Alex knew, he hadn't even seen the body up close but yet he knew. A mixture of feeling sick, pain and an unbearable remorse filled him; he closed his eyes, and tore himself away from the room. A bad dream? He opened his eyes and looked back, no! It was no dream; there would be no waking up and finding himself met by her caring face. He hated the thought of it, tears streamed down his face and splashed onto the floorboards of his hallway. He collapsed onto his knees and found himself short of breath.

He pulled his mobile out of his pocket and called.

'Hello, the Royal and General bank.' The soft voice said on the end of the line.

'This is Alex Rider give me Blunt.'

'There is no Blunt here, Mr Rider.'

'DO IT!' Alex exploded in a rage of anger. 'Tell him Jack's dead.'

Chapter One

The Monster of the night

'Nothing he could have done...'

'Already dead...'

The bed was hot and Alex was restless.

'How did she die?'

'Strangled, it seems...'

Alex sat up and flung himself from underneath the covers.

'She was alone, the boy was out.'

'No sign of forced entry, she must have let him in...'

'Trusted the man who killed her.'

Alex was sweating all over, he stood in nothing but his boxers, the in centre of his room it was the middle of December and he was sweltering.

'Was she seeing anyone?'

'Left no mark...'

'No footprints, fingerprints, no drinking glasses, therefore no saliva.'

'He came, he killed, he went, no mark, monstrous.'

The voices constantly roamed his head, mocking him, twenty four hour, even in his rare moments of sleep.

'The monster of the night?'

'He can't be caught.'

'And the boy? Where will he go? Will they take him?'

'No, they are washing their hands of him, out grown his uses.'

'Drugs, depression, he's fitter than ever physically, but mentally, he's unstable, they can't have him, he'd endanger any operation, he's single minded now, revenge is his only desire. His school work's slipping, he's only fourteen and he's seen more death then I have and I work in a morgue. This one, is one too many, he's snapped, off the rails, look into his eyes and you'll get chills, the boy is out of control...'

'Alex?' The woman's voice spoke, but it seemed distant to him, a smell of peppermints filled the room. 'Alex? What wrong?'

Alex approached his window in front of him and looked out onto the street below. 'Nothing.' He replied dryly.

She didn't believe him, despite knowing him for months; Mrs Jones could tell exactly what was on his mind. 'Okay, If you need anything, I'll be downstairs.'

'Fine.' Alex turned and saw her in his doorway, despite being only slightly dressed he did not feel embarrassed, he felt what he always did, nothing. Nothing but a constant hunger for vengeance, to take control of his out of control life and to find him! "The Monster of the Night." Very theatrical thought Alex. It was dark but he could still feel Mrs Jones' eyes scanning him, for anything.

'Anything else?' He asked expecting her to leave his room.

'No, thank you.'

Alex waited patiently for her to leave, she didn't. He snapped. 'What are you looking for?'

Despite his obvious anger, Mrs Jones seemed unfazed, she simply replied. 'Hope.' Before stepping out and closing the door gently behind her.

The classroom was loud, but Alex didn't mind, it allowed him to hide in the corner and look out the window, counting down the hours until he could legally leave. He was on the second floor of the English block and was staring out across town. He looked down momentarily to see if he was still being watched, he was.

Ever since Jack had died and he had started behaving "unusual" he had been watched, by a man in a black suit, with dark sunglasses, sitting in a Mazda, he did not officially knew, but he concluded that it was Blunt's men keeping tabs on him. The slightest school ground fight and they would jump in; truant and they'd pick him up. The man was outside his house even at night, which made his investigation so much more difficult.

He was miles away when he heard her voice. Her name was Emily and she sat in front of Alex, she had long dark hair and a sweet smile, she was in all honesty gorgeous, recently they had spent a lot of time together.

'Alex, you okay?' She asked waving her hand in front of his eyes trying to get his attention.

He turned to her and smiled. 'Yeah, you?'

'Yes thanks, I had a great time the other night, I hope you did?'

'It was alright.' He replied with a cheeky smile.

She blushed. 'Listen my parents are out this weekend, maybe?'

'Perhaps.' He gave a wink.

'One question though, where do you go at two o'clock in the morning.'

Alex smiled.

He remembered that night last Saturday; he'd stolen Mrs Jones' I.D. when she had slept round at his place that night, to keep an eye on him and popped round to Emily's, waited until she was asleep before going for a hunt. Blunt and his men had nothing on Jack's murders or none that Alex could find at their offices, they had no trace of it, but Alex on the other hand had left plenty, an assaulted security guard in intensive care and plenty of C.C.T.V footage. Mrs Jones knew what he had done but she hadn't mentioned it.

'Emily, If I told you, you wouldn't believe me.'

Emily smiled. 'You're so mysterious.'

Alex smiled back and looked deep into her eyes, gently touching her hand with his. 'That's me.'

The bell rang, Alex kissed her hand gently and before climbing from his chair and left the room in amongst a group of other students, hade he looked back at Emily he would have seen her turn a shade of almost purple. Charmer Alex thought, before allowing himself a dull unfulfilled smile.