Reaper

Chapter 1

The streets are always icy these days, especially at night. I'm lucky really, being dead; at least the cold doesn't slow my blood. I was waiting down an alley-way off a harsh concrete cul-de-sac; the houses were all attached in a long row of roughly thirty, and I could hear that long awaited clip-clock of heels approaching. I stayed hidden as the girl came closer, my hunger intensifying in exact correlation with the increasing volume of steady breathing along with some sort of modern music playing through headphones. My stomach growled as she passed, unknowingly wafting her sweet scent in my direction as her pony tail swished towards me. I left my spot and stepped out, blinking rapidly as the light of the nearest streetlamp penetrated my vision. As the corner of the street approached, naturally she turned and saw me.

Shit

I thought, as I looked into her blue irises, wondering what I must've looked like in her weak human eyes as I stood there shrouded in darkness. I had only seconds to make a choice before I was busted, so I slapped my hand over her mouth as I pushed her against the wall to keep her still.

"Sshhh..." I hissed, hoping to calm her shaking. I could feel the pulsing in my gums as my teeth ached to sink into flesh, but something stopped me from acting.

Just do it for God's sake!

I told myself, but I was more interested in understanding why the girl didn't look away from me as I held her arms against the wall. Her eyes were wide and curious - not scared - and I wondered what I must've done to evoke that kind of response from such a fragile creature.

I guess I'll never know, shame really...

I shook myself and gripped her expensive duffle coat tightly as I let the muscles in my jaw stretch. Her eyes didn't seem to see what was happening, and then she uttered something.

"I know you."

I stopped, pulling away.

"What?"

"I know you, you're that Jared guy who Damon was, was um....." She didn't finish her sentence. I neither knew nor cared who this Damon bloke was, but I was interested to know how he knew me. It was then that I noticed she wasn't trying to push me off of her, a sensation I was so used to, and so I let her go. I watched as she pulled her coat back into place, annoyed by her lack of response. She gave me a half smile, and it was then that I decided to leave.

"Stay away from me."

I growled, and I turned to leave, but felt a soft hand catch hold of my own, pulling me back slightly.

"Wait, don't go." She pleaded, her blonde hair falling over her shoulder. I measured her grip and studied her gaze for a few moments, then pulled away.

"You would do well to leave me alone now." I said, then feeling extremely out of place left her standing in the darkness.

Gosh what a weirdo she was...

I thought to myself, my internal voice as icy as the wind that was picking up around me. I carried on walking, climbing the odd fence to cut into town quicker as I tried to ignore the way my stomach growled at the faded scents of various mammals and human that had passed by previously. As I dropped down into the shadows of someone's back garden, a powerful smell hit my nose like a firing gun. I opened my pupils as wide as they could go, and realised I'd disturbed a young girl putting her puppy out for the night. "Go wee wees Gem, go on!" She said, her voice ridiculously high pitched as she shoved the small dog with her foot so she could close the patio door. The dog gave a few annoying barks as it watched the girl talk to her mother, then loped into the untidy grass to sniff things. I waited until the lights had been switched off in the kitchen and stepped away from the bush. The puppy heard me, and let out a small growl. It was a stupid looking thing, covered in white floppy fur with two large black orbs for eyes. I stretched out my hand towards the dog and it ceased it's yapping. "Good puppy..." I said soothingly, placing both hands on either side of it's fragile head. With one swift movement, it was dead. I checked over my shoulder praying that nobody that knew me had seen, then broke the chain connected to the wall, picking up the dog as I turned to leave.