Heartbeat

Part One

"Let's start from the beginning."

"The very beginning? It started when I was twelve an---"

"No. Let's start with your latest victims."

"Ah, you want the details?"

"Yes, in your own words."

"Very well."

***

His beautiful eyes shining in the sunlight.

His crooked smile with his perfectly imperfect teeth flashing.

His soft cheeks speckled lightly with freckles under my thumb as I caress his face.

His steady heartbeat thumping loudly in my ear when I lay my head upon his chest.

These thoughts are what consumed my mind as I hunted my latest prey. These thoughts are all that have consumed my mind every moment since the day we met. Even while I sat in a sleazy crowded bar filled with sweaty bodies showing off more skin than not and was overcome with the heavy scent of sex and pheromones.

I turned the cushioned bar stool I sat on all the way to the right and leaned on the counter with my left arm resting on the counter top. My gaze remained fixed on my prey. My left hand pulled out a cigarette and I lit it while it rested between my lips, heavily soaked with the smell of vodka and nicotine already. The slightest lingering scent of mint from my toothpaste that morning was clinging against the stronger scents in my mouth. I took a long hard drag of what my mum used to hypocritically call cancer sticks, despite her own terrible smoking habits. I exhaled the smoke painstakingly slowly to allow my tense muscles to relax.

He looked so much like him.

All of my prey had shared at least some qualities with him, I would never look twice otherwise. What was the point of me taking them home with me if they didn't serve the purpose I needed them for. Obviously, they would never be him, I ahead knew that. The hole in my heart was too large for anyone else to fill and no matter what I did with them they would never be more than distractions to temporarily dull the aching need inside of me.

Even so, this one... this boy, he was the closest match to him on this surface I had found yet. They practically could have  been twins. He had those same brown eyes, but there was a certain light missing from them, the light that made me lose sight of the sickest darkest parts of myself. I watched as he conversed with the bartender and flashed him a smile that reminded me of the one he would always give me on those long nights we use to spend together. Talking or playing video games and making jokes. Things were far more simple back then. There were other things the prey lacked, things uniquely him, things I knew I'd never find in a substitute. The subtle curves of hardened muscles that always made him so proud. Other than that their body types were an exact match; tall and lean. Nearly perfect.

His hair was long and tied back into a ponytail that reached down between his jagged shoulder blades. The long locks were a natural dark black just like his  when it wasn't dyed some crazy color. I'm sure my gaze grew more intense as my eyes wondered down his weak body, begging to be taken by somebody in that slutty outfit. A tight tank top clung to him like it was a second layer of skin and the shiny silky fabric moved with each breath he took. His shorts were just as tight and revealing as the tank top and every time he bent over the bar a bright pink lacy thong peaked out from the waistband of the dark blue shorts. 

I got through about half of my cigarette with my eyes locked on him before he noticed my intense unwavering gaze. I thought of what a benefit it was for me that he was obviously not very observant. He looked over at me from under his long dark eyelashes with those glistening dark brown eyes. A smile spread across my face, one I knew was famous for making boys and girls weak in the knees. They were always too blinded by what was on the surface to notice the monster waiting in the shadows.