Venom

1: Not All Who Look See

Reaching for my back pockets I removed a pair of white leather gloves and put them on before touching the door. My reflection danced before me, a white blur in moment. I grimaced as cold air blasted the entrance, particles flew around like confetti.

I walked through it quickly, my mouth in a hard line, I stepped to the counter with my money already in hand. I tried not to breathe in the fumes, passing scents and musk in the air. I slowed.

There was a female at the counter, her back towards me, earbuds in and blasting quiet loudly. She wore a large blue vest on top of a long sleeve black shirt. Her ponytail shook as she bobbed her head side to side and drummed her fingers on the counter.

I tilted my head and watched, she seemed young, at least in her early twenties. My eyes narrowed in thought, calculating and evaluating.

I had drove around for a week and had not felt anything that would help me lock a direction. That meant that the last female had been in the wrong age group. Perhaps this one would help. I felt remorse for what I had to do, at the end of the day I would not lose anything. If it did not work then I would be free to eliminate an age from my list, if it did then I would be one step closer to my ultimate goal.

Her, however?

She would lose her life.

It were moments like this which made me miss the simple life with despair.

Walking over to the counter I glanced around. There were three cameras, through all of the vibration I heard two heart beats. One hers and the other...

Before I could knock on the counter a sudden growling took place.

Ah.

Beside her, standing on its hind legs was a fierce looking animal. It's wild fur was a mixture between gray and black, it's large head opened to bare its glistening canines. Large black eyes glared at me with mistrust and animosity. The girl, startled by the dogs sudden movement turned to see what had disturbed it and caught sight of me.

She was quiet pretty for a female, large blue eyes and chestnut colored hair. After a momentary shock of seeing someone standing behind her, she took a true look at me. Her eyes began to scan shamelessly down my form, blinking repeatedly until they made their way back to my face.

Her change was not subtle.

Yanking her earbuds out immediately, her face taking on both a shy yet flustered look that made her complexion turn rosy as a blooming flower. Music still blasted from her earbuds.

Her dog had not changed its opinion on me. Growls shook its chest as it barked repeatedly at me, the sound as if directly in my ears. I tried not to flinch at the sound and concentrated. Pulling from within me I felt my mouth get moist. The tip of my tongue pushed against the roof of my mouth

I exhaled and then I held my body as still as possible, watching the girl struggle with the dog. She was unaware of what I had just done. They always were. Taking both hands she grabbed onto its large shoulders and tried to push the dog down, when it resisted she used the weight of her body until it was forced to relinquish its hold on the counter. But just because it could not be seen directly, did not mean it was quiet.

"Sorry 'bout that. You must've startled him." She said, sheepishly. Her voice was thick, not high pitched or to low.

Her eyes scanned the black sunglasses I was wearing, trying to catch my eyes, not knowing that my eyes were locked on her. I turned the corners of my lips upward slightly and nodded. Her eyes trailed down to my lips and her own parted, her chest shook as she let out a small wispy laugh. She reached up to tuck in hair that was already in her ponytail. But I wasn't going to point that out.