Romance? You’re kidding me, right? It took me ages to find a pet dog that didn’t want to rip my head off; animals can sense that kind of stuff, y’know? They can tell when people are bad, or when people have done something bad…though maybe Artemis was broken, because his bad-sensing skills must have been off, he didn’t sense a thing about me.

Yet, my friend Alice had of course; gone and set me up on a blind date…with somebody I had never met before. Since graduating from school earlier that summer, I assumed it would just make my job all the easier, except no…apparently not. Apparently no school meant more time for dating, not that I was really one for that in High School. Apparently a lot of kids thought I was creepy…or not all there…do you really blame them?
People can often be poor judges of character, though with me sometimes it felt like they were spot on. Luckily adults were easier to trick than teenagers, all you had to do was act politely towards them, and do nothing to give them any reason to think you were anything different, or bad.
And now…let’s not dwell too much on the best, but rather peer forwards into the future, or rather this date, that would do nothing for me, and end badly for most likely, the both of us.
Here I stood dressed in a pair of darker blue jeans and a red t-shirt with a Coke logo across the front of it, staring down at my high-tops, wondering where this so-called ‘date’ was. I was never late for anything, being kept waiting really boiled my blood. Then again the boy was all of thirty seconds late, I could hold out for a minute…maybe two. Then I could just leave, and tell Alice that the guy never showed. That would get me out of thi-
My thought stream was interrupted by a voice, and I spun around staring up. Too pretty…he was too well-kept and pretty, there had to be something bad going through his head, nobody looked that innocent.

“****, right?” he asked, as I just nodded, not working to hide the boredom from my eyes. Maybe if he thought I was bored, then he would just go and leave me alone. He frowned slightly, and I shifted back against the wall I was leaning on. And for those of you who thought you’d get to know my name, clearly you don’t think too highly of me. I’m not going to let it slip that easily.

For all you readers know, I may have changed every name in this entire book. Yet possibly, I am far too lazy to think of a new name for myself.

I nodded, and glanced him over. He seemed really well-kept it was odd, like a hair wasn’t out of place. This was more than trying too hard for a date; this guy didn’t have a smudge on him, a single trace of…anything. It unnerved me, and yet…interested me slightly? Nope, no, nada…we weren’t going to go and start anything from it.

“And what was your name again?” I asked, as I stared him over for a few more seconds, taking in every aspect. Not because I wanted to…but because that was just what I did. My line of business forced me to keep my eyes open. In my eyes everybody was guilty until proven innocent. You were an enemy until I prove you can be trusted, and few people made it to the T R U S T stage.

The only people that ever really made it to that stage were my parents, Alice and a few other select friends. They were also people that didn’t automatically find a creeper reading on me, so I could relax around them. This guy though…I felt almost like he was trying to scour my brain, with just that one quick glance he gave me.

“Oh…” he muttered, as if he were just reacting to the question I had asked him moments before. He seemed a bit unnerved, but quickly covered it up with that innocent face.

“My name is James…” he said, as I gave a quick nod. We had to see a movie, right? Just my favorite thing to do, sitting in a dark room, a dark room full of people didn’t know at all…while a boy breathed down my neck the entire film.

“Well alright James, let’s just go and get this over with then.” I grumbled, as I pushed myself off of the wall I had been leaning against, straightening out my hoodie, and giving him one last glance, before I turned and head for the movie theater that dwelled within the depths of the large mall.

Whose idea was it to go and put a movie theatre in a mall? I mean…seriously, c’mon. Why do you need to spend gratuitous amounts of money on overpriced mall clothes and food…and then go buy movie tickets that are super expensive? But whatever, I guess I wasn’t everybody.

Being dragged into the movie theater was alright…I suppose. I mean it was dark, and at least I felt more at home amongst people, when I couldn’t see their faces. As odd as that may sound to a normal person.

“You don’t quite look like you’re enjoying yourself ****…” muttered the boy, as I glanced over at him. “Oh…I am, I just don’t show it.” I said quickly, as I pulled a rather realistic fake smile.

He nodded at this, the movie was just starting up, and so it gave him no more time to talk. And I can tell you this now, that was a rather awkward hour and however many minutes. He didn’t touch me of course, I didn’t want to touch him…most living beings could sense the evil on me, and just kept away.

There was a pause before the movie ended, and I glanced over at him. That once innocent face was replaced by something looking much more…vicious. Possibly it was just my imagination, or the dim lighting of the movie theatre. But no…I was usually a better judge of character than most; something was definitely up with this guy. I would find out…but that meant I’d have to see him again.

After the movie ended, and the credits started to roll against the screen, I stood up. For the past twenty minutes I had been dreading standing up, and the stiff, achy feeling that movie theatre seats gave you. Once standing, I was already stretching, trying to relieve some of the tension in my muscles and bones.

He did the same, and we walked out of the movie theater in silence. Standing in the food court of the mall once again, I glanced over to him. “Want to meet up some other time, James?” I asked, as I raised an eyebrow. I was only doing this to figure out why somebody gave me the chills, me an assassin, and not good chills…but those caused by horror.

I didn’t feel horror, except at the sight of my own blood. Yet this man stirred the animal instincts that animals felt when a predator was near. Little did this predator know though, that I was a predator as well. And perhaps smaller in stature, I knew I could be more deadly, than any big scary animal.

“Sounds good to me…” he said, as he took my palm, and tugged my hand over. Reaching into his pocket, and fishing around for a few moments, revealing a black pen a few moments later.

My bicolored eyes darted over to him, and I wished I could see out of the left one. It made my job harder…but my eyesight in the right was fantastic, and my hearing was near inhuman. And right now all of my senses were trained on him, and finding out what he wanted.

There was a pause after he wrote down a name and an address, and grabbed my chin. Tugging me into a kiss, and glaring back into my eyes, my good eye taking him in. And then he left me standing there, his name on my hand. All of the mal intent and evil lingering on my mouth from the kiss. That boy wanted blood, and I feared it was mine, that was on the menu.