A Hunter's Dream

Author's note: I apologize for not having been able to submit for such a long time. But now I'm back with fresh enthusiasm!

Thanks for your patience and for the encouraging comments to everyone.

Please keep the critic and support coming, it is very helpfull and much appreciated.

Enjoy! :-)

Chapter 3: The Hun's heir

"Excuse me. Is this seat free?" a soft yet determined voice called out tapping him lightly on the shoulder in order to distract him from the book he was buried in.

The man looked up to find a smiling young woman gazing down at him expectantly. He simply nodded and took in her appearance at a single glance. She looked a bit overdressed for a regular student, wearing an expressionless grey suit, reminding him very much of a business attire. She had raven hair, pulled into a tight knot at her nape, wore no jewellery or make-up as far as he could notice. A curious pair of unusual looking dark green eyes captured his attention. Her look seemed so intense upon him that he started to feel truly nervous under her bold stare.

She could be actually pretty cute, if she went for a couple of contacts instead of the dark framed glasses which covered most of her face, he remembered thinking. She seemed young, too young to be a visiting professor, although there was a flair of self-esteem and superior grace around her that simply seemed to scream for respect and made him shift rather uncomfortably in his seat.

- Is there something wrong? - he managed to get out finally as her focused attention on him became even for his patience too much to bear.

He was surprised to see another small smile enlightening her face at his annoyed sounding question. "Indeed, there is something terribly wrong here ..." Tristanna thought bemused.

She had been on her way to the office, crossing the park when she spotted him rushing by on his bike. She had not forgotten about the unreadable man, but with the threat of a hunter chasing after her, he hadn't been the focus of her attention either for the past few days. However, when she saw him, something within her made click. He was too far away to be scanned but suddenly an undeniable urge came over her to find out more about this man, or at least to get a second chance to spy on his mind.

She had quickly discarded her fear of vehicles and waved for a cab, instructing the driver to follow the red bike. To her surprise he stopped only a couple of blocks further away at the main building of a well known scientific research centre. And now she was here, sitting right next to him, feeling her own frustration slowly fade away.

She found at least a bit of comfort in the fact, which she had to confirm after another useless attempt: that human being was unreadable, at least to her. It wasn't her gift or concentration fading or an accidentally failed attempt. It was not HER mistake. It was simply ... an inevitable fact, something beyond her control. The lack of all the information she had gotten used to over the years about people around her, made her feel silly in his presence but also nostalgic in a unusual way. It brought back memories of her own kind and she found it fairly easy to pretend that he was an equal, rather than simply another mindless.

In the mean time he seemed to become nervous and impatient, though he wasn't even sure why, being used to a well-controlled and mild temper.

"Hey, um ... are you all right?" still no reply. " Uh ... I haven't seen you here before. You don't seem like a regular student. Are you new? Oh .. Uh ... I'm Andy by the way." he said, blushing at the uncertainty of his raspy voice and offering his hand. Anything to break that terribly silence!

To his surprise she took it and gave it a firm shake along with a little squeeze before letting go.

"You are a terrible liar." she said finally smiling at him playfully.

He stared wide eyed, for almost a second or two before the insulted frown appeared on his face:

"What are you at all talking about?!" he snapped back forgetting all of a sudden about his discomfort.

"I'm sure you'll have it figured out by the end of the lecture" she replied sweetly as the professor entered the hall, causing all the chatting around them to die at the very same moment.

A-man, as he had been called since childhood, couldn't remember ever feeling so distracted by a girl during classes. He was an academic shooting star and had been an outstanding student all his life, which earned him his nickname too. It took him much self-discipline to come so far and usually he had no problem with focusing on his studies, but right then in the advanced neuropsychiatric class, that strange woman was all he had on his mind.

He became impatient, restless, glancing at the clock every second minute, hardly being able to take any notes or wait for the lecture to end. His torture terminated finally with the huge applause of the audience as the head of the psychiatry department left the lecture hall.

He looked at his company's bemused face and got lost in those dark eyes. Students around them packed up and began to leave, but she just sat there obviously not at all bothered or motivated to follow their example.

"So, care to tell me your name?" he asked finally deciding that taking the initiative should be the best way out of his misery. For he felt miserable and awkwardly uneasy around her.

"Trust should be earned, don't you think?" she spoke in a surprisingly serious tone. "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours."

That hit him. For the past 60 minutes he struggled with labelling her crazy and storming out of the hall as soon as the prof had left, but he felt there was something in the way she declared him a liar that showed so much conviction ... However, he still couldn't put his finger on it. But now, as he slowly began to understand, a creepy feeling started to grow in his stomach.

" Well, as I said, I'm Andy, Andy Newton. At least that's what people usually call me." she raised an eyebrow expectantly as he paused to take a deep breath. "Fine! If you have to know, it's Attila. And no, my parents didn't pick it from the menu in an oriental restaurant." he added stuffing his notes into his backpack, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Sounds like a strong name, for a strong person" she commented standing and grabbing her own purse. That remark made him turn her way. His weird name had earned him many unwelcome jokes and teasing since primary school, so he simply decided to go with Andy after a while. Her reaction however, was anything but usual. But how did she know?

"Don't make a face like I was the most wanted girl on the east coast!" she shot back smiling at his suspicious look. Trust had to be earned, on both sides, that was the first thing Tristanna had learned from her counselling experiences. "You should consider it an honour to be named after the Scourge of God. And not hide it."

"European ancestors?" he asked grinning, her light-hearted mood seeming infectious.

"Not quite." Tristanna smiled to herself. Her brother would be outraged if he had heard that one! "Just a history fan. And you are right. I am not a regular student, just doing some research on a project. What about you?" she added as they waited for the elevator.

"No regular student either. I'm working currently on my PH. D. at the neuropsychiatric department here at the Institute."

"Sounds interesting, care to tell me more about it? " she asked casually as they entered the car.

"Maybe." he smiled hesitantly feeling all of a sudden in an unusually flirtatious mood. "How about a coffee? I have no more classes in the morning, and could really use one, so if you had time ... I'd like to hear more about your project too." Ok, that was a pretty lame line. He frowned. "I guess I stayed out of the dating game for much longer than healthy" he reasoned. "High time for a change!" Attila decided glancing hopefully at his mystery girl.

She gave him a reassuring smile and nodded, suggesting Angelo's place, since it was only a short walk away. Getting there he learned that Tristanna worked as a counsellor for Doctor Valentino, that she was quite the chocoholic with a slight tendency to bitter remarks, despite her outer cheerfulness, at least from time to time. She said she was doing some research for one of his articles in progress, but couldn't say more, the details being strictly confidential.

She, on the other hand found confirmation for him being a bit of a lonesome person. When she enquired further about his name, he explained that he had been adopted as a baby by his family. The Newtons had already 4 daughters and decided to adopt a baby boy, since chances were rather low for an own son. His name was the only thing that came along with him. He grew up in a small town in Idaho and got a great scholarship after graduating from high school from the Henderson Institute covering all his educational and living expenses until the present. He felt very lucky and accepted it gratefully since the Newtons wouldn't have been able to support his medical studies or any further academic striving, at least financially. They were still pretty close, even though he had moved away years ago, he still visited the family on holidays.

Tristanna found herself relaxing as he opened up. The morning turned out to be worth cancelling all her early appointments. Although she couldn't read him, she found it oddly easy to talk to him as he slowly crawled out of his shell. She forgot more and more about her previously set tactic of collecting as much information as possible about him and giving as little as possible about herself in return, though they still talked mainly about his life.

They both seemed to have forgotten about the time. Suddenly a roaring sound caught their both attention. His face turned sheer crimson while she almost fell of her chair laughing.

"That's not exactly polite or kind, you know." he said glancing at his watch to hide his embarrassment, just to find that it was already passed lunch time! "Damn "he swore "I've gotta go!" he declared jumping up from his seat instinctively but sank back slowly as soon as his hazel eyes noticed the hurt and disappointment on her face, just before she hid them behind the mask of a charming smile.

He suddenly felt oddly desperate at that moment and decided against his better judgement or past experiences to go with his heart. He took her hand in his huge palms, dwelling for a moment upon the sensation of her soft skin.

"Look, I really need to get going now. If I'm late, the head of the lab is going to make me the babysitter of the rats for the next month too. And I'm talking about night shifts! Anyway ..." he inhaled deep, then looked straight into her deep green eyes. "I'm not really good with words, but ... I enjoyed your company very much and would like to see you again. To get a chance to get to know you better."

She could tell he was sincere by the look on his face. His cheeks were flushed but his ears were not red, unlike the first time he had told her his false name.

Tristanna reached over and took a pen from his shirt pocket, scrabbling down something on her napkin, then folded it and handed both back to him. She took out a twenty and placing it on the table then just stood, smiling.

"Call me." she said softly taking a last intense look at him and shaking her head before she turned and hurried towards the park.

The young man was so excited waiting for her reaction that he almost missed her departure. When he recovered from his astonishment, there was only one question echoing in his head:

"Hey wait! I don't even now your name!!" he shouted after her. It was in vain. She didn't bother to turn around, though he could see her shoulders tense at the sound of his voice.

He sank back into his chair, gesturing for the waiter to bring the bill. "Did I just make a fool of myself?" he wondered, but then remembered the napkin in his sweaty palm. He unfolded it carefully and made a leap for joy, feeling like a school boy again. It read: Anna Shadow, followed by a local phone number.

He barely noticed the air turning chilly around him despite the mid-day heat or the sudden changes of the wind's direction, which kept blowing right into his face all the while as he made a fast run for the Institute. He had trouble catching his breath by the time he turned the corner of the lab on the 4th floor but still wore a smug grin on his face when he became assigned to the night shift also for July, coming 10 minutes late to the weekly staff meeting.