Prologue
As he stood silent and motionless he peered at the prey through the dark shadows of the night. There was little in the way of light where he was standing but this wasn’t a problem for him, he had excellent eyes that helped him pierce through even the darkest shadows. As he waited for his moment he thought about death, he often wondered about life and death while he hunted.
He didn’t fear his death, though he often wondered how it would come. He hated the idea that one of the hunters that stalked him might actually kill him, they were nothing on him, he had killed countless numbers of them. But they are stupid and will never stop coming, there will always be one that feels they are more special than the last, there all the same to him though, just cattle, just prey.
Chapter 1
It was then that his opportunity appeared, one had left the sight of his companions and slipped into the small walkway, which lead through the woods. He knew the woods better than anyone alive, he had known them since he was a child, which was a long time past now. The woods were very deep and very old, full of deep shadows and old narrow paths. The trees here were even more ancient than he was, with roots that spread very deep into the earth. He flew out from the shadow in which he lurked and began sprinting after him. His footsteps were fast and silent, nothing ever heard him coming. The woods were thick with trees and bushes and he could not see him but he didn’t need his eyes for tracking, he could smell him on the breeze, taste him almost. The breeze had a smooth warmth to it, which he found to be quite pleasant on his senses. He always made sure that he was down wind of his prey, a good hunter always does. As he slipped from shadow to shadow, the scent of his prey grew more potent; he knew that his prey would soon be within sight. This was his favourite part of the hunt, the anticipation of the kill, the thrill of his forth-coming success. He could hear him now, the snapping sound of small branches with each step taken, the rustling sound of the leaves on the bushes as he brushed past them. Finally he could see him, his prey was walking just ahead of him, his pace was a steady one. Quickly he shot up the trunk of a large and very old oak tree in which he perched himself momentarily in the darkness of the old trees thick leaves and wide branches, observing his prey, studying its movements. He had no doubt that he could take him down but he always liked to take a moment to observe for any weaknesses that he thought he could exploit, though he rarely needed to. He quickly and silently dived from one tree to the next, too deep in shadow to be seen, and to swift to be heard. He was now barely a few feet behind his prey, merely slipping from the shadow of one tree to the next. He could feel a rush of adrenaline washing over him, almost giddy with anticipation, because he knew that his moment had now come. He allowed his external fangs to extend out ready for the kill. He suddenly slipped out of his shadow and slide through the air, hands poised in front of him, ready to grasp his prey so that he could deliver the deadly bite to his prey’s neck. It would only take a matter of seconds for him to be upon his prey.
Chapter 2
He had done this countless times, he was ready for every possible eventuality except for what happened next. His prey quickly and swiftly began to swing his arm into mid air while revealing a hefty metal bar, which he allowed to slide down from his sleeve into the palm of his hand. In the instant that this happened he was stunned with himself, stunned that he had not noticed the metal bar, stunned that maybe his prey knew he was behind him, if that was the case, how did he know he was behind him? Had he heard him? Impossible. Had he seen him? Even more impossible.
In the brief seconds that followed his prey had spun fall circle with the bar quickly swinging upward to meet the air where his face would soon be. He didn’t understand how this had happened but on reflection he decided that he didn’t really care either, he did not fear this prey, just as he did not fear any other whom he had hunted. They were nothing on him and none of them ever would be.
Finally the almighty blow came to him; the bar struck the side of his left cheek, pain shot through his face. A loud crack could be heard upon impact, his cheekbone was broken, and he felt his mouth begin to fill with blood. This blow had knocked him heavily off balance and caused him to stumble as he hit the ground but he regained his balance. He would not loose his footing so easily; his sense of balance was too refined for that. He looked straight ahead to see his prey staring at him, grasping his bar for all its worth.
Chapter 3
He decided that he must be a hunter, after him most likely; most of them used the bait tactic on themselves to draw vampires out, he always found it stupid of them though this hunters efforts had gotten him further than most, he was surprised by this hunters tracking skills as well.
The hunter began to speak.
“I hope you liked that because there’s a lot more where that came from,” he said in a husky voice.
He paused momentarily to think about what he just said and then spat some blood out of his mouth so as he could begin laughing.
His prey seemed quite irritated by this lack of respect and began to look red in the face.
“You wont be laughing in a minute”, but before he could say anything more a flash of shadow, swept up behind him knocking the bar from his hand and a pair of arms grasped his upper body, the prey looked stunned and began to squirm but it would do him no good, a second vampire had slipped out from the shadows of the trees high above and was now restraining him.
As the vampire began to walk toward the restrained prey he stopped laughing and stared straight into the eyes of his prey, it was in this moment that his prey stopped squirming, he looked deep within the eyes of the vampire whom he sought to kill. They say that the eyes are the window to the soul but all he saw was a void, empty of any emotion. He knew at that moment that this cold, calculated vampire knew no mercy. He had taken countless lives in this lifetime, more than the prey dare imagine and he knew that he would soon be just another successful hunt, never anything more. The prey felt, the hairs on the back of his neck begin to raise, shudders of anxiety rush over his body in the knowledge that he was about to die.
The vampire continued to gaze down upon his prey; an air of smugness was about him now as he revelled in his would be hunters attempt at staying calm, like he didn’t fear the death that he knew was coming to him. He knew he was scared though, he could smell the fear on him. He was satisfied now; he looked toward the vampire restraining him and simply nodded to him. The hunter was killed quickly by the second vampire who began to drink from his neck.
Epilogue
He slipped away from where the other vampire was drinking; he would have his fill when he done. He began thinking about life and death. He often did when he hunted; this for him was by far the closest he had come to an actual confrontation with his prey, though this did not bother him, he knew he was greater than any of them. But what the prey doesn’t know is that they may only see him but the smartest hunter always has a partner who stays out of sight and doesn’t show himself until after the kill, the hunters are always to stupid to expect the second vampire, they never have and never will.