Wraith smirked as James rushed out of the coffee shop with a look of urgency on his face. The little punk had called the cops. Wraith had apparently overestimated his opponent. He had thought James was playing this game with confidence, but that idea had just been shot out of the water. He had expected James to follow him out of the coffee shop in an attempt to assault him once they were no longer in a public place. Instead, he had sat in there like a scared little child and waited for the police to come and do his dirty work.
Why the hell had James decided to steal from him if he did not have the balls to take it to the next level. Did he really not know who he was taking money from? That was just plain reckless and stupid. Wraith had to accept that others just might not have the same sort of appreciation for details that he did. If he had chosen to be a thief instead of a paid anarchist, he would have made sure that he knew every little detail about the people he decided to take money from. How else could a person be sure that it was worth the risk?
This was truly disappointing. Wraith had actually hoped for a decent adversary. Breaking James was probably not going to be the challenge that he thought it would be. Well, he might as well squeeze as much fun out of it as he could. It was time to follow the little irritant and see what he valued so that Wraith could take it away from him.
Wraith followed from a distance as James raced to his car. It was a nice car, but he was not sure that James valued it as something precious, but he would take it away nonetheless. People like James tended to view people as precious, not things. However, if you take away a man's means of transportation, they tend to discover just how precious it really was. The car would definitely be one of the first things to go.
James never even looked behind him as he headed straight to the hospital. The man really was ignorant in Wraith's opinion. He was never as aware as he should be. He did not bother to find out who he was taking money from in spite of the fact that he took his name. He did not look around to see if he was being followed while on his way to the car, and now he never checked the traffic behind him to see if he had a tail. Wraith was nearly disgusted with his lack of caution. James was outclassed beyond his comprehension by the predator that now stalked him.
This was almost fun, though. Wraith liked viewing himself as the changeling predator that moved about through the world, taking his prey at will. When you can surface at any time to take whatever you wanted, it was fun to play with your target first. What fun is there in merely popping up and devouring the innocent when they are not aware of your presence? It is much better to let them know that you are after them and then watch as they fruitlessly try to escape. You can feel and feed off of their fear and panic.
James parked at the northwest entrance of the hospital and rushed inside. Wraith parked a few spaces over and followed him in. He felt the urge to laugh as he easily tracked his quarry without feeling the need to avoid detection. James would eventually need to have it shown to him that he had led Wraith straight to a target, but first Wraith needed to know who exactly the target was.
He did not need to wait long. James hurried up to a nurse's station and began to speak to an incredibly attractive red head. Wraith was nearly paralyzed by her beauty. Scrubs are not the most flattering form of clothing on anybody, but this woman stood out as a true beauty in them. Wraith clutched at his chest as the woman came around the desk and embraced James in a tender and caring manner. She was worried about him. She could see that he was scared and she wanted to comfort him.
Wraith slumped his back against the nearest wall as he watched. He felt as if his heart was breaking just to look at her display of affection for his victim. It wasn't fair. He did not know why or how, but he loved her. He wanted to have her more than anything. How could this unworthy little copy cat get someone so lovely? For the first time in his life, Wraith started to doubt himself. Could he really take her? Could he kill the only woman he had ever felt love for?
The answer came quickly to him. He had to kill her. He had to punish her for causing such strong emotions over him. Nobody was allowed to affect him as deeply as she had simply by her appearance and grace. He would not allow that to pass. She needed to die, but he knew it would be hard to do it directly without allowing her to affect him again. He would let Vixen do it. She would want to after he told her about his feelings for the woman. She would hate the nurse for stealing the affection of the man she loved.
Yes, Vixen would be perfect for the job. He would send her out to the task by herself so that he would know the matter would be out of his hands. Vixen would show no mercy. She would make her suffer as much agony as could be enforced before her life was ended. Later she would tell him every detail as he beat her for killing his love.
He was brought out of this line of thought by his need to discover the woman's identity. He moved closer to where James stood talking to her. He was insisting that she needed to come with him. He told her that she was in danger, but the police would not offer protection. She was not being cooperative, insisting that she could not leave in the middle of her shift. She told him that she would see him later at home. So they lived together. Wraith peeked around James' shoulder to read her name tag.
"Jennifer." He whispered in James' ear. James whipped his head around to see who had whispered to him and his face went pale. Wraith smiled an evil smile at James and winked. Without a word, James grabbed Jennifer and ran down the hallway.
"James, what are you doing?" She asked as she was tugged along. They rounded a corner into another hallway, and James pressed his back against the wall.
"He is here." James answered. "Didn't you see him? He came up right behind me."
"Who?" Jennifer asked.
"The man that is trying to kill me. The man that killed those men at the golf course." He answered.
"I didn't see anybody." She said. James peaked around the corner to see if they were being followed. The man had disappeared.
"He's gone." James said. "We need to call the police."
"James, what is going on?" Jennifer asked.
"I told you, we are in danger." James said. "The man that killed those men at the golf course thinks I stole from him and he said he is going to kill me. He said that before he kills me, he is going to take away everything that is precious to me. You are more precious than anything, so he is going to come after you. We need to call the police and get you some protection."
"What does he look like?" She asked as they walked down the hall. She was beginning to feel frightened. She had been worried about him after he had spoken to her about the darkness, but now she was really getting scared. She had never seen James act this way.
"He looks a lot like me." James answered. "I think he even has his head shaved. I think he wears wigs to change his appearance."
"I didn't see anybody that looked like you." She said.
"That is because you were looking at me." James said. "He came right up behind me and whispered your name in my ear. That was when I grabbed you and ran."
"Are you feeling okay?" Jennifer asked.
"As okay as a man whose life has been threatened can feel." James said. "Look, I am not crazy, okay? He came up right behind me and spoke in my ear. You might not have seen him, but he was there."
"I believe you, James, but you have to understand that this is quite a shock to me." She said. She had not meant for it to sound like she had been questioning his sanity. The truth of the matter, however, was that she was concerned about his stability. His eyes were darting around wildly and he was not making much sense. Whatever had happened to him had brought out a whole new side of the man that she had never seen before. She still loved him and would stand by his side, but she was concerned.
James went to the nearest phone and dialled the police. He was still looking around for any sign of the killer when the phone was answered. He really did not know how he was going to explain this to a man that already seemed to doubt him, but he had to try.
"I need to speak to Detective Sweeny." He said.