Heartless

Heartless - Chapter One

Before you start, I have to point out that this is a sequel to one of my earlier works. If you want to read Reckless you can find it on my profile, although you can probably read Heartless on its own without much trouble. Enjoy the story!

HEARTLESS

CHAPTER ONE

From the instant that the creaking doors of the diner opened, my eyes were trained on the vampire that strode confidently inside. He was so obviously one of the supernatural - I could tell by the graceful way in which he held himself as he walked, by the paleness of his skin under the uncomfortably bright lights that lit up the room, and by the fact that he'd chosen to visit the diner at eleven o'clock at night when the sun had long gone down.

I watched him take a seat at the table on the opposite end of the room to me, leaning back as he regarded the whole room. It took him only a moment to take in the few inhabitants of the diner, his eyes quickly scanning past them with a look of dull disinterest.

His eyes strayed back towards me after a second, sensing my gaze. I met his eyes and the corners of my mouth lifted up in a slight smile. I was hardly going to let on that I knew what he was. He would only think that my stare meant that I was curious about him, not that I knew he was one of the undead.

I sat still, my stare unwavering as I considered him. Slowly, I leant forwards in my seat and gave him what could be interpreted as a flirtatious look, ridiculously batting my eyelashes for good measure. The moment that I saw him smile I broke eye contact.

There would be no need to pay any more attention to the vampire - I was certain that I'd done enough to make him come to me. A vampire didn't need much encouragement, after all. As long as the human looked nice and willing, then there was no problem.

I unfolded the paper that had been lying on the seat next to me, spreading it out on the table. It'd been lying there when I'd come in, probably tossed down by a customer after they'd read it. The date on the front page told me that it was a few days old, but I was fine with that. I hardly ever had time to catch up on the news, mainly relying on word of mouth and newspapers found on the subway instead. Every now and again I would buy a newspaper, but not today.

'BODY FOUND IN CENTRAL NEW YORK' the blazing headline of the article proclaimed, as if it was such a great shock. I had to restrain myself from letting out a laugh. I normally didn't consider it a proper nights work if I hadn't found at least two bodies lying on the streets, preferably the ones of supernaturals.

Death was a familiar friend when you were a vampire hunter. Its looming presence had followed me around ever since I'd first met Christopher Everdeen, the vampire who had set everything in motion more than three years ago.

I was sixteen back then. Now I was nineteen and every inch as angry. If anything, my hatred for him had increased. I'd had three years to dwell on what he'd done.

I frequently imagined finding Chris's body one night, or maybe even killing him myself, though I'd never come remotely close to it in all my years spent searching for him. For the past few years I'd had only one aim: to find and kill him. I was fuelled by revenge, and anything else seemed pale in comparison.

Sighing, I looked back down to the article. I didn’t like to think about Chris too much. If I did, I might be angrier than necessary and probably end up running across the room and killing the vampire in the diner without so much as a how-do-you-do. I needed the vampire alive for now.

The newspaper said that the body had been mangled beyond repair, and after a post-mortem examination it had been found that there was close to no blood left in the body.