Heart Hunter

7

Ivy

I tore down the street, heart pounding and guilt gnawing at the edges of my bravado. Your heart tells you one thing while your brain screams another.

The city blurred into a neon haze, but it wasn't the rush of adrenaline that made me feel alive. It was the thrill of the chase, the whisper of danger curling around me. I finally reached the area where, supposedly, the target was. But I couldn't see him anywhere.

It was a very dark street, only light coming from a single street light. Not a single soul was around. I killed the engine so nobody would hear me here. Instead, I listened. The loud sounds of the city were faded into a slow hum, replaced by the hustle of the leaves and wind.

And then, I heard the slow hum and footsteps. They were coming from the pavement across from where I was. It was dark, so I couldn't see who it was. I wasn't up from the bike, so as a reflex my hands moved over to the knife in my belt, and just stopped there.

I stopped breathing and blinking. I only focused on the walking figure in the distance across from me. I hadn't felt panic until the figure stepped into the light. His blond hair shined like a beacon under the dim glow of the streetlamp. My heart skipped a beat; I recognized him instantly. It was Axel.

He was wearing a compression shirt, showing his defined muscles. Headphones in his ears and a big gym bag around his waist. He watched on his phone and he didn't notice me as I stood staring at him with wide eyes.

He paused to light a cigarette and the flicker of the lighter illuminated his features: chiseled jaw, piercing blue eyes, and that infuriatingly casual smirk. It was the same face that annoyed me this past week in school.

He picked his head up while he was putting the lighter back in his pocket. That's when our eyes met.

Please don't recognize me. Please don't recognize me. Please don't recognize me.

His eyes scanned the area, and his smirk grew as he realized he wasn't alone in the dark. Just as he opened his mouth and was about to say something, someone from behind jumped on him and they both fell on the floor. I couldn't see them anymore again.

I immediately jumped off the bike and ran over to them. Axel was thrown on the floor fighting with a huge man that was on top of him.

I crept up behind them and pulled the man back by his shoulders. Now he was lying on his back on the pavement, groaning from the pain. My eyes traveled back to Axel. He looked shocked and out of breath with his wide eyes and deep breathes. 'What- what the fuck?' He yelled.

I grabbed his shoulders and started to calm him down. 'Axel. Axel! Calm down!' His face changed from shocked to confused so fast and he just stared at me. He didn't even bother to say anything after that.

'Axel, go sit on the bike. I'll be right there just please...don't go anywhere.'

And so he left. I flipped around to face the man on the ground, who was groaning and trying to shift himself into a more comfortable position.

Still sprawling, he looked up at me with squinted eyes. He was big, muscular, with a scruffy beard and a grim expression, exactly like the picture. This was Marcus Lane. The target. The freaking messenger.

My grip on the knife at my belt tightened. He coughed, spitting some gravel, and managed to sit up a bit. 'Who the hell are you?' he growled, brushing off his jacket.

'I kill messengers.' I replied. 'Do you happen to know one?'

He laughed, a low, threatening rumble. 'You're playing with fire, girl. This isn't-'

I threw a jab at his jaw before he could finish the sentence. Then another and another one. I didn't even let him get up. I just punched and punched.

After a few punches, he had a busted lip, a swollen eye, and a deformed face. That when I stabbed my knife into his skull. He fell to the floor, and that's when I noticed another bloody knife just laying on the floor.

Shit. Axel.

I ran back to my motorbike and saw him sitting on it. He winced as his hand were on one of his thighs, trying to apply pressure to a wound with a trembling hand. My stomach turned at the sight. 'Oh my gosh! Are you okay?' I shouted, rushing to his side.

'Yeah, just... bleeding a little.' he gasped, a pained smile creeping across his face despite the severity of his injury. The blood was seeping through his fingers, staining them a deep red. 'You realize you just killed someone right? And why are you dressed like that?'

I totally ignored his questions and instead asked my own. 'What happened? How did he get you?'

'He came up behind me while I was... admiring you.' His breath came in shallow gasps. 'Guess he was waiting for his big moment.'

I frantically started looking around the bike. 'Look, I don't have any first-aid equipment now.' My hand reached out to a pocket on the bike and I took out some gauze pads. 'Only these.'

'I'm pretty sure your touch will heal me, but sure, let's try to use those.'

He lifted his shorts revealing his wounded thigh. My fingers lingered across his cold skin as I put one of the bandages on the wound, only to notice it was one with Hello Kitty's on it. Embarrassment grew on my face while he just burst into laughter. 'Why do you have these?'

'It's only to stop the bleeding. When you get home use a different, tighter one and wrap it around multiple times.'

He just stared at me while I fixed the bandage and then pull his shorts down again.

'How do you know my name?'

That's when I noticed. I've been calling him by his name the whole time now. And he didn't recognize me.

'Its just... spy things. It's my duty to know everyone's name.' I replied, in desperation that he won't ask me anymore questions.

'Will I ever get to see you again, spy?'

'That way you will get hurt again, so let's hope not.'