Labor of Living

Meeting

Setsuna enters central park through 59th and his mind flashes back to his first meal. He gets a sudden rush of endorphins as he remembers the taste of fresh blood. He looks up to see a couple flash him a frightened expression and realizes his eyes reacted to his sudden bloodlust and his phone vibrates. It's a text from Mirabella which he promptly ignores.

''These people stink!'' he says to himself as he takes in the smell of those around him. As he moves around a group of people a sweet scent sneaks into his nose and stops him in his tracks; he looks around to locate it and his eyes finally stop. They land on a short dark mahogany skinned woman reading a book on the bench, she's wearing a yellow sundress and her eyes are covered behind big oval sunglasses.

He continues ahead before crossing over the grass and going to sit in the adjacent bench to her, he stares at her neck for a second before stopping himself and averting his eyes. He notes how smooth and clear her skin is as he imagines himself sinking his fangs into her and the urge to do it washes over him like a wave. He stands and walks away making sure to remember her scent as he gets further from her; he sits under a tree burying his head in his phone while observing her from afar.

She closes her book and takes off her glasses revealing luminous honey brown eyes that allure Setsuna. His hunger bubbles up and he takes a deep breath steadying his cold heart.The sun shows signs of setting soon and she gets up and heads to the exit, he stands and begins to follow her from a distance. She enters the train station and he follows her to the number two train he notes takes a mental note of the smirk on her face but assumes she could've made herself laugh.

He follows her uptown and they get off at the Bronx 149th street station, he hangs back making sure to remember her scent amongst the various pungent smells in the station. He exits and feels empowered by the moonlight as it shines on him, he locates her on the parallel sidewalk.

''When did she get so far, did she make me?'' he thinks as he crosses over, and jumps onto the nearby store roof. He rushes over and crouches as he nears the edge of the roof. ''I gotta make this as clean and quiet as possible,'' he thinks as he jumps down into the nearby dark spot. ''Better to do this now before she gets to her building,'' he says, sprinting out from the shadows and grabbing her just short of the corner. He grips her around her mouth and jumps onto the roof of the neary apartment building.

He shoves her into the corner of the roof, hand still around her mouth as she tries to fight him in hopes of getting away. But he just stares at her, taking in her scent as his drool begins to drip down his chin. ''Don't worry it won't hurt, you'll go peacefully,'' he says, wiping away her tears, before leaning forward and sinking his teeth into her. Immediately a wave of euphoria washes over them; she lets go of her grip on his head and it drops to her side.

He feels a vibration in his pocket that jolts him back to reality. He pulls out his phone and a piece of paper falls out of it. "Yer, can you come through later? I wanna talk to you about something,'' it reads. In the middle of responding Mirabella's name pops up at the top of his screen and Setsuna pauses for a second before swiping her message off screen and finishing his response to D.

He looks back down at the limp body of the woman and closes his eyes as if giving thanks. When he opens them he notices the paper on the floor, he picks it up and reads the address and there's a number with a letter next to it reading sixteen C. He remembers what Serana said that night in New Jersey and wonders if he could truly trust her words to make him stronger.

Before long he's in front of a skyrise. ''Guess I should've assumed she'd have a doorman, he's definitely not going to let me in,'' he says to himself while walking past the entrance. ''And this fucking girl never taught me how to manipulate humans to get what I want,'' he says. He looks back and notices someone exiting the building and gets a lightbulb. He takes a wide receiver's stance then uses his psychokinesis to shove the unsuspecting man to the ground; prompting the doorman to get up and see what happened. He then pushes them to the front of the next building and breaks into a sprint; he feels goosebumps by the rush of wind on his face. Before the two men can get up he's already through the front door and has entered the staircase. He begins his journey to the sixteenth floor skipping step after step; his pace grows ever slower as the numbers rise. "Is this really the right way to go about this?'' he asks himself. "I suppose it has to be; but I can't only rely on her, I have to become stronger so I can do things my own way," he says as he gets the 16th and opens the door. The directory points him to go right and he follows it, finally stopping in front of her door. As he extends his arm her voice rings out loud and clear.