Monsters Are Forever

1. The Stalker

 Mia walked down the street, looking for no one in particular. It was almost two in the morning – normally too late for a high school student to be wandering the streets. But she'd told her parents she was out with her friend Anna, so they weren't exactly expecting her home for a while. And after this she probably would go to Anna's – it wasn't like Anna'd be sleeping anyway. Besides, now that Mia was actually a senior, they didn't worry quite as much about what time she came home on the weekends anyway.

A couple passed by her, but Mia let them go. They were hanging all over each other anyway – she needed to find someone more willing to pay attention to her if this was going to work. She looked across the street to where her favorite club was – the Bar None. She didn't like actually going to the club. Besides, she wasn't old enough to get in anyway, and she looked way too young to try and pretend. No, what she really liked was waiting outside. It was one of the most popular late-night places in town, and people were always going in and out. She figured that'd be a good place to wait tonight.

She leaned casually up against the wall of an alley almost directly across from the doors. That way, she could watch everyone coming and going. And it gave her a great chance to monitor all the people wandering around aimlessly out in front. After all, there was nothing worse than stalking the perfect target into position only to find that there were too many witnesses around to actually carry out the attack. This way, she could survey the area before she got her hopes up.

Something moved out of the corner of her eye, and Mia turned. She didn't see anything, but she knew better than that by now – just because she didn't see something didn't mean she could rest easy, especially in this city. She made a mental note to re-check the shadows on the left side of the building before she did anything drastic. As a freshman, the person she'd been caught by had been a friend. Mia knew she probably wouldn't be so lucky a second time.

A college kid – maybe two years older than Mia herself – walked a little unsteadily out the door of the club. Perfect. Mia was already grinning in anticipation. She glanced around, making sure there was no one else in sight. When she was satisfied, she casually left the alley, pulling the hood of her jacket up as she went. It was one thing to be caught loitering across from a club – it would be quite another to be recognized in the middle of what she was about to do.

She kept glancing around, remembering that shadow she'd seen earlier. But there was nothing there. She couldn't hear a sound, and not a thing moved. It was probably nothing anyway, Mia told herself – a stray dog, or a rat or something. Whatever it was, it looked like it was gone now.

The guy turned a corner about two blocks up, and Mia tried her best not to run after him; if he turned another corner before she got there, she could lose him. But as much as she wanted to keep track of her target, she didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to herself. Especially when she couldn't quite shake that weird feeling of being watched. So instead, she made do with just quickening her pace. She still needed it to look like she'd bumped into him accidentally just in case someone else really was loitering around here.

She turned the corner, making a show of glancing at her watch as she did. Well, her bare wrist anyway. But it would have been where her watch was if she was the kind of person who actually wore one. Really, it was mostly to show anyone who happened to be looking at her that she was busy waiting for someone in particular – that she had a semi-legitimate reason to be here. And it gave her an opportunity to glance over her shoulder as she pretended to look around for whoever she was supposed to be meeting.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move – again. This time, Mia was sure of it. She did her best not to react, pretending she hadn't noticed the figure creeping along only a few yards behind her. Instead, she continued to walk down the block, still stalking that guy as she ran through her options. She had to figure out who this was and if they really were following her. They might not know it yet, but it was too late – Mia had already seen them; she was way too good at this to let someone sneak up on her like that.

Still, she tried not to get ahead of herself. Maybe it was just a coincidence – maybe they were really following this guy too. And even if they were following her after all, it might not be because of anything she'd actually done. Could it be possible that she was just being followed by someone like her? But whatever was going on, she was going to have to figure it out – right now.

When she was sure that whoever was following her would have turned that corner down into the alley, she dropped casually to her knee, pretending to tie her shoe. It meant she was almost certainly going to lose the guy she was following herself, but there was nothing she could do about that.

She leaned into the shadows as her fingers worked the air just above her shoelaces. It might not have been the best excuse, but it gave her a chance to stop without letting anyone know why. Her eyes scanned quickly around her, waiting to see what her own stalker would do.

Whoever was there was still hugging the corner of the building, trying to remain out of sight. And when they didn't make a move to sneak by her, that confirmed it for Mia – they really were after her. And even if it wasn't because they thought they knew what Mia was – even if they were stalking her for an attack of their own, Mia couldn't risk it. She couldn't afford to give up any of the hard-earned blood in her own veins to someone else. Now all she had to do was sneak past whoever was still waiting in the shadows.

She waited a few minutes, but when they didn't move towards her, Mia was forced to abandon the idea that they could be here to attack her. So that could mean only one thing: they wanted to see what she was going to do. Well, if someone was planning on seeing just what she did when she snuck out, they were out of luck. Now it was time for Mia to get out of there. And if she was really good, she might even be able to make her sudden change of plans look natural. If she didn't alert whoever it was, maybe she could even figure out who they were.

She stood up, glancing down one more time at her nonexistent watch, trying to look worried at whatever time it showed. She even allowed herself to make a small gasp, just in case that figure could hear her; Mia still hadn't actually ruled out the possibility that whoever was there wasn't human – there were just too many other options in this city.

She quickly turned and started heading back in the direction she'd come. She pretended not to notice the shadow that slipped casually around the corner, back to the main street. As Mia approached the mouth of the alleyway, she dropped her hood. Whoever had been stalking her probably already had a good idea of who she was – at least enough to follow her. And she didn't see why her peripheral vision had to be obstructed as she tried to figure out their identity.

She saw whoever it was hurrying across the street. And when their back was turned, that's when she made her move. She took a few quick steps to the left, hiding in the entrance to a closed-up shop. She was pretty sure that she'd actually sprinted fast enough that she'd managed to do it undetected. Now, it was her turn to watch the person stalking her.

Now that she was safely in the shadows of a broken streetlamp, she peered cautiously around the corner of her little inlet. She really hoped that whoever had been following her was still getting ready and hadn't seen where she might have gone. She wasn't disappointed.

The figure peeked around the corner of a building, and the movement let Mia figure out where they were. She made sure to stay perfectly still herself, so as not to make that same mistake. When Mia didn't come out of the alleyway like they'd expected, they took a cautious step forward. Then another. Finally, they realized she wasn't there; they'd lost track of her. Mia grinned to herself.

As soon as the figure realized they didn't know where she was, their whole demeanor changed. They started hurrying down the street, back the way they'd come. Whoever it was tried to look casual, but there was a definite urgency about them. Now that they'd lost track of Mia, they probably hoped to get away before Mia had a chance to see them. But it was too late for that. There was no way Mia was going to let them get away without knowing exactly who this was. And if Mia could figure out who was stalking her, it might almost make up for losing that boy.

The figure stopped at the corner, looking around one last time. Mia could see the confusion in their stance. Slowly, whoever it was turned around, apparently giving up. Reluctantly, they headed back the way they'd come as they stalked Mia in the first place; they would pass across the street from where she was hiding in just a few seconds. And as the streetlamp caught the person, Mia gasped. She did know who it was – it hadn't been her imagination after all. And she was definitely right about them not being human: Rudi Kaelin was walking hurriedly across the street.