Heartbreakers

The Angel with the Mask

Get the target alone. Lure her in. Figure her out.

Then kill her.

It was hard to locate her and that was already a something. In a school of seven hundred students, a single girl, a very memorable girl, shouldn't have been to difficult to find. Especially for a trained agent with his skills. But no matter who he asked, all he got was blank stares. And no matter where he turned, walls rose before him, uncrossible. It would seem that Eternity Kill was refusing to play the game on anything but her terms.

She may not be Eternity Kill, a voice cautioned the hunter, nothing is confirmed.

Nothing is confirmed.

He stifled a grunt of frustration. How was it possible, that he was outsmarted by a sixteen year old when he surpassed her both by knowledge and was much more seasoned? Somebody jostled him aside with the typical

"Get out of the way, " all teenagers pulled when somebody was standing in the middle of the hall. The hunter frowned after them. Picking fights was not how you kept off the the radar. Otherwise he may have snapped that dudes neck.

He checked his watch. The bell was going to call him back to his own personal purgatory soon, and he hadn't found her yet.

The impediments tossed his did not make things any easier. This brat was turning out to be more of a challenge than he had expected.

"Lost? " a voice enquired behind him. It was female, and he had no time for flirting.

"It's none of your business, " he replied with flippant arrogance, not bothering to turn around, his eyes still scanning the students. He expected her to leave him alone, but he could hear her, breathing slightly to his left.

"There really is no necessity to be so rude when people are offering you help, " the voice told him, and he could picture her, hands on her hips, a cheerleader with bleached hair and skin the color of an orange peel. Annoyed, he looked away from the corridor and the mass of people he was dissecting and turned around.

"Look here this really is none of your -" he stopped.

"Hello, " she said.

He felt like kicking himself. Angel stood before him, all poised politeness, her cheeks flushed and her hair falling out of it's bun. He wondered how he could have missed her scent, and it took him a second to realize that today, she smelt different.

She smelt like chocolate chip cookies and darkness. Somebody was making out noisily by the lockers. It irritated him.

"Yes, " he said, regaining his cool and reached out to shake her hand " I don't believe we have met officially. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Matthew Jacobs,"

He made a theatrical bow, and she laughed, while moving slightly out of the way of the string of students that barreled past. He got back up and took her hand in hers. Small. White. Not the hands of a killer, he found himself thinking.

Nothing is confirmed.

"Angel Flemming. My sister is Lena Flemming, you tutor her in maths, "

She smiled at him then, and released his hand with a single squeeze. He tried to appraise the strength stored in that tiny hand, but a Heartbreaker would have learned how to control such trivial things so that was not a good marker to go by.

"Yes, I know, " he said " though I doubt that Lena needs a tutor, "

His words were laced with double meaning and a slight under current of a threat. He gauged her reaction, watched for the flicker of surprised, a little sign, a traitor. But instead the girl just said

"Our cousin insists, " and then the bell rang and she smiled at him one last time, before ducking into her class.

No matter how beatific Angel Flemming seemed, she was topped the list of suspects. She matched the sketch of Eternity Kill, the only question was, how was he going to go about unveiling her?

He caught up with her after school, and it was considerably easier to find her this time round. The whole school seemed to be interweaved with her scent. He couldn't rid himself of the niggling suspicion, that she wanted to be found.

"Hey Angel, " he called out, just as she was walking out the door, her sister in tow. She paused for a second, and looked around, before her eyes found him and she smiled her polished smile.

"Hello Matthew, " she said, once he jogged up for them. It seemed that this girl was all about delicate, a dandelion in the wind.

"Heya Matt, " Lena smirked at him " did my maths skills charm you so much that you couldn't resist me any longer? "

"Lena, " her sister chided and then looked over at Matthew apologetically " she's half wild. Ignore her, "

"It's fine, " he told Angel " and no, Lena, I'm here to talk to your sister, actually, "

Lena raised her eyebrows. She looked at Matthew. She looked at Angel. Her eyes glinted.

"Oh, I see, " was all she said and then without warning, she whirled around and skipped off, and the hunter could hear her singing under her breath. She was much too far away for them to hear with human hearing. The hunter heard. But the hunter wasn't human. He glanced at Angel to see if she heard too.

Angel and Matthew sitting in a tree

K.I.S.S.I.N.G

First comes love.

Then comes marriage.

Then comes a baby in a baby carriage.

"I'm sorry about her, " Angel said, but there was nothing to show that she had heard Lena's deluded muttering " she was dropped a lot on her head as a baby. Mainly by me. Anyway, what was you wanted to talk to me about? "

They had reached to bottom of the steps, and stood, facing each other. The hunter could see Lena a little bit away, leaning against a tree, rattling away to some people who laughed with her. Angel was staring at him, her eyebrows raised, her eyes two question marks.

"I just wanted to see, would you show me around town someday, " he said " I'm new here, and it would really help, "

He was pushing her into a difficult situation. If she was to stay in character, she was going to have to say yes. She was much too kind for a different response to be probable. This was a trap. He just needed her to screw it up. He needed this confirmation.

"Sure, " she said instead, without pausing for a second to think about it "would Tuesday suit you? "

He wasn't sure weather to be disappointed or ecstatic. On the one hand, he got to observe their target on her own, to make sure she really was Angel and not Eternity. If she was a mere human, he could cross her off the list. But if she was a Heartbreaker, if she was the Heartbreaker, this just proved how difficult it was going to be for him to catch her out.

"Yes, Tuesday's fine, "

"See you then, " she turned to leave.

"See you, "

Oh yes Angel Flemming. See you. Or will I see somebody else?