“What? How can you possibly do that? It wasn’t my fault.” Halfrek fumed as she faced D’Hoffryn. How could he do this to her? It was all that worthless human’s fault.

“Needless to say, Halfrek, you know the rules.” D’Hoffryn stood before her, unmoved by her pleas. “You allowed a human to destroy your amulet. Be it accidentally or otherwise, you are now destined to live a mortal life in your last persona.” He casually waved a hand before disappearing from the room.

Halfrek stared at the burnt patch on the floor, anger radiating from her every pore as she realised she was now stuck in the mundane life of a pampered society debutante. Whirling around she grabbed the closest thing she could find, before hurling it at the spot where D’Hoffryn had stood moments before. “Ughhhh,” She stamped her foot before reaching for a delicate china vase and hurling it at the wall across from her, narrowly missing a young maid’s head as she entered the room.

“What?” she demanded curtly, taking no notice of the blood that began to seep down the girl’s face; a shard of broken china having embedded itself just below her eye. “Get this mess cleaned up.” Picking up her skirts, Halfrek left the room in a huff, searching for a quiet spot out of the way of prying eyes.

Halfrek stalked down the hallway, heading straight for the French doors leading to the garden outside, wrenching them open she strode through before slamming them closed viciously; taking a small amount of pleasure as the glass shattered behind her.

Making her way through the gardens Halfrek entered a small maze, heading unerringly towards the very centre. Reaching under a small stone bench, Halfrek brushed aside some small branches, and pulled out a box. She placed the box on the bench before lighting a small fire and grabbing a golden bowl from behind the bench as well. Opening the box, Halfrek studied the contents carefully before selecting several small packets of herbs and tossing them into the bowl. “Oh, Anyanka. I beseech thee. In the name of all women scorned. Come before me.”

The leaves on the ground began to swirl around her, as Halfrek rose from the bench and stood waiting.

“Hallie?”

Halfrek studied the woman before her, she would have been considered beautiful if not for the deep veins that marked her for a vengeance demon. “Hello, Anyanka. I need you to do something for me.”

Anyanka sighed, ever since D’Hoffryn had told her what had happened she had been expecting this call. “Hallie, I will help you in any way I can. As long as it does not involve vengeance.”

Halfrek frowned, her bottom lip jutting as she pouted her displeasure. “It wasn’t my fault.” She picked up her skirts and began to pace around the small alcove. “It was that sniveling little human that’s been following this…” she waved her hand derisively at her perfectly outfitted body, “this tedious persona. The pathetic little twit somehow managed to trip over his own feet and caused the chain on my pendant to break. Then he even managed to destroy it by knocking that stupid Admiral’s bust off its pedestal right on top of it.”

Halfrek turned pleading eyes on her friend. “Can’t you bend the rules a little this time? I am your closest friend, after all.”

“As much as I shall miss your companionship, I can not break the rules even for you.” Anyanka cast a dispassionate eye around her, already bored by her friend’s pleading. “You are fully aware that a vengeance demon can not call for vengeance for themselves. That includes demons who have lost their powers.” She arched one eyebrow. “No matter how they managed to achieve that status.” Without so much as a backwards glance Anyanka teleported out of the maze.

“NO!” Halfrek swept the bowl onto the ground, stalking away as she began muttering to herself. “That’s it, I’ll show them. D’Hoffryn thinks Anyanka is so special because she cursed that stupid boyfriend of hers in a prefect act of vengeance.” Stopping short, Halfrek turned to look back in the direction she had come, a gleam filling her eyes as a small smile crept across her face. “Well if D’Hoffryn loved Anyanka’s little show of vengeance, then I’ll just have to show him what I can do without my powers. Then he’ll have no choice but to reinstate my amulet.” Moving towards the front of the manor she yelled for her harried butler. “Barkley! Bring the carriage around; I think I may spend some time in town. Have Martha pack my things and follow, I want to attend the Peterson function tonight.”

She stood on the front steps awaiting the carriage, tapping her foot impatiently and humming softly as her plans whirled about in her head.

~*~*~*~*~*

Standing in the darkened alley, Halfrek watched the people pass by its entrance, her eyes searching their faces as she waited for the ones who had filled the papers with tales of blood and death.

“Such a pretty little flower hiding in the dark.” A voice singsonged through the cool night air.

“Not hiding,” Halfrek called into the dark alley, “waiting.”

“Now what could such a delicate little dolly be waiting for down here in the deep dark?” A slender dark-haired woman drifted out of the night.

“You, actually.” Halfrek moved towards the deadly creature, no fear showed on her face, although a small knot formed in her chest. After all she was human now and subject to all their frailties.

The woman drifted around Halfrek, leaning in occasionally to sniff the air around her. “Oh, the dolly had power.” Lifting one delicate hand she wriggled her fingers. “But it’s all run away, trapped beneath the water’s breast.” Turning her face to the side the woman gave her head a small shake, her features twisting into something demonic and evil. “Do you want it back?”

Halfrek traced her palm across the vampire’s features. “Why thank you for the offer, but I much prefer to be what I was once again.” Halfrek leaned forward to whisper in her ear, mindful of the sharp teeth as they came closer to her slender neck. “But I promise you a tender little treat if you help me.” Halfrek smiled at the gleam of interest that filled the dark-haired vampire’s eye, and leaning closer she began to detail her plan for vengeance.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Halfrek stood before the full length mirror in the bedroom of her townhouse. Tonight’s party had already begun but she would, as always, be fashionably late. She ran a critical eye across her dress, ensuring that the bodice clung in just the right places, the necklace draped around her slender throat drawing subtle attention to her décolletage, a few stray curls escaping artfully from her perfectly coiffed hair. The whole effect carefully designed to tantalize that stupid twit who had gotten her into this mess. But no matter, after tonight’s performance he would be out of her life forever and she would have her vengeance. It was only fair really; he had ruined her life so she would destroy his. It really wasn’t vengeance at all, more like justice. She only hoped that her method of doling out this justice would make D’Hoffryn take her back into his vengeance fold.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Halfrek walked into the busy room, Alfred Peterson had a reputation for throwing the most exciting dinner parties. Casting her eye around the room, she soon spotted her prey—the timid little man huddled away in a secluded booth, scribbling furiously on a sheet of paper. William. The very thought of his name left a bad taste in her mouth, as though one had eaten something a little too sour; its tartness ruining the flavour of all that was to come after.

Halfrek turned to her escort, laughing gaily at some inane comment he made, and noting the very second that William realised she was in attendance. Smiling to herself, she began to make her way through those gathered, greeting them all with a bright smile and enthusiastic words. All the while she watched as William left his hiding place and joined the others who made up polite society.

Manoeuvring her escort, Halfrek ensured that she stood on the fringe of the group who were currently taunting William about his pitiful attempts at poetry. William the Bloody Awful Poet they called him. Halfrek had to suppress a small sneer, William the bloody pathetic would be a more apt description, in her opinion.

Schooling her face into one of discomfort, Halfrek caught William’s eye, sending him a stricken look before walking off and secreting herself in the booth he had not long ago abandoned.

Turning her back to the room slightly, Halfrek clasped her hands in her lap and waited. Time to become Miss Cecily Adams, society debutante and heiress. Time to exact her vengeance on the snivelling William. She felt the anticipation welling inside her. Soon…soon she would crush his pitiful heart with a few well placed words. Then, after she had crushed him in a way only a woman could, she would send him out to meet a painful and degrading death at the hands of the dark-haired vampire called Drusilla.

“Cecily?”

The tentative voice behind her felt like nails tracing up her spin. Quashing her anticipation, Halfrek turned, sighing when she finally faced him. “Oh. Leave me alone.”

“Oh, they're vulgarians. They're not like you and I.”

Halfrek shuddered at the hopeful look held in William’s blue eyes. “You and I? I'm going to ask you a very personal question, and I demand an honest answer. Do you understand?”

Halfrek watched as he nodded. She formed her next words carefully—phrasing them just right so they gave him just enough hope. “Your poetry, it's... they're... not written about me, are they?”

“They're about how I feel.”

Halfrek could feel a small smile of triumph twitching at the corners of her mouth. “Yes, but are they about me?”

“Every syllable.”

Williams’s voice held a note of determination she had not heard before. So our timid little William had a little spine after all. “Oh, God!” Halfrek schooled her voice so that it held the right mix of shock and disbelief as well as just a little hint of awe. Let the little fool think that she was not adverse to his declarations.

“Oh, I know... it's sudden and... please, if they're no good, they're only words but...the feeling behind them...I love you, Cecily.”

Halfrek let the shock seep deeper into her tone; widening her eyes, she shifted her gaze away from his and onto her hands. “Please, stop!”

William’s voice took on an almost pleading note, the fierceness and determination from moments before dying away as he continued, “I know I'm a bad poet, but I'm a good man and all I ask is that... that you try to see me-”

Halfrek turned her eyes back to his, her eyes now as sharp as the words she began to speak. “I do see you. That's the problem. You're nothing to me, William. You're beneath me.” Standing she walked away, measuring her pace so that she could savour the sound of the timid young man’s heart shattering.

Halfrek reached for a glass of champagne as the waiter walked past, heedless of the commotion that a tearful William caused as he rushed from the room and into the darkened streets of London. Halfrek knew that Drusilla would hunt down her little treat without much difficulty. His tears and distress would be like a beacon calling the vampire to him. Her eyes sparkled with delight at the thought of his imminent death.

Tipping back the delicate glass, Halfrek let the cool liquid slip down her throat. Now all she had to do was wait a respectful amount of time before leaving the party and seeking out a quiet place where she would be able to call forth D’Hoffryn and take back her rightful place amongst her sisters in vengeance.