Brendon rode hard over the next few weeks to get to northern Georgia, changing horses whenever one neared the end of its endurance. As a Hunter he only required an hour or two of sleep a night and therefore he quickly used up horses. He always had.

He had learned long ago to never get attached to mortal things. Mortals, both creatures and humans, died far too easily, far too often, all the time.

It was a hard lesson that all immortals learned given enough centuries of life.

Brendon took a deep breath as he rode down the cobblestone city streets and he curled his nose at the smell.

Hunting here would be hard. He would not be able to depend on his nose that was for sure. The scent of too many people, horses, livestock, coal and wood smoke, and human waste was heavy in the air.

Brendon hated cities. He hated hunting in cities. But a Hunter was what he was and hunting is what he would do.

He took his horse to the livery on the edge of town and after removing his small satchel of belongings, he left the horse in the care of the tall, gruff livery keeper and walked back out into the dim sunshine. It couldn’t seem to burn it’s way through the thick clouds of smoke from all the chimney’s and was dull and distant in the sky.

Brendon knew he would have to talk to someone about the murders of the past few months in order to get the lay of the land. While most would think that speaking to the members of law enforcement would be his first step, it wasn’t. Mortal law enforcement would simply tell him to mind his own business.

No, when you wanted all the gossip, you either went to the saloon or the diner. Since it was morning and the diner was sure to be full of folks drinking coffee and sharing tales, Brendon knew that had to be his first step.

Not to mention that he could use some breakfast himself, he realized as his stomach growled and a sharp cramp twisted it.

He knew from the one other time he’d been in this city, nearly ten years before, that there were five restaurants total. Three that were only open around dinner time, one that opened midday, and one that was open at dawn.

He headed for the latter of the choices, his worn black boots splashing in the puddles left on the cobblestones by the recent rain showers.

He entered the diner and ignored the heads that turned in his direction. He made his way to an empty back table, ordered a coffee and eggs and then settled back into the shadows.

It didn’t take long for his presence here to become forgotten. New faces were hardly a cause for shock in a city like this one and Brendon knew how to blend.

He was nearly done with his breakfast, and simply sipping at the weak coffee and he was beginning to think that this had been a waste of time. He was about to lay his coins on the table and leave the diner when his sharp ears picked up a hushed conversation on the other side of the crowded room.

“There was another body found just yesterday morning.” An old man said with a nod. The other old man at the table took a drink of coffee and shook his head.

“It’s the good Lord seeking vengeance on these men.” he stated matter of factly.

“How you got that figured, LeRoy?” The first man asked. LeRoy scratched at his hairy brow and shrugged his thin shoulders.

“It’s easy to figure, really.” he assured his friend. “Every man that’s been killed has either been drinking and sinning at the saloon or coming out of the brothel. Not one has been killed anywhere else.”

“Kenneth Keel found one of those bodies and he told me there was something funny about the neck.”

“Funny how? Was it broke?” LeRoy asked and the first man shook his head, his wrinkled neck crinkling with the movement.

“There was holes in it.” the man pressed his fingers against the pulsing artery in the side of his neck.

“Come off it, Garth.” LeRoy exclaimed. “Are you trying to say it was a…vampire?” he asked in a hushed whisper, casting a nervous glance around them.

“That’s exactly what I’m trying to tell you.” Garth replied with a curt nod. “It’s a vampire out there killing those men. Mark my words. I’ll guarantee you right now that within the next few days another will show up dead and he’ll have two holes. Just here,” Garth touched his neck again and Brendon had heard enough.

He rose from the table, put his money down and then left the diner. As he stepped outside, the wind whipped his duster coat around his legs.

A vampire that fed only on men and not just any men but men coming out of brothels and saloons. That sounded like a female vampire to him. A female vamp that had a problem with men. Just what he needed.

A vampire with issues.

***

Ella listened to the crackling of the wood on the fire. The sound of the wind catching a loose shutter and hitting it against the wooden planks of the wall. She could hear noise from the city. A man yelling. Dogs barking. Children laughing as they ran and played.

She also heard the light breathing of the vampire sleeping beside her. His breath washing over her bare shoulder, heating the skin there. She felt nothing. She was dead, not literally of course. Vampires were not dead, soulless creatures. They were immortal and their disease as many called it was something they were born with.

A thirst for blood, superior speed, sight and smell when compared to mortals. Stronger than any mortal could ever hope to be. They had to have blood to live, though most chose to use their powers of mental persuasion to get mortals to offer it willingly and then erase their memories so they were unaware that anything had ever happened and lick the bit to heal it and remove the poison.

Killing mortals tended to anger the Hunters.

It had been at the age of fourteen when Ella had first begun to notice the changes in her body, the normal age for the vampire disease to rear it’s head.

She hadn’t understood then the sudden urge that had overcome her to bite her mother while they’d been cooking breakfast for the family. Ella had done her best to ignore it but then her mother had pricked her finger with the knife she’d been using and Ella had lost all control.

Her teeth had sharpened and she had attacked the older woman. Ella had killed her own mother. Drained her dry right there on the kitchen floor.

Then her father and her younger sister had made the mistake of walking in while Ella had still been trapped in that blood thirsty haze.

Ella hadn’t even realized what she had done until hours later when she finally woke from the daze. She had been wandering the woods then. Covered in the blood of her family.

Ella had collapsed on the forest floor, sinking into the wet leaves and mud and praying that she would die. A man had found her, a bad man who actually turned out to be an elf. An elf named Faugrimm.

She had been his ‘pet’, a member of his collection for a long time. She lost track of how long and yet she never aged much past twenty.

Faugrimm had been a true monster. Starving her when it pleased him, beating her when he chose, (or having his men do it for him), and offering her body to any man that came to his castle.

She had learned quickly to control the vampire inside of her and to not fight back against these men. Fighting back only led to more pain, more hunger. Faugrimm barely gave her enough blood to keep her alive and it kept her in a weakened, trancelike state.

Ella could still remember the day when she had felt the smallest ray of hope for the very first time. It had been the day that the sleeping vampire next to her, Warren, had come to Faugrimm’s castle. Ella had recognized the scent of a fellow vampire and he had shown a special interest in her.

So much so that when another man, a demon, tried to touch her, Warren had killed him without batting an eye.

Warren had been carted off to discuss his transgressions with Faugrimm but had come back some time later and informed Ella that he had bought her and she belonged to him now.

Ella had thought that finally things would be different. She had made herself believe that Warren would be her salvation. He would love her. Teach her. Guide her.

She had been wrong.

Warren had been worse. He had forced her to lay with him. Forced her to kill for him. He used insults and threats to keep her in her place.

Ella, in all the ways that mattered, was dead. Lifeless. She never laughed, never cried. She was never happy or angry. Never sad.

She very simply was. She existed without existing.

Suddenly, Warren, let out a snore that brought Ella out of her thoughts. She wanted to get out of this bed and away from him.

She slid out from beneath the covers, moving silently. Her naked body felt the chill in the air as the cold wind drifted through the cracked walls, but the cold did not bother her. After what she had been through in her life there wasn’t much that did bother her.

“Where were you last night?” Warren’s cold voice washed over her as he sat up in the bed and Ella felt the chill of it deep in her bones.

“Feeding.” she replied simply.

“You were told to stay at home. I wanted you to be here when I got back from my trip.”

Ella said nothing as she walked to the bedroom door.

“Where do you think you are going?” Warren demanded as he stood as well.

“To my room. To get dressed. I would like to go into town and buy some fabric today.”

Ella stopped when Warren was suddenly in front of her, putting his body between she and the door.

His thin lips pulled back in a snarl, emphasizing the gauntness of his cheeks. His eyes, a brown so dark they were nearly black, were sunk in and intense as they bored into her own.

Ella just stood there motionless, expressionless, and stared back at him.

“You killed another man last night, didn’t you, Ella?” he questioned.

“What difference does it make to you?” she asked. Truth was she had killed that man and countless others before him. Those men that thought they could use a woman’s body in any way they saw fit, any way that pleased them. They used foul language, said horrible things to the women, about the women, and then stuck their nasty appendages inside them and took what wasn’t truly theirs to take.

“You must stop killing so close to where we live, Ella.’ Warren warned as his mouth caressed her neck. Ella stood frozen to the spot, not afraid, but not looking forward to what she knew was coming. “You will draw the attention of the hunting Council. They will send one of their Hunters and that Hunter will come to kill you.”

“Death comes to all of us eventually.” Ella replied simply and Warren just chuckled coldly before lapping at her neck with his tongue.

“It would come to the Hunter that came for you. I would end his life before I let him take my greatest prize from me. You know that don’t you? I would kill to keep you with me.”

Ella felt him pulling her toward the bed and allowed herself to be pulled. She knew it was inevitable. Warren was going to do what he was going to do and if she fought it would only cause her more pain.

How many times had she been told that he would kill to keep her with him. How many times had that veiled threat been hanging over her head? He said it in a way that made it sound as if he cared. Made it sound as if he would kill to keep her safe but that wasn’t the truth. The truth was he would kill to keep her his prisoner. And he would kill anyone. He had let her know that the single time she had tried to escape when he had killed that innocent child no more than five years old.

Warren hissed as he threw her roughly to her knees on the mattress, pushing her down and bracing himself behind her. Ella didn’t even bother to prepare herself for the pain that she had stopped feeling long ago.