Chapter 7

Heidi pulled herself up onto the rickety fire escape and climbed effortlessly until she reached the top of the century-old Italian building. With a smooth couple of leaps, she skipped from one building ledge to another and soon found herself on the roof where a small figure on the far side awaited her. Heidi moved swiftly across the rooftop and said as she approached, "I just got your message. Your timing is impeccable."

Jane stood motionless, not needing to turn her eyes away from the Italian city below. "I figured you'd be up for a hunt."

"More than you could imagine," replied the taller woman as she brushed any potential dust from her black slacks. Heidi next pulled on her dark grey blouse, one cut to reveal ample cleavage. "I wish you had come with me to England. I nearly ripped that man's head off. You are correct about his nature. He's becoming more resistant to the idea of becoming one of us."

Jane turned her head to study Heidi's attire, nodding approvingly as she returned her gaze to the large Mediterranean harbor below.

Joining in the gaze across the harbor, Heidi asked, "What do we have tonight?"

"War ships. They docked today for refueling."

"What nationality?"

"American," replied Jane

Heidi smiled. "Perfect. I hope you don't mind, but I'm in the mood for something more sporting."

Jane gnawed her lip as she considered her friend's request, for she too felt the stress from their recent endeavors with the male tourist. Jane suggested, "Special forces?"

"Sounds good. Do think we'll find any?"

Jane turned to the moonlit horizon of the Mediterranean Sea. "The other ships are out past the curvature of the earth; we probably won't see them anytime soon, but I know they have an aircraft carrier in their fleet. I've spotted their recon planes. They no doubt have some special forces in this armada. I'm sure we'll find them down by the artisan market."

"At this point," began Heidi in an eager tone, "I'll take whatever we can find."

Jane stepped to the ledge. "The same goes for me, but it is more fun to see the surprised looks from tiny, overconfident minds."

"I do enjoy beating the arrogance off their smug faces. There is something special that comes with that sudden fear. It's intoxicating."

When Heidi stepped onto the ledge, Jane grabbed her arm to stop her. "Only two. Remember, we hunted here just a couple months ago."

"But those were Chinese merchant sailors."

"Yes, but we left those bodies to be found."

Heidi gazed up into the night sky, remembering. "Ah, that's right."

Whatever we feed on tonight, we'll have to dispose of properly.

"I don't care; just give me something big and muscular to wail on."

"We should hunt on the south side, away from the strip clubs. The thugs who don't drown their sorrows in alcohol and whores are the most dangerous, the most fun."

"Only dangerous to other humans," countered Heidi. "Not to us."

Jane retained her grip on her friend. "Yes, but they are the type that more often raise concerns when they go missing."

Patting her friend's hand in reassurance, Heidi's smile betrayed a hunter's snarl. "Isn't that why we're meticulous? It's part of the hunt. It wouldn't be fun if it was easy."

"I know. I'm just reminding you to keep your emotions in check until we have isolated our targets. You seem distracted with our new friend." Seeing her friend's smile fade, Jane added, "I don't want you tearing off any limbs until we get them secluded. Okay?"

"I'll be careful. Besides, that insignificant tourist does not distract me. He's just annoying. It has been a long time since I had to be patient with a human."

"Well, we often want what we can't have," said Jane with a mocking smile.

"That not funny."

"You like him."

Heidi stepped back, dropping back onto the roof. She twisted her heals into the painted concrete as she spoke. "No. He's a hillbilly. Did you notice his clothing?"

"I think you mean redneck." Jane stepped back from the ledge, joining her friend on the rooftop. "You should get the nomenclature correct if you're going to live in that part of the world for the next few months. Perhaps you should start practicing the accent."

"I think hillbilly and redneck are the same thing."

"Hillbillies are southern. Rednecks are northern."

"No," chided Heidi before reconsidering the idea. "Well, maybe a hundred years ago, but those American terms are interchangeable now."

Having always preferred British English, Jane tried to parse her American vocabulary from memory. "Are you sure? I think they both originated in the south."

"Does it matter? It's used everywhere now. I see insults used everywhere on the internet when I'm fishing for tourist in that part of the world. You should go online with me some time. Their true human nature is on display in all its ugliness."

Jane snarled at the thought. "I'll pass. Experiencing the internet the one time was enough. All it does is spread bad news more quickly. Everyone is whining or complaining."

"They're human; that's what they are programmed to do."

"Again, pass." Jane turned to her friend, anticipating a reaffirming look to her earlier words of caution.

"I'll be careful with our stray tourist. I just hope you're correct about his ability."

"Me too." Jane began walking towards the rooftop ledge, her friend following close behind.

"Do you remember," began Heidi, "what it was like hunting here in the harbor after the war: so many warships and no technology. We never had to worry about being discovered or about being overly careful with bodies."

Recalling that special time, Jane smiled. "Remember when we surprised that crew of fifty British sailors."

Heidi nodded. "I remember how much fun Felix had disposing of the ship. He's lucky he didn't blow off his head on that naval mine."

"Aro wasn't happy. I remember that."

Heidi sighed as she recalled the chaos and excitement of the last global war. Hearing Aro's name gave her other concerns. "How is Aro, in regard to our little plan?"

"I spoke to him again and he still approves. I will keep him updated regularly, as you will keep me updated. I think Aro is as curious to learn of the lad's gift as we are."

"Like you are," countered Heidi. "I would rather not go through all this trouble."

"Do you deny that you're not just a bit curious about his gift?"

Heidi kept her eyes diverted, gazing out at the harbor. "I still say we should just change him."

"And risk him running to some other coven, or worse, to the Cullen's?"

Eyeing her friend, Heidi said in an accusatory tone, "You just want to beat Bella. You've never lost a fight, and now you're obsessed on beating her?"

Jane's eyes narrowed as she considered for a moment the use of her gift on her friend—just a little pain, she thought. Wrinkling her nose, she let go of her anger and countered, "You're no different than me."

"How so?"

"You've never not had a man heed to your beckon call. Now that one has, you're obsessed with him. You hate it that you don't have him wrapped around your little finger."

"Not likely. Our friend [with air quotes] probably has never worn a tie in his life, and I'm including the tacky clip on variety. He's feral."

"You can fix him," said Jane with a snide mile.

"Funny. You know I tried to fix my last boyfriend and how that turned out."

"That wasn't fixing, that was persuasion. And not all vampires excel in intellect."

"Well, it was the best I could do at the time; I had no choice."

Jane found her hands clutched into fists. She stretched out her fingers, exclaiming, "Why are we fighting!"

"I don't know! But I haven't been this pissed off in years."

"Well," began Jane as she hopped onto ledge, "maybe we should go and kill something."

"My thoughts exactly," said Heidi as she followed her friend onto the ledge, dropping silently into the city shadows below.

...

Underground in a forgotten war bunker, where the screams of two men had echoed off graffiti covered walls to deaf ears, Jane and Heidi calmly sat in the aftermath on the dusty concrete floor, each leaning calmly against the wall.

The decaying remnant of the Cold War served well for their stress relieving hunting sessions, allowing these two metaphorical cats to play with their mice. The actual room they commonly used to subdue their prey had at one time functioned as a meeting room, perhaps the office for some head of state. Now it served as a battleground for miscreants lured into a vampire trap.

Two military issued penlights lay on the floor, their beams shining brightly off the concrete walls, the surprisingly powerful light reflecting up to the high ceiling. In the beam of one light, two muscular males with short-cropped haircuts lay in a heap, drained of blood.

Not that Heidi and Jane needed light, but like traditional hunters, these two female vampires saw their outings as sport. Therefore, their prey needed to see; otherwise, they would be running into walls like headless chickens, which would spoil the fun. And if their prey had no lights of their own, the two women had a growing stash of lights hidden at the entrance from which a degenerate could choose, all in the name of fairness.

The two contented women reflected over their easy conquest, blood still smeared on their faces.

"I saw what you did," said Jane with a knowing smile. "How did it feel?"

Heidi returned the smile. "You mean when I tossed mine up into the ceiling?"

"No. I mean what you did not do."

"Not using my gift of persuasion?" asked Heidi in a feign attempt of playing coy.

"Yes," replied Jane. "You intentionally lured those two down here using only your feminine charms. Did it give you what you needed?"

Heidi appeared more sullen than proud. "It did, but only one was following me. The truly debauched one could not wait to get his hands on you."

"Okay, but did your pig in human clothing replace the tourist that got away?"

Heidi faintly shrugged.

"Believe me," said Jane. "I know how you feel. Not being able to drop that American woman to her knees still irks me."

"I now understand your frustration." After a long pause, Heidi gestured to the larger of the two corpses. "I didn't peg that one to be a crier."

"That's my fault. I shouldn't have pummeled his friend so violently. I couldn't pace my punches."

"Don't blame yourself." Heidi tapped her friend on the leg. "The recent events have gotten on our nerves."

"And now that you've rediscovered your natural charisma, maybe you'll be able to convince our tourist friend to join our coven before winter."

The thought of winter in Minnesota—not to mention the possible isolation from designer clothes and shoes, worse yet, art and culture—did not sit well with Heidi. She glared at her friend and said, "You had to spoil our wonderful evening; didn't you."

"Don't fret. You don't have to spend every day Minnesota. Take the occasional trip to New York."

"You know it's getting harder for us to travel."

"I'm sure Aro will allow you to lease a private jet, something small."

"He better," said Heidi before climbing to her feet. "I've never handled travelling outside Europe as well as you."

Jane followed her friend to her feet and began stepping slowly around the lifeless bodies. "I don't like traveling either, but we do what we must to survive." She reached down and collected the two smashed smartphones from the floor of the bunker, phones Heidi had destroyed just before Jane had begun to taunt their prey into revealing their dark natures.

Revealing the evil that resides in a human's heart was surprisingly easy for these women. It began with the smashing of the smartphones, this standard offense often brought out their prey's anger—often rage since the internet had become just another drug, another addiction. The frail human mind craved the disillusioned attention received from social networks. This virtual drug pulled them in multiple directions: to be liked, the need to share trifle comments, to be able to spew their anger, their true ugliness exposed to all free of consequence, or so they thought.

But the internet had also become an invaluable tool for Heidi in her hunt for lost souls, infinite sheep ready for slaughter as she discovered during the internet's early growth.

Jane held up the destroyed smartphones as she turned to her friend. "Do you think humans would ever choose these over their children?"

"They have. I've seen stories online when fishing."

Jane let the phones dangle loosely in her hands as her arms lowered to her side. "They may call us monsters, but these little boxes that they cling to for dear life are much worse. These vampires drain them of their souls." Jane crushed the two phones in her bare hands, bits of glass and gadget falling from between her fingers. She shook the clinging remnants of phone from her impenetrable skin before asking, "What is our purpose in life, be it God or evolution, your choice?"

Heidi began to pace slowly around the bodies, more interested in the poor clothing choices than the bloodied flesh. "When I first ascended, I quickly came to believe that this world was created specifically for us, that humans were simply our source of sustenance. I try not to think past that. You?"

"The same," replied Jane, "but I'm now beginning to wonder if our purpose was to police the humans, to prevent them from getting out of control. The first masters had similar thoughts way back then."

"You think we should start policing humans?"

"Yes. The humans are becoming a plague; they are smothering the planet. I think we should be doing more."

"Isn't it too late? They've overpopulated. And they now have advanced weapons that could pose a threat to us."

"Perhaps. Their technology worries me more than their weapons. It has become too advanced and intrusive; it is beginning to interfere with our activities. Their desire to track everyone is only going to get worse, whether it be physically or through communications. Soon, ever street in Europe will be monitored by video cameras."

"You've discussed this with the masters?"

"Yes. Marcus says that the humans are at another tipping point. He thinks their tendency to self destruct will set things right."

"Like a nuclear holocaust?"

Jane shook her head. "I hope not. Do you want to feed off scrawny, radioactive survivors?"

"Yuk. God, no."

Jane's lips began to curl. "If society collapses under mushroom clouds, you might have to wait a 1000 years for new designer shoes."

Heidi froze, pointing a loaded stare at her friend. "That's nothing to joke about."

Jane turned her attention to the two corpses, eyeing them with contempt. "Something needs to be done; there is no doubt about it. Perhaps I should bring this up to all three masters in a formal discussion."

"I think you should," said Heidi. "But I think Marcus is right. They have always had their ups and downs. They are overdue for a major down turn."

"Way overdue."

Heidi slid her hands into her back pockets. "I've never liked the increased need for discretion. But like you said, we do what we must."

Jane kicked one of the corpses, her frustration returning. "Remember when you joined the Volturi? Do you remember how free we used to be?"

"Yes; of course."

The smaller vampire looked up at the ceiling—as if she could see the bustling city above—and said, "Well, I have no intention of hiding in the shadows forever."