Ugh, this had been a long day. I had gotten away because of Rakuto and Umi's arrival but I had had to Drive Umi to his house and stop him bawling.

I unlocked the door to my apartment and- bop! I was hit smack in the face by a soda can. I blinked several times in surprise before going in and turning on the light. Yep. Just as I thought...Misuzu. That very name was laced with venom, grr arg.

She was sprawled out on the black leather armchair that sat opposite the door, empty cans and food packets scattered about her feet like so many lost souls.

"Where...were you!?! You were supposed to have been back hours ago!"

I shrugged, "Doing my job...unlike you."

"Why you...little...f~," she ended in an angry shriek. Ha ha! She was so angry that a little vein on her forhead was throbbing - like in a cartoon!

I smiled maliciously at her, "Everything's fine, you’re done now." My words made the brush off clear; I didn't care what she had to say, or why she was here."

Her face scrunched in on itself as she fought to suppress her indignity at being talked to like a servant. "You," the word stood alone, taunting with a vengeful promise and full of hatred.

The word was a clear threat - and therefore warranted no response; but, still, "Yes. Me. Now if you don't mind, I wish to be unburdened by your inferior presence here - which festers with mediocrity." I turned to hang my jacket up on a hook beside the door to hide the amused grin hat had wandered onto my face. She is really just too easy to with. Ah, well, no doubt I'd pay for it later.

Misuzu let out a hideous screech and vanished, leaving me with a warm, cosy sense of victory ( a feeling I was seldom without around Misuzu - she really had to learn, you can never win against me).

After Misuzu had stropped off I hung about my apartment for a while 'till I felt the familiarly hollow pangs of hunger. I grabbed my leather jacket, stuck on some boots, and left. I didn't take my car, not for hunting. I walked across the road to the park and allowed myself to be shaded in their emerald depths. The smell of pinewood hung in the dank air, the soundless cry of savagery - one I didn't intend to ignore.

The wind searched for me with eager fingertips, its comrade in cool brutality; I held a dazed runaway in my arms, his eyes glossy from blood loss and his mouth ajar as he mumbled vagrantly in Russian. He had travelled a long way, but he would soon rest.

I laid my victim down beneath a sycamore, its roots caressed his fair skin and the soil embraced his worn limbs hungrily. It was an enticing meal for the sleeping giants.

I was just about to leave when the scent of decay hit me like the gossamer curtain of death I so often wallowed in. It embraced me as an old friend and a failed conquest, I would really rather have not followed its slimy tendrils, but the gnawing pit in my stomach left no room for disagreement.

As I crept nearer, my stomach migrated due north - almost painful in its slowness. The air was now rife with the morbidity of rotten flesh. I stopped at the corner of an alleyway and peaked around. The figures were dark, and skeletal in appearance but they were hard to see through the fog of death that hung in the air about them. I crawled forward lightly, seeking refuge behind a large crate filled with rotting fish. The smell was almost unbearable but I couldn't bring myself to breathe through my mouth less I tasted the odour itself and not the crisp air of night.

One of the creatures spoke and their seemed to be agreement from the others - I picked him as the leader - they were crowded round a bonfire of sorts, one with a green flame and the skulls of familiars as fuel. Then, there was a noise behind me, I whipped my head back out of view and held my breath. When I guessed it was safe to move I held still and cast my mind backwards to their meeting place, there was nothing there. Finally, with all the terror of someone familiar with horror films I turned my head frigidly and peaked round the crate once more. My heart melted and my eyes almost rolled back in relief. There was nothing. No gruesome skull leering an inch from my face, no assembly of fanged banshees ready to strip my flesh; thankfully, instead there was silence and a yawning stretch of black that was the alleyway. Everything, everything had vanished. An icy shiver ran up my spine and I had to shake it off before I stepped into open view.

I walked over to where the creature had been and stooped to analyse the ground, there was no trace of either them, or the ghoulish fire. I frowned, thinking to myself. All the same, I was happy not to have been confronted with them anymore. I un-crouched and turned to leave... THWACK!

THUD.