Chapter Fifteen

After walking past a shady alleyway; great entrance for this 'Red Circle' place; I finally reach a lit part where a single red light-bulb stood over a platform, all with indications in red that let me know without a doubt that I'm in the right place, especially the painting on the wall around the platform.

More curious than obedient to the laws of this place I follow along and go closer to that light and, to my surprise, find that there is a strange reader to the side, a transparent place to touch the bracelet on and a small screen on top that had some scribbles showing on it too, some sort of communication method I'm sure at this point.

Tilting my head I narrow my eyes, and trying to guess how things worked around me I try putting the bracelet under the thing where, I discovered, a blue light shone and read my silver bracelet, bipping when it was done and blinking with a green light.

All of this was exciting, especially figuring things out, as if the world around me was made of puzzles, but this time all the buildup leads to a mere… door, opening in front of me over yet another wall! Ok, so, these things give me access to places then? So each color or symbol represents something… the soldiers all had black so that is easy to guess what black stood for, the cross… is for stupid people? No no, sorry, it can't be, otherwise Bennett would have one as well… perhaps treatment? Research? Medical? Hm…

Never mind that, after all I rather stay far away from that place and under Julia's care again, I think my ears were one step away from bleeding when I ran away- I mean, stealthy left.

Then what about the other colors I saw? Copper, green, grey… so many things to learn, fascinating things appearing one after the other that makes a strange unstoppable curiosity grow inside me, and not only for the hunting.

It was… intriguing, unusual to say the least.

Speaking of hunting I had to test my limits this night, after all it has been quite some time since I ate and being cock-teased by such fancy meal walking all around me did not help my cause.

What can I say, I'm a big hungry monster, surrounded by fancy meals, even if I wasn't hungry I would want to stuff my cheeks with their meat and sip their blood…

But of course my plans go a little south when the doors finish opening and the seemly calm and empty streets turn out to lead to a very, very busy part of town that, on the contrary of the other parts and circles, would have the most crowded time at the evenings and night, which means… about now.

Just my luck, of course, but the hunt is a little postponed for my mind is literally blinded by the many red lights surrounding this very loud place. I walk a few steps closer to observe better only for that door to close behind me, making me have stride forward, watching the surroundings since I'm already here, no point in forcing my way out…well, not now at least, I could enjoy and take the opportunity to have a good look around.

My bare feet hit the uneven cobblestone floor at the same time that many other humans walk around, such narrow streets full of people makes it hard to walk around and even harder to concentrate in only one thing at a time, all their smells mixing together, and that strange flower odor I felt outside coating thickly this place, but strangely, beyond the sweet smell, there was no flower or plans around to be seen, but only buildings and people, lots of people.

This small ragged form of mine makes it easy for me to pass unnoticed on the sides, avoiding moving bodies everywhere and keeping to the shadows, and that makes so that I'm able to observe all throughout without bothering people, on how the many windows have red illumination coming from inside the rooms, how the mini verandas have lines of long red lights framing them, the old wooden and brick buildings mixed together with many lights and shining boards that blinked arrows, human forms, cocktails and even more of those scribbles, and yet this bursting district did not end there.

Beyond the full of people streets there are a lot of women, half-naked; and sometimes completely naked; over balconies, at the entrance of the establishments, among the crowd, that are shouting and moaning out loud while they touch themselves, eyes all attentive for the men who passed and stare them down, a strange lustful smell coming from the passerby's and inside the buildings that added to the excessive information that I was receiving right now.

There were some men in the middle too, of course, some wearing women clothes that revealed parts of what hanged between their legs, and left the nipples out in display while the belly is cover in corsets, all while standing on high-heels.

Others, the taller burly ones, wear leather pants and no shirt, sometimes with high heels too, others with chains and a ball in their mouths, all very… aggressive, trying to sell themselves out for the most 'good looking' passerby; in regards of having expensive clothes and accessories, that is.

But one thing that I notice is that there are some different types of humans; The ones that I usually eat are very white, almost pale, with very light-colored eyes and hair, the type I usually see in the soldiers.

But here… those were only the passersby, for the 'goods' mostly have black eyes and hair, weren't very tall and had the eyes pulled on the sides, only substituted by some tan burly and very tall people, all looking very akin to my usual dish.

I wonder if they taste different… and I'm eager to find out.

Felling that my head would explode with all that information bombarding my brain I start walking away from all of that, but it seems to be a hard thing to achieve while staying inside this place, especially when I realize that this area is surrounded by walls, and the only way out is through those doors with readers on them, which would blink red every time I tried to leave.

Red Circle… so this is what they meant… the city, separated, areas for each… it would make sense, why there were guards at the entrance, why they would give us these bracelets, and why every 'good' around here has the same color on theirs than mine.

I see… so this is why Julia got mad uhm…

I chuckle to myself. Such pity ways to keep your people around, submitted and in control, in a cage, will not work on me my dear, so worry not…

I look around and take a good sniff, and walk along the wall until I'm far away of any entrance and couldn't hear or smell anyone around, taking the opportunity and climbing the building closest to me until the rooftop, talons growing only enough so I could grab like a sloth and pull me up with ease.

When I reach the end and above those walls, the entire city comes to view, bright lights reflected on my eyes and making up for the lack of stars up above, the blackening sky framing the world of light the humans lived at.

That image makes me chuckle into a full fangs smile, body filled with excitement for the upcoming adventures that this city had in store for me.

And for the surprises I had in store for it too…