Hunter of the Dark (2 page)

The bell intruded on her thoughts and there was a scrape of chairs and a flurry of bags as everyone was eager to exit the cramped classroom. Tanitha traipsed through the classroom slowly, Christian still intruding her thoughts. It was rather peculiar how he had such an effect on her but she didn’t dwell on it.

As she walked down the hallway, stragglers drifted in twos and threes, laughing and joking. She didn’t have any friends, and made no effort to gain any. She had had the chance to become popular but she never took it. She merely got her kicks from watching other people copy the cooler kids with new and outrageous styles. Tanitha shook her head, a slight smile trembling on the corner of her lips.
Poor, innocent little lemmings, sheep the whole lot of them. And all for the sake of what? Fashion and a dose of caresses from guys only interested in one thing?

It was all the same at this school, at any school. Tanitha felt proud to be an individual. She made her own decisions. She looked at the window glass and swiped a hand through her hair, watching it flutter softly back into place.

Tanitha heard the bell ring again. She hurried her step. She didn’t really want to be late. Her eyes absorbed her figure, still reflected in the window, and therefore didn’t notice who was in the hallway until she walked into him.

“
Uh…sorry…”

Tanitha looked up to see exactly who it was. A pair of estranged green eyes peered at her from beneath bedraggled locks.

“No, my fault entirely.” He held out a hand and she took it, noticing his skin was unusually smooth and his touch gentle. “Christian Affleck. And you are?”

“
Tanitha Robinswar.”

Christian chewed on the inside of his cheek, trying to place her name in the knowledge about this school already crammed into his mind. Finally he clicked, nodding and giving a wide smile.

“Right…same form class?”

Tanitha nodded and Christian looked pleased at having been able to remember this minor detail. Tanitha decided that class wasn’t so important after all, it was only English and she already knew she’d easily pass. So she started walking quickly, trying to match Christian’s lengthy strides with her own.

“What are you into?”

It sounded lame but Tanitha was clinging desperately to the hope of being able to talk to him for a bit longer. Even though she usually didn’t talk more than a few words to anyone, Christian seemed to draw her towards him.

“Sports mainly. Girls…um…sports.”

He laughed, flicking back a wandering strand of hair. Tanitha glanced at it. God, it was so messy. It took all the will power she possessed not to reach up and comb the damn style into place.

“Typical jock then.”

He turned to face her, green eyes dancing.

“Yeah, you can call me that. And you’re into?”

“
Poetry, literature, anything that’s pretty.”

“
Oh right. Part of a religious cult?”

Tanitha had to look into his eyes to see if he was joking. She wasn’t sure. His voice spoke seriously while his eyes danced in jest. He was so confusing. Tanitha laughed, her voice shaking nervously.

“You got a girlfriend?” She asked, avoiding his question. By now they had reached the outdoor world and were making their way down to the steam-rolled flatness they called “The Field”. She actually quite enjoyed her strolls there at times. It had a sense of serene silence that nowhere else in the school could compete with.

“
Well, let’s just say I’m totally involved with someone. I care real deeply about that person, my love has no limits and that special someone is all I think about each and every day. When I get dressed, brush my hair, look in the mirror, that someone’s always on my mind.”

“
Mind if I ask who ‘that someone’ actually is?”

“
Well, actually…you’re talking to him.”

Now this time Tanitha knew that he was joking and she hit him on the shoulder in the middle of a giggle. Her expression changed as Christian winced, looking as if he were in excruciating pain.

“What’s wrong? It couldn’t have hurt that much.”

“
It’s nothing-”

“
Aw, come on. The way you looked, it hurt a lot.”

Christian’s hand immediately clutched his arm in defence. Tanitha knew then that there was definitely something up. She reached up impulsively.

“Let me have a look…”

She placed an arm on his shoulder and he twisted away roughly, resulting in her becoming unbalanced and ending up on the ground. For a second, his eyes glowed with fury but when he saw what he had done he calmed down, still clutching his upper arm. His eyes flickered with apologies but it seemed that he didn’t want to voice them. It was a matter of pride for him not to apologise.

“It’s nothing. Okay? Why don’t you just go home and leave me alone!?”

And with that he walked away. Tanitha watched; hurt more by his words than the actual violence. He stormed angrily down the street and Tanitha guessed he was going home. She sighed sadly and made her way to class, wondering what had caused Christian to act in that manner.

Chapter Three

Christian slammed the door to his house, anger powering his force. He heard the familiar stomping of his father’s overweight figure storming its way down the hallway. Sure enough, his dad made his way into the room with an immense scowl on his face. His massive bulk blocked the doorway, like a bouncer at a nightclub.

Clifton’s face was red, and he looked at his son like a volcano ready to blow its top. Sure enough, his mouth spewed forth the molten lava that was expected.

“
Why’d ya slam the door like that?!” He roared, angry at having the rugby on television disturbed by his son’s outrage.

“
Just leave it, Dad. I’m not in the mood.”

“
Like bloody hell you aren’t! You’ll be in the mood if I say so! If I told you to jump off the Sky Tower, you’d bloody well better obey me, son -”

“
I’m old enough to make my own decisions!” Christian cut in, speaking with a stubborn bluntness. Clifton’s eyes bulged out of his head and he looked ready to burst. Christian knew that, sooner or later, the beating would come. But right now, he didn’t care. He was too infuriated to tap into common sense.

“
Who pays the bills, huh?!” Clifton roared like a bull into battle.

“
Go back to being a bum in front of the TV and
leave me alone!”
Christian yelled at him.

“
You calling me a bum?! Is that what you think of me?!” He shoved Christian roughly against the wall, Christian still clutching his shoulder. “I’ll show ya what this bum can do! Why, you no good…”

He lifted a hand and Christian squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the blow. Suddenly his mother’s syrupy sweet voice floated through the air and the hand was never brought down.

“Oh, Clifton, he tries his hardest.”

“
Well, that’s not good enough Mythos.” But he released his harsh grip and made his way back to the television. “Go and cook me some kai, woman.”

Christian’s mother beckoned to Christian to follow her into the kitchen. She was a small willowy woman, slender of frame and obedient to Clifton’s every whim.  Put the two in the same room and you can immediately tell who the dominant one is. Usually Mythos stays silent to Clifton’s outbursts. She only spoke up when Clifton took it out on Christian.

Christian followed his mother’s steps and sat down heavily at the table, knowing what was going to come. Every single time Christian upset his father, he would get a quiet little speech from his mother. The very whisper of her speaking so as not to let Clifton hear made him feel guilty, more so than Clifton’s shouting. If Clifton screamed at him, he could handle it, whereas if Mythos spoke to him, he couldn’t.

“
You know you shouldn’t upset your father. You know what he’s like when he gets all worked up. There’s no reasoning with him.”

“
He’s the one that starts it.” Christian moaned, slumping over with his hands covering his face.

“
I know but he doesn’t have the sense to stop it. And you know that.”

“
Sometimes I wonder who the man about the house is.”

His mum dropped the spatula she was holding and started banging her head against the cupboard.

“I just can’t cope anymore…you…him…I just can’t…”

Christian was immediately up on his feet and comforting his mother. He rubbed her back soothingly. He hated to see her this way. She was only ever this depressed when Clifton was around. When his father had gone on holiday, without them of course, Mythos had revealed a side to her Christian hadn’t even known she had. But that side evaporated the very second Clifton stomped back in the door.

Naturally Clifton came in to see what the racket was.

He took one look at the two and fumed.

“
Did you do this, son? Huh?”

Christian stayed silent.

“Speak up, boy, so I can hear you! Go on, say something!” Clifton dared, glaring at him with his beady brown eyes.

“
No, don’t…” Mythos’s voice quivered. Christian returned his father’s eye contact with equal fury.

“
I’m sick and tired of all the rubbish that’s going on here,
father!
” Christian retaliated, deliberately stressing the last word. “I’m trying hard with my exams! I can’t help it if I don’t live up to your expectations! And what are you doing to help? Nothing! You leave everything up to me! It’s me that has to go get a job to pay for school fees, me that’s always tidying up around here. Just give me a break, won’t you?”

“
Please, don’t…”

Neither of the two men, now clearly angered by the other’s mere presence, heard Mythos’s whisper.

“I don’t set high expectations for you! They’re well within your capabilities and you know it!”

“
Why don’t you get a job yourself then!? I shouldn’t be the only one earning the family income! I’m not going to provide for you! I’m sick of your bullsh…”

“
Stop!
” Mythos screamed loudly, shocking the two warring males. It was the first time she had ever shown such clear defiance. Maybe she had sensed there was something heavier in the air that night. Whatever the reason, Christian suddenly needed to be on his own. He glared at Clifton before storming up the carpeted stairs to his room. He could hear his father yelling at his mother now, and his mother sobbing her heart out. He slammed the heavy oak door and sat down on the seat in front of his mirror. He peeled off his top, sticky with sweat after getting so worked up. A bandage lay folded neatly against his upper left arm and he removed it. A jagged bite met his gaze, blazing red and almost festering. He slammed his hand down on the desk, reveling in the answering shock of pain. After three months, it still hadn’t cleared up. He brought out a fresh bandage and bound the wound up tightly. Then he placed his head in his hands, trying to get rid of the pounding headache.

Chapter Four

Senses heightened, the Canine’s eyes changed from slight crescents to half moons in the rapidly failing light. Nightfall lay but minutes away and he was on the prowl again. His mouth salivated with the thought of blood on his taste buds and he was eager to be out and hunting. He led a lonely life, this stray, but that was the way he preferred it. He once had a partner, but he killed her and supped upon her dying carcass; for always there was the insatiable craving of feeling warm moistness trickle down his sandy cheeks and gorge on the savior that only this life giving force held. Ah, yes, for whoever was to drink the blood were to have their life sustained. He wasn’t expecting much, just enough to cure his cravings…well, at least for one night.

It seemed, then, that this Canine’s prayers were answered. Stones rolled like skittles underfoot as he padded softly towards the shadowed figure, silhouetted in the moonlight. His pointed ears pricked forwards, his ebony coat mottled with sandy streaks providing excellent camouflage from prowling eyes. The young boy was nervous; maybe he had lost his way and was scared of the dark. Oh well, all his problems would be cured soon. The dog licked his lips and tasted the tenderness of the saliva that dribbled eagerly from his open maw. Soon, soon he would feast on the best blood of all. The blood of man…

When Tanitha arrived at school the next day, she didn’t know what to expect. The police had cordoned off the area where the murder supposedly happened. Faint traces of blood were still visible. She felt sick in the stomach. What sort of person could do such a thing? According to the newspapers, a young boy of about ten or eleven was killed right outside the school grounds. Slashed and dashed as if by some animal, a wolf maybe, the tabloids said, due to the size of the canine imprints. But that was stupid, there were no wolves in this country, in fact no animal considered to be seriously dangerous ever prowled here at all. Why couldn’t they see that fact? Anyway, no animal could do something like
that
, could they? It seemed, by the way of his footprints, that the boy had been targeted, then “played with”. They showed that the boy, after a while of this game, fell, and that was when he met his final doom. What really baffled the police was the lack of a second pair of prints. Only the boy’s were visible in the area. Already there were all sorts of rumours spreading like wildfire. Seleena even believed that there might even be a vampire in the area, or a werewolf. She played on this fact with her common knowledge: Their footprints were non-existent. Tanitha thought it absurd to even be thinking such horrendous thoughts. Vampires and werewolves were myths and legends.