Moonlit Shadows

Unforgotten Memories

Derrick had parted ways with Fixer for the evening claiming the effects of the jet lag were too much and he was turning in early.

Fixer never responded but silently walked to his own room. Derrick was indeed feeling the effects of the jet lag, but he wanted to bring an end to any face-to-face time with Fixer. The man made his blood boil.

As he lay on his bed, he kept his mind busy with remembering exactly why he hated Fixer.

"I need to make a supply run." Derrick sighed as he closed the kitchen cupboard that was filling with dust.

"That would be good," said a tired voice.

Derrick turned and walked over to the bed in the corner of the one room cabin. "Viv, let me go catch something for you."

"Get the supplies first. You're hungrier than I am. It's been too long since you went into the town." Vivia smiled up at Derrick through dull eyes. She hadn't fed in days. She was trying to go longer and longer between feeds. It was a radical theory promoted by some of the fringe vampire doctors who swore a vampire could conquer their need for blood by spacing out their feedings.

Derrick had voiced his opinion about the quack doctors. Vivia, in an effort to be more pleasing to her Hunter lover, was open to any plan that helped her be less of a monster in his eyes. But Derrick didn't care anymore. He had already decided to leave the Hunter Society.

So in an effort to hide from the Society and to help facilitate Vivia's cleanse program, they moved to the depths of a forested mountain in the Swiss Alps. With a few words from Derrick, the cabin became hidden from the naked human eye.

Everything had gone well for some time. Derrick hunted their food, and made the occasional trip to the town for supplies that he couldn't hunt. Vivia was happily playing a human housewife to her Hunter man.

At night, in front of their fire, they would discuss what it was like to leave their respective lives. Vivia had never imagined leaving her closely-knit nest, but when the Society targeted her for elimination, she was forced out by family members who were more than fearful of being caught in the crosshairs of a Hunter.

If they had known she was already in love with the Hunter sent to dispatch her, they might have reacted more harshly.

Derrick hadn't expected to fall in love with Vivia, but as he watched her for several weeks on his assignment, he saw she was a genuinely loving person. She was someone who was the complete antithesis of every vampire stereotype he had been taught.

He fell in love and he fell hard. He finally showed himself to her and though it took some convincing, she finally decided to throw caution to the wind and give him a chance.

That chance had led to a deeply rooted love and a desire to spend their lives together, even if it had to be done in hiding.

"I don't think I am hungrier," said Derrick, his stomach choosing that moment to grumble and growl in protest.

Vivia laughed weakly and shook her head. "Go. I'll be fine, my love. You need food. I can wait until you get back. I will just sleep a bit."

Derrick frowned and passed his hand over her hair, smoothing it back from her dry forehead. Her skin had dulled and paled even more. Her fangs stayed protruded from her gums now, poking out over her bottom lip. The hungrier she got, the more they stuck out.

He sighed and tried to think of one more excuse to delay the trip, but after he received a firm look from her, he acquiesced to her wishes and packed up for the trek down the mountain to the town at the foot of it.