I reveled in the kill.

“Tala, I can’t find you and I’m starting to worry. Please call me back.” I repeated this process once more with the same result. A spark of fear ignited in my heart. I began to run. My long jet hair kept falling into my eyes, so I pulled it up in a ponytail and secured the tangled mass with my ever present hair band. My priceless necklace thumped against my chest in time with the clunk of my boots against the concrete. I was glad that I had begun exercising in the past months, otherwise, my current pace would have been impossible. The spark in my heart roared into a blaze. Sweat clung to my forehead though it was chilly outside, and I had a burning itch between my shoulder blades. The broken stoplight behind me flickered with a bloody hue.

I stopped to catch my breath near an almost unnoticeable alleyway. I could hear low mumbling and laughing creeping from its depths. I heard another, even lower, sound. Someone was softly moaning. My leg and stomach muscles tensed in readiness as I moved closer to the wall. I felt reality changing. I padded quietly to the corner of a dark alley. Somehow I knew this was what I was searching for. The mumbling, laughter, and moaning grew louder as I drew closer. I peered around the corner and a gust of air that reeked of alcohol and salty blood slammed into me. Every nerve in my body was electric with energy. My heart began to race. I  saw the outline of 2 tall figures looming threateningly over another, smaller, figure. I knew the smaller figure. Time stopped.

         A black anger seized hold of me. I straightened and boldly, but silently, stalked down the alley. I heard their familiar voices making foul and inappropriate comments about what they were going to do to the girl that was broken before them. The one on the left was even in the process of unbuttoning his rumpled jeans. I saw their drunken slobbering faces lusting for what was to come. My whole body was vibrating in time with the deep thudding of my heart. The girl’s shirt and blue jeans were ripped and stained with blood from cuts all over her body. It was hard to find a spot on her body that wasn’t purple or red. But through the thick curtain of brown hair I could see the battered face of my best friend; her eyes imploring me to turn from here; not daring to scream out at me to run in case her tormentor’s rage and lust be turned against me. The tall figure on my right pulled his leg back and slammed it into her in the stomach. I heard a distinct crack, a gurgled scream, and a wet cough. Blood splattered on Tala’s full lips. I lost my mind.

My vision blurred as the itching on my back flared into a sharp pain. My skin rippled and twisted. A sound like a knife ripping through thick fabric erupted, and echoed through the night. The sweat and blood beaded on my skin only amplified the small bolts of energy and blue cracks of miniature lightening arched from pore to pore. A feral sound ripped from my throat as I couched to spring forward. My back burst open. Light flashed. God, the power was magnificent.

I felt myself rush effortlessly forward. Everything in my vision was in stark relief despite the darkness that engulfed me. Before the drunken man who had kicked Tala had turned all the way around, I was crashing into his muscled side and smashing his head into the alley wall with a bloody pop. Somewhere in me there was a faint familiarity about the strawberry haired blood stain. The scream I heard this time was distinctly male. I spun and grabbed the other fool’s leather jacket as he tried to flee. I yanked him back into the wall on top of the bloody heap that was his friend as if he were made of Styrofoam. Slowly, dangerously, I crouched over him, bent down and grabbed him by the scruff his long thick brown hair so that he had to look me in the eye as he cowered and mumbled drunkenly for mercy. In his eyes I saw pure uncontrollable terror. I felt myself begin to thirst for his fear…I longed for it. As my own bright sapphire eyes reflected in his muddy brown ones I saw that he had reason to be afraid. I was terrifying. My long hair had escaped its band and was whipping uncontrolled in the brisk wind. Every inch of my body was sheathed in shiny blue-black scales like that of a reptile. From my back sprung elegant, silvery metal wings. Sharp fangs arched down from my mouth and dripped with venom. My left hand was poised to strike with its blackened razor sharp nails. Most horrifying of all, though, were my eyes. Large slit pupils shone in deep pools of burning blue that pierced through to the very soul of my prey with an animalistic hunger. My captive humanity watched from somewhere behind those eyes as my sharply clawed hand flashed out faster than thought, gripped my victim’s meaty throat, and ripped out its contents. I screamed at myself to stop. I reveled in the kill.