[LJ Idol, Season 8-1] As We Gather Here to Prey...
Jonathon walked through the crowd of other students with a grin and a bouncing nod to his head, trying to keep his headphones from snagging on anything. It was well after midnight, but on game nights the town around the college would be bustling and partying all night long. He had nobody in particular to meet that night, just suddenly felt like being out with the masses and seeing what's going down.
Ofttimes it's the areas around colleges, metro stations, military training schools and the like we frequent. Lots of people that are up late. Concentrated in a small area, surrounded by large areas of quiet dark.
Looking ahead, Jon spotted a gentleman coming towards him with a tweed snap cap on, and can't help but give a huge silly smile at the older fellow. Jon always loved those hats. The man with the chapeau met Jon's look and stared him down with a slight nod. Jon's grin froze for a second as he returned the nod, then just like that they were past each other. He kept walking but with a little less bounce to his step, his grin a bit less cheerful and a tad more unfocused. As he walked he looked forward at the people coming towards him, searching.
It took a long time for us to adapt to modern day culture, to keep doing what we do without drawing notice. The old ways we learned from those before us were insufficient, led to getting caught easily. Sit still long enough in one place, and people pick up on it.
There she was, in a red dress and half-length leather jacket that was more styled accessory than source of warmth. He glanced at her as she passed, and she gazed into his eyes with a smile. Jonathon's eyes glassed over and he stumbled a bit, his grin faded to a dull, thoughtless stare. Some of the students flashed a look of disdain at him as he bumped into them, or laughed at the poor slob that obviously scored something good at a party tonight. He weaved around them and took a right off the main thoroughfare.
Never stand still, keep moving. We took the mantra to heart, both in what we did and how we lived. Lurking in the shadows just draws attention in today's paranoid society. Stay in one place long enough and people start to connect the dots, start to suspect. A couple strangers in a crowd of strangers walking past, and nobody blinks an eye.
There were a lot less people down the side road, not vacant but few enough that Jon had no trouble making his way down the street. The few that looked at him just shrugged at yet another drunk student after a game and continued on. A balding man in a denim jacket met his drunken stare and nods on the way past, and Jon slowly nodded back. He made another turn at the next corner, lurching off towards the office district.
Some of us have adapted better than others. They help us get around, and go out during the day to scout, to recruit. It's made things much easier, much more discreet. They find what we're looking for, and give them an early nudge in the right direction hours beforehand. Plenty of time to fill in the details before we need to act.
He came to a stop at the crosswalk, no more pedestrians to be seen in any direction. A cargo van pulled to a stop in front of him, the side door sliding back. Jon looked up into the eyes of the woman in the red dress, smiled and accepted her beckoning motion to get in the back with them. The door slid shut as the man in the snap cap pulled back onto the road and drove away.
We keep our hunting packs small, draws less attention. A small group needs to feed less often too, stopping for food once a week is more than sufficient to survive. Always moving while we prey, that's how we get what we need.
( LJ Idol Season 8, Week 1, topic: "When you pray, move your feet")