Predator

She's perfect. He crouched in the shadows, leering as he watched the running woman approach.

As she ran, a cloud of black hair swirled around a luminous porcelain doll face.  The baggy sweatshirt and jogging pants that she wore couldn’t hide the graceful curves of the body underneath.  She was so close that he could smell her perfume, a musky scent that drove him crazy. Any woman who wore perfume like that was asking for whatever she got. For a minute, he thought she might hear his ragged breathing, but she seemed oblivious to all but the path ahead of her.

Why do they make it so easy for me? Most women in the area had stopped going out alone at night and he was surprised to see this one.

Maybe she was from out of town and hadn’t heard that a predator stalked these streets at night.  Perhaps she did not know that three women had been raped and murdered in this county in the last six months. 

The man in the shadows knew he was taking a big chance by staying in the area.  The collection of idiots who called themselves a police force would get lucky and catch him eventually. After tonight, he would move on to another hunting ground. However, the naive woman with the long black hair and the sexy perfume was a gift he couldn't resist unwrapping.

Probably thinks a self defense class and a can of pepper spray make her invincible. As soon as her back was to him, he slipped out of the shadows, careful not to make a sound. He hit her hard on the back of the head with a rock and she collapsed into his arms. Grabbing her by the hair, he dragged her into the woods at the edge of the park, where he tore off her clothes and fell upon her. He jammed himself into her over and over, driving her body deeper into the mud with each thrust.

When he finished with her, she stirred and moaned softly.  Her eyes flew open and widened in terror as she saw him above her with his knife raised.  She opened her mouth to scream, but the scream was silenced as the cold blade sliced through her heart.

The predator wiped off the blade on her torn sweatshirt and replaced the knife in the sheath at his belt. That was the best one yet. Maybe I won't leave town for a while. There may be more like her around.

He barely gave his victim a backward glance as he slunk off into the shadows.  She had served her purpose and did not warrant any more of his attention.

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The woman awoke a few hours later with a killer headache and a sharp pain in her chest.  She sat up slowly and examined the knife wound, shuddering as she remembered the searing pain of the knife entering her heart. The wound was healing quickly and by tomorrow it wouldn't be more than a scratch.

Attempting to to cover herself with her torn, bloody clothing, she cursed the overconfidence that had left her vulnerable to attack. In five hundred years, no one had caught her off guard the way the monster with the knife did tonight.

"Good thing he only had a steel blade and not a wooden stake," she muttered as she rose to her feet. "I wouldn't have a chance against a vampire hunter right now."

Anger and blood hunger boiled inside her when she thought of what the bastard had taken from her.  It was time to go into training to restore her fighting skills and she would begin by hunting him down.  Two perfect canines sparkled in the moonlight as she smiled in anticipation.  She couldn't wait to see his face when he realized he was not the only predator in town.

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