Hunter and Prey

Chapter 4: Going for the Kill

The sun was starting to go down. Color rippled out from around the sun as it started to drift below the horizon in the west. The light blue sky began to dim to darker shades as the color in the sunset became the only light around the sun. Rose wandered home down the main path from the opposite direction she'd been in earlier. After she had stolen the bags of jewelry, she went home, got dressed into some better looking clothes and headed to the poorer village opposite the one she'd visited earlier that morning. She had to rush to the village to get there before people started to head home. She handed out different items of jewelry to the poorest looking of the people, and hadn't even charged them any money or trade of any sort. She simply walked up to them and placed an item in their hand and accepted their thanks as they gave them. Her feet were sore from running home and her bags were completely empty of their earlier precious contents. She wanted to be home before dark. No body, no matter how safe your village area is, should be alone, traveling in the woods in the dark. She scurried closer to home with her empty bags as the sun fully set. She made it to her familiar narrow path and sighed in relief, slowing down and walking down it, crawling up the tree trunk to her makeshift home. She had to use her genetically enhanced night vision that all cats have, to climb up into the hollow. As she got up, she panted softly and sighed in relief that she'd made it home before full dark. She smiled as she set down her empty bags to the side and walked over to a small table next to her bed of moss and blankets, opening a small match-box and lighting a match on the grainy side, lighting a few candles on the table. Rose smiled more as her memory drifted to the faces of happiness, shock and pure joy as she'd handed out the trinkets and priceless jewelry to the poor people of the new village she visited. She hadn't been in this part of the province long. Her line of work being a thief is dangerous work if you steal from the same area for too long. Traveling was a must. It took a while to find this tree with a hollow, and even longer to burn and carve the hollow bigger for better space. "Maybe it'd be nice to settle down for a while..." She thought to herself and smiled at the thought of staying in this homely hollow for a prolonged period of time. It was nice. She undressed herself to bare fur and closed a curtain over the hollow entrance to hide it and the light inside. Sighing softly, she laid down in her comfy warm bed and wrapped her warm blankets over herself, resting her head on a fluffy pillow, closing her eyes and thinking for a while. She wasn't a normal thief. Not how she saw it anyways. She contributed to the economy in ways most rich people wouldn't understand. In her lifetime from childhood till now, she'd learned that the rich get richer and the poor, poorer. She herself was born into a poor family, and didn't want others to feel or grow up the same way, with nothing. She was a thief, yes. But nearly everything she stole she gave to others who needed it most. And she only ever stole from the people who needed it least... The rich. They had money to burn. The poor need money for food to eat. By stealing a little from the rich and giving it to the poor, the poor would have money to by food, which in turn would pay the bakeries and merchants who deliver supplies, and would pay along the cycle to further in the system. Everyone wins, except the rich, who only ever become very slightly less rich. She helped raise the economy and each cluster of villages she visited ended up prospering. Rose smiled as her tired eyes sealed shut and her thoughts began to drift into dreams, drifting into a soft peaceful sleep as she lay comfortably in her bed. In her unconsciousness she could've sworn she felt a cold breeze from outside but reassured herself it was nothing since the door was covered with the thick curtain, and continued to dream.
In the waking world however, there was in fact a brief breeze. The candles at Roses bedside flickered and then went out. The hot wax dripped along the sides of the candles and cooled quickly, soft wisps of smoke drifting from the burnt wicks of the previously lit candles. Rose was asleep for some time now, deep in a content dream as she lay there, fidgeting softly in her sleep. Smiling and snuggling into her bed even more at the feel of the fresh cold air that had been let in. But what exactly had let the cold draft in? A dark figure stood just inside the entrance, wearing a trench coat and holding a gleaming silver sword. His eyes glowed as he observed the young woman sleeping in her bed, grinning softly to himself and speaking quietly under his breath. "There you are..."