The shadows at night are the best to hide in. Night is always the best time to Hunt. That's exactly what Contessa was doing, Hunting in the city. The dark alley behind the Westmeir Apartment Building was tonight's ground. Contessa slipped into the shadows behind the garbage bin as she heard footsteps at the other end of the alley.
Jeff walked drunkenly down the alley. He knew if his parents found out that he had been out partying all night, they would kill him. He was almost so drunk he didn't care. Suddenly he ran into a garbage can that just seemed to appear out of nowhere. Jeff staggered and then regained his drunken composure and continued down the alley.
"Hello there handsome," he heard a seductive female voice say.
"What? Who's there?" he asked, slurring the words together.
"I've been following you Jeff," the voice said, "I really want to talk to you." Jeff peered into the shadows where the voice was coming from and saw nothing, not even movement. He was too damn drunk. I'm hearing voices, this is just too much. No more drinking. Jeff's thoughts were spinning in his head, making it hurt worse. Finally he managed to say, "How do you know my name?" "I've been following you. From the party. I really would like to talk to you. Come a little closer," the voice answered. Jeff thought he had the idea now. The woman had followed him home from the party because she was too embarrassed to talk to him there. Grinning he walked closer to the garbage bin. As he got closer he saw the most beautiful woman step out from behind the bin. Her hair came down past her shoulders in dark, curly black waves, like a river of onyx. She had beautiful green eyes and milky white skin. She wore a dress so white it made snow look gray and dingy.
"Come closer," she called, "I want to kiss you." Jeff came closer and closer still grinning like the Cheshire Cat. He was close to her now, so close he could smell her perfume-like spring in the country. She leaned close to him, taking his hands and put her lips to his neck. Suddenly he felt a sharp stab of pain and tried to cry out, and found that he couldn't. Then he began to see spots behind his eyes and everything began to go dark. The woman was laying him down, but it wasn't the same woman. Her hair and eyes were the same and she was much paler, she now wore a black leather jacket and baggy jeans. Jeff caught sight of pointed teeth before he passed out on the alley floor.
Contessa grinned. This was an interesting catch. All in all, it had been too easy. Humans were just too trusting in the 90's. Especially when they were drunk. She swayed slightly from the booze the kid had consumed. She kicked the comatose form of the man. He would wake up sooner or later. That was part of being a Child of the Night, can't kill anyone or anything by drinking its blood. Immortality always has a price. Contessa reached in her jeans pocket and pulled out a cigarette and lighter. After lighting the cigarette and stuffing the lighter in her pocket again, she leaned against the alley wall and tried to decide what to do next. Hunting hadn't taken as long as it did most nights. Contessa took a long drag off the cigarette, tossed it on the ground and snuffed it out with the toe of her combat boots. After checking both ends of the alley she stepped into the shadows. And appeared in another alley across town behind the Spider Web bar. Checking the alley to make sure no one had seen her she went inside the bar.
Inside nearly everyone had the same type of complexion as she did, very pale. The few that weren't like her and the others, would be before the night was over. The Spider Web bar was the local hang out for Vampires. In the far corner of the bar sat a tall man with light colored hair and goatee. His gray eyes stared coldly at everyone. Contessa walked back to his table and sat down. The man looked at her and nearly growled.
"Dakota you are terrible. Can't even recognize your own friends." Contessa said, smiling. The man grinned and said, "Fancy meeting you here. Hunting obviously didn't take you very long. What did you catch?" "Oh, nothing much. Just a college drunk. No big deal. How is Jon? I haven't seen him in days. I had heard that he was in some kind of trouble." Contessa said. Dakota stared at the table a moment then said, "Tess, Jon was found dead just this evening. Someone went to his coffin and he wasn't there. The coffin was all smashed to pieces and his wolf-hound mutilated. There wasn't a body though." Contessa stared in shock and disbelief. Vampires were very hard to kill, but it could be done. But why would anyone want to take Jon's body too? Contessa licked her lips and said, "Who would do such a thing? Why Jon?" Dakota shook his head, "The only thing I know is that he had been dealing with some mafia boss or something. Maybe he just put a foot wrong. Maybe the guy knew what Jon was and knew how to kill him."
"Dak, something doesn't add up here. Not just anyone can kill one of us and live to tell about it. Jon would have gotten in enough hits on the guy to put him away too. Something is wrong about this." Contessa said slamming her fist on the table. Dakota scratched is goatee in thought, then said, "Okay, maybe you are right, but what do we do now?"
"Well a good start might be to check out Jon's place. There might be some clues there." Contessa said. Dakota rolled his eyes and said, "What are you planning to do Tess? Play detective? You just might find yourself in the same hot water Jon is-or was-in." Contessa gave him an indignant look and said, "So what if I want to? Do you want to leave this to the 'professionals'? Frankly, I doubt we could make the situation worse."
"Alright, so it seems you're right again Tess. I'll take you to Jon's place. But if you want me to help then you have to promise to be careful." Dakota said. Contessa gave him a wide grin. "No problem," she said. The two vampires then walked into the shadows towards the victim's apartment.
