There are times when he enjoyed his job immensely. It wasn't necessarily the killing, or the hunting – both of which had their moments of intense satisfaction – but more the ambience that he lived for. The nature of being this figure in the dark which would stalk through a dimly lit, fog engulfed street appealed to him in a way nothing he had done before this had even come close to. Add to that the pressure of the mountains behind the town and he couldn't think of a better place to work.
And tonight had all of that in spades. He could hear the slight breeze rustle through the trees that lined the narrow streets and off, somewhere a block or so away, a pack of dogs did their own thing down the cobble paved streets. These, plus other assorted sounds added to a natural form of cover he used so effectively while carrying out his missives.
And yet he frowned. Tonight was utter perfection except for one tiny detail, one thing he had failed to take into consideration when choosing his victim, or as he thought of her as, his objective.
She wasn't alone.
It wasn't as if he was in love with her or in any way possessive of her. He wasn't jealous that another man had stolen her affection or anything like that. It was just that she was his job this time, and tonight had been the chosen night. It just so happened that tonight was, apparently, date night.
He had been following the couple for the majority of their encounter and throughout the evening, a small part inside him had been saying to leave her for tonight and do it another time. But a louder voice had been insistent on tonight. It had to be tonight. It couldn't possibly work if it was any other night. Of course the louder part won out, but the compromise was that he would wait until they went their separate ways before taking care of business.
Which is how he came to be hiding behind an archway, listening to him wax poetic about the vague similarities between her eyes and the full moon above – probably the only part of tonight that wasn't perfect.
In what could almost be an entirely different world, the couple under covert surveillance were too caught up in each other to even consider the nature of the night. The only mention of it was earlier, while they were walking and she made an off hand comment about how large the moon was.
She wasn't one to require romance or anything in particular when it came to the dates she went on, but she had to say she was thoroughly enjoying the incredibly cheesy lines he had been laying on her all night. He was getting so into being romantic, she had trouble keeping a straight face at times.
He had been wondering how much it would take for her to break her straight face character and just laugh at his lines. For the last hour or so of the date he had been getting progressively more cheesy and faux-romantic and some of the things he had been coming up with were dangerously close to making himself crack up.
He considered himself lucky that he had gone out tonight with her. He knew there were plenty of other ladies who wouldn't appreciate the kind of date he could provide.
It was after a particularly well delivered line about how the moon really brought out the brown in her eyes, which caused a spasm in her cheek as she attempted to maintain composure when he heard it. The sound both he and his companion had been waiting all night for. The sound of a foot being dragged over uneven cobbles not too far from where they were.
He tapped her on the shoulder, the non-audible code they and their colleagues had developed for this night. She giggled and insisted that they go back to her place while using her foot to tap him on the ankle. He smiled at her, got one more corny line out of his system and let her lead the way down the road.
There was an unusual layout to the town that is important to make note of here. Behind the town, as already noted, there are a range of mountains. The town itself is built between two of the smaller ones, such that no one can approach the town from either of those side. The rest of the town is encircled by a set of large stone walls, an artefact from its time as a military fort some 400 years prior.
The rear of the town, nestled in the shade of the mountains had, as the years progressed and the need for a military fort in the hills gave way to the need for housing the people who remained after the conflicts of that era, had sections of the wall torn down to open up more ground for housing construction.
It was along this broken section of wall the couple now walked, with the unseen yet known person somewhere behind them.
He was growing impatient. No one goes on a date for more than a few hours, yet here they were, happily wandering aimlessly down the back walls, supposedly heading to her place which he knew to be on the other side of town. He had almost convinced himself that he had misheard and they were heading to his house, but the tone of his speech indicated that he also lived across town.
He continued to follow them and breathed a sigh of relief when they turned down an alley and headed towards one of the walls many lookouts. He had misheard, or missed entirely, it seemed, their decision to take a detour before heading back to her place. And to head to probably the ideal spot for him to take care of his business. Tonight was a good night.
He followed them at a shorter distance now. It didn't worry him if they heard or saw him now, they were all too far from anyone who could help them. He breathed out slowly and smiled, not even considering that tonight was really just too perfect to be true.