The Hunt For Immortal Love
Chapter 107 Who Will Play Bait?

It is hard to say who is more in awe of Lestat, my beloved, or our Vampire Hunter. The man does carry a rather, how shall I say, a fairly attractive face. There were many occasions that we had to compete against one another for the attention of the lady that we had set our sights on that particular night. And I can almost proudly say that I lost the majority of the time, yet it did not stop me from stealing what he so gladly called as 'mine.'

So after the introductions and, rather amusingly, a moment of pure horror when he learned that the young man in our company is, in fact, a Vampire Hunter, we make our way to his home. Now the man has always lived lavishly; seeing what he calls home is just beyond crazy. It is a rather mega-mansion, which he refers to as the Golden Palace. In my honest opinion, it is rather bright and unsightly. But that is beyond the point; we are here for a creature problem, which I would like to exterminate.

While we all sit around some fairly large dining room table, he calls out for a servant to bring us something light to feast on. Well, this is just plain absurd; I am in no way going to feed on another in front of this Vampire Hunter that has conveniently retrieved his dagger from his belongings. The man seems to not trust Lestat and his smooth words. So pushing his request aside, I go straight into the details.

"My dear friend, now please do explain with what we are dealing here."

"Well," he starts to explain. "It is rather hard to explain."

"Please do try, for I cannot read your mind." Well, that is a complete lie, for I can hear every single indecent thought he has running through that head about my beloved; if I did not wish for my ability to become known, I would have slapped him.

"Now, please explain, for we have seen a number of questionable creatures of late."

"The mortals are being eaten alive like they are a meal."

"But is that not what they are?"

I watch as the Vampire Hunter starts to shift uncomfortably at Lestat's words, making him pull that dagger even closer to reach. I only but look at him and shake my head; he cocks his head and whispers to me, "What?" "Play nice," I speak under my breath, well that is just pointless for Lestat, and my beloved can hear me as clear as the light of day.

Shifting my focus back to Lestat's observation, there are only one species that come to mind, "Wolf?"

"No, I have spoken to the pack leader, and he assured me that it is not one of his kind."

"Then it has to be hybrid."

"I am afraid not; they too deny that this is the work of them."

"Maybe it is a mortal that craves fresh meat."

My beloved looks and frowns, the next thing those red stiletto boots come crashing into my leg. I only but jump from my chair and gasp, "What is that for?"

"For acting like an idiot. People are dying, and you are making fun of them."

"Well, my beloved, they are already dead; I see no reason why they will be insulted if I do."

"Sebastian!"

"Yes, I know. I have been whipped. I still do not understand this term, for I do not see it bringing me pleasure."

Well, I can honestly say that I am relieved that I replace myself on the other side of the Vampire Hunter, for I do believe I would have been slapped. And thankfully, this little boy next to me cannot slap hard at all, let alone punch. Though the amusement on my face is still very clear, I get that look of death from my beloved. I shall refrain from making any further attempt to lighten the somewhat serious mood that has settled over the table.

Yet, though, I have no knowledge of what can be responsible for a human to replace himself cannibalized in a dark, dirty alley. None of the creatures that we have come up against in the past shall do such a thing. But, then again, this is America; there are far more savage creatures that lurk in the shadows here.

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Now the best part, as it always is, we shall need to go replace the creatures that are or play bait and make them come to us. And just lucky for us, we seem to have a mortal in our midst. And I need not even have to say a word, for he is already protesting.

"Sebastian, you can scrap that idea from your head; there is no way that I shall play bait. In all fairness, I think you shall."

"My dear friend, they only eat humans; I am not human at all."

"Well, I am glad we settle on that," he laughs deep from his belly as he replaces his own joke rather amusing. "I am still not going to play your bait."

Well, this now means that we shall need to go replace this creature ourselves, for the luxury to have it come to us will not be afforded. It is with great frustration that we replace ourselves waiting for nightfall to come. After what seems like endless hours that slowly crawled up like seconds, we finally make our way into the alleys where these victims have been found. Now, if we thought our presence would go unknown, we are sorely mistaken, for there is the fear that they shall not come tonight.

And, this is how we wait. There is the deathly silence that sets through a very poor lit alley that runs through one of the shady parts of town. Then again, there are too many shady parts around, and there is no way that I am allowing us to split apart into separate directions.

We wait for nearly what seems the better part of three hours behind a rather big dumpster that has god knows what in, for the odor is foul, enough to make you sick to the stomach. Now, it does look that we are the ones that are the danger lurking here, for we do look like a bunch of criminals.

After giving up on this part of town, we replace our way to another location where the same has happened. There is the unmistakable smell of deep blood that lingers through the alley. To my very horror, the smell does not come from the floor, but in fact, the walls of the buildings that are much more ominous down here.

The fear of a thousand deaths consume my body, and I pull my beloved closer to my side, "Please stay close, I fear that we are going to encounter something that none of us has yet seen."

And I am yet to learn not to speak my mouth so soon, for we come up to a mortal that is lying on the floor motionless. With every bone in my body, I do pray that he has met his fate by the hand of another mortal. In fact, I think we all hope that perhaps it is only a Vampire, but Vampires are not such a careless species. Then another terrifying thought enters my mind, has this human been eaten as Lestat has seen the rest of them are.

It is with very careful steps that we slowly approach the body; not once do we stop to check over our shoulders. We keep Zachariah encircled for the fear that he shall be snatched without being noticed. Do we regret bringing the boy out here in danger? Yes, I do. I do not wish to play lightly with the lives of ones that are far weaker, but then again, he says that he can hold any Vampire at bay, which is true.

So as we are going up to the body, there is a horrific sight that awaits us. There, to the eye, is something I have never seen in my lifetime before. There must be a great deal of anger that lies behind this act. It is savage and pure evil. And true to what Lestat has said, the woman has been eaten alive. You can, almost, between the mutilated face see the horror in the woman's eyes. As for her chest, well, it has, it seems it is just ripped open and do I dare even say, feasted upon. The sad fact is that we are too late; should we have perhaps left sooner, we could have saved her life. But the other question begs, will this creature come out and do it once again tonight. Will, it even comes back to the same alley we are replaceing ourselves in. If this animal, if I can even care to mention it by that name, but if it has seen us here over his last victim, will it move to the next place that Lestat has come across a body. In fact, there are several places throughout the city. Is it only one? Or do they travel with others? I can honestly say that we are not at a good advantage here.

Then as we retreat to the dark corners, Lestat is the first to speak, "Shall we move to the next place?"

"No, I think we should stay here. At least just for one more hour."

"Do you truly think it would be as stupid to stay here?"

"I think we are the ones that are stupid to think it shall move on."

"What makes you so confident."

"It finished its meal without the care of being noticed."

With this, we yet again replace ourselves hiding in the shadows. The endless minutes take far too long to come up with anything. The feel of the group is that we should give up for the evening and return tomorrow night. But I am not yet to give up. I do not know if it is fascination or me wanting to save the humans that make me want to remain here. It does sound somewhat cruel, but if this is not a wolf, what shall eat a man alive.

And we do not have to wait any longer, for we see in the very distance a shadow starting to appear in the alley, but as it seems to grow closer and closer, it is only a simple man that approaches. Now, do we warn the poor man that he is in danger or wait and see if this creature shall step into the light? With much debating, we decide to let the man make his way through. Not thinking much, we see yet another man entering the alley. What we thought would have been our attacker has ended up being two humans.

So with much convincing, Lestat convinced me to head home. Before we leave, I turn around with one glance over to the two men that are now fast approaching. "Wait!"