Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Fantasy

The cars raced back and forth on the main road as frequently as they had done during the day. This town was filled with constant noise, ranging from the shrill wailing of sirens to the roaring of planes overhead.

He hadn't been able to sleep properly since he had arrived; he was unaccustomed to all this strange noise. Where he was from, the ambient sounds were very different; to most they would be distressing but to him and those like him they were soothing.

The buildings had grown in number and size over the years, crowding every street he had visited. They seemed to amplify each and every sound to the point it was painful to endure. The lights dotted up and down the streets shone with a harsh fluorescent glow, they hurt his eyes when he walked under them.

He had spent the majority of the evening lurking in a park, observing the people coming and going from three nearby pubs. He had chosen his vantage point carefully, allowing him to remain out of sight, concealed in deep shadows while he observed the faces of those who passed by.

A young woman walked close by with a friend, their voices rising and falling in the darkness. Her appearance was striking. He would have sworn blind that she was the one he sought had it not been for her uncoordinated movements and loud demeanour. Perhaps it was the fault of the alcohol, alternatively she was not the one he sought.

He had to be certain. As she passed, he studied her intently. All he found was mere humanity and drunken delight, without a trace of what he was looking for. Worthless. He turned his attention to her companion, sighing silently at finding nothing within her either.

Neither one of them was the one he sought. Four nights of endless searching, four nights of loitering on darkened street corners and skulking in parks, for it all to amount to a wall of disappointment. He must have seen a thousand faces, testing them all with no luck.

He was beginning to believe the one he sought simply was not in this town; it was worthless and no longer worthy of his time. As large as it was, he had a gut feeling that there were other towns out there, towns which were larger and more abundant with potential targets.

He needed to hurry though, he only had a limited amount of time up here before having to return and move forward with the plan. With so many people now the task he had set himself was proving to be far more difficult than he had anticipated.

Snarling quietly, he turned away from the lit streets and melted into the shadows. A long, manmade river lay ahead. He intended to follow it all the way to the edge of town where he intended to pick a random direction to travel in until he reached another town.

He harboured no love nor trust for the machines that roared up and down the roads, he would have been faster on foot anyway. No manmade machine could keep up with him at his top speed, at least no machine he could think of.

Perhaps he could stop off at a bar once he got there and have a drink while he formed a new plan. He could feed while he was there too, he had not bothered to eat in four days and the side effects were sure to start becoming apparent very soon.

He broke into a brisk jog at the water's edge, taking a moment to appreciate the way the stars reflected off of the water's surface. The sight always had calmed him some, helped him refocus and think clearly. He could feel his frustration melting away already.

Gradually his pace increased. The sooner he reached the next town, the sooner he could start searching anew. He already had an idea of what he had to look for when checking people in search of his target. She had looked almost the same every time he had found her in the past, aside from perhaps her hair or eye colour. It is a shame she had slipped from his grasp every time. 

There was one other tell-tale trait he had to look out for, one which was completely unique to the individual he sought. His black eyes gleamed in the moonlight; they were the only part of him he no longer had the will or energy to conceal.

A vicious smirk returned to his lips just as he hit top speed. Not all was lost. He had never failed in hunting down what he was after. This time would be no different.