A tree split with a crack as my shoulder collided at a sprint. The rain chorused on leaves above and the thunder rumbled distantly but none of it could rip me from my need to find a mortal–any mortal–and drain them completely.
I snarled and pushed faster through the trees. They were a blur around me as I leapt and darted through the bushes and branches towards my car.
The one place in a fifty mile radius without a live pulse with a source of blood.
The red haze was starting to cloud the edges of my vision just as it had in the first few years of becoming this hideous demon. The hunger. The need to turn around and find her.
I growled and sent my fist through another tree as I moved faster. It cracked and crashed down behind but I was already many metres away. The darkness was nothing to me and my unparalleled senses. A sharp tinted green-yellow of night vision overtook our eyes when the light faded. It outmatched anything a feline or reptile had.
I finally broke the tree line and made out the matte black finish of the F-Type hidden in the underbrush. I let out a puff of air that still tasted like Quinn. I rushed forward and was at the door in a few blinks. The lights flickered as I fumbled with the fob.
My haste was the only reason I hadn't noticed him at all.
William sat in the driver seat with that chrome packet emptied on his lap and a singular trail of blood running down his chin. I snarled and my teeth became razor edged.
"What the hell have you done?" I roared, moving to grab his throat.
He caught my wrist and met my eyes with a dark burning gold.
"Careful, Stella. As I see it, only one of us has recently fed on the strength of mortals." He murmured.
I ripped my hand back breathing heavily. I was running low on control and strength and he knew it. But the rage would drive me so much further.
"You have no idea how much strength I have reserved for you." I said low.
His wicked grin appeared and he glanced over my shoulder taking a sniff.
"What happened to that sweet smelling mortal? Dead already?" He quipped.
"I needed that blood." I answered slowly instead.
He looked at me more intently now. The darkness in my eyes. The lack of gold. The lack of sanity. He raised an eyebrow with a nod then slipped a hand inside his jacket and produced another chrome packet. I almost slumped in relief.
But he snatched it from reach before I could take it.
"I just want information, Stella. Is that so much to ask?" He drawled, kicking his boots up onto my dash.
"Stop calling me that and maybe we can start." I snapped, tightening my hands into fists.
The thunder shook the ground around us in the forest briefly. He rolled his eyes and threw the pack at me anyway. I seized it and moved back several paces.
"God you're acting like you were created days ago."
I ignored him and ripped the packet open, letting the cool blood hit my mouth and swim down my throat gloriously. It brought me back to myself. It gave me my sanity, my feelings outside of hunger–my strength.
I dropped the empty packet and looked up at the immortal slowly. A flash of something flickered in his eyes. He still hadn't forgotten my own power over him earlier.
"Get out. Now."
He pulled his feet down and slipped out of my car with the speed of a mortal. It was careful. Testing. But he wouldn't have bothered giving me the blood if he wanted to fight.
"As I say... Fletcher." He corrected, with a knowing look. "I want information. Not a duel to the death."
I snorted humourless. "You seem to know enough already. My original name. Where I came from no doubt..."
He relaxed his stance and leant against the car, crossing his arms.
"I am sorry if I came across... over zealous. It has been a long time since another immortal crossed me."
"That can be helped if you act less like an ass." I snapped.
He chuckled and shrugged. "None the less. I want to know about your time in Paragon. A very specific objective they sent you on."
I stilled and eyed him intently. "Ask them directly. Why would I know more?"
"Come, Fletcher. You know the elders are a closed, old immortal club. Besides I do not want attention drawn on the matter."
I flexed my jaw and nodded back into the car.
"There should be another packet. Have you consumed it?"
Instead of answering he went back inside to retrieve it. I moved then.
I darted forward in less than a blink and twisted his unexpecting head to the side whilst locking my arm around his neck. In one move I could snap it entirely and render him lifeless. All in less than a heartbeat. He knew this.
His body stilled entirely and a breath didn't leave his lips.
"I was not lying when I told you those that disrespect me die." I murmured barely loud enough to be heard by a mortal over the rain crashing down. "I was not playing a game when I said I want you no where near that mortal again."
"Fletcher, I just want–"
"I was not bluffing when I told you I would end you." I finished.
My arms locked together with immortal strength and snapped his head to the right with a groan like stone was cracking. Then his head left his body entirely.
The lifeless corpse hit the forest floor with a thud. I let the head roll to the floor without a second look and checked my car. A gun was on the seat along with the smell of more mortal blood that had been alive more recently.
The fact was I knew his type better than he knew himself. Whatever he told me was deception to fuel his own sick games for entertainment. I would never let an immortal like that see Quinn and live. Then I found his phone. I pocketed it and went for the chrome packet in the passenger compartment.
I drained it in less time than the first and wiped my mouth.
I sat in the driver seat a moment and exhaled long. The rain showered down the windshield in rivers. I rolled my head to the side and stared at the immortal's body. I threw the empty packet on top of his headless body.
"Fucking idiot."
I shut the door and ignited the engine.
* * * * *
"You had a rogue asset." I answered emotionless.
The operator on Paragon's line was silent for a long time. The trees raced past me as I drove for the city.
"Was the asset compromised in company?"
Were mortals aware of him.
"There was potential for it. Which is why the asset is no longer assembled." I said in a bored tone, dodging cars on the road.
"We appreciate the extent you went to. A team will dispatch to the GPS marked of the asset. We'd like to meet to discuss the formalities for this case. This is irregular but not uncommon."
I sighed through my nose but there was nothing to be done. There weren't huge numbers of us in the first place which is why they got so damn involved if one of us disappeared or worse. Killing William and not reporting it would have only got me hunted to every corner of the globe.
"When and where."
"Keep this phone close. We will contact you. Best to get out of the country for now."
"Acknowledged." I answered hollow.
The line went dead.
I wanted to send my fist through the windshield. That bastard had brought this down on us. I had a covert existence. One that rarely drew Paragon's attention. Now I was practically headline fucking news.
This was not how I could exist in a world with Quinn. The closer I got to the organisation the closer to their knowledge she got. The more likely...
I clenched the stirring wheel thinking of how this story had ended before. An immortal and a mortal. Paragon demanded nothing but loyalty and focus on the job. The moment they see distraction or weakness to our work it is removed. I couldn't let that be Quinn.
I had to have a god damn contingency.
I pulled up outside my gates and drove quickly to the front of the house. As soon as I slammed the door I was pacing up the steps and dripping water onto my floorboards. I grabbed the duffle full of cash and documents. Then shrugged off my muddied and soaked jacket.
I breathed heavily and couldn't steady my fingers to take the buttons off my shirt. With a growl I ripped the fabric off me by force and swore. I knew these were possibilities in my life yet I had still let her follow me onto that jet. Let her walk into my home with that easy smile and played for her on that god damn piano–
I turned and sent my fist through the lid of it with a crash. The legs broke and chords snapped in a deafening crack. The wood was splintered and split down the middle. The ivory keys scattered and I stared at the corpse of it like staring at that immortal's body all over again.
A pang of something tore through me then and it was not anger. It was relentless sadness.
My fingers loosened as I stared at the broken instrument. I felt liquid trail down my cheek. In shock I raised my fingers to it and stared at the liquid salt that left my eye.
I hadn't cried in almost a hundred years.
Yet now I did. I knew it was possible for an immortal. Yet I never had felt the overwhelming feeling for so long... The realisation let me know I couldn't let this go. I couldn't let her go.
I left the desolation of the living room and found a new dark shirt. I clipped a holster through my arms and chest. Attached two silenced 9mms. Then a trench coat I could raise the collar of around my neck with more resistance to the weather. I shouldered the duffle bag full of what we would need to survive.
I pulled out my sat phone.
"Hello, speaking?" A tired and grumpy elderly woman answered.
"It's me, Aiko." I said, as I slid the cover off a McLaren in my garage. Specialised wheels for traction in rain of course.
"Blossom–what is the matter?" She asked, slipping quickly into a more alert tone. One that had once received a similar call in the night with different circumstances. One that knew I wasn't in her home any longer.
"I'm coming back for Quinn. I'm letting you know–I'm sorry we need to leave. And that I do not want to bring danger to you anym–"
"Save your conscience for another." She interrupted dismissively. "Whatever trouble you are in, this remains a safe place for you to return."
I sighed and slipped into the car letting the engine roar to life. I tossed the duffle into the passenger and stared ahead as the garage door opened.
"You are and always will be, too good to me, Aiko."
"And don't you forget it." She muttered. "Don't expect me to explain the situation to that girl. I don't speak that lazy language."
I smirked into the night and punched the accelerator. "Trust me she's awake already. Just get her some fresh clothes. I won't be long."
"Take care child." She said quietly. She knew I was far from one but her words comforted me none the less. A truly good soul. One that would receive another mysterious wad of Yen under her pillow when I was long gone.
"Until I turn up on your doorstep again, old woman." I stated dryly with a grin.
Her displeasure was clear but I hung up before she had the chance.
The gates opened and I pulled out onto the main road. The engine growled and I hit the tarmac testing the real speed of the car. Closing the distance to a forgotten village in the forest with a mortal that I would go to the ends of the earth for and back.