The Unseen Hunter

Nora’s POV.  

“Nora, are you okay?” Liam, whom I had pushed to the floor asked, looking at me warily.  

I was unsettled – my hand rested on my heaving chest, trying to calm myself down.  

“Did you hear anything?” I asked Liam, wanting to confirm if I was mistaken, as I looked around the room, in search of that invincible man.  

“Heard what? What’s wrong with you? Why did you push me like that? You should have just told me you didn’t have interest instead of just pushing me like that. I almost hit my head on the floor!!” he lamented, rising to his feet angrily with a scowl on his face.  

“Did I hear wrong? I could swear I heard his voice. It was him – he said those words to me. Am I hallucinating right now?” I ruminated confusedly, my palm on my forehead, trying to decipher between reality and hallucination.  

“Are you just gonna sit there and not say anything? Don’t you deem it fit to say sorry for almost hurting me?” Liam scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at me.  

Liam’s words barely imprinted on my mind. My mind was still disoriented from what I had just experienced. That voice – it was unmistakable. It was definitely the voice of the man they all believed had died but only I knew he was still very much alive.  

The voice was clear as if he were present in the room – standing closely by my side, whispering those words into my ears.  

“Am I losing my mind? I am that exhausted that I have begun to hallucinate?” I thought, squeezing my face in confusion.  

“Nora!! Are you even listening to me?” Liam yelled in frustration, waving his hand at my face.  

His yell pulled me out of my thoughts. I blinked my eyes repeatedly, trying to organize my thoughts.  

“I ... I’m sorry” I apologized absentmindedly, still scanning the room for answers. 

“For what exactly? For pushing me or ignoring me?” he probed. His arms still crossed, waiting for an answer.  

“Both” I replied, trying to keep myself focused but no matter how hard I tried, my mind kept trailing back to that man. 

“Gosh, you are being weird right now. If you knew you were going to act this way, why did you bother showing up in the first instance? Anytime we are about to get intimate, it’s one excuse or the other but today’s was the height of it. If you do not want me, please just let me know. I am fucking tired of this!!” Liam ran his hand through his hair, his frustration glaring as he spoke through gritted teeth.  

No matter how hard I tried to understand Liam's anger, his frustration was nothing compared to the storming rage within me. I needed some time to think but Liam kept on interrupting my thoughts with his lamentations.  

I knew I needed some time alone and no one had to tell me I needed to do what I was there for and get my ass out of there as soon as possible.  

“I am sorry I am acting strange Liam. Why don’t we discuss about this over a cup of coffee?” I suggested rising to my feet.  

At first, he eyed me suspiciously as if he were trying to see through me.  

“Sure” he finally gave in, hitting his buttocks on the sofa as he sighed.  

I made my way to his kitchen, preparing two cups of coffee. After I was done, I held the cups in my hands and headed back into the living room but not without spiking his own coffee with a large dosage of Flunitrazepam.  

I needed him to sleep for as long as he could – just enough for him to miss his night shift and for me to complete my mission.  

“Have it” I said, handing him his own cup. Without a second thought, Liam took a deep gulp of his coffee, savoring its taste. I sat beside him as I gazed at him intently. The drug was supposed to take effect within two minutes.  

“Now, tell me exactly what the problem is” he ordered, placing his cup on the table beside the sofa.  

“Just wait. Let me have a sip of my coffee first” I implored as I slowly sipped my coffee, my eyes fixated on the wall clock, counting down the seconds. 

Exactly two minutes later, his eyelids shut – Liam succumbed to sleep.  

Accomplishing what I was there for, I dashed out of his apartment and headed home with the main focus of getting home before my dad. As I drove home on my motorbike, the question of who that man really was lingered on my mind, and I knew I had to dig up some information about him for me to get the answers I needed.  

Luckily for me, I got home before my father and as soon as I did, I headed straight to my room. Immediately I stepped into my room, I went straight to my laptop, typed the name: ‘Steve Smith’ on the search bar.  

Nothing special came out about him. All I could find on the internet were his age, how his Tech Company came into limelight three years ago and how he died in an auto-crash just two days ago. It was just normal information I already knew about him – nothing special.  

There was no information about his family, where he came from and whom he was affiliated with. Looking at how clean his record was, made me all the more suspicious. 

“Who is this guy? Why is he pretending to be dead when he is actually alive? Why have different kinds of mysterious things been happening to me since we crossed paths? Why do I keep hearing his voice and why do I keep thinking about him? Why do I feel like he is close to me when I can’t even see him? Just what is happening to me?” I ruminated as I stared at his image, feeling confused and lost.  

Even after spending hours surfing the internet to see if I could get additional information about him, I still didn’t get the answers to my questions.  

Then, the time came – the time for another prey of mine to bid the world farewell.  

I was dressed in fitted high-waisted, black leather pants with crop top, which I complemented with sturdy heel black leather ankle boots.  

I put on one of my black leather fingerless gloves, with a pair of dark sunglasses. I headed to my closet where I picked my favorite holster.  

My mission that night was a blood-for-blood battle as my prey was a ruthless Mafia Lord just like my father. To be more specific, he was my father’s ally who turned foe. And a foe should never be spared.  

All set, I hopped onto my motorbike and headed to my destination. The mission was a simple one for me as my father had already paved the way for me. One of my prey’s underlining betrayed him and fed my father with the necessary information we needed for me to penetrate easily.  

This same underling had drugged his colleagues and had them fall asleep, giving me the opportunity to access their master easily. I entered the Lounge through the backdoor and headed to the room where my prey was.  

I walked past the bodies of his drugged underlings, who had collapsed onto the floor, before walking into the room. Walking into the room, I saw the rest of his men also lying on the floor. 

As soon as my prey saw me, he gasped. He tried lifting his hand to grab his gun, but he was too weak to do so – he had been drugged too.  

I edged towards him humming, taking out my holster from my back pocket, toying with it.  

His breathing turned ragged; he tried lifting his body to escape but little did he know the more he tried to fight back, the more the drug spread through his body.  

“N-Nora, please ... here me out” he pleaded, fear rejoicing in his eyes.  

“Hear you out?” I murmured, cocking my gun.  

“I don’t have the time for that. I don’t want to know whatsoever transpired between you and my father. All I know is, you must die tonight” I said, as a wild smile displayed on my lips.  

“Nora .... wait” he begged, his eyes pleading for me to save his life. But I had two options – it was either I spare him and lose my head, or I claim his life and I live. Trust me, I would choose my life anytime, any day.  

Without a second thought, I pulled the trigger – the bullet, piercing through his heart. His body jerked, then slumped over, lifeless.  

I took one last glance at him and a satisfying smile displayed on my lips – my mission was complete.  

“No witness must be left alive” my dad’s warning rang in my head and with that, I unalive each of his men, one after the other – each of my released bullets, piercing through their bodies.  

Done, I slipped my gun back into my hostler and strode out of the room, walking over the dead bodies that littered the hallway.  

Just when I thought everything was over, I heard a voice call my name – the voice I was quite familiar with and that instantly made me freeze.  

“No..ra” the voice stammered, the tray he held in his hands, colliding with the cold tiles.  

It was him. Liam was staring at me with fear in his eyes, his mouth, wide agape.