Oregon. 2011

I had been in this shit small town for three days. It shouldn't take this long to track a single vampire, but Dayville seemed intent on keeping me there. I preferred cities, but I couldn't leave until the bloodsucker was dead, even if I wanted to. My father and uncle would never speak to me again. See, hunting was a family business and they taught me everything they knew. But they were merely vampire hunters, famous ones, but vampire hunters. I learned to hunt everything that goes bump in the night. And somehow, these things always found me.

I don't think the vampire had yet noticed that I was hunting him. You would think in a small town like Dayville, gossip about a stranger would be on everyone's lips. Yet there was not one word. He must have compelled people to forget about him. The civilians seemed to have forgotten about the recent string of murders as well. That's why it was taking so long. I had to watch for anything out of the ordinary; maybe a man who never paid for a drink or the town womanizer. I found him living alone on the outskirts of town. Alone, just as my experience taught me he would be. My only tactical advantage was surprise; that's usually how it was for all monsters. If they weren't strong, they could see better, smell better, or move faster.

So what is the last thing a vampire expects from a human hunter? A frontal attack. I knocked on his door. "Who are you?" grunted a man with shoulder length black hair and blood staining his chin.

"Anna Frog," I answered promptly. He had compelled me to answer. The vervain in my system prevented me from truly being compelled, but he didn't know that. "Are you Aaron McKay?"

He nodded, eyes twinkling mischievously. "What can I do for you beautiful?"

I fluttered my eyelashes as the stake dropped from inside my sleeve and I shoved it into his chest. The vampires gasped, eyes widening. His had clutched at the stake, but it was too late. He had already began to turn to ash. Once he had disintegrated, I picked up the stake and lifted my shirt to wipe the sweat from my forehead. Vampires were idiots.

Out on my periphery, I noticed a confrontation and instinctively assumed a defensive position. How had I let someone get so close to me without noticing? Carefully, stake at the ready, I stalked over to the two men. When they were within my range of vision, I noticed a body on the ground. He was a bout about my age, early twenties. There was a hole in his chest and his heart laid beside him. The body wasn't disappearing so I was able to deduce that he wasn't a bloodsucker. I looked up as his attacker appeared next to me. His speed gave him away as something more than human. I first noticed his defined cheekbones and full lips, then my eyes traveled up to his blue eyes and blond hair. He wore a dark gray tshirt with a couple necklaces tucked into his collar. I spent too long observing him. The one second it took me to decide he was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen cold have been the one second it took him to kill me.

"I'm sorry, luv," the vampire said. "Was he yours?"

"Who are you?" I demanded when I should have been trying to stake him.

He licked his lips and then smiled slowly. "My name is Klaus."

I backed away as though those two steps would save my life. Original vampires were supposed to be a myth; a ghost story hunters told their children. Klaus, Elijah, Rebekah: the children of the Devil. If rumor were to be believed, Klaus was an impulsive psychopath known for torturing anyone who crossed him, including other vampires.

"Ah, so you've heard of me," he grinned and began licking the blood off of his hand without breaking eye contact.

I shuddered, but it wasn't from fright.

He sped forward pushing me back against a tree. I could feel the rough bark digging into my back, but I dared not move forward. There was only an inch of space between us and his bloodied hand rested on the trunk near my face. "I wonder what you taste like, hunter," he hissed.

"If you're going to kill me, then do it!" I spat.

"I meant between your thighs," he breathed into my ear.

His warm breath tickled my neck and I couldn't help myself. I thought about it and my heart began to pound. Death didn't scare me, I faced it nearly every day in my line of work, but no one ever tried to flirt with a girl with a face tattoo. I didn't know how to react. I would have been more comfortable if he just attacked me.

He must have heard my heart pick up its pace because his upper lip curled into a smirk that could make any girl's heart flutter. "I'll see you soon, hunter," he promised and leaned in as if he were going to kiss me. At the last second he pulled away and disappeared into the woods.

I didn't dare breathe until he was completely out of sight.