I turned my head taking in the man standing next to me. Nice, sweet, kind and gentle, a group date that wound up being a semi-setup by my best friend. She thought it would be good for me to get out of the house and be with someone. Until now, after dinner and waiting on our friends for a movie, I never realized that she was completely right.
He smiled a small shy smile, when he caught me staring making me blush and force my eyes away from him and that's when I saw her. A little blonde haired girl crouched in the ally beside the theater. Looking around for a frantic mother in case they might have lost a child but there wasn't one, so I motioned for my date to follow as I walked over to the little girl.
As I got closer to her I noticed her body shaking as if being attacked by a never-ending onslaught of sobs, I crouched beside. "Hi, my name is Lauren, where's your mom, I could bring you to her?" My voice was soft and smooth, trying to comfort and finding it working as her body calmed and her face turned to look at me.
The girl's eyes held a mature essence that shocked me; in seconds her hand reached out and covered the spot where my heart would be, while her incredibly wise orbs met mine. I watched her lips sweep in a motion of voicing words as the letters fell silently to my ears and suddenly I was only aware of her; commanding my attention. There was a pressure that appeared instantly through my ribcage and to the main beating organ, and as if it never happened I was released and fell backwards.
Lying there unmoving, staring at this little girl, in her hand my heart. For some reason, whatever the reason, I could still see her and I watched as she walked toward my blind date, watched as the girl reached out and I swear her hand went right through his chest and pulled out his own heart as well.
Black started to ring my vision, why was I still alive to witness the death of a person at the hands of someone so angelic and innocent beyond her years? The last thing I saw before my world ended was he and the blank staring face, while mine shown a twisted form of fright.
"Come on JD, you know there's a job here," Brea all but screamed at me.
We were currently sitting in some local diner and I had ordered a decaf with a salad. Brea on the other hand ordered a black coffee, a bacon cheeseburger, and a piece of apple ala mode serving her a look from me to her then down at her plate.
"You know that could kill you right?"
She glared at me and I could tell by the look on her face she was questioning why she even talked to me.
"Hardy har, har." One-way ticket to heart failure.
I smiled in spite of my feelings. "Brea I know there is, I mean one look at the autopsy report and any hunter would know that there's a job. The victims are missing their hearts, and there's no evidence suggesting someone cracked open their chests. So yes I know there's a job here."
"But---" Muffled by the wonderful musical sounds of the artery clogger in her mouth it came out like a dog trying to speak.
"Brea, don't talk with your mouth full."
Her eyes narrowed at my scolding tone, but she finished chewing. "But what you said about finding..."
"I simply noticed," I cut her off before she could say anything else, "That the incidents happened in the range of at least 5 miles west of where we're staying, so I was suggesting we find a place closer to that area."
She rolled her eyes at me, before that used to bother me and when I asked her about it she just said, 'because I know you're just being you JD.' After that, I ignored it and attributed it to Brea being Brea. At that moment the diner's bell hanging over the door rang signaling a new costumer, my back was to the door so I couldn't see them but Brea could.
"Quit staring Brea it's not polite," my tone again scolding, she just blinked.
"I call dibs on the short one," her voice frantic and excited. I looked around behind me toward where she had been staring. They were both relatively tall---compared to me anyway---but yes, one was indeed shorter than the other.
The waitress led them to their table, and I observed that the shorter one was just up Brea's ally; long bow legged strides speaking wonders, a sense of self---he knew what he was doing to poor women like Brea---he also seemed to be alert to everything around him as if sensing for a threat. I could hear the soft thudding of his biker boots like the whispering beat of a heart. Like all good men he wore jeans, faded in all the right places. He had on several layers of shirts none of which gave hints at the tantalizing mysteries that may lie beneath the surface. Although I could see large toned biceps, ready to take arms if called into battle and from the commanding air that seemed to follow this man he would do indescribable things in the American army…no wait, the U.S. Marines.
Moving on to the taller one, he seemed sensible although his steps were awkward, unsure; obviously he was concentrating on something far more important. He seemed to be just legs as I continued my inspection of him, but just before I gave up trying to see something of him other than lengthy stems, I noticed that just between the brim of his pants and the bottom of the button up shirt revealed something that made my breathing hitch. Something like breath hitching shocked me, I haven't gotten like this over someone since...no I won't go there. Continuing onwards, lightly tanned skin stretching over muscles one wouldn't know existed, hands that told of hard work and weapon handling.
Both these men had qualities that seemed to scream Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force...but something told me they weren't that into biding by the rules. That's when I saw something I only saw around other hunters, that aura of death and misfortune. I closed my eyes, I felt for the two of them, my mind automatically jumping to Jason and stopping before I could stray too far into those deep misery filled waters.
I turned back to Brea, her light brown eyes filled with excitement and lust. "Don't worry you'll have no competition from me. He's all yours. In fact, you can have both."
"Aww, you're moping again, missing Jason are you?" I glared at her. I couldn't believe she would bring him up.
"Oh come off your high horse, it's been 3 years. I'm worried about you ya know, if it weren't for Taylor, I'm pretty sure you would've jumped in front of the nearest bus." Brea had gone from excited to pitying in no time flat. She really was like Tinker bell, she couldn't feel or at least show more than one emotion and the switch was usually drastic. Her gaze again drifted to the two men. "Look I'm fine I just don't see the point, you know I can't stand one night stands." I defended myself even though I knew her attention was fully and completely on the two men on the other side of the diner.
"Mmhm, look I'll be right back okay."
Without waiting for a reply she stood up and walked over to them and I knew exactly what was happening; being her usual flirty self, then one of them, probably the short one, would offer to let her sit with them. I finished eating, glancing over just in time to spot Brea giggling, now it was my turn to roll my eyes. Pulling out my phone I sent her a text. 'I'm not waiting, have fun with tall, dark and handsome not to mention short, strong and brooding.'
I picked up my order to go and headed outside, not wanting to be a tag along in Brea's wonderful life of bedpost royals. A breath in of the cool, fresh, crisp air, sighing and walking over to my beautiful black 1985 Harley-Davidson, removing the black helmet and the black leather jacket from the seat and handlebars before stuffing the little Styrofoam container inside. Hopping on my baby I pulled on the helmet and the leather jacket, they still smelled like him…Engine purring as I rode out of the lot registering a black '67 Chevy Impala just a few inches ready for the main road traffic. What I wouldn't give for a ride in that gorgeous classic.
I reached the motel we were staying at, not too far from the diner we had taken residence in for devouring delights of all types, I had the slightest feeling of déjà' vu. Shaking it off I stepped inside the room where I was greeted with the hard sound of running water. Smiling to myself I set the white box from the diner on the table.
"Hello?" a fragile voice called.