IN THE SHADOWS

Chapter 1: Vivian

Vivian was a shadow, that feeling on one's neck when the hairs stand at attention; she was the unknown. Hunters were trained to bleed into the darkness of this world, find comfort in its crevices. Killing is not the only thing hunters are taught. There is a skill in tracking an animal, learning its weaknesses, exploiting them to find that exact moment in which to take their life. Vivian had hunted deer as a child, learned the artistry that goes into killing a wild, free animal. She had no idea back then that deer would be the tamest of creatures she'd grow to hunt.

Lurking in the distance, only a flicker of a shape, fast to the point it was invisible to the human eye, Vivian watched the creature. There was a time when her ability to see these things, while others could not, did not occur to her; a naive understanding that the world was just as she saw it and nothing else. But now she knows the truth. She was different from everyone in this world. Her abilities, though unwanted, guaranteed Vivian a placement in this world.

Watching this creature now, hunting it, Vivian focused on nothing else allowing her to compartmentalize her life. In Vivian's mind, she was two people, the hunter and the normal person she longed to be. She never let go of that simple life she had as a child, that innocent view of the world. She wanted to shut the door to this world filled with deadly creatures that constantly threatened her preferred reality. But, once she knew the truth of what happened in the shadows of this world, she could never ignore it. Instead, her mind fractured, creating two different lives, two different people.

Hunting was animalistic, which is what Vivian became in those moments. Just as the creatures she hunted in the shadows, Vivian became a creature in the shadows as well. Even from this distance, having studied these creatures most of all, Vivian knew what she was watching. The pose of his posture, the gait of his walk, and the glow of his almost human-like eyes in the darkness; he was a vampire. Killing him will be easy, Vivian thought, sliding her bare finger across the blade of her knife. It would only require her separating his brain from his single blood supply; the heart. Vampires were quick, Vivian knowing she'd only win with the element of surprise. Moving quickly, she would yield to the sounds of the night, using them to cloak her movements. By the time he realized she was behind him, her blade would already be at his throat, its sharp metal slicing through his petrified skin, then the bone until she'd decapitated him. This was not her first time, nor the last.

Vivian had found there was an art to killing, such as a dance one learns. The movements are always similar, slightly adjusted for the stage or performance, but overall a ballerina has a certain set of moves that flow together to create a masterpiece. Vivian was a masterpiece; her movements flawless, execution timeless. She was unstoppable.

Until this moment right here.

Vampires are creatures, ones that feed on the life of others to survive considering they are dead themselves. Leeches, as Vivian always thought. Drain them of their blood and they shrivel up and die. Just as leeches, Vampires become obsessed with the singular thought of blood, craving it, a drug that never satisfies. This makes them dangerous to humans, which puts them on Vivian's list.

But as Vivian held the silver blade to his neck, she paused for the first time ever. Vivian had learned to attack from behind, never to look the creatures in their eyes. It humanized them, making the kill harder to complete. Vivian wasn't a killer, she never wanted to hunt those deer, let alone people despite their dangerous, animalistic curses. Which is why she could never meet them eye to eye or face to face.

As Vivian pulled her sword, the clouds split open, the light of the moon catching her blade. A flash of light in the darkness. It was all he needed. Her knife held solid just inches from his pulsating neck as their eyes burrowed into one another. At that moment, she was hypnotized by the golden flames in his eyes, flickering in the night.