"It's not fair," Rachel mumbled, as she aimed her crossbow over the tower railing. An orange curl fell on her forehead and she tucked it behind her ear with a trembling hand. Shaking was a no-no while hunting, but, damn it, she was angry! "We're not the bad guys!" 

Daniel's broad shoulders shook as he chuckled. He lifted his crossbow higher, scrutinizing the statues on the Carol Bridge. Mist snuck through the tall sculptures, making them look like real people on the verge of putting themselves out of their misery. Behind him, St. Vitus Cathedral throned over the dark horizon of Prague.
 
"We're not exactly paper angels either. We do kill. And that pretty much cancels out other aspects."

Rachel cursed under her breath. "That doesn't make us bad people." Could they even call themselves people?

"I know, Rach." Daniel lowered the weapon. His dark-blue eyes glinted in the moonlight. "Chris knows that, too. Just give him some time to get used to the idea."

"It's been over three months," Rachel muttered. "If he makes one more smartass remark or hints that I'm going to kill him, I'll...I'll..." She punched the railing. Stone chips flew in all directions, and her crossbow slipped onto her lap.

Honestly, her boyfriend could be thick. So what if she wasn't perfectly normal? What if she killed for a living? She was a Hunter, and the world could do with less vampires. They spawned like toadstools after a rain, anyway. Who was Chris to make her feel like a criminal?

"You'll what? Strengthen his opinion of us? He's still with you, isn't he?" Daniel shrugged. "If he was a chicken, he would've run screaming by now." He climbed higher on the tower's roof. Tiles rattled under his quick steps. "Chris is a good guy. He'll come round."

Rachel sighed and squinted at the statues lining the bridge, wishing their target would show up, but she couldn't sense any paranormal presence except for Daniel's already distinctive vibe. They'd worked together ever since she became a Hunter. It was Daniel who'd saved her from a vampire attack and turned her into what she was now. Not completely human, but not a vampire either. 

She shuddered. The sicko vampire who attacked her wouldn't have killed her, but made her his bride. A foul, disgusting, brainless, blood-sucking menace. She crinkled her nose.

Daniel hummed next to her, his crossbow moving from left to right as though to intercept an invisible target. In the seven years they'd worked together, Rachel couldn't help but admire his capacity to be light-hearted while stalking. She hated the long waits. 

"How are you and Cheryl?" she asked to pass the time.

"Great, actually." Daniel rubbed his ring finger with his thumb.

The breath Rachel took went down the wrong way. She coughed and spluttered, hitting her chest with a fist. "You proposed?"

"Yup. This evening. I was expecting a flicker of doubt from her, but nothing." He lowered the crossbow and turned to face Rachel. "Honestly, sometimes I think that girl isn't right in the head. Who would marry a half-vampire without blinking?"

Rachel cringed. "Don't say that. I hate to think we're part monsters."

Daniel laughed. "You don't mind being part monster when you abuse your powers."

"Humph. I don't abuse!"

She turned her back on him. The truth was, she did. But she had to. She barely managed zooming in on what she saw and her psychic link was nonexistent. She did have the speed, strength and ability to jump high, but couldn't keep up with Daniel unless she pushed herself to the limit. And it wasn't fair, he was just three years older than her in Hunter years - one in human years. If he threw himself off the tower, he wouldn't even wince. She'd probably break her neck.

She sighed, her mind back on Chris. How would he feel when he aged and she didn't? Maybe it was better to break up with him after all. But she couldn't. She loved him; they'd been together for three years, and until three months ago, when she'd told him what she really was, they'd been so happy.

"How did Cheryl react when you told her what you are?" she asked before she could help herself.

Daniel put his crossbow away and skidded on the roof to reach her level. His eyes were a little unfocused and she knew this to mean his senses were spiked.

"First of all, I didn't pour it all on her at once. I told her I was a Hunter on our third date." He smirked, and Rachel guessed her expression looked pretty stupid. But seriously, the third date?

"On the sixth date she asked how I could kill vamps. That's when I told her I'm part filth myself." Daniel's eyes darted toward the bridge again. "There's still a lot of stuff I haven't told her. She's a complete idiot, this one." The way he said 'idiot' sounded more tender than 'love of my life'. 

"What did you tell her when she asked about food?"

Daniel groaned and ran his hand through his thick, messy, black hair. "God, Rach. You told him about the blood thing, didn't you?"
"I just wanted it all out there." She avoided his gaze. Of course she shouldn't have told him they occasionally needed blood.

"That's one thing I haven't mentioned to Cheryl." He scrambled back up the roof and grabbed his crossbow. "But the fact that Chris knows this and is still here... that says something about how much he cares for you."

Rachel raised her weapon, her heart thumping unevenly. Daniel was very straightforward. If he said 'care' instead of 'love', it was because he didn't think Chris loved her. She wanted to stand up for her boyfriend, but she wasn't sure how Chris felt anymore. She suddenly longed for a ring around her finger. That might clue her in.

A shiver ran down her spine and it had nothing to do with wedding thoughts. Bile rose to her mouth and she leaned against the railing of the tower top, her eyes zooming from left to right so fast she got dizzy. Their target had finally arrived, except she couldn't see it.

"Cover me," Daniel said.

"Where is it?" Rachel yelled after him, but he'd already thrown his crossbow aside and leaped off the tower.

The sense of nausea heightened. Rachel focused her vision and zoomed in on the dark statue of John of Nepomuk. A cloaked shadow drifted from behind it and glided through the mist, down the bridge, toward the exit marked by her tower. Before the vampire could make it halfway there, Daniel landed in front of him.

Rachel aimed her crossbow at the vampire. He'd frozen in the middle of the path.

"Good evening, scum." Daniel straightened, brushing his jeans. "Fancy meeting you here."

The vampire growled and threw his cloak aside, revealing a bloodstained shirt. He'd obviously already fed. Rachel's finger twitched on the trigger. He could pass for human even with the pale skin, bloodshot eyes and fangs, but that didn't fool her senses. His mere presence made her skin crawl.

Daniel crouched slightly. The vampire attacked with speed hard to perceive for the human eye. Daniel dodged just in time and sunk a punch into the vampire's back. He tumbled to the ground. Daniel stepped backwards and looked up at her, frowning. The monster had moved under the tower, beyond her range and he knew it. 

The vampire growled again, much louder, bared his fangs and went straight for Daniel's neck. They were a blur of movement as Daniel blocked the attack and tried to bring him out in the open to give her the chance to shoot. Rachel's heart went into hyper-drive. She only had one shot and knew she mustn't shoot to kill. They needed the bastard alive.

Daniel grabbed his opponent's neck and slammed him down on the bridge. A loud snap tore through the night as the vampire's skull cracked on the stone.

"Now, monster, tell me where Vlad is hiding."

Daniel panted, which was weird. Fights like this usually got him excited. Rachel had only seen him get overzealous when... Her eyes darted toward the moon. It was full. Oh, crap! She shot her crossbow, sending the deadly projectile into the vampire's shoulder.

He roared in pain, struggling under Daniel's grip. Rachel threw her weapon to the roof and searched for the quickest route down that wouldn't involve breaking her legs.

"Vlad. Now!" Daniel yelled.

Rachel jumped long and landed in a crouch on the nearest statue. She dropped to the ground and looked up in time to see the vampire spit in Daniel's face. He cringed and pulled back, trying to wipe it off his cheek. The green slime embedded in his skin and started fuming.

The vampire pulled himself from under Daniel and darted down the bridge. Rachel sprinted and tackled him face-down to the ground, landing on top of him. Before he could turn around and push her off, Daniel was upon them. He kicked the vampire over, took out his silver knife and pressed it against the monster's neck.

"I'm running out of patience, asshole. You're going to tell me where Vlad is. Now!"

Rachel took out her own knife and crouched next to the vampire's head, to make sure he wouldn't get away again.

The vampire grinned, revealing his fangs.  "You vill never find Vlad. It is Vlad who vill find you. And you better bevare. His revenge vill be terrible."

"Start talking." Rachel tried to keep her cool, but her blood boiled. This leech had the nerve to play games when his life hung by a thread. "We might let you live."

"Forget it, Rach," Daniel said, disgusted. "He has no idea where Vlad is. He's not important enough to know. Let's kill the bloodsucker and get it over with."

"You dare call me a bloodsucker? Yo're no better dan me, Hunter." The vampire laughed a raspy, guttural sound.  "I can see yor fangs ven you znarl at me. Am I going to be yor dinner?"

Daniel's muscles clenched. For a second he hesitated, staring at the prisoner as if he were something dead and rotting. Without warning, he put his hands on the sides of the vampire's face and snapped his neck.

"Rachel, lighter," he said with a trace of a growl in his voice.

He pulled out a handful of silver tipped stakes from his slotted belt and sunk them in the vampire's limbs.

Rachel fumbled inside her pockets, her hands trembling. Daniel stopped her and removed her lighter as though he'd known where it was all along. He probably did. Nothing ever escaped him.

He emptied the gas from the lighter on top of the body, plunged the last stake into the monster's heart and set fire to him. The flames rose in the still night air, dark gray with a tinge of green.

Daniel wiped his hands on the seat of his jeans. "I'm running out of stakes."

Rachel stared into the bonfire absently. The mild headache and the nausea were gone. The vampire was dead. "When will you let me do the pinning?"

"Never, if I can help it. That's no job for a lady." There was still the trace of snarl in Daniel's voice.

Rachel looked up at him. "He was right. You do need to feed."

A muscle twitched in Daniel's jaw as he stared back at her. There was a very thin, barely distinguishable red circle around his dark-blue iris. Rachel shuddered. She hadn't realized just how much he needed blood. It must be the last night of the full moon, which meant Daniel had been thirsty for three days now, doing nothing about it. She was sure. They'd been on watch together for the past five nights.

"I'll be fine." He walked away and rested his elbows on the bridge's railing, looking at the flowing Valtava. "Don't worry."

Rachel cringed. The snarl in his voice hadn't gone away. That disgusting vampire knew what he was doing when he'd implanted his venom-filled spit into Daniel's skin. It made his thirst stronger. He wasn't going back to his normal, sweet self until he fed.

"Daniel, you have to do it. We both know what happens if you don't." She gritted her teeth. The thirst would drive him mad, turn him into a thoughtless bloodsucker. She rolled up her sleeve and shoved her forearm in front of his face. "Here, you can drink from me."

Daniel looked at her arm, frowned, then shoved it away. A growl escaped his throat and his muscles twitched as though he were about to lunge at her. The reddish tinge to his eyes and the fog surrounding him made the hairs on her neck stand up. Rachel pulled back, cradling her arm to her chest. She'd never seen him like this.

He seemed to notice her trembling body because he shut his eyes and breathed in deeply, as though trying to calm down.

"Don't ever do that again. I'm never going to drink from you."

A twinge of outrage made its way through the fear. "Why? Am I not good enough for you? Would you rather go back to the hotel and kill Cheryl?"

Daniel's eyes widened. "I would never hurt Cheryl!"

"That's what you think. You'd be so famished, you'd jump her in an instant. And I don't mean in the hot way. You feel like feeding off her right now, don't you?" She had no idea why she was blurting out things that were likely to piss Daniel off. Maybe she hoped it would keep him focused.

Daniel gave her a glimmer of a smile. "Cheryl smells yummy. I always feel like feeding off her, even when I don't need to. Which makes you right. I can't go back to her like this."

"So, it's either me or her. The difference is, I can take it." Rachel reached her arm out again. "Unless you find me repulsive and would rather find a hobo sleeping under a bridge."

Daniel chuckled, grabbed her wrist and pulled her against him. "I don't find you the least bit repulsive. You smell yummy, too. Really yummy." He leaned over and brushed his nose against her neck.

Goosebumps erupted all over Rachel's skin. She'd asked for this, and now had to live up to it. She was glad he was going for the neck rather than her forearm. It would be much faster. Her heart thumped so violently, she was sure Daniel could hear it, too, and it did nothing for his self restraint.

His lips touched her neck and she shuddered. It felt indecently pleasant. The warmth of his body engulfed her, and a dozen alarms rang inside her head. She held her ground. Her blood would make him stronger than any other he could find.

He'd do the same for me. It's going to be fine. It will only hurt a little. Oh God! She could feel his fangs on her neck. She'd only felt this anticipation once before, on the night he'd turned her into a Hunter. His fangs had sunk in, and the same overwhelming emotion swept through her. It was a sense of intimacy mixed with fear and longing. She wanted it to go on and yet, she also wanted to push him away.

Rachel shut her eyes and her muscles tensed, waiting for the bite. It never came. Daniel closed his lips on her neck. She couldn't keep in a sigh of relief, and her whole body relaxed.  Only for a minute, though, because it became something else. His lips lingered and his tongue drew small circles on her delicate skin. 

Rachel's heart started drumming again, the rapid pulse shoving memories of Chris and Cheryl aside. It was just the two of them, standing on a bridge, Daniel's arms wrapped around her, his body pressed against hers, kissing her neck. He knew how much she loved it. During their missions, they'd shared almost everything about each other. Daniel knew exactly how to hold her and how she liked to be kissed or teased, but she'd never thought he'd use that knowledge.

His lips left her skin and a feeling of emptiness swept through Rachel's body.

"I'm sorry, Rach," he whispered in her ear. "But you're irresistible when I'm this desperate for..." He shut his eyes and pulled away from her. "You had a point with the hobo under a bridge. Though I'd rather visit the local jail instead. You should go back to the hotel. I'll see you tomorrow."

Before she could open her mouth to speak, he leaped up the tower, retrieved their crossbows and jumped back down. He passed the weapons to her, gave her a crooked smile and hopped off the bridge.

Rachel didn't move. The tingling in the wind let her know the dawn was almost upon them. Daniel had maybe an hour to find food. But it wasn't the worry that kept her in place. After he'd left, all the memories and feelings came back to her. She loved Chris. And Cheryl was her friend. Guilt turned her stomach into a tight knot.

She knew Daniel had been drawn to her by the smell of her blood, that he was so raving hungry it was hard to control himself. Every vampire used seduction to get their pray to cooperate. She knew that. Daniel used it flawlessly. But that's all it was, a way of getting her to let him feed. Then why did she wish it were the real thing?

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Thanks for reading the first chapter of Hunters. Hope you had fun! Leave a comment or vote in case you enjoyed it. And thank you for your support!