Chapter 5.

Their journey would have taken the average human three days on foot, but given that vampires have the wonderful ability of moving great distances at the blink of an eye, this journey was only going to take them two or three hours at the most. It seemed as though they were flying through the air, their feet hovered just above the ground without treading a single step. They moved faster than the human eye could see, keeping to forests and fields staying as far away from obvious roads as possible. That invention man had created, the car was too unpredictable and it would be a major inconvenience to be hit by one. Discretion served better away from humans.

After travelling constantly for an hour, they came to a quiet little village. It was now nearing eight o’clock in the evening. They had some time to spare to stop off and catch something to eat. Caine wasn’t feeling much up to the hunt. He had decided to wait until he reached the city. There would be plenty of time and a much better chance of catering to his specific tastes. Sophia went off to find something nice to sink her teeth into. She and Isaac were hunting separately. As they wandered through the village looking for something to attract their taste buds Isaac spotted a beautiful youth, a young man in his late twenties. He was tall and muscular and had tightly cropped blonde hair. Isaac was instantly drawn to him. The young man was wearing fitted blue jeans and a deep blue long sleeved sweater. He watched him for a brief moment, looking all wholesome and all things good. Isaac could feel his fangs peeking out from underneath his fine lips. This one was definitely palatable. Isaac walked up to the youth who was standing outside the local Hair of the Dog pub, mobile phone pressed to his ear. Isaac was also quite tall, a few inches over six feet. He also had fair hair that sat just above his collar, pale blue eyes and a slender build. He had an elegant stature, and carried himself well. He kept his attire simple and black, a tailored jacket, simple shirt and trousers, perhaps a little on the cliché side, but it fitted him well and never aged. He was quite the mysterious type and just the way Sophia loved him.

“Excuse me I seem to be a bit lost, could you tell me where I might take up a room for the night?” Isaac asked the young man, who was busy negotiating with a person on the other end of his mobile phone. The young man paused and turned, curious to see who the inquirer.

“I’ll call you back later.” He said ending the call and stuffing the phone into his back pocket. He turned to face Isaac full on. “Ah… sure… here… this place.” He held out his hand to the stranger. “The name’s Jay Winfield, I own this joint and I’m pretty sure we have a room free for the night. Do you want to come inside?” They shook hands and walked into the village pub. Jay continued, “I’m afraid we don’t get many visitors to this part of the country, sorry, did you say it was just you or are you with someone?” He barely stopped for a breath, excited at the prospect of an outsider coming to stay in his business.

“Thank you, and I am alone.” Isaac answered very calmly. This may actually prove to be a challenge if he was the owner of this pub, surely, he would be missed. Although Isaac was very apt at staging rare deaths, his particular field of expertise, so to speak, were bizarre accidents. And as vampires are not of this natural world, they don’t have the tell-tale forensic evidence that human killers leave behind. Their DNA dies along with their humanity and their fingerprints disappear leaving them virtually untraceable. I suppose if you are going to be by nature a cold-blooded, ruthless killer you might as well have some advantage in the game. And vampires are predators.

“Would you like me to show you to your room then?” The excited proprietor asked, thrilled that he was going to have to make someone breakfast. The human trait of feeling useful is terribly endearing to a vampire. Isaac almost felt sorry for him. He may have overestimated the difficulties in the situation. He could just let him show him upstairs and attack him there and then and leave without anyone seeing him or even knowing he’d been there. The only people inhabiting the pub at that time were three old men sitting in the corner by the fireplace, resting their eyes after all the strenuous drinking they had done that afternoon. Ah, to be in your twilight years and have nothing better to do than sit in a pub all day complaining about young people today.

“That would be great, thank you.” Isaac replied, aware of how little time had left. He would have to feed soon before Caine came looking for him. They went upstairs, the pub was confined inside and the ceilings upstairs were quite low. Isaac had to duck his head entering the bedroom. Jay showed him the bathroom and then the closet in the bedroom where he could store his baggage if indeed he had any. As Jay was standing having a discussion with himself over the dimensions of the closet and how he was thinking of converting it into an en suite Isaac grabbed him from behind, pulled his head to one side and sank his teeth into the yielding flesh of his neck. The warm blood flowed into his mouth and it felt good. Jay struggled against Isaac but he held him fast and hard against his own body. Eventually as the life drained from Jay’s body and flowed into Isaac’s mouth he lost the ability to struggle, weakened by the attack his body went limp against Isaac’s strong torso. Isaac drained him almost to his last drop. Letting the body fall to the floor Isaac looked at the clock on the wall, there was no time to stage the death, and as the closet was quite roomy he would have to hide him in there. He propped him up against the back wall, tucked his feet inside and closed the door. Moments later he had left the quiet pub and joined his friends ready to begin the next leg of their journey. Once again they were on their way, travelling at such an immense speed and would reach the city in an hour and a half, give or take.