Heartbreakers

Thorns and Roses

He was searching. Searching for her. He knew, knew that she went to this school now. The last place she was last sighted in was now empty, abandoned. Leader Scruff had reported narrowly escaping them, saved by the river in the area. And he was strong, stronger than most wolves, so the fact that they almost beat him was astonishing, a monument for their power.

So here he was, on their trail which had led him to Spring Falls National School, hidden somewhere in the middle of nowhere. Two, according to the information, of their best agents were supposedly here.

Rose Black and Eternity Kill, with their warden Leila Ambrozia.

They were careful, he had to give them that. They had managed to wield their way past all of the post set up to monitor them, without being seen. Skittering just out of sight. No photos of them had ever surfaced, so he was going on description alone.

He knew the way they smelled, knew the way they behaved, knew their habits and skills. He knew more about them than a close friend. He was their enemy.

Eyes now scanned the cafeteria, skimming across the mass of jostling students, stopping for a couple of seconds at each table. She could have been with the cheerleaders, his report stated that she was cheer captain in her last school. But her absence was clear. She wasn't with the sporty girls either, nor was she with the so called nerds. It would seem that the young Miss. Kill could not only disappear from photos, but from thin air too.

If his blood would could run, a vein would have been pulsing in his forehead. As it was, his head hurt. He hated that he had had desert his previous mission, when it was coming along so well, all so a bratty Heartbreaker could be monitored and killed. He wasn't stupid either, it was clear that he too was being watched. Nothing slipped past the Heartbreakers

And that was when he saw. The second his eyes landed on her he knew, that without a doubt it was her. Eternity Kill. A dull sense of satisfaction coursed threw him, it was the closest he had gotten to happy in a hundred years.

She wasn't with the cheerleaders, though she easily could have been. Her golden hair was up, pulled back and clung to her like a pale aura of beauty. The clothes she wore were casual, jeans, a white lace top and a thin sweater that was meant to protect her from the gentle spring cold.

She obviously couldn't make herself look bad enough not to be stared at. Several boys gawked, quite openly and she bowed her head, pretending to be embarrassed. It stunned him to see the way she adapted completely to her role, even her eyes, half hidden out of his sight showed no trace of annoyance. That second she looked up, straight at him as if she knew he was watching, what he was. That blatant scrutiny, the challenging undercurrent made him shift. There was something unsettling about the way her eyes glowed.

He stared back, gaze steady. Her eyes were cold, no emotion stirred in the depths within. Empty. Totally and completely empty. The eyes of someone who had suffered too much to care anymore. But that couldn't be right. Heartbreakers were evil, they killed, they drank the blood of his kind.

Blood.

Quiet suddenly, that was all he could think about. About the way it tasted. And he wondered, would she taste good. He licked his lips, still staring. Staring at the pale curve of her long neck, a crescent moon. Suddenly she leapt up, face red, colour rushing deliciously to the surface. She stood for a second, and he saw the shiver that ran through her, could asmost see it's cold fingers tracing her spine. He knew she was going to bolt. Before he could even attempt swimming towards her, she absconded into the crowd.

The hunter uttered a curse under his breath. It served him right, to get distracted. The target had disappeared. Irritated now, he elbowed his was past the students, without a glance towards the girls who giggled as he passed. Nerves. He could sense them as well as an animal could. He was ominous. Good. He reached the door at the end, and pushed the handle, finding himself outside.

He slumped against the wall, crumbling slightly on the bench that someone had dragged out here, for the students to enjoy the warm weather that was almost upon them. The spring air was much too cold for the humans, he knew from the lack of them out here. His skin didn't even prickle.

" Are you okay ?" a voice asked him, careful and guarded.. It was soft and musical, gentle, the voice of an angel. The kind of voice that was as sweet as honey, alluring and charming. That voice was like a rose, soft as the petals, but prickly and raspy like the thorns too.

He didn't bother looking up. Humans. He didn't want to deal with them.

"Yes, I'm fine, " he snapped, straightening, a stalk after rain. He looked at her then, and found himself staring into stones of polished turquoise for eyes. The girl from the cafeteria was there. Her. Well, the prey had come out to be killed. Most unusual, he had expected her to be smarter than that.

But he needed to be sure. Sure of her identity. Killing humans and huge mistakes were frowned upon. And he couldn't afford to screw up.

His sniffed the air, nostrils widening. He was told that she smelt of ginger and honey, like spices of India. All he could smell was lavender soap and shampoo, some perfume or other, not hers, not directly sprayed onto her skin, picked up somewhere along the way from another human. She smelled exactly like them. She smelt like a human.

He studied her face, as if trying to decipher a computer code. She was even more beautiful up close, the face of air brushed magazines and crappy soap operas. The girl dropped her eyes to the floor. She was drawing circles in the dust with her shoes, toe-ing the ground, arms wrapped around her body, as if to keep the cold out.

Heartbreakers couldn't feel the cold. His eye brows knitted together. He glanced at the shoes she was wearing. Rumors had been heard, rumors that Heartbreakers never took off their heels, that even their so called slippers were at least an inch off the ground. He knew that Eternity loved heels more than most others. And yet, he was met with a pair of ratty sneakers, a size too small it seemed.

When he looked back up, her face was red. This was clearly not a girl who was used to male attention, he found himself thinking.

"I better go now, " she muttered, suddenly and whirled around, marching towards the door, as if a normal girl would, not wanting to be late for class. Only when she had left, did he realize that he had forgotten to ask for her name. When he had first seen her, he was so sure. And yet...

He pulled out the phone that the Group had given him. It was secure, bug free, and could not be tapped. Several missions had already been jeopardized because on Heartbreaker interference. They were always stirring up water that weren't their's to stir.

"Hey Doc, " he said, once they picked up on the first ring " it seems that this may be slightly more difficult than predicted.