Hart.

𝙰𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎, 𝚒𝚝’𝚜 𝚊 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝙸’𝚖 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚢 𝙲𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚊. 𝙰𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚕𝚕, 𝚋𝚎𝚊𝚞𝚝𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗’𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙸𝚝 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚊𝚗. 𝙸𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚋𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚏𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚢.

𝙲𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚊 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝙻𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚢𝚗’𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚗, 𝚘𝚛 𝚐𝚘𝚊𝚕. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚏 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚕𝚕, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚝. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚏 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚒𝚝.

“𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚖𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚒𝚝, 𝚑𝚞𝚑?” 𝚈𝚎𝚊𝚑, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚝 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚍. “𝙸 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚊𝚛. 𝚂𝚘 𝙸 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎.”

@locklyn-thehunter​

“Well, it doesn’t sound great when you put it that way, does it?” Locklyn snorted. She liked to maintain a certain image, and the idea of being a drop-out wasn’t part of that image. Of course, to those that knew her story, drop-out fit perfectly in it. “Something came up. But that’s a get me really drunk on the 4th date kind of story.”

Locklyn considered for a moment, pursing her lips. She decided to drop the niceties for a second, but maintained the vaguely nice and approachable demeanor so as not to let on about it.

 “Who are you, anyway? You new in town?”

“𝙿𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚀𝚞𝚎𝚎𝚗?” 𝙰𝚕𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝, 𝙲𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚊 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍. 𝚂𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚢'𝚜 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚑 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚒𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚢 𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜. 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚞𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚎𝚗𝚝? 𝚁𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎𝚍. 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚠𝚘 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚊 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚢 𝚑𝚞𝚖𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚜, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛. 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚍.

𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚍𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎, 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚗𝚘 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚎𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎. 𝚂𝚘 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍, 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛, 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚢. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍.

𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚍𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗. 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚏𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐.

𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚊 𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚛. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗'𝚝. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚢? 𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚊 𝚋𝚊𝚍 𝚐𝚒𝚛𝚕 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚢 𝚊 𝚟𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕. 𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚙𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗, 𝚊 𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚐𝚎.

“𝚆𝚑𝚢 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚞𝚝?”

Locklyn nodded, placing her hands on her hips. “Yep. But like I said, not that surprising.” She eyed the woman carefully, deciding that it was best to be aloof about why, exactly, she had stopped competing in pageants.

A vampire, whether they were ‘harmless’ or not, did not need to know why Locklyn was in town. It could cause her whole plan to blow up in her face. Locklyn had been well on her way to an Ivy League college, with a bright future ahead of her. One fateful party changed that forever. Her sister was taken by a clan of vampires, and in that instant Locklyn dedicated her life to finding her and staking the culprits without batting an eye. Word on the street was that Havensdale was crawling with blood-suckers, and if she couldn’t find those who took her sister here, she might at least uncover a lead or two.

And she did. Blake had given her a lead, and also happened to be the person to convince her not to run straight into the line of fire without a plan. So she had to hang tight and lay low. It was driving her crazy.

It meant that she couldn’t stake Cristina on the spot. That might send out a signal to the wrong folk.

“Well, there’s no point in being all beauty and no brains, is there? I stopped for college. And then I heard the call of the open road and wound up here.”

“𝚈𝚎𝚜, 𝙸 𝚊𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚎.” 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚖𝚞𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚛. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚘𝚞𝚜, 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚒𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗. “𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚎?”

@locklyn-thehunter​

“Hm, let me see... Well, there was Prom Queen, and Homecoming Queen naturally,” Locklyn laughed. She was quite proud of her pageant days, and wasn’t averse to rubbing her wins in, but Locklyn was much more than a pretty face. So far, she had clocked Cristina’s vampy-ness and was using this time to figure whether the should reach for her stake now, or wait until later. She was itching to drive a stake though every vampire that stood in her way right now, but that could cause a severe hindrance in her plan to find her sister. So she resisted. “It all started with Little Miss Darling in 2002, then it was all uphill from there. I made it onto the national circuits, got a few of those titles under my belt and then pulled out.”

“Well hey, what a coincidence! Me too. I remember the weeks runnin’ up it was all anyone could talk about and while I’m not too proud of it, there was definitely some kinda sabotage goin’ on during the campaigning at my high school. You had to watch your back, front and sides, y’know?”

“I was truly in my element on the weeks coming up to prom. There’s nothing quite like it. But sabotage? Oh, I won my title fair and square. My campaign team made sure to wipe out the backstabbers and saboteurs before they even got a foot in the door.”

“San Leonardo High. 2010. It was a pretty close race but in the end, the people got what they wanted My mom still has my plastic Prom King crown in the attic somewhere.”

“I can picture it, honestly. You’re a true inspiration, Blake. We ran out of space in our crown cabinet and had to start donating them to my Grandma’s house.”

“𝚂𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎, 𝙸 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝.”

@locklyn-thehunter​

And out of what seemed like thin air, Dexter popped up right in her personal space, waving around a photo like yes please sign it. “Miss USA, such a pleasure to have you here in Kreagan Valley and can I just say, it is an honour for you to be in my presence.” So, as it turned out, that photo was of him and he had pre-signed it earlier for her. “This is for you. If there’s anything you should remember about our small town, it’s these cheekbones.”

“Hi there, it’s nice to--” Before Locklyn could even process that a new person was standing in front of her, a wild Dexter appeared and took up any personal space she thought she had left to give. Security noticed -how could they not?- and Locklyn exchanged a quick, concerned glance with on of the guards. Her perfect lipstick smile never faltered however. Miss USA was well trained in crowed and meet and greet etiquette, and her was her job to pretend everything was pleasant and wonderful and flawless, even when some weirdo was up in her grill, gifting her pictures of himself. “Oh! That’s-- Well, it’s-- Thank you. I’ll keep that with my... my other souvenirs. I’m sure I won’t forget this moment for a while.” 

She had absolutely no idea if he was being serious or not, but there were cameras around and she had to give him the benefit of the doubt before she could give security another very subtle cue that this guy was bonkers.