The Hunt 44

Author's Note: Depending on the feedback, this story will definitely be continued. It took me just a few inspired hours to write this part, I edited while I wrote, but I'm almost sure it's not perfect, so I apologize in advance for errors. This first chapter gets sexual plenty sexual, but there's no official 'sex,' in it. The story is also quite violent at times, as our protagonist is a ruthless vampire. Happy reading, I hope that y'all enjoy!

*****

My name is Kaelin Vincent, but I'm more commonly known as "K." I'm a vampire, but I'm not centuries old as so many novels enjoy writing us. I suppose there's something sexy about the knowledge and experience so many years must possess. I am never able to really get into those books because of how scarcely they even come close to capturing what it truly is to be a vampire. I was turned on my 26th birthday, by my then lover. I'm 41 years old now. It's been fifteen years of relying on the blood of others to maintain the beat of my own heart. I don't really think of it that way though, I quite enjoy the hunt. Since the change from human to vampire, I am still a warm-blooded being, I can be seen in mirrors and photographs, I do not need to be invited into a residence, and my eyes have not changed some unnatural color to notify people of the predator coming for them. What has changed is my strength, my ability to charm and even enthrall people, and lastly- but most importantly, I crave the hunt.

Ferdinand was my maker, and so, when I killed him, I gained much of the power he had been coveting for several centuries. It took me only one month to kill Ferdinand after being changed, and the reason for this is because he'd made a very fatal mistake. He still thought of me as a prey instead of a fellow predator. His second mistake was turning a girl who'd been practicing witchcraft her entire life. I had already coveted a number of psychic abilities and had a strong connection to my own aura and energy before being changed. This allowed my ability to manipulate and enthrall to exceed his, despite lacking the same skill. Unfortunately, this study of witchcraft did not translate into immaculate self-control, and I had ended up killing my parents after starving myself when I'd first turned. Ah, that was a third mistake I don't often think on, he allowed me to 'figure things out' for myself, instead of being the guide he should've been. He allowed that newborn vampire to fester anger toward him, and then he paid the price.

So, my first year as a vampire was an eventful one, after what had happened with my parents, I sold our Alabama home and picked up to New York City, I figured it would be easier for me to blend in, find blood supply, and continue to be successful without gaining notoriety, didn't need anyone noticing I don't age.

I don't know about the experiences of other vampires, I don't even know if there are other vampires, but I can say this- I am not that romantic vampire archetype. I enjoy hunting, hell, I even enjoy playing games with my prey sometimes, especially if they piss me off. I've had more than a handful of people stay in my basement being my ''blood donors,'' for weeks at a time simply for being garbage. I did not discriminate in my prey either, my only rule was not to feed from children, everyone else was free game. I liked for things to be easy, so I often spent my time seducing my victims and making them forget what happened if I didn't wish to kill them.

Other people, I delighted in killing. James Floyd was a fine example of this, but he got lucky. He could also be considered very unlucky, depending on your perspective.

I was dressed to kill that day, literally and figuratively. Regardless of what I wore, my beauty was as supernatural as my being. I had luscious long hair that fell in voluminous waves around my face, it was chocolate brown, and my eyes were a stunning hazel with golden and green flecks. I stood at 5'9, and sported a lithe dancer's frame, with inviting C cup breasts. My cream like skin was smooth, and my complexion uninterrupted, which meant that I nearly never required makeup. Still, makeup made the hunt more fun. I wore a red dress that came to my mid-thigh, and along with my smoky eye shadow, I sported red lipstick. I met James at a bar, and he had attempted to roofie me, but I put my hand over his right before it made it to my glass. He would be the perfect victim.

"Please don't ruin my drink. I'm going to need it if I'm still going to go home with you," I smiled at him, it was devious and full of hunger that I was sure he'd misinterpret.

James was a handsome fellow, he had a short Verdi style beard, and dirty blonde hair in a well-kempt manbun.

He grinned at me and licked his lips. "Yeah baby? That's a cute accent, where are you from?"

"Alabama," I bat my long black lashes at him.

"Well sweetie, what about we go to your place? My girlfriend is back at my place, and she'd kill us both!"

I smirked. He was bold, and he didn't care, of course he didn't care, he had been planning to roofie me.

"I'm glad you have a girlfriend, that means you won't get attached. Let's go," I downed my rum punch and stood, the heels I wore brought me to 6'0 ft, but he still stood over me by another 2 inches. He had an athletic body, and he was clearly a horrible person, I'd have no qualms killing him.

He wasn't going to make it to my place.

"So, ya live near here?" He asked, I could sense a bit of nervousness in his voice, he tried to make up for it by pumping his machismo and slapping my ass."

I moaned and giggled for effect, but really, I was agitated.

"I do... but I don't know if I can make it all the way there," I grabbed his hand and pulled him toward a quiet street.

He was immediately unzipping his pants and pushed my hand onto his length. I decided it was time to stop playing games, I grabbed with a fraction of my strength, but I immediately watched his face contort into pain, and right before he screamed, my hand was over his mouth suppressing the noise. He tried to get my hand off of his dick and I smiled at him sweetly.

"Okay honey, I don't want you to struggle now okay. If you do, I will rip off your dick, do you understand? Nod for me."

He nodded, trying to speak through my hand.

"Good. As you can feel, I am incredibly strong. That's because I'm not human, okay? I'm probably going to kill you tonight. But you can die painlessly. Or you can die very slowly and tragically," I let go of him for a moment only to grab him again, slam him on the sidewalk, force him back up and into the same position we were in right before I gave him my display of strength. He whimpered against my hand and I decided to let him speak.

"Please... I'm an honest working man, my girlfriend... I... I support her, I am paying for her schooling, and taking care of both of us. She'll fall apart without me."

I laughed. "Oh... this coming from the man who was going to drug and rape me. You're a nasty soul, you. You deserve to die, but guess what?"

"What...?'' His voice was small and scared, it suited him.

I twisted his arm; my voice was venomous. "I fucking said guess."

"You're going to... let me live?" He whimpered. I smiled at him and then I pulled him closer, sinking my teeth into his neck and relishing the warm liquid life force that flooded my mouth. He tasted healthy. I assumed this girlfriend must cook for him. I drank enough to make him weaker and more delirious, but that was all. When I separated from his neck, I licked his ear and whispered to him.

"I'm going to fuck your girlfriend, and then I'm going to tie her up in my basement where you'll have been for a while, and you'll watch when I come downstairs and feed from her. You'll watch how much she likes it, how desperate she will be for me... and then you're going to watch her die, you understand? I'm going to fucking kill your little bitch, and then I'm going to kill you.''

I had James locked in my basement and fed from him twice within the week before I finally made contact with Jemma Reyes. I had however, gone to see her that night I'd taken him. I was stunned. James was a handsome man, so I did expect his girlfriend to be attractive, but I didn't expect for her to be well, anything more than that. I'd used his keys to enter their home while she slept. I looked through their fridge and found many different ingredients, she was indeed the reason he was healthy. I looked at their library and found pieces that provided commentary on points in history, horror fictions, biographies on different scientists, and I saw that a lot of her books revolved around diseases and epidemiology. It was easy to deduce that it was her area of interest, and I noted that for a moment, I thought that it would be good if she becomes an epidemiologist, the world could use more of them. I shortly shooed the thought out of my mind, she'll become my food, and that was that.

There were pictures of the two of them around the house, she had such a genuine smile, and surprisingly, so did she. Jemma had long black curly hair, caramel skin and light brown eyes that crinkled when she smiled. She had a single dimple on her left cheek and a light dusting of brown freckles over her face. She was much shorter than he, and certainly shorter than me, probably standing around 5'2 or 5'3. For that week, I watched her, she went to a very competitive University, and she seemed to be a rather studious girl. She was indeed struggling without her boyfriend, she hadn't bought groceries, and her fridge was dwindling. Apparently, I'd taken James when rent was due, so she had gotten a few calls from her landlord as well. Ah yes, my hearing is something I did fail to mention. I could hear any conversation within a 400-meter radius, so spying on her conversations was easy.

I lived in a Brooklyn Townhouse, and unlike many people who shared these with neighbors on other floors, I did not, the entire 4 floors, basement, and drivers lot belonged to me. I'd kept a modern look in the inside, a lot of my furnishing involved marble and leather, I also had many different kinds of flowers in my home. Orchids, Chrysanthemums, Lavenders, Daisies, Sunflowers, Roses, Tulips, the list goes on, I even had almost natural bamboo trees in my home. I was very fond of the scent that these plants created. I made a few ads for a roommate, and got a burner phone for my ads, I also made sure to put them in places that would get to her. Eventually, unless she planned to run along back home, she'd need to get roommates and a job. That's why my ad offered both. I said I was looking for someone who knew how to cook healthy, and that the rent was $400, and negotiable based on the skill of the cook as money was no matter to me. I made it clear I only wanted female roommates as I myself was a woman, all these things were targeted toward her, I didn't care for any other inquiries so the phone was always silenced, except her cellphone number and house phone numbered which I'd programmed into the phone as an emergency contact.

The day the phone rang, was the day I formally met Jemma.

"Hello? Kaelin Vincent speaking,"

"Hi- um. Did you post an advertisement for a chef?"

"Yes, I did. Are you interested... miss...?"

"Reyes. Jemma Reyes. I should've introduced myself already," a nervous chuckle escaped her.

"Speaking over the phone to a stranger is odd, how about we meet in person, let's say... coffee at the uptown café in two hours?" I knew she wasn't busy, and I put a bit of sway into my voice, though I wasn't sure how well it would translate over a phone. Regardless, she agreed to the meeting, and that was what mattered to me.

I glared at my closet, and tapped my chin, then I decided to go visit James.

I had four outfits with me.

I showed him my outfits, I had a dress, with a black leather jacket, jeans and pull over sweater, and a romper with a jean jacket. The winning outfit was a white suit with a red silk button down shirt, the white suit was to be paired with red heels and rose-tinted sunglasses. I'd warned him that if he'd somehow led me astray, I would feed him bits of her for the rest of his short miserable life.

Good thing he hadn't led me astray. I shook Jemma's hand as she looked up at me and gave me that killer smile that was so much better in person than it was in the photos. I found myself gazing too hard at her. I noted that her handshake was firm.

"It's so nice to meet you Kaelin. Forgive me if it's rude to say, but money really is no problem for you huh? That outfit is gorgeous and designer! And... how old are you? You don't look much older than me."

I laughed. "Thank you for the compliment. I'm a real estate agent, in my thirties darling. So, tell me about yourself, little Jem?" I flirted with her, but it was subtle, I wanted the question to be on her mind, but not to scare her away from possibly moving in with me.

She fidgeted. "I'm a pre-med student. I have a full scholarship, but that's where I focus all of my energy. That's why this deal of working and living in a place seems really ideal, ya know? Plus, I already love to cook! I think I'm quite good at it."

I gave her a genuine smile. "Well, let's find out. My kitchen is fully stocked. Do you have anything you need to do for the next few hours?"

"Oh!" She checked her phone, clearly reflexively, maybe even checking to see if her ex-boyfriend changed his mind and wanted her back, her expression wasn't really readable when she looked back at me, and then her smile was back. "Nope. Let's see this place."

We walked to my car, I owned a red lexus, and she just took a deep breath, I could hear the "wow," that was so quiet it was practically mouthed, but I decided to catch her off guard and comment on it anyway.

"Thanks.''

"You heard that?"

"I have excellent hearing," I quipped, opening the door for her to enter.

She scooted inside and thanked me.

The drive wasn't long, about twenty minutes. In that time, James did come up, but he came up as a jerk who couldn't even dump her in person and left her in this position of needing to get a different place. Thank goodness she wasn't on the lease, so she wasn't responsible for paying, and the landlord was nice enough to give her a two-week grace period to either get the money or leave.

"So, it's actually urgent that you get a new place immediately, hm?"

"Ha... yeah..." she sounded nervous, and I decided to dispel those nerves.

"If you like my place, and I like your food, you can move in ASAP."

"Really...? That won't interfere with anything, your boyfriend won't mind?"

I chuckled at her assumption that I had a boyfriend. I didn't blame her for thinking I was attached, after all, I was a successful woman, I claimed to be in my thirties although I obviously looked to be in my twenties, I was intelligent, kind, and a knockout. Why wouldn't I be attached? Still. I took this opportunity to tease her.

"Must every beautiful woman have a boyfriend?"

"No... sorry. I mean, I don't."

"Ah, that was pompous, you think you're beautiful?"

She reddened, and I laughed, lightening up a bit.

"Jem, you are beautiful, so you'd be right to think that if you do. And in any case, if you're going to live with me, you should know that I prefer to see women nowadays, though I am bisexual. There's no one that's a permanent or even long-term fixture in my life right now."

"Oh," was all Jem said, her face was contemplative, and she was still blushing from my compliment, so I decided to let her sit with that.

When I parked, I went around and opened her door, she smiled and thanked me as we went up the steps. The outside of my home wasn't super impressive as I'd refused to modernize the brick. However, as soon as I opened my door and she was greeted by some of my plants, she was in awe,

"Wow, your home smells like... what everything /should/ smell like."

I laughed, that was an interesting form of compliment, but also one I felt deeply.

"Like health, vitality. No wonder you look so young," she continued. I raised a brow. To any normal person, it may have seemed that she was reading too much into things, but as someone who had been studying witchcraft her entire life, I felt there was a hint of more to what she said.

I gave her a tour of the first floor. The furnishing on this floor was light, I had a sofa, a love seat, a coffee table, and an entertainment center with a large flat screen TV. The bedroom had two nightstands and a queen-sized bed, as well as a huge walk in closet. There was nothing else though. The bathroom was large, a big tub and two sinks, above the sinks were two medicine cabinets that with circular mirrors over them, and the kitchen was full of stainless-steel appliances. The other floors were very similar except for the top floor.

"I live on the fourth floor. I'll give you the tour, but if you move in, you are never to be on this floor without me."

My living room was different than the simple ones in the other rooms. Instead of a normal TV, I had a home Theatre, equipped with very powerful stereos in the corners of the room. Off to the far left, all the way across upon entering the living room, there was a pool table, and a ping pong table adjacent to that. In the corner, next to them there was a gaming chair and a high-tech computer desk set up. There were bean bag chairs, however, my favorite part of it was when you enter the living room, if you took an immediate left, there's a spiral staircase leading to the roof. After I'd shown her everything in my living room and how it worked, we went up those stairs and she saw the fire pit on my room, which was also equipped with three loveseats and a coffee table, as well as some more plants.

We moved on to my master bedroom. My bedroom was nearly as big as my living room, and contained a walk in closet big enough to be a dorm, a fancy Victorian style canopy California king sized bed, I had a hot tub not too far from my bed, and there was also a bathroom attached to my room that contained a bear claw bath tub, a walk in shower that came down like a water fall from the ceiling, another double sink, and a bidet toilet.

Jemma laughed. "Okay, before I get my hopes up, how about we go to that kitchen?"

I nodded in agreement, observing the ingredients she took out of the fridge.

"I bought the meat fresh this morning, so even though it's in the fridge, it hasn't been in there long!" I assured her, noticing the side glance she'd given to the meats in the fridge when she'd checked the freezer and there were none.

She made seared butter garlic shrimp and steak with gnocchi and asparagus. The food was so good I almost wept.

"You're moving in today. You don't need to pay rent. I'll hire a mover. You can have any floor you like besides my floor. You need to cook at least two meals a day though, how does that sound?"

"Oh my god..." She hugged me tight, throwing her arms around my shoulders. I could feel my body reacting to the closeness. I snaked my arms around her waist and pressed her tight to me.

"Careful Jem. I'm bisexual and you cook like my future wife. I'll think you're coming on to me," I giggled, but she just grinned. I could feel her face muscles moving against my shoulder.

"I'm a straight woman, Kaelin Vincent. But I've got to say you are damn sexy. I'll teach your future wife how to cook, how does that sound?"

"It sounds like if I can't have you, I'll have to settle." I laughed, then I was deep in my own head. The exchange didn't require much thinking, it was genuine. The more time I spent around Jemma Reyes, the worse it was going to be for me. Of course, I didn't actually have to kill her. There was no pressing manner that dictated her death. I just particularly didn't like the creep in my basement.

I found myself rationalizing that killing Jemma wouldn't actually hurt James the way I'd wanted it to, because he didn't truly care about her. Jemma was a prize for him, quite clearly, she was far out of his league. Aside from having the prize, regardless of what a terrible person he was, that didn't mean he wanted to see her suffer at my hands. But that's the natural human condition, unless you're mentally incapable of feeling normally, I could bring anyone downstairs to torture and James would be disturbed. The more I rationalized, the more I realized that in this week of stalking my prey, and just this small amount of time spent with her, I was getting too close and going soft. I went up to my room to think on my own and found myself gritting my teeth.