Ghouls

Sarah and Belle patiently waited all night for Kay to return, but it was only after sunrise that she finally showed up with her once pink pajamas completely ruined, tattered and torn all over and herself smelling like a homeless bum, decorated with enough bloodstains and mud to scare a Spartan.

She was a complete mess, but her expression seemed pleasant enough as she walked through the front door on the first floor and toward the stairs, passing them with a polite- "good morning."

Both women passed glances at each other when she was out of sight, completely speechless.

Arriving at her room, Kay distractedly pushed the door, but was peeved when she realised that it had a passcode lock on it.

"It's bright out now and I had to sneak pass a few people to get here, guess I'll wait." She mumbled to herself, plucking a piece of stick from her hair and flicking it down the small aisle.

She then sat and rested her forehead on her knees. "Such a screw-up Kay."

"Hey.. how'd you get all the way up here? Did the landlady see you?" A young girl's chilly voice called causing her to raise her head once more, partly from annoyance.

In front of her across the aisle sat a girl in her teens, short purple hair and grey eyes, she wore dark blue uniform from a private institution and carried a bag the same colour as her hair.

"What's it to you?" Kay slowly lowered her head back in her lap hugging her knees and heavily sighing.

"This frickin hallway smells like shit." The girl held up her head and pinched her nose. "At least go in your own room."

"Password." She replied with another sigh.

The girl stood and walked over to Kay's door, sliding away the cover of the keypad and tapping a few times with a look of disgust on her face. "At least know this much before you jump through the window at night." She sighed before walking off.

Kay stood quickly and looked at her as she retreated down the aisle. "How'd you know tha-"

"I saw." She waved back before stopping at the corner just as Kay's door clicked open. "I'll definitely talk to you later." She said then left.

Kay went straight for the shower happy to wash and scrub away the grime that had so easily made her smell like a street-side massacre.

And it was all fine until she heard the door of her room open and three sets of footsteps enter.

Because of the life she'd been leading all this time, she did all the drying she could and then got dressed in a white blouse and black pleated skirt she had seen on the bed accompanied by stockings she ignored and a pair of black flats, already deciding that any question she would ask would have to come at a later date.

Exiting she came face to face with Luke, Belle and Sarah again, this time though there was a serious atmosphere when she approached, an almost hostile one.

Without a word, Luke and Belle gestured simultaneously that she follow them.

Before she could speak Luke did, and his words also put her on guard.

"A total of seven mutilated and partially eaten corpses were found between last night and this morning, do you know anything about this?" He asked warily, his tone carried with it the command she had heard the first time they met telling her that he was in no mood for games.

"The only thing I killed yesterday was a deer." Kay replied closing the door behind her.

"Can I trust your words?" Sarah asked, "I'm human, and there's a rule in my building that has a zero tolerance policy, and that's easily that no killer can stay here, the moment you become such a person here in Shallow Valley, the Blood-Hounds will mercilessly see to your demise."

Kay stuck her hands in the pockets of the skirt and stared at the ground as they all exited the building. "It wasn't me, I'd never kill any human of my own volition, taking a life is something I've never willingly done."

"I thought you'd say as much." Belle commented. "You seem like more of a peacemaker to me."

"I'm not that either." Kay quickly rebutted. "The world around me and everything in it that happens is none of my concern, I simply want to live a peaceful life... Since dying has become increasingly harder everytime I try." She spoke detached causing brief glances to find her.

"The fact still remains that people died while you were out, since it's obvious that you can't ingest normal food, I'll take care of that tonight and the nights that follow, stay in the apartment at night until this matter is solved, by the claw and bite marks on the bodies, we may have another ghoul to deal with."

"A what?" Kay suddenly perked up, aside from werewolves, Blood-Hounds, vampires, hybrids of them all, and Chimera, she wasn't aware that any other being existed. "What's a ghoul?"

"In short, a human reborn after death with a craving for the blood and flesh of other humans." Belle nodded.

"What do they smell like?" Kay asked walking a pace faster to keep in line with them. "What does one look like, are all their teeth intact, does their breath smell, wouldn't a ghoul be considered a zombie or even possibly a vampire?" She practically vomited up her words almost stumbling over the sentences.

"They're dangerous, and very powerful, but they're not just randomly born from dead, there deliberately resurrected." Sarah replied seriously.

"Like biblical resurrection?" Kay asked confused. "I always thought that was a bunch of bullshit on a stick."

"As far as I'm concerned, it is." Sarah replied. "These monsters are normally a product of dark spellcasting, or witchcraft."

"Oh!" Kay practically jumped at that unexpected revelation.

"In regard to how they smell, it's like sulphur, pinewood, and burnt flesh." Luke educated her. "These are the main ingredients that they're composed of and the scent never fades, niether does their insane appetite or incredible strength."

They all turned and stopped at the side of a building, then Belle took a ring of keys from a bag Kay hadn't even noticed and bent to open the lock on the iron door.

That's also when Kay realised that she was wearing the same outfit as Belle.

"What's going on here?" She asked turning to look at the other two, realising straight away that Luke was also uniformed. "Luke.."

"You can't stay at my place for free Mikayla, I own this cake shop, so you'll work here for me in return."

"Oh"

"I was going to mark you later tonight under the half moon." Luke explained. "You're a part of my pack now after all." He smiled at her.

"That won't.. no, that can't happen." Kay stepped backward. "Don't you listen?" She almost snapped in frustration, grabbing the white patch of hair in her hair and ripping it out, root, skin and all.

New black hair grew back instantaneously along with a fresh patch of skin, the whole process was so fast that only a trickle of blood managed to reach the tip of her nose, not even dripping.

"This!" She held up the hair in her hand showing them, they watched as all the black hair that came out with it turned white like the rest and even the skin attached to it seemed alive. "So long as I live I'll never be able to join any pack, you think I haven't tried, it just never works.. as soon as I'm incorporated into the pack the beta go crazy.. they lose control and kill everything in sight."

While Luke only widened his eyes, Belle and Sarah both gasped at what had happened so suddenly. Sarah practically tackled her, folding the hair and stuffing it in a paper bag. "Crazy child.." She mumbled as she brought out her handkerchief and wiped the blood away- Kay flinched at the sudden contact.

"I've seen four Alphas kill their entire pack, because they simply wouldn't calm down, they went wild."

"Well.." Luke paused and scratched the back of his head, staring at the paper bag in Sarah's hand. "Well...shit."

Her expression fell into depression as she began thinking of where to go next, but before her thoughts could finish their course, a peculiar scent invaded her nostrils, a stench so vile she reeled back and vomited water instantly. "Shit.. that's putrid." She wheezed.

"What's wrong?" Luke asked, now sniffing the air but unable to smell a thing besides Belle Sarah and Kay before him.

"It's gross.. like.. like... Death." She puked again, like before only water came up thick and slow like mucus.

"Is this what a ghoul is supposed to smell like? It's revolting!" Her head snapped up, saliva ran from the corners of her mouth and her eyes were the shade of sunset.

Her hands shook, and although she tried, in the end her mind lost to the pull and she gave in. "Putrid... these beings.. their power.. I have to kill these Ghouls!!" Her face turned pale and before they could stop her she leapt backward snatching on to the window of the building behind her and then sprung from the wall to the roof of the cake shop and began madly chasing the scent.

Luke nodded to Belle before following Kay into the roofs so he could keep track while Belle quickly took out her phone and turned to Sarah. "Get inside and stay there until we're back, if we aren't within the hour call someone to pick you up, go home and stay there."

"Just go." Sarah fanned Belle off.

•••KAY•••

Kay was running almost parallel to the rooftops as she sped across the town, going on all fours ever so often to gain more speed in search of the scents, her teeth gnashed and her claws dug into the concrete, crashed against tiles and caused utter chaos upon the taxpayer's poor rooftops, in her pursuit.

Luke by this point was able to smell the flesh and sulphur as they drew closer.

"Ghouls, she definitely said 'Ghouls'!" Luke thought as he kept pace behind her. "This could turn into a disaster, I hope Belle caught on to what she said as well."

Kay stopped on the roof of an abandoned building and stood on the edge looking down, and when Luke caught up she pounced downward. "Shit wait!" He called before jumping down after her.

Beneath his gaze was a group of five pale people, three of them stood circling a screaming child as the other two were tearing apart what was probably once a woman.

All that remained of the woman now was a pile of blood, flesh and broken bones, he only assumed it was a woman because of the discarded hand and a shoe beside it.

Kay crashed into the back of one of the Ghouls standing guard over the child and drove her hand deep into his back roaring out in pleasure when he screamed, Luke landed several metres behind her with burning red eyes trained on the unnatural imposters.

"..Ghouls.. Death.."