Chapter 1 - Night Hunt

The moon was glowing as it hung high above the city, its bright light shining all across the large metropolis. The city was mostly quiet, save for the few people, cars, and businesses that continued on as if the night had never came.

Over in an old, industrial part of town, a pudgy, middle-aged man with a receding hairline ran through the darkened streets like his life depended on it, which it technically was. His breathing was ragged as he checked over his shoulder every few minutes, making sure to keep watch for anyone that was trying to come up behind him.

"Get away . . . I got to . . . get away!" the man whispered in between his haggard breaths, his voice barely audible to his own ears as he continued running. When he reached an intersection illuminated by one lone streetlamp, he turned left, running past warehouse after warehouse as he continued to push his tired legs forward, his feet aching with every step, his breathing almost painful at this point.

He eventually stopped by an old fire hydrant, the color nonexistent due to years of wear and tear. He clutched the top of it with his left hand, holding it like a lifeline as he tried to steady his breathing. He wasn't granted his reprieve for long, as the sound of footsteps suddenly reached his ears. They grew louder with each coming step, the sound making the man's blood run cold as he felt his bottom lip start to tremble. He knew that the footsteps were coming from somewhere behind him, but he was too scared to look, too scared to stare death straight in the face.

"C'mon Heyman . . ." the man thought as the footsteps continued toward him. "Maybe it's not him . . . Maybe it's just some random stranger walking through the area. Maybe they got lost and are just approaching me to ask for instructions. Or maybe they saw how frantic I look and want to help me. Yeah . . . that's it . . . that's likely it."

"Hello Heyman . . ."

"AW SHIT!" the man yelled, almost jumping out of his shoes at the sound of the familiar voice. He slowly turned around, his fear becoming more and more apparent as he came face-to-face with a pair of intense, ice blue eyes. The other man stood a few feet away, his stare boring down on Heyman like he was the most hated man on the planet. The owner of the eyes was taller than him, and overall, much more physically imposing, which made his stare that much more intimidating.

"I'm freaking doomed . . ." thought Heyman as he took a step backward, the other man responding with a step forward in turn. A corner of the man's lip curved upward til it settled into a smirk, as if he had heard what Heyman had just thought then and there. It made Heyman tremble even more ". . . Yep, I'm fucking dead!"

Heyman turned around to make a break for it, but that proved to be his fatal mistake.

As soon as Heyman took his eyes off the man, he felt the back of his neck get clasped in a tight grip, the pudgy man letting out a sharp yell as he felt his feet come off the ground. His eyesight blurred as the wind rushed past his ears, his mind too slow to comprehend what was happening till he was unceremoniously dropped to the ground mere minutes later.

Heyman blinked his eyesight back into focus, gasping in fear when he realized that he was no longer in the city's industrial area. He was surrounded by nature; the skyscrapers of the city's downtown area reaching up into the dark sky behind him.

"Where . . . Where am I?!" Heyman cried as he looked around, jumping back when he noticed that the man with the ice blue eyes was still with him, standing about three feet away with his arms crossed over his chest.

"We're in Correa Park," he answered, his voice a deep, husky baritone as a small chuckle passed his lips. It was a harmless laugh, but it scared Heyman to death. "I figured you deserved a more pleasant place to die in than the warehouses we were surrounded by. . . Besides, warehouses just seemed a little too expected for an execution site, don't you think?"

"Please don't kill me!" Heyman pleaded as he quickly got back to his feet, his hands raised in surrender as he watched the other man with wary eyes. "I didn't do anything, I swear!"

"Oh Heyman, Heyman, Heyman," said the man, slowly shaking his head. "You should have said that before you went ahead and swindled the boss out of a cool one hundred grand. You know as well as I do that he hates it when his own workers steal from him. It's one of his biggest pet peeves really . . . Wasn't your usual payments enough for you?"

"I was just doing what I could to take care of my family," said Heyman, pleading his innocence. "I was just trying to make their lives better. You can't fault me for that!"

"I can't fault you for wanting to look after your family. It's just that, do you know how hard it is to believe such a story coming from you?" the blue eyed man asked as he raised an eyebrow. "Your story can't fool me Heyman!"

"I'm being honest!" the older man argued, nervously rubbing his hands through what was left of his slicked back hair. "You have to believe me Orton! You just gotta!"

"Sorry, I can't," said Orton, still looking unconvinced. ". . . Mostly because you've been lying straight to my face ever since this conversation started!"

"You think I'm lying to you?!" asked Heyman, his voice sounding like he was forcing the shock to show. It wasn't helping his case "Randy, c'mon! You know I've always been straightforward with you!"

"And yet, you're lying to me now. Me, a fucking vampire," said Randy, showing off a rare grin that showcased all his teeth, including the pair of sharp canines that confirmed his dark lineage. Heyman went pale at the mere sight of them. "I'm pretty much a living lie detector Paul. I can hear your heartbeat, and it's going faster than normal . . . We both know what that means!"

"I, I'm, I'm not lying Randy. I wouldn't lie to you. I know how stupid lying to a vampire is!" Came Heyman's denial as Randy continued to approach him, leading him to retreat backward, his eyes on the taller man the entire time. "I, I just suffer from an irregular heartbeat! That's all! You can check my medical records if you want!"

"I would, but I don't want to. They're likely forgeries anyway," said Randy, suddenly appearing behind the older man, scaring him so much that he tripped on his own two feet, falling to the ground ass first. "Well Paul, let's see if you'll suffer from this."

Heyman didn't have enough time to react when the taller man violently grabbed him by his neck. Smirking, Randy judo threw him over his shoulders effortlessly, sending Paul sailing through a good thirty feet of air before he crashed down to earth with a sickening thud. His lungs gasped for air as his vision blurred, his back screaming in pain as he tried to sit up.

"Huh, I had a feeling you would survive that throw. Your body weight ensured it," Randy mumbled, quickly covering the distance between them in a blink, stopping in front of the injured man with a stoic expression on his chiseled face. "Although, I'm a bit surprised you're trying to sit up so soon after such a hard impact."

"Well, my body tends to be harder than most," grumbled the smaller man as he finally sat up. "So, is that the best you could do to me?"

"I see you have a death wish after all," Randy murmured as he gently stepped on Heyman's left leg, a hitched breath escaping past his lips as he clutched at the taller man's foot in a futile attempt to remove it. Ignoring the attempt, Orton pushed downward, a sharp cracking noise echoing through both men's ears as he broke Heyman's bones.

The victim of said act let out a sharp yell, the pain from his broken leg shooting to all parts of his body. Randy let a small smirk grace his face once again as he continued to apply pressure on the damaged limb. "Trust me; it only gets worse from here."

"Worse?! I'm just a man trying to support his family here! Is it really so bad!?"

"And there you go lying again. I guess my throw really did rattle some brain cells in that corrupted noggin of yours. . . We both know that you're only saying that to prolong your life just a little longer," Randy grumbled, shaking his head. "You haven't been using the money you stole to help your family Heyman."

"On the contrary, you've been using it to finance your trips to the casinos, bars, and strip clubs you just love to go to whenever you get the chance. . . Besides, your wife took your kids and left your sorry ass months ago after she got wind of your little affair with that nice little brunette from Ricky's uptown . . . The name's Cori right?"

"How, how do you know about that?" Heyman asked, his eyes widening in shock. "I was so careful . . . I was so careful to hide it all."

"Well, it's simple really. Hunter just couldn't help himself when you were acting a little off one day," Randy answered, not bothering to lie. "In fact, it was Hunter himself who told your wife all about your dirty little deeds."

"He genuinely felt bad for her; thought she had a right to know that her husband was just a lying, cheating piece of shit that didn't deserve her . . . Word of advice, you really need to keep that mind of yours quiet. Any info you have could be easily used against you when you're around Hunter, the more damaging, the better. It only takes one thing to happen to screw up your entire life."

"Was that the same for you?"

Randy went silent at the question, and the insinuation behind it, narrowing his eyes at Paul. Looking down, he finally released his leg, his mouth becoming a hard line as he began to circle him like a predator stalking his prey.

"What do you mean by that Paul?" Orton asked as he stuffed his hands into his coat pockets, his stare icy as he looked down at his captive.

"I mean what I said: Was it the same for you?" Heyman repeated as he drew in a small breath. "I've been in this business a lot longer than you have Orton, even before you were born. I was there when you first came to the group over a decade ago . . . You were so cocky, so arrogant, so determined to be the best, and then five years after you arrived, the cocky, arrogant bastard you once were just disappeared. You became this steely eyed soldier that did as he was told, well, with the occasional sarcastic complaint here and there. . . Why'd you change?"

"I changed with good reason," Randy answered, his face all business. "I simply became realistic. If I continued to act the way I did, I wouldn't be getting anywhere anytime soon. I couldn't continue to be a kid. I had to become a man."

"Was it because of her? Was it because of Samantha?"

Randy's immediate response to said questions was a hard slap to Heyman's face, catapulting a few of the man's teeth right out of his gums in the process. He watched as blood spilled from the smaller man's swelling lips, his face the definition of hatred.

"Don't you dare say her name like you two were friends!" the vampire warned as his fangs began to extend out from his gums. "You never met her . . . You never knew her . . ."

"No, no I didn't," Heyman agreed, thinking it was best to not get further into the man's bad side, wincing when the searing pain in his cheek reverberated through his skull. "But you talked about her so much in such a way that it made everyone feel like they knew her . . . Hmm, now that I think about it, maybe it was your big mouth that killed her."

Paul Heyman didn't have enough time to regret what he said.

Randy didn't even leave him enough time to say 'sorry' before he killed him, clasping both hands around his fat neck to crush his throat like he was snapping a toothpick. Once Heyman's eyes rolled back into his head, Orton let go of the now-dead body, watching it slump to the ground. His rage was slowly disappearing as he realized his task was done, his thoughts now coming back into focus.

"Damn Randy! You really know how to silence a guy when he hits your hot button, huh man?"

Randy slowly turned around to see two men standing just a few feet away from him. They were both dressed in all black and while one was looking at him with utmost seriousness, the other was switching his gaze between Randy and the dead body on the ground.

"I know Heyman was stupid enough to mention 'you know who' straight to your face, thinking it would distract you enough that he could try to escape," said the man with the bad looking moustache, pinching the bridge of his nose. "But did you have to kill the guy so out in the open though? This was a bit sloppy, even for you Ran!"

"It's the middle of the night Cody," Randy said in a tone that left no room for argument. "Most believe it's too dangerous to come to a park at this time of night, with good reason."

"Regardless, you got to be careful," said the other man as he gestured at Heyman's body. "It's true that most people don't come here at this time of night, but cops do. A patrolling officer could have seen you as you were committing murder. What would you have done then huh?"

"If the cop had some common sense, he would just go on his merry way and forget that he even saw anything," came Randy's simple reply as he walked over to the two shorter men. "If he didn't do that, well . . . he would have to answer to me now wouldn't he Ted?"

"Well, it's nice to know that you've thought everything through, but remember, I hear compulsion is very handy in a pinch," Ted advised, sarcasm dripping from his voice as Randy started walking away. "Uh hello? Aren't you forgetting something?"

"If you're talking about Heyman, don't worry about it. HQ knew what I was planning to do tonight, so Maddox will find him before the sun rises. The body will be gone before daylight guaranteed."

"Are you heading back to HQ?" Cody called out to him as he and Ted quickly followed after their taller comrade.

"I'm calling it a night . . ." said Randy as he stepped onto the stone walkway that led to the park's exit. "I've done my job, so I've got nothing else to do."

"If you have nothing else to do, then you can come along with Cody and I to that new hot spot on Waverly Drive," said Ted as he wrapped an arm around Randy's shoulder, but quickly took it back when he got a set of ice blue eyes glaring his way. "Or, maybe not."

"Like I said before: I'm calling it a night," Randy grumbled as the three walked out through the open gate. "I'm not in a partying mood."

"Suit yourself I guess. . ." Ted mumbled as he turned to his mustached friend. "Guess it's just you and me tonight Cody. Cody?"

"I heard you Ted," said Cody, his eyes looking out into the near distance. "I'm sorry if it didn't look like I was paying much attention, but the three sexy ladies walking across the street just happened to catch my eye."

"Say what now?" Ted asked as he and Randy followed his line of sight. The three looked across the wide, six-lane boulevard to see three women walking in the opposite direction. "Oh, now I see what you're talking about. You're right Cody! Those three are quite beautiful."

"I know right?" Cody mumbled, a small smirk crossing his face. "I'm particularly into the girl with the two-toned hairstyle."

"You mean the part blonde, part brunette?" Ted asked, not looking too sure. "She's hot, if you're into that female bodybuilder kind of look. I'm more into the tall blonde she's talking to, but then again, the dark-skinned girl behind them is quite stunning in her own right. Don't you think?"

Randy followed Ted's gaze, his eyes widening slightly as he finally got a good look at the third woman. She was taller than either of her friends, remaining silent as she followed in her black strappy heels and matching trench coat, the hemline of a purple mini-dress peeking out from the bottom. Orton couldn't help but notice how stoic her expression was, somehow heightening the beauty of her angular face. Her blue eyes and cocoa colored skin simply added to her enticing look as she continued listening to her friends speak, not adding any input into their discussion.

"That woman definitely looks tall. Without the heels, I'd say she's taller than six feet, easy enough. Wouldn't you agree Randy?" Cody asked as he turned to the silent man. Randy only glanced his way before walking off in the other direction. "Huh, what's eating him up?"

"Who knows?" mumbled Ted, shaking his head. "C'mon Cody, let's go! We got some partying to do! The ladies await!"

"Then lead the way then. This was your idea in the first place," Cody mumbled, patting his friend on the back as he found his gaze back on the blonde-brunette walking away. "C'mon man."

Ted grinned before disappearing, Cody following in hot pursuit. Randy, on the other hand, continued walking away, his eyes holding a hint of curiosity as his thoughts moved elsewhere, not to the task he had just completed, but to the dark-skinned girl with the piercing blue eyes.

He didn't know why, but he had the sudden feeling that he was going to see her again.

Unfortunately for him, his feelings were usually right.

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