didn't think Jesse's treatment of her had been typical.

"I... wasn't yelling at her," Tara rasped in the man's direction, recounting her words to figure out if any had seemed offensive toward the poor girl.

"I figured that out... slowly," the man answered honestly. "You did not answer. What is your purpose here? How did you get in?"

"I um..." A cold sweat trickled down her neck as the man waited. "I'm just trying to reach someone to get help for a friend, that's all. My coworker helped create a distraction so I could slip in unnoticed. I did not mean to stumble on your daughter."

"Who?" The vampire didn't skip a beat, and she imagined lying or stalling would get her bent in two with how protectively he had his daughter stuffed against his chest. The girl was also silent, seeming far too keen on physical cues to be quiet and behave.

"Silvia Arc," Tara nearly mumbled, unsure how much this complex was connected directly to the woman.

For some strange reason, a smile lifted the man's features, and he near laughed but contained it to a tepid chuckle as he took a step forward.

"That is convenient, as she is looking for you too."

Word Count: 2088