It was Monday afternoon, and Anna and Mina were sitting on a blanket in the middle of the huge park downtown. It wasn’t the kind of park with a playground like Anna usually visited; it was the kind with trees everywhere and paved paths winding through the grass. It was a nice place, where businessmen and businesswomen would go on their lunch breaks to relax or take a quick walk before heading back to the office.
And today, Anna and Mina were out sitting on the lawn with them. It was a teachers’ work day, so neither of them had to worry about missing class. They got to the park a few minutes before 11:00 in order to make sure they covered as much of the lunchtime crowd as possible, and spread out a blanket they’d borrowed from Mina’s mother to sit on. They’d brought their backpacks with them on the off-chance they’d study, and some sandwiches Mina’s mother had insisted they take for lunch. But the real reason they were here was not to read books or to eat bologna and cheese.
Since they’d decided to start following Fredrick and Jacqueline around, Anna, Mina, and Carmine had been waiting outside Fredrick’s house from dusk ’til dawn. Of course this meant Anna and Mina had to start hunting during the day. But Anna was getting a little worried. They had been spending the night outside of Fredrick’s house for two nights now; tonight would be the third. And still, they hadn’t seen anything even the slightest bit suspicious.
Anna knew that neither she nor Mina could go for very long without blood. While they could go for six days without it if they absolutely had to, neither of them really liked to go more than three. After three days, their judgment would start to become clouded, making it even harder to execute a good attack. So, in order to avoid these problems, they tried to go out a little more often.
They’d been outside of Fredrick’s house two nights already, so Anna figured this would be day three for him – at best. It could even be his fifth or sixth. Especially if he knew they’d been there. It was possible he was waiting until they stopped spying on him to go out. Well, either way, Anna reasoned, he'll have to come out sooner or later. And when he did, they’d be ready.
But, in order to make sure that Anna and Mina actually were ready, they were now sitting in the grass, watching the people strolling by. They had decided in advance that they would target two people who were walking or eating together. Now, they just had to find the right two people.
Eventually, Anna spotted a man and a woman in business suits, walking hand in hand down the path right in front of where she and Mina were sitting. They were headed straight for a small grove of trees near the middle of the park, about thirty feet from where the two girls had set up their blanket. The trees obstructed the path, but the girls had scouted the area before sitting down and Anna knew that there was a bench in the middle of the grove. Clearly, the couple planned to use the trees as cover. Well, Anna and Mina could use those trees, too.
As the couple walked hand-in-hand towards the trees, Anna and Mina exchanged glances. They both knew instantly that these two would be perfect.
With a gleam in her eye, Mina smiled impishly at Anna. She pushed herself up off the blanket, and Anna silently followed suit. Together, they walked slowly, casually down the path towards the couple. As they strolled down the path, Anna’s pulse began to quicken slightly with anticipation. It was much more fun to hunt with a partner – so many possibilities opened up! And she could take on people that previously would have been too risky for her to attempt. Once they were about ten feet away from the trees, Anna stopped and casually looked around, making sure that they weren’t being watched. Mina, however, continued her stroll down the path, turning off just before she got to the trees. The plan was for Mina to sneak around the trees and end up on the other side of the couple.
As Mina disappeared out of sight, Anna casually resumed walking. If she’d timed it right – and Anna was sure that she had – the two girls should approach the couple simultaneously, one coming in from each side.
Using their excellent hearing, the two managed to synchronize their approach; they reached the sides of the bench at almost the exact same time. Anna found herself next to the man, while Mina had come up on the side of the woman. The two were sitting close together in the middle of the bench, talking quietly. Anna estimated about a foot of space on each side of the couple.
Once both girls were in position, Anna made a slight noise to let the couple know that they were no longer alone. Startled, they looked up.
“Hello.” Anna said to the couple, smiling her sweetest smile.
“Hi.” Mina chimed in. She sat down next to the woman, forcing the couple to shift over to the far side of the bench to accommodate her. The woman looked at Mina in surprise.
“Can I help you?” She said it politely enough, but Anna could hear a definite twinge of annoyance in her voice as well.
“No.” Mina responded simply, the smile never leaving her face. Her eyes slowly started to turn gold as she stared into the woman’s face.
“Uh…” the man said, obviously feeling like he should speak up. He cleared his throat, regaining some of his composure before turning to Anna. “I don’t mean to be rude…” he started, “But we were hoping to be alone right now, so if you two could…”
But by this time, he’d already started to fall under Anna’s spell. While Mina had been working on the woman, Anna had decided it was time to position herself closer to the man. As he stared into her eyes, the man fell easily into a trance, much like the woman sitting quietly next to him. Anna, now standing next to the bench and only inches away from the man, looked over the couple and down at Mina. Sensing Anna’s stare, Mina smiled up greedily at her before turning back to her prey, digging her fangs deep into the now-unconscious woman’s neck.
Anna met Mina’s smile with an amused look of her own. She’d never seen Mina look so excited and decided it was due to the new thrill of a daytime attack. Turning back to the man now laying motionless on the bench, Anna reached out and carefully pulled his head back, leaving his neck exposed to the sky. Anna took her time, enjoying the moment much more than she’d ever admit. Leaning down carefully, she took his head in her hands and bit down on the man’s neck, feeling his blood gush into her mouth.
Chapter 29: The Chase
You Were What You Eat Page 38