ANYA ROMANOV.

Anya quickly glanced behind her to make sure that the howdy was actually being sent in her direction. "Me? I'm fine. How are you?" She didn't think she had done anything to warrant attention from an officer. At least, she hoped she hadn't. Anya was trying to lay low. "I didn't — I mean, I know I didn't so I am just clarifying, but... I didn't do anything wrong."

"Nobody." The attention was flattering, but it also made Anya slightly nervous. She didn't need eyes on her just yet. Still, it'd be rude not to shake Blue's hand back. "I'm nobody, but you're clearly somebody." If not, she was just exceptionally confident.

Henley wanted to pry about what exactly the other girl was looking for, but she held off. It didn't seem like any of her business, judging by how vague the redhead was speaking. So she moved onto the next statement instead. "You lived in the Darling Home?" Looking back, Henley had always secretly wished that she'd ended up there instead of at Greta Queen's yard. It would have saved her a lot of trouble. But she also wouldn't have met Eira, and she wasn't sure if she could live with that. Even if she hated herself for it. "I thought that place was supposed to be nice."

"For awhile, yeah." Anya nodded. "I was with this old lady, Andrea, before that. When she died I got moved to the orphanage." Andrea had never particularly seemed to like Anya, but it was at least more private. The Darling Home was always at capacity. "Eh, it was fine as far as orphanages go. From what I heard, it got better when Minerva Mouser took over. They'd already kicked me out at that point."

"That's more like it." Nico tried to flash a smile at the vampire, but he had a strange feeling that he couldn't shake. She looked... familiar. And he didn't like that he couldn't place her face. That was never a problem for him. "So, what'll you have?"

"Vodka soda?" That was what Vlad drank. Anya herself had never really been one to imbibe. As a rule of thumb, she'd always been too broke to even step foot into a bar once she turned of age. She made it by on blood without any fun luxuries. Of course, that would all change if she accepted her grandmother's wealth. "I didn't realize you took drink orders. You're Nico Dios. I figured you'd be too important for something like that."

"If you're trying to talk business, I'm not interested in vampire politics." Unless they started to affect him, of course. And with the way Jack seemed to be gearing up to take on Otis, he had a feeling that would be very, very soon. "I can get you a drink if that's what you're looking for."

In another life, Anya would have grown up in the world of politics. The Romanov Empire had burned bright — too bright — and their policies were long extinguished and banished from the mind of the town's vampires. Still, Nico would have known Alexander. He would have known Anya's family and the world they had once existed in. Anya highly doubted he would recognize her at this point. Over a decade had gone by since the fall of the Romanov's and Anya wore those years on her face. "A drink?" She paused. "A drink. Yes. I'll take one if it's cheap. I doubt it'll hurt anything."

"I can't really say I've experienced that." If anything, Sally almost wished she could forget some of the things she'd been through. There were certain memories that may as well have been branded with a hot iron right into her brain. "Are you still looking for it? Whatever it is?"

"You're lucky, then." Anya all but huffed. Knowing the facts and being unable to remember them left a fault line in her. Even the glimpses that have come through aren't enough. On some days, it felt as if there was a whole different world locked in the recesses of her mind. "I think I'm always going to be look," she divulged. "Until I know for sure that I've found it. I feel like I have to."

Henley couldn't help but to wonder why this girl would admit something like that to her. She could tell immediately by her scent that she was a vampire. In fact, there may as well have been a flashing neon sign above her head with an exclamation point that stated it. But she didn't seem to want any trouble, so Henley wasn't going to give any in return. "But you're out here tonight, aren't you? Were you looking for someone or something?"

One scuffed boot kicked at a rock aimlessly. "Looking? I'm always looking now. It's exhausting. Right now I'm trying not to look." Anya just wanted to be. "I spent a lot of time out here growing up when the orphanage was too crowded. Which was, unfortunately, always."

In some ways, approaching Zoey publicly in broad daylight felt stupid. Anya had reiterated that she wasn't sure if she wanted to get involved so many times that she felt a bit like a record on repeat. Her name was valuable to Jack's cause; Anya understood what he wanted to do. Respected it, even. That didn't mean she was ready to take up arms alongside the Nightmare's. Still, she couldn't just sit idle. Zoey was a bit more approachable than her brother and Anya had a history of acting before fully thinking things through. The fact that it wasn't the best idea didn't hit her until after she was by the side of the other vampire. By then, however, she felt decently committed to seeing where things would end up. "Only if I'm not distracting you from anything." They'd never spoken without Jack, Dimitri or Vlad around, and Anya felt strangely exposed in that moment. "You always seem so busy."

"You do know that wandering around the woods at night is stupidly dangerous... Right?" Henley didn't think it had to be said out loud, but she was feeling snarky. It was rare that she wandered into anyone else this late at night while out in the forest.

"I have a history of doing stupidly dangerous things." Which — Anya knew — Dimitri would tell her was not something to be proud of. Still, she couldn't help it. She had survived this long, hadn't she? "But the woods at night? I don't think that's one of them." Desperate to get out of the orphanage, Anya had spent her fair share of nights wandering the foliage. Historically speaking, she'd proven to be hard to kill.

ANASTASIA | 1997 Dir. Don Bluth & Gary Goldman

Ellie Bamber Portrait for Chanel Cruise Collection 2017

"You want to paint me?" Anya was unfortunately no stranger to people hollering at her on the streets. It usually was for nothing good. "I don't think you want to paint me," she shook her head. "Trust me on that one. I have a generic face."

Bracing her forearms against the bar, it took Anya a moment to realize that she was being spoken to. "Sorry, pretty girl." She parroted the descriptor. "I'm cash strapped. I'm actually waiting for someone to come by me a drink." That someone was Dimitri, but he was running late.

"If you had a working heart, my guess is I'd hear it skipping a beat just now." Nico called her out as he glanced back up at the blonde and furrowed his eyebrows. Jack was going to be a problem, but it certainly wasn't as big of a deal for him as it was for Otis. What he had going was good, and while Jack certainly threatened that, it wasn't imminent. "He wants to change things from the way they are. But I think you already know that."

"I wouldn't be too confident about that." If her time on the streets had taught her anything, it was how to keep her wits around her. Anya hadn't let herself be scared of bullies for a long time. "I think a lot of people know. The Nightmare's aren't exactly quiet about what they want. That doesn't have anything to do with me." Unless it did. Anya wasn't sure yet.

"We're not automatically friends just because you're a vampire. You work for Otis."

"I do not work for Otis." The words come out hot and fast. If it weren't for Otis, her family would be alive. Rasputin's hit would never have been ordered. Otis was the one responsible for her family's ruination, and all because he was power hungry. She had worked at the Hunter's Tavern for a second before being turned, but that was before she knew the extent of their relationship. "And I don't want to be your friend."

For a long time, trouble was all she had known. Walt's Landing was dripping with orphans. Anya hadn't been special until the day she had learned that she was. She didn't entirely know what to do with that information. Deflating slightly, the vampire shook her head. "Nothing." That was a lie. There were quite a few things eating at her, ranging from Jack Spencer to Otis Boogie. "We can call it old habits. I'm working on it."