A/N: I'm so glad everyone likes this! Here's chapter two, with a nice cliffhanger. I tried very hard to make this simple, as I'm hinting to things that will happen in the next chapter or so. But if you're confused, send me a quick message and I'll clear it up for you!
Jack was exhausted. He tossed his bag on the table and plopped down on the hard wood chair. Ignoring the urge to climb into bed, he grabbed his stakes from the bag. There were five, and they all had to be cleaned and sharpened.
He'd been a hunter for two hundred years, ever since he reached the age of twenty. Similar to the vampires he hunted, he didn't age. He still looked twenty. Jack would eventually age though, and unlike vampires he was mortal. He would die. But unless he was killed during a hunt, or killed some other way, Jack knew he'd easily live another three to four hundred years.
Grabbing holy water from a shelf, he dumped it over the stakes. The blood that had soaked into the wood hissed as it burned away. Jack inhaled the smoke. His abilities came from the smoke. He had enhanced senses, amazing strength and agility, and could run faster than any human. But he was still weaker than even a newborn vampire, and always would be.
Jack grabbed his knife and leaned back, sharpening the first stake. He was careful not to knick his fingers, not wanting his blood near his weapons. For centuries, vampires had always found the blood of hunters to be especially sweet and satisfying.
A knock on the door pulled him from his task. "What?" The door creaked open, and he saw Ronan, his advisor walk in.
"Five vampires last night Jack. Impressive," Ronan commented. "I just don't get what it is about this city that attracts them." Ronan grabbed one of Jack's clean and sharpened stakes, and inspected it. Impressed with it, he placed it back down.
"It's New Orleans Ronan. Between brothels and bars, the prey is easy to pick off." Jack scrutinized the tip of the stake he was working on before returning his knife to it. "The swamps and bayous make it pretty easy to dispose of the bodies."
"It was a rhetorical question Jack," Ronan joked. "Ever hear of Caledon Hockley," he asked, turning serious. Jack stopped sharpening and looked up at Ronan.
"I think every hunter has. Why?" Jack felt adrenaline flow through him. Caledon Hockley was at least nine hundred years old, possibly closer to a thousand years old. And he was a ruthless killer. He was known well among hunters. He enjoyed tormenting his prey before killing them.
"Caledon and his mate Rose have made their way to the city. I need you to kill them both tonight."
...
Cal popped the lid off his coffin and slid it off. The sun had set just a minute ago, and his throat burned. He groaned, which sounded more like a growl. Not only did he need to feed, he also had Rose to deal with.
When he first saw her, Cal knew he had to have her. Turning Rose was no easy feat, but he had always loved a challenge. At first she had been docile and submissive, being new to the world of vampires. Now, after nearly six hundred years, Rose was definitely getting on his nerves.
Cal knew he wouldn't be able to kill her. As a general rule, the older a vampire was, they stronger they were. However, there was something different about Rose, and in fact she was stronger than him. But it didn't matter, Cal didn't want her dead. Even though she was a pain in the ass, she was useful to him.
Looking over at Rose's coffin, he saw she had not come home last night. Ever since arriving in New Orleans the week before, she'd only slept there once. Cal had known that she'd sleep in the dirt, she'd been doing it for centuries whenever they'd piss each other off. Once she had even slept in an underwater cave.
He considered waiting for her to arrive home. She wouldn't exactly go out into the night dressed in last night's clothes and covered in dirt. Cal reconsidered and not wanting to wait for her to arrive home and change, Cal left to find a victim. It was lucky for him when he saw a whore along the road into the city. It was very unlucky for her.
…
Rose listened intently as she dug her way out of the ground. Save for a few insects, rats, and a snake, no one was nearby. Climbing from her hole, she shook the dirt from her hair. The snake she had heard struck at her and bit her. Rose smirked at the reptile's futile effort and kicked the snake to the side.
The barmaid's body still lay near the tree she had jumped into. If she had had time before sunrise, she would have dumped the body in the swamp for the gators to dispose of.
"No time for that now," she muttered to herself. Rose walked through the woods to the ridiculously huge mansion that Cal owned here. She hated it. But it was only one of many things Rose hated about Cal. If he wasn't her maker, she'd either kill him or leave him. But because he was her maker, she could do neither. It was like being a prisoner. Unless Cal told her she was no longer bound to him, she was stuck with him forever.
Rose however did love being a vampire. She'd always heard rumors of them. Long before Cal came along though, she learned they were real. Then she had made a mistake and Cal turned her.
As a human, she was repulsed that vampires drank the blood of humans to survive. Once a vampire, Rose realized it was pure instinct. Unlike Cal however, she didn't have to drain her victims completely. She was able to drink from them, hypnotize them so they wouldn't remember, and move on to someone else. Rose had offered to hypnotize Cal's victims, but he turned it down. She assumed it was because she had something he didn't and it bruised his ego.
Her old life was exciting, but she didn't find herself missing it. Through she was young, at least for a vampire, she was more invincible than the majority of vampires. That's why Cal had turned her. He'd never actually said it out loud, but she knew. Vampires with her powers were rare, and vampires like her couldn't be killed by a hunter.
…
Jack grabbed his bag and headed out into the night. He knew this hunt would take all night. He was also aware that it was by far the most dangerous he had been on so far. Hunting older vampires was hard, as they were stronger and more vicious than younger ones.
After a few hours of searching the city of New Orleans, he found them. Caledon was taller than Jack. His skin was pale, and his black hair was slicked back. Rose, his mate, was obviously shorter. Jack couldn't see her face, but could easily see her flaming red curls hanging loosely down her back.
He'd known Rose was younger, and would be easier to kill. But if he went after her first, he'd alert Caledon to his presence and further risk death. Quickly ducking behind a building, he prepared to follow them until they were in a less populated area. He grabbed a stake, the one he kept handy on his belt, and held it to his side. There was another stake at the ready on the other side. Jack was prepared to take out Cal the first chance he got.
