Chapter 1
Around midnight, Ash was suddenly very hungry. He licked his lips.
Perfect timing, he thought to himself. All the stupid ones are out partying. Little do they know what is coming for them. He smiled, ready for a hunt.
Ash was right about the good timing; midnight in the city never meant full darkness. At night, downtown glowed warm with city lights from clubs, stores, and fluorescent signs scattered across the streets. The presence of the light always gave the night less appeal to him. But he was forced to lean to deal with it. And though it was tolerable at best and very annoying at worst, the lights cutting through the black of night always meant one thing: vulnerable prey.
And if Ash ever loved one thing, it was a good meal.
From behind the curtain of the shadows, he waited. A group of girls walked by, giggling, squealing and clearly drunk. His eyes followed their bodies up and down: short skirts, heavy make-up, and ample chests. Typical, he thought, barely containing his annoyance.
They seemed too…unhealthy. Ash clicked his tongue disapprovingly and expanded his gaze. Suddenly, a dark-haired man caught his eye among the drunken crowd. Ash couldn’t make out his exact features, but he acknowledged the man’s strength and pale complexion. But that didn’t matter. It only mattered that he seemed sober. It was unusual for humans out at this time but Ash, with further examination, noticed that the man indeed hadn’t started drinking yet, and wasn’t high. He would do.
Ash wasted no time. He pushed through the crowd until he was a reasonable distance from his target. Still walking, the man barely turned around. Silently, Ash laughed to himself. This would be too easy. The man still had no clue who, or rather what, was following him.
Surprisingly, guilt started to creep inside Ash’s mind. His people would not have approved of this. His kind was not made for this murder.
What people? Ash then thought bitterly. He had left them behind. He wanted this. Didn’t he?
In his momentary lapse, Ash realized he lost his victim.
“Damn,” he said. Closing his mind off to the lights and the noise of the streets, he focused only on finding the man. His eyes quickly scanned the groups of humans scattered on the streets, calculating the man’s exact location.
There he is. The rest was almost too easy. In long strides, he caught up to the man, who was standing outside a building; it was the latest club called la Cirque. He was cutting the long line and with only a brief glance at the bouncer; the man was let in.
Ash could feel the resentment, anger and frustration the rest of the humans who were still stuck waiting in line felt. It almost made him feel bad for also cutting the line and being let in the club with as much ease as the dark-haired prey he was following. Almost. He smiled silently to himself.
Now inside, he noticed the club was bizarre; it gave off an almost inhuman vibe. Something in the back of Ash’s mind went off. There was something he was missing. But the blinking, multicolored lights made his sensitive eyes hurt, and the smell of heavy alcohol mixed with other substances made the place almost unbearable. Besides, he was on a hunt.
People were dancing on the floor as if in trance, which was fitting to the rhythm of the music. Most people were bizarrely expressionless – either from concentration or because their drugged bodies allowed nothing else. Girls propped themselves up against men who were more than pleased to have some female company.
The dark-haired man was standing by the bar, turned away, talking to a blonde, curly haired girl in a tight green dress. From closer up, the man looked lean and muscular, yet he seemed a little strange. No, not strange—he seemed different. Ash couldn’t put his finger on it.
His mouth salivated; he hadn’t realized just how hungry he had become. He had been so good for so long, and it felt so incredibly good to be bad. It felt natural to hunt, to feel his pulse quicken with adrenaline, and his powerful muscles tense. He was like a drug addict anticipating his next hit.
All of his senses heightened. The blonde was giggling flirtatiously at something the dark-haired man said to her.
“Baby, I hope I’ve mentioned that you look amazing tonight,” the man asked with hungry eyes. Listening in a little more, Ash learned the girl’s name was Rosaline. He felt her emotions as clearly as he felt the man’s. While the girl was flattered and a little drunk, the man felt – Ash didn’t know the right word— satisfied? No, he felt predatory, Ash realized.
He was now a predator hunting a predator. How ironic.
The man escorted the blonde girl outside the back door, for privacy no doubt. A minor flaw in Ash’s plan, but he had to admit that he wouldn’t mind an appetizer along with his meal.
Ash followed them out. The air was cool, and even with his superior vision, had a hard time seeing clearly in the shadows cast by the narrow alley.
He saw the girl was pressed against the wall by the man; her breathing heavy and her fingers entwined in his hair. The sight of their intimacy made Ash’s heart go cold. He had known the price of this power, and yet… he knew he could never feel the same emotions that the girl felt. He considered himself, ironically, blessed with this lifestyle, but at rare times, it felt it was a curse.
The jealousy he felt towards the man and the blonde turned quickly into anger. He positioned himself strategically behind the man; the perfect position to make the kill simple and sweet. The girl had been released from the man’s embrace and leaned against the wall, almost unconscious.
Ash’s hunter instinct told him this was the time to make his move, and he knew what he had to do. The motions had to be quick, to get both victims unconscious before they made any noise. He crouched down and began to pounce when---
The man with the dark hair turned around.
A normal person would have had paled in shock at Ash’s fierce appearance at that moment. A normal person would have been frozen in fear. A normal person would have screamed. Now, as Ash realized too late, the man was not a normal person.
He was one of Ash’s own kind.
Ash cursed. Both hunters froze in their place for a millisecond, silent communication passing through their clear eyes.
The man had known what Ash was all along.
Momentary shock gave the man a moment’s advantage. And that was all he needed. With one fluid, feline movement, he was on top of Ash, his lips parted in a ferocious smile. His teeth ripped through Ash’s flesh and blinding pain shot up in his arm.
Ash mentally scolded himself while he pushed the man off of him. They circled around each other, waiting for the other to take the first offensive move.
“This is my territory,” growled Ash. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“Let me make one thing clear. This,” he glanced around him, “is no longer yours.”
Ash felt a deafening blow to his head, and then, darkness.
