The Hunt

16


When River awoke, his arms were empty. Regarding the considerable amount of sunlight streaming through the window, he failed to be upset about that. Was he ever going to have that, waking up with Andreji next to him? Their first two ‘rendez-vous’ had ended abruptly – Andreji had each time had some ‘important business’ to attend to; it had almost looked suspiciously as if the man had only been after the one thing (demanding it downrightly). Their third exchange of intimacies had at least ended with falling asleep in Andreji’s strong, protective arms – yet, the events of the following night had diminished the memory of River’s first time of drinking his Master’s blood. Not that he would ever forget this event, but… everything had gone too fast these past months. It was only now that the young man had some time to breathe through and look at everything from another viewpoint.

In River’s mind, there still buzzed a dozen or more questions. He wanted to know it all. Of course, he wanted to know everything about vampirism, but he also was burning to get to know more about the man he was bound to, now. Who was Andreji? Where had he been born and when? How had he become this proud, strong person, what had given him is dark humour, and what was hidden behind it? Would they get along in the long run? Or would the elder man soon tire of him?

The slender blond climbed out of bed and knocked tentatively on the bathroom door. “Andreji?”

No answer.

For a moment, River pondered if his lover was just asleep or if he had chosen a different sanctuary for the day. Offhandedly, he just switched on the bathroom light. It was visible through the ventilation slits, which meant that Andreji had not taken the usual measures to secure the room and was therefore not in it. Good – River had the urgent need to use the toilet.

River used the day to get an appointment at a clinic for tattoo removal - he still had the sign on his chest. In secret, he was wondering what Andreji did when he was not with him. Who else was important in the life of that sometimes so closed up man? What did he like to do? Where was he hiding from the sun right now? Did he sleep as much as humans needed to? He had always answered when River had posed a question at daytime. What did he think about during the hours of waiting for the sun to sink below the horizon?

He texted Andreji where he was eating dinner via mobile and watched the sun go down through the window. When he had eaten and was just about to order a second glass of wine, the door opened and his Master entered. River noticed how the taller man’s arrival let his spirits rise. He also observed that the lady that was sitting at the table right next to the door was looking Andreji up and down in silent appraisal.

Not paying much attention to the interior decoration of the restaurant, Andreji headed straight for River’s table. He placed his coat over the backrest of the chair opposite River’s and sat down while River was placing his order.

The waitress turned to him. “Was darf ich Ihnen bringen?” she asked. River had already noticed that she avoided speaking English herself despite being able to understand what he was saying. Luckily, he had placed his first order with another waiter whose English had been well enough to translate the menu for him.

“Welche Teesorten haben Sie im Angebot?” Andreji asked back.

The waitress, apparently relieved that he knew her language, listed a number of unfamiliar words.

Andreji nodded. “Dann nehme ich einen Pfefferminztee.”

River waited until the young woman had gone out of earshot, a broad, surprised smile on his face. “Your German sounds good…”

Andreji leaned back, shaking his head, grimacing. “It is horrible. My accent is still striking. I have managed to erase it completely when I am speaking English, but in some other languages it is still audible, albeit diminished.”

“What accent?” River was eager to know.

“Polish.”

“So you’re originally from Eastern Europe?” River was excited to ascertain.

Andreji smiled. “If you look at a map, you will realise that Poland is right in the heart of Europe, but yes, Eastern Europe is what most people call it.”

“And what brought you to Britain, then?” River used the opportunity to ask more about Andreji’s past.

“Life,” Andreji answered curtly.

The blond wondered if it were possible to pose a question in a way that would force the elder man to answer properly.

Their drinks were served.

River peered into Andreji’s steaming cup as the man poured hot water into it. “What’s that?”

The white-haired man raised an eyebrow in mockery. “Peppermint tea.”

“And you can drink that?”

Andreji smiled. “It is only flavoured water…”

“What about café au lait, juice or alcohol, can you drink that?” River asked on.

Andreji shook his head, playing with the tea bag. “Of course I could, but my body would protest. My stomach does not have the ability anymore to process this kind of food. You will notice the change as your transformation proceeds,” he remarked. “At first, you will no longer have an appetite for dry food that you need to chew on a lot. You will prefer mushy meals. Later, you will revert to soups and drinks. I guess I do not have to tell you about the last step…”

“But… That doesn’t really make sense! I mean, just because I cannot eat solid food, I don’t automatically start” - he lowered his voice – “sucking blood!”

Andreji smirked. “No, not because of that. But because at the same time there will instincts be awoken in your body that have been suppressed before. Your senses will grow sharper; you will start perceiving your surroundings in a totally different way, with much more awareness. My blood will change you. You will find a totally new meaning for the word ‘hunter’. There will be animalistic drives awaking in you. You will long for that particular taste on your tongue…”

“How?” River was scared, of course, but a part of him was also intrigued.

Andreji looked aside, nodding slightly. “That is the one question I truly do not have an answer to…”

River nipped at his wine, just to have a non-bloody taste in his mouth. “How many times do I have to drink your blood in order for it to have that effect on me?”

Andreji put the tea bag aside. “Once a month, for two to three years. It differs from person to person. As strongly as you respond to me, I think it will be a fast transformation.” His eyes bore into his fledgling.

River was bothered, somehow, by the mention of his helplessness in the face of his attraction to Andreji. He fought the feeling down. “How do you know when it’s completed, then?”

A knowing smile was touching the corners of Andreji’s mouth. His look was intense. “By your behaviour.”

“I’ll change noticeably?” River asked with foreboding.

“Yes.”

“But…” There was an unsettled look upon the young man’s face. “Will I still be me? Or will this new ‘nature’ control me completely?”

Andreji smiled mildly behind his teacup and cocked his head. “Do you think I am completely controlled by my vampire instincts? That I do not have a personality of my own?”

Relief swept over River. He smiled, a little forced but genuinely. “No. Of course not.” He drank some more wine.

“Naturally,” Andreji started to extend his answer, “you will change. Yet, that is part of life. The moment you stop changing is the moment of your death, no matter if you are human or vampire. This change is an intoxicating experience, believe me…” Andreji took River’s hand gently into his.

River looked up from his glass in surprise. Their eyes locked.

“Let us go to your hotel, where we can talk in private,” his Master suggested.

With steady, measured steps, Andreji walked silently towards the hotel, the boy at his side. He inhaled the fresh evening air deeply and listened to the noises of the city – the cars on the streets, the music and the voices coming from nearby restaurants, the rustling of the wind in the trees. With time, his heart slowed down, and the fog lifted off his senses. All this talk of the vampire nature, of drinking blood and sharing it had aroused him more than he thought wise – in the presence of a vampire hunter.

The guy was in the middle of his thirties, of mediocre looks, and presently walking a few dozen feet behind them. It was unfortunate for him that he had overheard what Andreji had told his fledgling – that knowledge was not meant for human ears, especially not for the ears of a beast hunter who undoubtedly would put it to use to harm him and his kinsmen. Andreji was left no choice. Not that he particularly cared.

The boy’s hotel came into view. Andreji touched him gently on the arm to stop him. “I need to fetch something from my sleeping place, go on without me. I think I will be back around midnight.”

The inquisitiveness of youth was flaring up in his companion. “Where are you staying? I could come with you. That’s definitely better than waiting alone in a small hotel room…”

Andreji smiled benignly, registering with satisfaction that Mr. I-can-handle-a-vampire-all-by-myself was in listening reach, and shook his head. He leaned forward and kissed the boy on his forehead. “First rule: never let anybody know where you spend your days.”

“You’ve broken that on several occasions already,” River argued.

Yes, and I would not object to breaking it once more, just that I have no intention whatsoever to do what I am telling you, boy. “Not this time.”

He lured the hunter further and further into a deserted industrial park. Of course, no hunter in his right mind would dare attack a vampire at night if he could avoid it; he was only being spied upon for a subsequent attack at daytime. Yet the observation skills of this guy were not well developed either. He was asking to be killed. Andreji thought it was almost too easy, as if it were a trap. However, he was prepared for every eventuality. He always was.

Deciding it was better to play safe, Andreji started murmuring in a tongue hardly anyone knew these days. A dangerous tongue if not spoken by someone who knew what he was doing. Andreji did.

A melange of whispers answered in his ear. The hunter would not have been able to hear them, even if he had been close enough. That did not matter - he would feel them soon.

With a few swift movements, his white-haired target had disappeared. The man looked around, slightly alarmed. Too late.

A cool breeze was coming up. From his erased spot on an old flat-roofed building, Andreji saw the intruder shudder and turn to leave. If he had not overheard what Andreji had discussed with his fledgling, the vampire would have let him off the hook at this point. However, that was not an option in this case.

The wind gathered speed and power. The hunter fought to move against it. At some point, he capitulated and held on to an old lantern. He looked around once more, probably sensing that something was wrong, that this storm was not natural.

Andreji tied back his hair and pulled a pair of surgical gloves out of the inner pocket of his coat. He was not going to dispose of this man properly today, so he needed to make sure he left no trace of himself on the body. That was bothersome, yet necessary to avoid even more annoying situations in the future. His interest in having a case file filled with pictures of his victims resting on the desk of some overeager policeman was limited. He was the vampire; he was the hunter. The way the humans were trying to gain control over everything, to break out of the natural hierarchy and hunt those who were hunting them was bothering him. A world in which he could not follow his instincts without fear of being punished for it was not a world he could gain satisfaction in.

Before his follower knew what was happening, Andreji had already descended from the roof and easily moved through the storm to break his neck. He flinched. It was not that he generally liked killing. Morality was nothing he had ever related to, not even in his days as a human, but he was no psychopath either. The blood hunt was a thrilling experience, a rush. It was a ritual, an interaction, something to share between kinsmen, and above all, it meant securing his survival. The act of killing someone not for blood but for rational, strategic reasons, however, was wasting life.

He let the dying man drop to the floor and searched his pockets. Removing his valuables might deliver a false trace for the police to work on. Andreji threw his weapons into the Danube and put the small sum of money in the jacket pocket of a sleeping homeless. This was not meant to be an act of charity, but Andreji never kept anything that had belonged to a victim. He killed and left the victim, its belongings and thus the act itself behind him.

Eventually, he sat down in a deserted corner of a park and watched the latex gloves melt in the fire of the matches he carried with him.

Dirty business, but it had to be done.

It was half past midnight when Andreji knocked on River’s door. “You’re late,” his fledgling greeted him. He apparently was still a little disappointed by having been left so abruptly. “What was so important that it took you ages to fetch it anyway?”

Andreji slipped past him into the room. “Only some clothes to change. I would like to take a shower.” He took off his shoes. “I just used the opportunity for a little walk afterwards.”

That did not quite appease River who had spent the last hours skimming through foreign TV programmes, bored. “And you couldn’t have by any chance called me so I could have joined you?”

Andreji smiled indulgently, almost a little tired. “River, I am an inveterate loner. I need some time to myself every now and again.” With that he turned and disappeared in the bathroom.

The young Japanese stood somewhat dumbfound in his hotel room. Andreji had seemed perfectly in the mood for some company this eve, why was he claiming otherwise, now? He heard the water stream. The door of the bathroom was ajar. If Andreji still wanted to be left alone, he would have locked it, would he not?

River took off his clothes and stepped into the shower cabin, behind Andreji who was standing still, enjoying the warm water flowing over his body. The young man eyed his Master, approving very much of what he saw – the masculine shoulders, the back that invited to lean against it, the firm bottom, the muscular thighs... River wrapped his arms around Andreji, snuggling up to him. “You know, I think, if I had had the chance I would have fallen in love with you even without any vampire tricks.”

“Would you?” Andreji asked gently, turning around to face his fledgling. “So you have a liking for elder men?”

River took in the sight of Andreji’s chest that was partly covered by short white hairs. Then he looked up into his Master’s eyes. “I have a liking for you.” There was a mischievous smile creeping up into his face. He seized the shower gel and soaped his Master with it, his hands moving slowly over his firm chest first, then running over his bottom and around, most accurately cleaning his privates. “By the way,” he mentioned offhandedly while still attending to his ‘business’, “I will start getting my tattoo removed the day after tomorrow.”

“Good,” Andreji replied with a voice that refused to betray his arousal. He seized River’s wrist and pulled his hand off his body. “However, I am not in the mood for such activities, now. Thank you for your assistance.” He said that with a certain emphasis that made clear that he was sincere.

River swallowed his disappointment and replied playfully, “No love for your fledgling tonight?”

Andreji scrutinised him. “You equal certain physical services with love? –Poor boy.” One hand reaching for the showerhead, the other turning the water cold, he added, “Out.”

Sighing and trying hard to ignore his own excited state, River retreated. In a bout of defiance, he merely dried himself quickly and occupied with nought but a glass of Bailey’s in his hand the single armchair in his room to calm down and wait for his Master.

A few moments later, a very attractive man stepped into the room, rubbing his hair dry, and started dressing next to the bed, where he had put down his clothes. “So, what are we going to do here? I mean, we haven’t come to Vienna to linger in hotel rooms, have we?” River asked as he watched the object of his desire disappear behind the sipper of a black pair of trousers, leaving only the trail of white hair that led from a nicely shaped navel down to it to fantasise upon.

After quickly clothing his feet in socks, Andreji sat down on the bed. “I have a few jobs at hand. As it looks now, I do not think the city will keep me for long. We will see.”

“Dissatisfied with my choice?”

“No.” Andreji shrugged. “I just have other things on my schedule. Take your time here; enjoy your stay.”

River put his glass down. “You’re parking me here so you can go about whatever business it is you are taking care of without any bothersome appendix!” he realised.

Andreji leaned back and placed an arm around the cushion next to him, cocking his head. “What about ‘I play a dangerous game and try to keep you out of the line of fire’?”

“Who’s firing?” River asked bewildered.

“Me, of course.” Andreji’s voice was deep and rich, mirroring his passion for this secret undertaking.

“Against who? Are you still not done with your former Master?” River was wondering about what boiled in the seemingly oh-so cool man on his bed. At the same time, he was reprimanding himself for being surprised. After all, ‘expect the unexpected’ had already become his motto in respects to the vampire at his side.

Andreji merely shrugged and directed his dark gaze out of the window.

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