Lovely Huntress

Prologue: Dark of Night

The Woman

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Gracie Bennett

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 She didn't expect the rage that coursed through her when she finally came face to face with what she was hunting.

The moon was the only light in the alley. Once she knew she'd been spotted, she had pretended to leave the crowded club through a back door on the pretense of placing a phone call. She'd known she was being followed. The woman was already closing in on her before she could call her team to deliver the message telling them she was in position.

"Gracie," the woman purred. "I thought that was you. It's been so long." She laughed and it sounded like breaking crystal. "I do hope you remember me. You never called to say you were back in town."

Gracie wanted to say, "You ruined my life." She wanted to tell this woman how far she had strayed from her real dreams since the last time they saw each other. She wanted to talk about the nightmares, the scars, the brutal training that had consumed her days since they parted. But she said none of this. Feelings would get in the way. Hadn't they warned her before she went on this hunt? Hadn't they told her that she would get in her own way if she weren't careful?

This wasn't a human she was facing down. This wasn't someone who could be reasoned with or with whom agreements could be made. This was a cold-hearted monster in the shape of her former roommate. The face was the same, the voice was, too, but it was all for show. The eyes showed her the reality of the situation--black like nighttime, like bottomless pits, like coal and dead things left to rot. This was not a person.

The woman smirked and came towards her slowly, a cat stalking a mouse. "You never were much for conversation."

"And you always talked too much," she wanted to say. But she swallowed the remark before it could escape her lips. This was a confrontation, not a conversation.

Still, she took a step back as the woman tried to close the space between them. Her slow speed right now was all for show. She sensed fear and she wanted to build it. She wanted to let Gracie feel intimidated and helpless. If she had wanted this to be over, or she thought Gracie was a real threat she could finish this in seconds.

'I must not let her believe I can hurt her', Gracie thought. 'The moment she realizes I'm not helpless she'll dispense with the games and just kill me.' Gracie had always had a talent for looking lost and scared. When they first met Sarah had told her she had a face like a kicked puppy.

"Some people have resting bitch face," Sarah had said, "But you always just look like someone's abandoned pet whenever you let your guard down."

At the time they had both laughed at this revelation. Now all she could hope was that her innocent look would keep the woman feeling careless until it was too late.

"I missed you a little, you know," the woman said. "You hurt me when you just left like that."

"I had to go," Gracie almost didn't realize she'd said it out loud until it was too late. "You knew that."

The woman tsked. "Oh, Gracie. What are you doing back here?" Her expression was a little sad, a little curious. Her eyes were only hungry.

"I didn't like the way we left things," Gracie said. Not a lie. "I wanted...I had to know if the way I remembered things ending was really how it happened."

The woman was mere steps from her. Gracie's back was up against the cold, dirty brick of the alley wall. "Tell me what you remember."

Gracie took a deep breath. She put a hand into her jacket pocket and closed it around her weapon. "You killed him," she replied finally.

The scene had featured in more nightmares than she could count. Walking into her room late at night to find it covered in blood. The boy's body across Sarah's lap, still twitching under her as she pulled her lips from his neck like she was breaking a kiss. Her eyes--crimson like everything in sight--fixed on Gracie and she ran without looking back.

The woman laughed again. "He deserved it," she said. "He was scum. You never knew that, but even before everything happened I knew he wasn't good for me. If I hadn't ended it when I did, I would have been stuck with him forever."

Gracie felt the heat of tears brimming in her eyes and cursed herself silently. 'Don't you fucking break down now', she told herself. 'It's almost over. Just don't let her see you cry. She's not a person anymore.'

The woman closed the gap between them and lifted Gracie's chin with ice-cold hands, forcing the smaller girl to meet her bottomless gaze. "I would have made it all better if you had just let me explain," she whispered.

Gracie removed her hand from her pocket slowly, not breaking the woman's gaze even though she wanted to. She was too close now to give the game away. She didn't flinch as one icy thumb traced her lower lip.

"I still can, you know," the words were delivered right into her ear. They sent chills racing down her spine.

"Sarah," Gracie said, "I never wanted that and you know it,". And she stabbed the point of the needle into the woman's neck. The skin was hard and it resisted, but the metal was heavily enspelled to let it do exactly this and when she felt it finally punch through she shoved the plunger down hard.

The woman swore and stumbled backward, but the drug brought her down before she could retaliate.

Gracie stared down at the limp form of the vampire before her. The rage had burned itself out and something like grief was now coursing through her along with the adrenaline. She pulled out her phone and told the team her location. She didn't cry until she was home, hours later, because she knew it was all finally over now.

At the same time, it was only just beginning.

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A/N: Okay. This was a re-do of a story I just had up here which I took down. You might have noticed the title/description are the same or close. I wanted to begin again now that I really have the vision for it/made a plan.

Don't worry, Forks and Friends will be in the next chapter. This chapter was kind of to establish Gracie as a character and show where she came from. It ended up creepier than I thought it would, but I like it.

Feel free to drop me a comment if you read it and liked it or had questions, comments, concerns etc.