One moment Hayden was seeing a vampire in the dark, and the next moment he was pressed against the tree by a strong hand compressing on his neck. The vampire was certain that he would kill him with a single bite, but he wanted to enjoy the pain and suffering in the eyes of his prey before he took the leap.
The vampire increased his power, crushing Hayden's windpipe even further. What the vampire hoped would be muffled breaths of agony, turned out to be classic smirks of someone who just tricked the villain. Before the vampire could comprehend something, he felt one of Hayden's hand over his own.
Hayden was trying to remove the hand, with surprisingly much higher power for any human being. It was amazing, because Hayden smelled exactly like a human, and therefore there is no way he was this strong. Amidst the power of battle the vampire could feel losing his grip on the other's neck, but the feeling that alarmed him more was something puncturing his chest just above the heart.
The vampire retreated immediately releasing Hayden in the process. The vampire had a scowl on his face in response to Hayden's victorious smirk. "Scared?" Hayden mocked.
"Intrigued." The vampire's scowl turned into a sexy lopsided grin. "Who are you? No regular human would ever be this powerful." he tilted his head in wonder.
"I am not a regular human being. I am a hunter." Hayden let out a light smirk.
"Hunters are nothing but humans." The vampire rolled his eyes.
"Not the original ones." Hayden claimed, his smirk vanishing as his face turned much darker. "And they are nature's most ruthless killers."
"I am a vampire, I am the killer." The vampire smirked.
"And I kill mighty killers like you as if I am crushing ants." Hayden shrugged.
"How fascinating." The vampire smirked. "It's been a while since I ran into an original hunter." he folded his arms. "But, it's time to die." he declared and jumped, and this time instead of playing with the prey he directly went for the kill, except his teeth failed to pierce the skin of Hayden. Hayden managed to take advantage of the situation and tackle the vampire, pin him down under him. "Curiouser and curiouser." The vampire whispered, staring into Hayden's eyes.
Hayden might be resistant to a vampire bite, but he was not fast enough for an ancient vampire as Hayden would guess from witnessing everything he did up until now. He did everything in his power to restrain the other and kill him, and thus drove the wooden stake he carried right through his heart, causing the vampire to wince out in pain.
Hayden smirked, for like a minute. Then suddenly he noticed the vampire bursting into laughter and pulling out the stake from his own body and breaking it into pieces. While Hayden came prepared, that was the only wooden stake he had with him. Therefore Hayden let the vampire take advantage of the situation and thus managed to pull away once more.
"That's right, I am not that easy to kill either." The vampire smirked.
"You're chatty aren't ya." Hayden scoffed.
"Oh come on now. I finally found someone who is fun to kill." the vampire tilted his head. "I have to go now, but I'll be back."
"You have a death wish"? Hayden scoffed.
"Something like that." The vampire tilted his head. "I am interested in you."
"Ever heard of the phrase curiosity killed the cat?" Hayden asked.
In response the vampire let out a smirk. "We'll see who will kill whom." he breathed out. "What's your name?"
"You really think I'll tell you"? Hayden was amused by the question.
"Never mind. I'll find you." The vampire turned around to leave but halted abruptly. "Oh by the way, I am Nathaniel Sinclair." the vampire declared. "Maybe you will do your research well and find an alternative to kill me." he shrugged.
"Sounds like you want to die desperately." Hayden remarked.
"Well, if it were that easy I wouldn't be so brazen." Nathaniel smirked. "But, it will be fun to see you try," he added. He took a few steps closer to Hayden, causing Hayden to assume an alerted stance. Nathaniel halted and leaned forward to whisper in the quiet night. "Until next time, little hunter." and then he was gone.
Hayden looked around frantically to see any signs of the mysterious vampire. Alas he found none and stomped his foot in anger. This was the first time he ever failed to kill anyone ever since he started hunting at the age of twelve. He couldn't believe his perfect streak was broken by an arrogant, snobbish and yet incredibly handsome vampire.
One thing was sure that this Nathaniel wasn't just any other vampire. He was ancient and he had enough tricks up his sleeve to avoid getting killed by a direct stake to his heart. Something about this vampire didn't just sit right with him, and thanks to his promise, Hayden knew he would show up. That he would get another chance to kill him.
Maybe this was a good thing? Maybe finding a way to kill this Nathaniel would actually come in handy, especially when time would come to face him, the monster, the one who wiped out his entire clan right in front of his eyes. Without further ado, he retreated home, perfectly determined to create multiple tiny stakes for his next venture.