She was panting, entirely out of breath. Sweat covered her, like an extra layer of skin. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She couldn't run any longer. Not anymore. She couldn't do it. Couldn't do it...
She felt her feet stop, and she fell forward into the dark street, feeling her brain swimming, about to pass out. She could smell dirt, pollution. A chill breeze swept her sweat strewn face, and she closed her eyes, willing it to end.
Behind her she could hear the ever steady footfalls come to a stop, to stand over her collapsed form. The shape began to laugh, chuckle, not out of breath in the slightest. As if it didn't have any breath in the first place. "Tired?" it asked.
She didn't answer. She didn't need to.
"I'm surprised you've made it this long."
How could this be happening? This was a nightmare. Some horrific dream. But she had been running for too long for it to be a dream. Dreams didn't last this long. Dreams didn't drain you this hard.
How could she have been running, with all her strength, for her life, only to hear his footsteps following her, matching her speed for speed, and yet never catching her? He wasn't tired. He couldn't get tired. She had run, knowing that he would catch her, all along. He could have caught up with her, with one of those deadly sprints she had seen before. Moving faster then she could even see... He was taunting her. The entire time, it was just a game, and she was the entertaining part. To watch her try and escape. To see how he could hurt her, before finally doing her in.
And she was done now. She wouldn't run anymore, for him.
He sighed, the laughter dying out. "You're amazing." he said, and even through the tiredness of her head, she could hear the sweetness in his throat. It attracted her, with indescribable energy, and she was sickened by the fact. The fact that she knew those pale features, the dark, empty eyes, were watching her.
"For a moment there, I'd thought I'd lost you." he continued, and she opened her eyes, glanced up, and saw him there, standing cold and hard in the moonlight. "That's a hard thing to do." he said, smiling once again, as he saw her eyes register his own. "A hard thing to do, loose me. Disappeared right under my nose. Quite the chase."
The end was here. She knew it was. And it was going to be painful. She felt she didn't entirely understand, but she knew enough stories to know that it wasn't going to have a happy ending. It was going to hurt. It was going to hurt a lot...
There was a burning in her chest. Likely her heart beating, as if it was going to explode from her exertion. But it burned just enough to make her lift her hand, placing it on the road beneath her, and pushing her up from her fallen state, and to her knees.
He was laughing again, pleased at the sight that she wasn't through, yet. Though, both knew it wouldn't be much longer. Not while she was in this state.
She was on her feet. She stumbled back a few paces, but was able to gain her balance, once more. Her knees were quivering, her head nodded, and everything appeared a foggy, milky white, and spun through her vision.
And he stood there, grinning to himself, looking at his prey.
"Going to run again?" he asked curiously.
"No." she found herself able to say. Her chest was still heaving. Her throat was dry, not her own.
"Giving up?"
"No."
He laughed again. "Interesting." he purred, now turning to begin pacing in front of her, thoughtful. "And what should we do, now?" he asked himself, smirking.
"Have it your own way."
He chuckled darkly, again. "Now that," he said. "is giving up."
But he seemed to have become quite comfortable with that notion. All good things must come to an end, including the fun of the hunt. He stopped his pacing, and slowly made his way towards her, his black eyes beginning to stare greedily at the base of her throat.
He was close, and she could feel the chill air drawing in around her. The end... She had thought herself entirely out of adrenaline, and yet her tired body found one last pump.
She raised her fist and struck.
She cried out in pain as she felt her wrist buckle backwards, and pain shot through her arm, her wrist, her shattered hand... and she staggered backwards, weeping, and broken.
He was laughing again, untouched. "I thought we'd already come to the conclusion that you couldn't hurt me. Had to try again, did you?" And yet he still advanced. "You can't hurt me..." he repeated, and now he'd caught her by the wrist, of her other hand. He lay her hand palm up in his own hand, and slowly brought one index finger to her open skin, and casually pressed down, dragging his finger across her palm, crushing the bones as if they were paper. "You can't hurt me, and yet I can't stop hurting you."
She screamed. She was crying. Sobs caught in her throat as she tried to tear away, and yet he held her there, firmly, crushing her hand with one finger, and smiling at the expression on her face.
He softly released her hand, and she gave another sob. Let it be over...
But, instead, he took her head in between both of his powerful hands. She watched his face, his unnatural face, horrified, knowing what he was going to do before he even started applying the pressure. He would crush her head in between his bare hands, as he had crushed her palm in between his fingers. And she had no doubt that he could do it.
"Goodbye, my sweet." he purred.
She could only cry, her hands throbbing, her head spinning, supported by the icy hands which held her in place.
And then she felt his stinging breath on her face, and his cold lips stroked her own...
He was kissing her, terrified tears streamed down her face, mingling with the sweat from her flight. She was in pain, in agony, and his overpowering smell and sweetness choked her nose.
And he was kissing her... A playful bite on the lip... He couldn't stop himself.
"James!" came a horrified sound from behind him.
And he released her.
She fell in a heap on the ground, crying, weeping, unable to cradle a broken hand in comfort, for both of them ached. She was seeing dizzy stars. Her throat still burned from her running, and now it burned with sickness, and pain...
"James! What were you doing?"
He began laughing, stepping uncaring from her side, towards the pale woman with flaming red hair, who now stood in the shadows with them. "Only a bit of fun, Victoria, my sweet."
"Yes, I understand, but was that necessary?"
He laughed. "Only a bit of fun. You know that..."
"Look what you've done!" the woman continued, now staring at her, the broken heap on the pavement of the street. "You bit her. You bit her, didn't you..."
He looked back, then heaved a sigh. "I suppose... It wouldn't have been that way if you hadn't interrupted..."
Suddenly her hands weren't aching anymore. Or at least, she didn't notice them anymore. She felt like her face was on fire. The pain slowly licked through the tiny bite on her lip, down her chin, and up to her nose. Fire... FIRE!!!...
There was screaming. Awful screams which ripped through the still night air.
James picked the screaming girl up into his arms, looking at the disapproving face of Victoria, clearly marked with jealousy. "Well, we can't leave her here." he stated.
She turned and ran down the street, leaving him, zooming out of sight. He sighed, and then followed, the girl's screams echoing through the silence.
* * *
How long she'd been hunting, she'd lost track of. Years didn't really matter, anymore. All that mattered was the faint smell she could sense on the wind. A smell that any normal hunter would have forgotten ten years ago, but one which she kept fresh in her memory, unwilling to let it go, and to let herself move on.
He'd been here. Maybe a month ago. But that didn't tell her much.
She was concentrating on the wind, on the ground, trying to scent out where he had gone from this point. But she felt her eyes wandering unconsciously, to stare at the crowds of people leaving and entering the mall which stood a hundred yards from the point she stood now. Those people, wandering harmlessly about their own business, always in groups of friends, or family. Never one by themselves...
No. She was hunting, but not for that. Not today. Still, she felt so... thirsty...
She made herself step forward, looking down at the road at her feet. One month behind him. She was only one month behind him. She would catch him. Soon. She just had to concentrate. Concentrate...
She found her feet had stopped moving. She was standing at a bus stop, and unconsciously, her eyes had fixed on something of their own accord, again. A man. By himself. Waiting for the bus.
No. No, no, no, no...
"Hi." she found herself saying, as she stepped to wait beside him, a sudden change of plans.
He glanced over at her, and she could feel his eyes refocus when he spotted her pale face, her dark eyes, and the stealthy perfection of her movements. "Hi." he muttered back, not looking away.
She could hear his pulse quicken, and the sweet intoxicating smell emitting from his neck increased, drawing her in even more. No, she couldn't resist. Not when she was this thirsty...
"Waiting for the bus?" she asked, giving him a charming smile.
* * *
She was back in front of the mall, catching up where she'd left off. The scent was always so faint...
Why was she doing this? Why didn't she just give up? Wasn't she just as much of a monster as he was, now? Yet, he had no dignity, in it. And yet what kind of dignity was there meant to be, when you hunted people for their blood? When you were nothing more then a...
Call it vengeance.
She wanted him to suffer, as she had suffered in her short life. For she was a hunter, too.
* * *