A FEAST

Everyone waited outside the house, eagerly awaiting Alaya's appearance. Adrian, clad in his customary black suit, stood amidst them, holding his cane in his right hand. Inside, Emilia remained, refusing to come out and bid farewell, lost in a fit of frustration. She yearned to accompany Adrian, but he had firmly denied her request.

Three figures, all dressed in black attire, awaited their moment. The bald man, his sleeves torn to reveal bulging muscles, had a smooth, moonlight-illuminated head—a rarity in the vein of Adrian. Just as impatience began to set in, Alaya emerged, donning a form-fitting black tracksuit that caught everyone's attention.

On that fateful night, Alaya stood poised, her unwavering determination radiating from every inch of her being as she steeled herself for the impending battle.

She wore a simple, dark tracksuit, allowing her to seamlessly blend into the inky shadows of the night. Her bare feet made a near-silent connection with the earth beneath her. The moonlight revealed the grace in her form, a testament to her warrior's spirit.

Alaya's eyes, glinting with fierce determination, reflected the starry canopy above. Her unwavering gaze pierced the darkness, acutely attuned to every subtle rustle and whispered breath in the night. The wind tousled her hair, forming a tempestuous halo that framed her determined face. In preparation for the big night, Alaya's hands remained empty, but her confidence radiated from her being.

"You're all aware of the plan. I trust you'll initiate it promptly. The sooner we draw them out, the quicker we can accomplish our mission and depart," she declared. Her gaze lingered on Adrian for a moment, as if harboring unspoken sentiments, but ultimately, she remained silent.

Without warning, her feet lifted from the ground, and she began to hover in mid-air. "I'll be on my way," she said calmly, her figure gradually dissipating from the spot where she hovered. She vanished, but in a most peculiar fashion.

The red-haired man remarked with a hint of amazement, "Always surprises me." He then gracefully propelled himself off the ground and vanished. Adrian observed this with a subtle smile. Meanwhile, the bald man maintained his unwavering gaze on Adrian, seemingly anticipating his next move. However, realizing Adrian wasn't taking any action, the bald man decided to depart as well. Bat-like wings sprouted from his back, and he gracefully took to the sky. Watching this, Adrian couldn't help but mutter a quiet curse under his breath, lamenting the apparent advantage he possessed.

The third man, a relative stranger to Adrian, transformed into an ethereal mist. Adrian watched as the mist gracefully swirled and shifted, meandering from one spot to another until he vanished entirely from his field of vision.

"It's high time I put my plan into motion. Who should be my first target?" Adrian pondered quietly. His intentions had never included assisting Alaya; he still harbored a lingering grudge for how she had manipulated him. 'I'll figure out what to do with Katharine once I'm back,' he resolved.

Adrian's gaze followed the path where the bald man had taken flight, a small, knowing smile gracing his lips. Without further ado, he began to stride purposefully in that same direction, his pace accelerating with every step. 

Adrian was a pure-blooded werewolf, in name if not in powers, endowed with the robust physique inherent to all of his kind. And so he was soon sprinting at an astonishing velocity, a feat that should have been impossible for someone lacking the supernatural cores that powered others of his ilk.

His cane, bathed in the moon's silvery glow, emitted a subtle, ethereal gray hue—a silent testament to its mysterious role in Adrian's ability to attain such inhuman speed.

High above a bustling nighttime street, the bald man contemplated his next move, suspended in mid-air. His thoughts swirled as he pondered, "Alright, where do I start, and who's going to be my first victim?" His eyes ultimately settled upon a dimly lit alley where two intoxicated young women staggered, their attire alluring and revealing.

Their unsteady gait and provocative clothing kindled an insatiable thirst for blood within the bald man.

"Dinner's done, but a little pre-game snack won't hurt. Alright, you two are on the menu for round one," he declared before swooping down into the alley.

The two girls reveled in their conversation, laughter ringing through the night, blissfully oblivious to the impending catastrophe. Suddenly, one of them halted, retching from an excess of alcohol. As she finished and glanced back at her friends, her laughter abruptly ceased, replaced by an eerie silence.

Swiveling around, she was met with a sight that nearly made her bladder fail. A slow, dripping sound echoed as her legs grew damp. Before her stood a creature, its fiery-red eyes gleaming, teeth sharp as if ripped from the pages of a comic book, and colossal, jet-black wings unfurled. The baldness of its head did little to alleviate the sheer terror of the encounter

The creature held her friend's severed head askew in its open mouth, poised to deliver the next horrifying bite. She was gripped by confusion, questioning the reality of her predicament. 

Was this a dream—a hallucination fueled by alcohol? But the stark, sobering realization struck her that she had been awakened with brutal abruptness. As she struggled to comprehend the situation, she watched the creature sink its teeth into her friend's neck.

As her neck bled profusely, the creature's two canine teeth delved deeper into her flesh. The creature eventually ceased what appeared to be a blood-drinking session, and to her dismay, it was far from the end. At that moment, she found herself wishing the creature had continued feasting on her blood instead of what was to come.

In a horrifying moment, she watched as her friend's head was torn from her body—a gruesome spectacle of blood and gore. After the creature had finished its grisly meal, it used its elongated nails to wrench her neck from her body.

Under normal circumstances, a person would have fainted by now, but the adrenaline coursing through her veins kept her eyes wide open, unable to look away from the macabre scene. The creature released her lifeless body and turned its gaze toward her.

'Is it my turn next?' she wondered, a thought that seemed foolish in hindsight. It was only the beginning, and she had no inkling of the reasons behind this terrifying ordeal.