~The Hunter~

“Show me a reason

Give me a sign

Tell me the way we fall out of line

Is it today or is it tonight

We’ll find…

The answer to our life.”

It was the first song I heard that night that made me want to cry. I wanted to throw my hands in the air and declare who and what I was no matter what the cost, but I knew I couldn’t so instead I listened with tears drowning my very soul, but never escaping my eyes. I had believed for so many years that everyone had a destiny, but I never knew that one day I would find mine and live to despise it. I wished that along the line of my life, God would want to offer me a different destiny, but there was always a plan, and until I realized that I could never be free.

I watched the concert to the very end and not once was I interrupted. It was as if I was a normal girl again. A normal eighteen year old who had been privileged to see a concert, as long as I came home in time so that my parents didn’t worry about me. I hated that, for as long as I could remember I hadn’t had parents nor anyone to love that could love me back. I merely had a life that sent me into danger in which I either got out alive or died. No one cared. I did it cause I had to do it, because if I didn’t then I couldn’t fulfill my destiny and move on. I really couldn’t wait for the day I moved on out of this horrible plan.

From the stage, I caught a wink from one of the very handsome singers that, I thought wouldn’t have eyes for one of the very willing fans in this massive arena. I looked up into the dark yet gleaming green eyes of a Backstreet Boy. That’s the band name that had been floating around all night. What did it matter to me when all I wanted to do was have some fun before the usual havoc broke loose? It had been a long time since I had had a crush on anyone, but I felt it consume my entire body. It was as if a pail of scalding hot water was poured down my throat, and made its way into every part of me. The performance was close to its end and still those incredible eyes were on me. He motioned with his hand for me to come closer, and like a lost puppy I did. I couldn’t release myself from those eyes. I had seen so much in my life, but his eyes with their sexy depths caught me by complete surprise. I followed them, until I reached the guardrail, where all the fans including me were held back.

On stage the dark and handsome Backstreet Boy bargained with one of the guards to allow me in. I wanted to, and if I was a fanatic like many of the girls around me, I could’ve jumped the guardrail and ran straight to him, but just as the guard came down to escort me, my destiny kicked in.

A wretched pain that felt like my entire brain was collapsing flashed pictures through my head of the evil I had to face that night. There was no hesitating on what I had to do, and I ran out into the dark and now rainy night.

The entrance to the hotel seemed completely deserted once I arrived. There was nothing that I thought would be there. But I had seen a woman being grabbed, fighting to be freed of her attacker. I searched everywhere, but still the fact remained: I had wasted my time, and left a handsome guy behind in my hasty run away. I went to enter the hotel when I felt it, a sudden urge to turn around in a fighting stance. The feeling was strange like a mix of comfort and desire, with fear and hesitation. “Come on! Just give me a reason to bring you down!” I growled, spinning from one direction to the other.

It wasn’t often that anyone tricked me, but somehow that’s what happened. A fear caught hold of me as my waist was enveloped in two largely developed arms. It was he. He had been the only exception to the rule of trickery. I couldn’t be fooled by anyone but him. Dresad. I screamed loud, and fought hysterically until the two of us had hit the ground. My vision was coming into forced reality and I groaned from the vagueness of it. How come I couldn’t see my own future when it was revealed to me? “You will regret this, Dresad! You know what you are playing with, don’t you? I’m the…”

My words only ceased when my eyes caught the eyes of my attacker, who also just happened to be my crush. “Actually,” he started in a harsh breath. “I’m Kevin.”

I practically jumped away from him and his arms, and his incredible green eyes. I had to shake the desire away from me the way I would shake away a nest of bees out of my hair. “I’m sorry,” I apologized gruffly.

“I didn’t mean to scare you, but when you went off like that, I thought it best that I find a way to defend myself.”

I could feel my face flushing in beet red shame. “You did a good job,” was all I could supply at the moment.

“Are you okay? Did I go too fast in the arena?”

Too fast, I had no idea what those words even meant. Too fast for what? I was always rushing around, how could he have been going too fast for me?

“Something I had to do. I couldn’t stay,” I answered in what sounded like another tongue. How could he even understand my gibberish: I could hardly understand it? “I’m sorry, I’m always on the move. There’s never a time to truly relax for me, so that’s why I took off.

Kevin lifted himself to his feet, revealing that he stood tall and broad, and should’ve been on the front cover of one of those model magazines. “Okay, I understand that, so what about now?” He requested, holding a hand out to me.

“Now?”

“We could grab a drink. I could find out your name and maybe why you are so busy.”

I couldn’t help but love those eyes. They seemed to pry the truth through my lips. “I’m called the hunter,” I put in.

“The hunter… and you’re name?”

“Supplying my name to you might put me in a little trouble with my job, if you know what I mean.”

“Do you work with the FBI?”

“No,” I laughed and took his hand. What a warm touch he offered, even through a few fingers I could feel comforted by him. “I was just looking for some fun tonight. Something a little out of routine,” I told him honestly, somehow a part of me could only be honest with him. A lie was not able to leave my lips with him. I felt I couldn’t even write it and make up a name.

“Honestly I was looking for a little fun tonight too. I thought maybe we could check out a club scene together, maybe do a little dancing, ” he requested with a smile that stated he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

I couldn’t say no to him, not tonight or ever, so we went to that club and we danced, and we talked, and he made me feel real… human. I wanted to be that and he was helping that. “You could be part of my destiny,” I whispered on his shoulder, as we swayed to a slow song on the dance floor.

“I don’t know, Hunter, you think you could handle me?

I loved how he said that, he made it sound like a real name with flesh and bones and blood, not just a title that was stuck to the bumper of an old dodge car. I smiled as he spun around. “I’ve handled worse,” I teased with a look of laughter in my eyes.

“I haven’t danced like this in a long time you know,” he murmured, as I felt his lips meld into the skin of my neck. “God, you smell good, Hunter.”

His hair had fallen into my face, causing my heart to race with anticipation. I closed my eyes, taking in the scent of those thick, dark brown strands. He was getting into me, into my bones and I needed him to. “Kevin… we should stay here all night and sleep on one of the pool tables in the corner,” I purposed with a long sigh.

“Sounds like something I could do only with you,” he purred, lifting my blood red curls to his face. “Come with me, Hunter,” I heard him plead.

“Where?” I whispered.

“I’m leaving with the group to New York. You could tour with us and have the best company, of course.” I knew he meant him, once he lifted his head from my shoulder to stare a smile straight into my eyes.

“You know I can’t leave,” I murmured to him, capturing his face in my hands. “My destiny is here.”

“What’s your destiny?” he asked me.

“I’m the hunter,” I reminded him.

“The hunter of what?”

He couldn’t do this, and I pulled away from him with firmness in my stance as I backed away. “I have to go. It’s for your own good as it is for mine. Thank you for the… date,” I paused on this word, only because I had never had the chance to experience it. For so long all it had been was a word to me, but now I had to admit that word was uncovering secrets that I was only too willing to help along. A horrible pain sliced through my stomach as I made my way to the exit, but before I could hit the floor, I was caught under the arms.

“Hunter?”

“He knows,” I gasped, shaking my head. “If I put you in danger…”

Kevin’s eyes came to mine, those incredible eyes that demanded truth and nothing less. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Do you have a boyfriend?”

There was a note of anger in his tone now. “No,” I replied in a small voice, I never knew I owned. I had always been the one with the regal, commanding tone that brought everyone to his or her knees. “Kevin…”

“What do you do then? Why can’t you tell me?”

“Why do I have to tell you everything after only one night? Is it a prerequisite of your dates?”

“You know what I do!”

“Mine’s more complicated,” I shot now.

“I want to know, I think I have a right to know who, and what I’m dating.”

My eyes burned with fury while behind them I could feel the stinging of those dreadful tears. He cared WHAT I was, and he would run away the moment he found out. I knew that. No one could take it. Of everything Dresad spoke, he was right about that. “No you don’t,” I finally stated bluntly, but there was a catch in my voice. Damn him for making me feel human, I thought and strutted out of the club.

“The Hunter,” came a cold response to my ear as I stepped out into the freezing rain. I turned slowly to see that one of Dresad’s companions had a hold of someone, who must’ve left the club way before me.

“Dresad send you?” I threw at him.

“I wouldn’t get too huffy there, hunter, as that man likes to call you. Have you forgotten your roots?”

“You mean my forced roots right?” I spat, ready to take out my fury on the creature, that was meant to be for Kevin. The girl’s scream awoke me, and I brought up my fists. In seconds my feet were finding the bones of his ribcage, while his hands were busy wrapping themselves around my neck.

“You think you’re in love don’t you? I can feel it,” mocked the creature as he threw my head back against the pavement. The freed girl was on the run by now, but I was still held captive as I would always be, and that song played over and over again in my head.

“Show me a reason

Give me a sign

Tell me the way we fall out of line

Is it today or is it tonight

We’ll find…

The answer to our life.”

He’d kill me tonight and I was pressing it on, slowly releasing my hold on him. The twist of my neck in his grip felt like the end, and I was awaiting the memories of my life to envelop me.

“HUNTER!” I heard Kevin scream as if he were in agony.

“I feel you want this, hunter, more than you want that guy over there, and that’s just no fun. I think Dresad should have the pleasure of destroying you.” With that, he was gone, vanished in the rain. I laid on the side of the road, gazing up into that dark and gloomy sky.

“You are trying to give me a heart attack aren’t you?” Kevin scolded, as he carried me into his suite. “God, Hunter I thought I’d lost you. Have you completely lost it?”

I just stared wearily at him. There was no way I was going to tell him that my ratty existence was getting to me. “Why should you worry about someone you don’t even know?” I snapped.

He placed me down on his large bed, and gripped my knees to look into my eyes. “I know that the moment I saw you on that street being attacked, that I have never felt anything so painfully strong,” he admitted. “I would’ve killed that guy if he hadn’t vanished into thin air.”

“Demons do that,” I informed placidly.

“Demons?”

“That’s right, I’m a demon hunter. I’ve been nothing but that, since I was twelve, and you don’t know my real name because I have yet to learn it. I’m eighteen and all I’ve been doing for six years is fighting demons.”

Kevin sat down immediately, finding a comfortable spot beside me. “I didn’t know demons even existed,” he admitted.

“No one believes in what they don’t see around them daily. Demons are night creatures that have come only to make the human race pay for their deformity. I know I paid.”

He slipped closer, willing to listen and understand. “How did you pay, Hunter?”

“This is my destiny because of them,” I answered with a choke.

“Dresad?” He responded and my teary eyes turned to him. “What did he do to you? I have to know so I can protect you,” he insisted with that glimmer of determination in his eyes.

“You can’t protect me from him,” I whispered, taking his face into my hands to offer him a weak smile. “You can protect me from me… take me to New York,” I pleaded, searching his eyes for an answer to my life.

He nodded and caught my shoulders to lead me down against the thick comforter. “I’ll protect you, Hunter,” he murmured and leaned over me to start a line of sweet kisses along my jaw. When finally his mouth connected with mine, I felt a jolt of new excitement race through my veins. It was as if some alarm had gone off inside me screaming that I WAS IN LOVE! It had been the most amazing feeling, as if everything around me had suddenly grown brighter and much more colorful. I was in love with Kevin, and for once I felt truly human.

In that moment a pain struck, a familiar pain that I was used to. I pushed myself up to a sitting position, crushing my head in my hands. I felt it; something horrible was going to happen. Tears began to course down my face like a rainfall. “Hunter?”

“I have to go,” I choked, gathering myself from the bed to stand there, staring at the door.

“Why? What’s wrong? What happened to you?” He wanted to know immediately.

“I can’t pretend this is going to work, Kevin. I have to go,” I stated again, but stayed frozen. I didn’t want to go. I wanted to be with him more than anything in the world.

“You have to go, but you’re not leaving,” he stated, lifting to his feet behind me. “Hunter, whatever it is that is trying to hold you back from me, ignore it. I know you want this more than you can stand, and that’s why you’re not leaving, isn’t it?”

“I’m not leaving, because I… love you,” I admitted.

His arms came around me like the comfort of a blanket, and I leaned back into his muscular frame. “Come with me to New York and all this will be over,” he whispered in my ear.

I nodded and turned to feel his lips press fervently into mine, pulling me up against him with his strength. “Kevin,” I breathed. “Call me Hunter forever, give me a face, and a name, and a life,” I begged him, practically gripping the collar of his shirt.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” he murmured, leaning his head down into my hair. “Anything…” he added.

Another pain enveloped my head and I gasped from the intensity of it. It was fear, torment, pain, and memories. I yanked back from Kevin to catch my breath. “He’s here,” I gasped.

“Who?”

“Dresad.”

Kevin caught me by the shoulders with demand in his eyes. “What did this… demon do to you?” He finally asked.

“He’s the demon that cursed me, and made me what I am,” I told him. He nodded, but in his eyes he wanted to know more. “Dresad is a leader to a pack of demons known as the “disaster” demons. All they want is to destroy whatever isn’t like them. I don’t remember much, just that it was a kiss.”

“A kiss?”

“A demon’s kiss is like the bite of a spider, their tongue crawls into your mouth and they release some kind of fluid, before biting deep into your skin. It feels horrible and all at once terrifying. All I did afterwards was stand there paralyzed while Dresad drained me of all my existing human memories. In moments after the kiss I was writhing on the ground in the worst pain I couldn’t possibly handle so young. Ever since that day I’ve been fighting any and all demons, hoping that one day God would release me of my duty, and let me become human again.”

“But you are human, love,” Kevin murmured.

I turned away from him, but managed to grab his hand on my way out. “Come with me for a walk.”

The song followed me on our walk, that one song that had stayed in my head from the first day I heard it. The first day I met Kevin and I began to sing…

“Show me a reason

Give me a sign

Tell me the way we fall out of line

Is it today or is it tonight

We’ll find…

That’s when it happened, the voice that terrorized me ever since I had no choice, but to accept my fate, crept from the shadows like a snake. “What a pretty song. Who wrote it, you?”

I peered into the darkness only to see him… Dresad. The demon who haunted my dreams with those eagle eyes and raven black hair, his distorted purple face, and sharp cutting nose. I passed a glance to Kevin, who had already gotten into fight mode with his fists up to protect the both of us from him. “Dresad, what is it you want?”

He laughed and flitted his eyes to Kevin. “To finish what was started six years ago. I sent a friend of mine here to fetch you, but he told me you weren’t playing fair. What is this I hear of you wanting to end it all?

Kevin quickly averted his eyes to me, but I couldn’t even look at him with all the guilt I felt inside me. Instead I stared Dresad down, not like it did much good when I was trembling inside.

“Your place is with us, you know. We just have to connect and you will be a TRUE demon. Come now, your destiny awaits you,” he urged, but he wasn’t giving me a choice. With the demon strength he owned he was able to force me along with only a look, as if those eyes attached to me like a ball and chain.

“What kind of demon am I if I’m not a TRUE one?” I demanded to know, as I was forced along behind Dresad.

“My dear, you are only half demon, but we’ll fix that tonight when you will become my wife.”

“Demon?” I heard Kevin squeak.

I wanted to see his face, face the rejection that would appear there by just the knowledge of my true self. “Kevin,” I started in a whimper. “I’m so sorry.”

Before Dresad could pull me further along, I felt Kevin’s presence from behind me. I needed to stop him, but he was too quick, and in mere seconds Dresad waved a hand, thrusting Kevin to the ground.

“KEVIN!” I heard myself cry.

His voice found my ears, even as he lay still on the pavement. “Hunter, I love you… find your destiny in that. Find your destiny in the song we sing.” That’s when I saw it, the many innocents that flashed before my eyes, begging my help, pleading for it in their moment of despair, in the dark night where only I could reign over the evils. I suddenly felt the fear slip away, and I spun to face Dresad.

“Your destiny awaits,” he said in more husky a tone.

“My destiny has waited long enough,” I growled, and narrowed my eyes on him. I knew they were glowing his color, fighting him.

“What do you think you are? Human?” He sneered.

“I’m the hunter,” I answered and threw my hand out to thrust him through the air. I watched as his body smacked the ground with a powerful impact and I stood, feeling a small grin come to my lips. “I’m Hunter,” I whispered to myself and turned with a high confidence that led me to my very first boyfriend. “Kevin,” I murmured, lifting him from the pavement to cradle him in my arms. “Kevin, wake up.”

At once, as if he heard my plea the way I heard his words, his eyes flew open. “Hunter?”

I hugged him to me, and pulled his lips into mine. He must’ve known the reason I kissed him so deep because he pulled away. “This the end?” He asked.

“I’ve got to follow my destiny,” I told him softly.

“I’m glad,” he replied with a wide smile and I helped him to stand. “Want me to walk you…”

“Kevin, I will never forget you and what you’ve done for me,” I said in tearful gratitude. “And I will always love you.”

“Maybe one day you’ll come home with me,” he stated as we walked along the dark street, yet it didn’t seem so dark and scary now. I was the one who could terrify the dark.

“Want me to walk you to the hotel?” I asked him.

He leaned on me and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Yeah.” His next words would never leave for all my days. “One day, Hunter you’ll make your way home and I’ll be there to welcome you in.”

“One day,” I whispered, almost to myself. “One day.” And the voice kept singing…

“Show me a reason

Give me a sign

Tell me the way we fall out of line

Is it today or is it tonight

We’ll find…

The answer to our life.”

THE END.