The Hunt

3

Her parents would be laughing now. When she'd told them who she really was, who she'd become... They'd told her she couldn't. She wouldn't.

But here she was, hungry, tired and cold, limping back to her flat to her life sustained on pot noodle.

Shivering, she drew her coat tighter around her as she rounded a bend. She felt a growl build in her throat when she saw it was a dead end. Her nostrils burned with the dark green smell of bin juice, emanating from the shadows. Couldn't even find her way back.

A can clattered just behind her. She spun round – but nobody was there, just a coke can curving as it rolled around the corner, clattering on the cobbles, into the ally. She froze, and watched as it slowed, then stopped.

For the first time walking home, she thought about what would happen if she was found by... One of them.. At night, this was their territory, of course. She'd read the articles. This ally had no way out.

Seconds passed. Then more.

She exhaled, cursing herself, for being, on top of everything else, a scared -

"Found you."

Her mind snapped shut.

Stepping around the corner, slowly as a cat, was a drunken man. His blue eyes flashed with glee as she trembled.

"There you are..."

Mickey stumbled forward, wielding a broken bottle that gleamed in the faint lamplight valiantly making its way around the corner. Charlie rapidly stepped away, wondering how he'd got away, how he'd fooled Angus. Angus must have tried his best. She wondered if Mickey had hurt him – from the look of him now, pissed and grinning malevolently, with those sharp, white teeth, it wouldn't be beside the question.

Mickey took another step forward, and curled his lip. "Angus was wrong, wasn't he? Always the worrier..."

Charlie reached out to touch a wall, feeling its warmth. She had to be very careful here. Not to provoke, or to get him to do anything rash. Mickey was in a bad state, and could do something out of character. If she just went slow and steady...

"He's one himself, you know..." Mickey's eyes were bright even in the ally's darkness. "Angus... He can smell a vampire a mile off. But uses his powers for good, if you know. Eating raw steaks and going to bloody blood banks instead of really... You know..."

He snorted, then grinned, eyes lopsided in his open, trusting face. "He thinks it'll be the same as what happened with Lidia..."

Charlie felt a stab of annoyance at the name. The girlfriend...

This time, when Charlie took a step back, her calves hit the glut of black bin bags, and she fell, back scraping painfully against the back wall.

Mickey loomed over her crumpled body. They were at the very end of the ally, and with no one around to call for help, and all modes of exit blocked off. She realised, heart beating rapidly, that it was the perfect trap.

Mickey let himself crumple, pressing his body clumsily against hers, sighing with the relief of it. His legs against her legs, hands around her wrists, breathe stale and blue eyes eager as he leant in, closer than she could have asked for personally.

See. Not such a failure after all.

Quick in the way her kind could only be, she slipped from underneath the drunken youth, pulling him up by the wrists and clamping them behind his back before he realised what was going on. Swaying there, she realised she hadn't been practicing speed enough, and made a note work on it later.

"Wh-a-a-at?" Mickey was choking, eyes rolling as she worked her hands frantically to that long, white neck she'd dreamt over, so much better in real life than the cold, flat images of her computer screen, over-layed with his soundcloud recordings. She hurled his body against one of the walls, and the bricks shuddered with the impact.

Angus had been an unforeseen complication... Vampires with morals always are... For a moment, she thought Mickey would listen to his warnings, his pleas...

But the appetite of a man could never be satisfied. She'd got her reward in the end. Her first kill. She inhaled the scent of Mickey hungrily as he whimpered, the sweat and the frat boy cologne. She'd wanted her first one to be special. Her favourite singer wasn't quite as she'd imagined - but the hunt had made it more than worth it.

She smiled, fingering the bare neck, and leant in, thinking of her new life with every bite...

-

Thank you so much for reading my little short story :) The vampire trope has always interested me, and I wondered what it would be like if I messed with it a bit... Hope you enjoyed! 

Comment:

Did you see the twist coming? 

Any feedback/suggestions on how it could have been better? (I'll be editing this someday...)

Thanks so much again Xx