The Hunt

I stuffed my hands further into my pockets and kept my head down. My raven tresses hung in thick long curtains deliberately covering my face, distracting people from my crimson irises. The wind howled and whipped up around me as I walked through the back alleys of London. If I were human large goose bumps surely would’ve risen on my pale exposed arms.

I kept walking into the night as cold wet drops began to fall from the sky drenching my clothes. The water soon seeped straight through the thin cotton of my top. Once again I had one of those moments where I thought what would’ve happened if I were human.

There was nobody around, I was totally alone, just the way I liked it. The only sound was the constant thump, thump, thump of my worn out chucks against the cobble stoned paving and there wasn’t even the comfort of my own steady breathing, as oxygen wasn’t necessary to me anymore. Each shallow breath that I tried to take seemed all wrong, strange and foreign and as there was no relief tied to the action I saw no use in it.

My head whipped up as I caught a familiar scent in the air. It sent a shiver down my spine and tingles down my arms. It could only be one thing, Human blood, I did a quick scan of the area, nothing was in sight but the source was close. Without thinking I quickened my pace just a bit as I thought over my options in my head. I hadn’t hunted in a few days and the burning in my throat was immensely painful and was almost becoming unbearable. On the other hand murdering innocent people for my own pleasure was just plain wrong.

As I turned the corner the source of the thick warm liquid that was making my whole body ache in yearning came into view. With one look at the boy the hunter in me took over and he was no longer an innocent human in my eyes, he was just another body, just another thing that had come between me and the only thing that truly mattered to me, blood.

I drew back into the shadows as I inspected my pray. He looked about 18 or 19; he was tall and had dark blond hair. For a brief moment I wondered what he was doing out here all alone in the rain at this time of night until I noticed the lit cigarette he held between his fingers. He lifted his hand to his lips drawing in the evil smoke. This blood would be tainted but by now I was past the past the point of no return, there was no hope for him now, no turning back, he was a goner for sure.

I had two options now, I could sneak up on him so he’d never even know I was there until it was too late and make this quick and easy but if he was going to end up dead anyway I figured I might as well have some fun with this, I always savoured the looks of sheer terror in the eyes of my prey. I stepped out of the shadows into full view; I wasn’t at all worried about losing him. If he bolted I could always run faster, if he tried to fight I would always be stronger and if he screamed nobody would hear and even if somebody did I would be long gone by the time they even realised what happened.

I stared at him luring him in, waiting for him to take the bait. He looked up and his piercing grey eyes met my ruby ones. A flash of confusion and fear mixed together swept across his chiselled features. I moved closer bearing my teeth a little, his eyes widened taking my sharp pearly whites. Everything about me was screaming danger, his heart rate had increased and a light sheen of sweat had appeared on his brow. Both these things wouldn’t be noticeable to the human eye but to me they were as clear as day. You see subconsciously humans have an incredible sense of danger but most of them were stupid, always ignoring the alarm bells that rang when one of my kind were close.

He took a small step back as I drew closer, with every move I made in his direction he stepped back until his back met the dirty brick wall.

“Don’t be afraid,” I whispered.

“I-I-I’m n-not,” he stuttered.

“Good,” I breathed taking another small step towards him. I reached out and ripped the cigarette from his fingers, deliberately letting my cold dead fingers brush against his warm ones. His eyes widened yet again to the point where he looked like a startled dear in headlights. I remembered when I was on the receiving end of an attack just like this, the only difference being my attacker didn’t kill me, she changed me, she gave me this life that I never even wanted in the first place. Even these thoughts couldn’t brake me from this zone that I was in, right now I wasn’t even me I was a predator and this was my hunt.

“Don’t you know those can kill you?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he breathed, “I just can’t quit.”

“Weak,” I shrieked, my voiced was filled with venom and my hand clasped around his throat. I slammed him back even further against the wall and he cried out in pain. I’d had enough of this cruel game, I was thirsty and I all I could think about was how good it would be to finally drain the life from him.

I applied more pressure with my hand surly leaving a bruise. He looked up at me and finally I got that look of terror that I was after, quickly before he could say anything else I snapped his neck. He died instantaneously. I always felt better doing it this way because then the victim wouldn’t have to feel anything. I always thought that the fact that they were dead way before teeth were even close to meeting flesh made everything just a little bit better.

Soon the sound of tearing flesh and sinew was filling the air as I made a meal out of the poor boy. And that’s what he was really a poor, poor boy -not even really a man yet- who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I drained every last drop of the precious liquid gold before throwing the carcass off of me. It was easier to think of him this way, like a dead animal rather than a dead body. I stood up and turned on my heels. I wiped my mouth on my wrist and without looking back, I continued on my way.