Ahhh… yes. More fear.More delicious, trembling, bone-deep fear.
It poured off them like steam, rising into the branches where I crouched. Weaklings. Every last one of them. And the way their terror thickened the air—hah. It could almost fill the ache in my ribs, the hunger in my spine.Almost.
Was I ever full?
Never.
I perched on a thick branch high above their tiny formation. Don't even ask how I got up here—this was my territory. If I wanted, I could climb a straight stone wall just to watch prey squirm from above.My eyes swept over them—thirty humans, clustered together, pretending their weapons made them safe. Their scents mixed: fear, sweat, metal, chemicals, confusion, fear, fear, fear.Then my gaze caught something strange.One of the scientists had red hair.
Red.Like a dying sun.Like blood in torchlight.
Weird.
I'd tasted a lot of them so far—one with black hair, one with blond, one with almost no hair at all…Ugh, that pale one… the way he went soft in my mouth—gross.
But whatever they looked like, their blood always tasted fresh.
That red-haired scientist looked up.Right at me.At first, confusion flickered across his face—who climbs trees that fast? What animal stares back like that? Why was there blood across my jaw, my chest, my horns?
Then he realized.And that moment—that instant his pupils blew wide and his breath stopped—PERFECT.
I opened my mouth in a slow, wide grin, exposing every blade-like tooth.
And his knees buckled.He didn't scream.He didn't run.He didn't even breathe.
He fell, collapsing into the dirt like his bones had turned to water.
That made the others look up.One by one.Thirty pairs of eyes lifting as if dragged by strings.Their gazes locked on me.And their faces…Oh, their faces.
They all looked like they had seen death walk on four legs and smile.
This was it for them—they knew it.
Good.
I screamed.A brutal, broken, bone-rattling shriek that ripped through the trees.
Then I dropped.I dove straight into their center, slamming down onto the red-haired scientist first. His eyes never left mine, not even as I hit the ground beside him. The dirt exploded around us. He choked on his own terror.Cowards behind him sprinted away the instant their brains caught up.
Pathetic.
I stepped forward, hooves punching into the ground on either side of his ribs, pinning him without even touching him. My shadow swallowed his whole body. I lowered myself until my jaws hovered inches from his face.He tasted like panic.
Then I turned—The rest of them were frozen.Staring.Shaking.I straightened up, slowly, deliberately.My spine cracked.My shoulders rose.
I arched my back, lifting myself until I looked twice as large, twice as wrong.
Their horror fed me.
One of the big guards stepped forward, weapon trembling.
Idiot.
I lunged at him, fast as lightning. My horns slammed into his shoulder armor, lifting him clean off his feet. I carried him with me, crashing into the shadows between the trees.
Only his screams echoed back.The entire squad froze breathing.
Then—"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU ALL?! SHOOT!! SHOOT!!"
The director's voice broke like glass.Guns snapped up.Hands shook.Fear spiked so high it tasted sweet.
——————————————————————————*
"…This is unbelievable…" he muttered, barely breathing.No… no, no, no… they're going to get themselves killed…The live feed kept going.The creature didn't even hide anymore.It slaughtered the armed units like they were wet paper.
The nurse walked in with her clipboard held tight."Sir? You seem… shaken. Do you… know something about this creature?"She had black hair tied in a ponytail and way too much curiosity for her own good.He swallowed hard.
"…No. I'm just… thinking."
"Thinking? Sir, with your condition, watching this kind of thing isn't good. And frankly…" She hesitated, then narrowed her eyes."…you're acting like someone personally worried about it. Like you CARE what it's doing. Why? It's a monster. Why say it's impossible it would kill people?"
He jerked upright."THEY CAN'T JUST KILL IT!" he snapped—loud enough that she flinched.She recovered fast, suspicion all over her face."…You DO know something."Silence fell.
Thick. Heavy.
He finally exhaled, defeated."…I've known this creature for a long time."The nurse blinked.He clenched his fists, staring at the TV like it was showing a memory instead of a massacre."…It was always like this."His voice dropped low."…Hungry. Wrong. Something that shouldn't exist."The nurse stepped closer.
"Then how are YOU still alive? If it was always this violent—why didn't it kill you?"
He looked down, expression twisting between fear and confusion."…I don't know."
His eyes went distant."…I stood in front of it once. It could've torn me apart. It SHOULD have. But it didn't."
The nurse swallowed nervously."…So you think it remembers you?"
He didn't answer at first.On the TV, the creature leapt out of the trees—dragging another screaming soldier into the shadows.
Finally, he whispered:"…That's what I'm afraid of."