Prey: Dinner Parties are Always Awkward
A/N: I'm still in Vegas, and I can't wait to get home to Washington! Then I'll actually be able to update! (revision: I am home now. Washington is so much nicer than the hot sprawling city! What is Bella's problem? Phoenix sounds terrible.)
Disclaimer: I have no rights to anything penned by the author Stephenie Meyer, especially Twilight and its affiliated characters. OOH! Did you know that Meyer is writing a ghost story called Summer House?
Amanda was in Central Park.
It was no Goat Rocks, but it would have to do.
You must be protesting by now- "What? The park is a tourist kind of zone! Where could you really stalk the few deer unnoticed in the small amount of woodland?"
Then I tell you this: Vampires tend to be extremely sneaky.
She couldn't ever resist the thrill of the hunt- it was so different than rifling through your cabinets for a granola bar, and much different than killing another vampire.
When your meal is hot and breathing, it adds a whole new level to your concentration- your sense of focus.
When you tear the wrapping off of granola, there is no real thrill of joy and your state of mind is relatively unchanged.
Engaging in open combat, your sense of center is still firmly rooted in yourself, in staying firmly in one piece.
You stay yourself, primarily.
But hunting...
Amanda tracked the deer, and it was as if gravity had shifted. The center of her world was the heartbeat, throbbing so strongly above any other sound in the area. A living, breathing pulse. The sound of blood coursing in veins- this was life, and Amanda needed desperately, hopelessly, to reach it.
Every cracking twig...
The whip of air in the trees...
All of this was factored into her plans, her plans for getting blood.
Oh, life sustaining succor!
Amanda found it hard to hate what she was in times like these, as much as she regretted what she had to do later, the pure ecstasy from hunting rivaled greatly the pain of losing her human self.
Then, when it was the high stakes metal round, when any sudden movement could spark a fleeing dash, the vampire sprang. The death was as quick as it was messy, and Amanda tore into the throat of the animal with wild abandon, sinking her fangs deep into the flesh of the neck, chewing the muscles slightly. The animal jerked under her for a moment, letting out a strangled scream of pain before fading out from the loss of blood.
Amanda was riding high. Blood, coursing through her veins hot and sweet, that warmed her from her very center-
blood.
She found herself licking the corpse of the mangled deer for any last drops of the red stuff, and was able to break out of her hunger-crazed state long enough to realize that she was completely disgusting.
Examining her bloodied shirt, Amanda heaved a sigh. "Why do I keep ruining all of my clothes?" She muttered to no one in particular.
She kicked a rock a little carelessly, and it became lodged in one of the surrounding trees, spreading a shower of wood pulp.
She knew why.
"Newborn...Newborn..." She muttered as she wiped the blood off of her face. "Stupid newborn enthusiasm." Amanda buried the body of the deer unhappily. It wasn't enough blood, she knew. She was ravenous still, though her inner beast was a bit quieter. She looked at the face of a clock in the distance. Forty minutes, she mused. In that time she could perhaps have another largish deer, and some small woodland animals on her way home. Then she would change into something less blood-soaked. It would not do for her to look so... uncivilized. No, a clean respectable vampire is what the people want.
Well, they would rather have no vampire, but you can't have everything.
After finishing up with her hunting, the details of which Amanda wished she could forget, she found herself back in her apartment, looking for something to wear.
She found it surprisingly hard to settle on a look. She didn't know how exactly to look, and she grew flustered in front of the mirror. Red hair in a spiky bob. Blonde hair in ringlets. Wavy brunette curtains. Black hair in a bun on her head. A short, sweet body with round cheeks and pink lips. A long, strong face set upon a tall frame, with long tapering fingers. She pounded the glass with her fist, and it exploded across the room. Why was this so difficult? She eventually went with the redhead look from when she had taken him back to the apartment. It was pretty safe, as far as looks went. Short isn't very imposing...unless it's Alice Cullen. She smiled as she sprinted across the street to David's.
It was odd.
You'd think she would worry that he was setting up a trap, or that she was way in over her head.
Perhaps she could be speculating about the knives.
But as she got into the elevator and pressed the button for his floor, Amanda's only thought was worrying that her hair was a bit messy.
Why did she bother?
It looked fine!
She knew that.
Nevertheless, she continued fussing all the way to his door. She knocked on the door timidly, wondering fleetingly what was waiting for.
A whole team was assembled at all possible entrances and exits of the apartment, all armed and ready for action. A level eight vampire was serious business.
What were they in for? Most vampires were at the level 2-3, and there were several 4's around, as well as the occasional 5 or 6. But 8! 8!! At this point it felt like five exclamation points were needed.
The scanners picked it up about twenty minutes earlier, and all were confused. It was...stalling. Across the street, the vampire was barely moving, except for the occasional pacing motion.
A soft knock on the door raised every hair on their necks, and David slowly opened the door. Amanda waved, stepping into the room. The room was full of blood, but at the moment she was more concerned with the fact that there wasn't a knife against her throat at the moment, but a smiling face. "Hello David and... friends? Associates?" David chuckled, barely audible to human ears.
The short, mild, utterly human looking girl wasn't quite what any of them expected. But then again, with vampires, what can you really expect? David seemed to be relaxing his guard a tad bit, which the man in the corner was concerned about. He should know, of all people...
David bit back his smile, knowing full well that his attitude of niceness was not shared or even tolerated by the rest of the group. Amanda seemed to know this, and slowly walked into the center of the scattered people, willfully surrendering herself. "Hello. My name is Amanda Post. No, this is not what I look like." She figured that everyone had been debriefed or something, so they knew what was up. Still, she made no attempt yet to change her look. At this early stage in the game it would look threatening.
At the mention of the name "Post", every scent in the room grew angry or confused. She shook her head in irritation, trying to clear her mind of blood and focus on the problem at hand. Her brow furrowed. "Everyone's surprised. Explain." David looked over at the man in the corner, who stepped into the light. The "boss", as it were, of the whole operation. David called him over. "Howard." he called softly, barely turning his head. He couldn't face talking about it at the moment. Not with her there. Howard strode over to where she stood angrily, and it was beyond obvious that he didn't believe anything of what she was saying. "Valerie and Alan Post started the Night Watch, an organization strictly meant to get rid of your filth. They and their daughter Amanda were killed years ago."
Amanda's mouth dropped open. "You mean- ah..." she scrambled for words, the questions in her head battling for dominance. "You must have known them. Wait, you're Howard! That Howard!" She could barely restrain herself. She was remembering so many good times the four of them had had- back when she still had parents, back before she knew about vampires."Dad's brother." she stepped forward as if to give him a hug.
As if they had been signaled, the group of Watchmen (ok, some of them WERE women, but oh well...) tightened around her. The light in her eyes dimmed as she realized that former bloodlines aside, these people would not accept her as family. They didn't even accept that she was Amanda. She saw this with painful clarity. She tried to disregard the hurt and rejection she felt and shrank back. She tried to look cavalier. "Some family reunion."
David was about to make some sort of remark when Amanda shrugged, holding out her wrists to be cuffed. "Not like I wasn't expecting it. But hold on, I will be much more comfortable looking normal." She proceeded to become, as you say, Vamped out. She was much taller this way, and some of the newer recruits were shocked into a dead faint. Amanda made an impatient gesture with her fingers. "Come on, slap on those handcuffs. Lets get going to your secret headquarters or whatever."
Handcuffs were slapped on, and Amanda let herself be led to the waiting van outside. The shackles, she noticed, were not really strong enough to hold her back, but she wouldn't let them know. Information like this may be useful in the future.
No one talked during the ride. Amanda was getting sick of the silence. Nearly a year after turning, she had no one at all with her. She had gotten to the point where she was screaming at rat corpses. And now, no one would talk to her anyways. She sighed, inaudible to human ears. This sucked.
She was thrown into a room with one florescent light bulb dangling above a chair- if you could call it that. This one had so many straps and chains that it looked more like a weapon of torture than furniture. She couldn't resist a snort. "Theatrical much?" She sat into it, fastening some of the straps herself. She looked up at Howard, her uncle, a man always full of smiles and laughter in her experience. He was now coldly disconnected from her. She could only see one reason why that would be so. "It's understandable that you would be suspicious of my true identity. Amanda Post, you say, has been dead for years. No one has seen her since that last chilly day in Oregon, when a dark haired leech slaughtered the lot." She looked him straight on. "I'm willing to answer any and all questions about where I was, who I am, and why I'm a vampire." She tried to keep her voice even.
"Any questions?"
A/N: I liked this chapter a fair bit, but I really want to see some reviews! It could quite possibly suck, and that would do no one any good if I didn't know.