Chapter Twenty

The dark sky covers my figure as such that none are able to see when I leap down, but since I've never been one for subtlety I land with a loud crash on my two feet right in front of him.

I see the brief confusion in his eyes when my strange figure emerges as if out of nowhere, the misperception aggravating even more since beyond that I stay in the path of his bullet, a crazy strange act on its own.

And yet he does not react at first, past his eyes widening a bit, as if taking his time trying to engrave the image of the strange creature standing in reach of his bullet, my long disheveled hair dropping in front of me and giving me an unkempt appearance of a homeless, and yet my eyes still manage to glare at him beyond that curtain of dark thick hair.

For a second we only stare at each other's eyes as the smile on his face drops, unblinking with a very fix gaze at me until another grin curves his lips up slowly, but this time in a far creepier manner.

It is impossible to tell what is going on in his crazy mind but his expressions change quicker than one would take a mask off, more like a muscle spasm than an expression on its own.

Not that I cared anyway.

Whatever he saw in my eyes bought me a second longer to act, more than enough for me to grow my tail fully at my lower spine and, keeping it hidden behind me, slash out like a whip and hit his legs from the back, making him go up first only to go back down hard again like a rock as if he was thrown by a ferocious river against a pillar, his back hitting first and making him groan as his head smashes on the next second.

But even when blood starts coating his hair and smearing the floor, he still has his firm stare in place with a crazy glint on his eyes and a smile from ear to ear, so I slap his face once more with my tail, rending him unconscious.

I scowl, weird guy.

I soon lose interest in him, however, as I can already taste the fancy meal prepared for me on the side, the body warped up in ropes and easy to transport.

Lucky me.

I approach slowly at first, taking a deep breath of such rich essence, already fantasizing the tasty of his juicy meat melting in my mouth as his still warm blood filled my cheeks and run down my throat.

I have to brush my arm on my mouth to clean the saliva that had started to drip from my slightly open mouth, a purring sound coming from my belly.

However I have to speed things up when I hear shouts and noise coming from inside the building and approaching our location, making me dash up towards Takamori and thrown him over my shoulder, easily carrying his weight as I run and leap up towards the rooftops once more, not even having to climb as the buildings from this side of the Red Circle were fancier and did not care of growing upper floors since they had a lot of space to expand downwards.

I could have planned this better, I soon realize, since I did not have a hideout yet to enjoy my meal in peace, and something that I've always enjoyed is to have my own space untouched so I could enjoy my food and naps without interruptions.

Without much choice now; and knowing too well that I would not have let the opportunity of such a fancy meal pass even if I had thought of this before; I first get far from the fancy buildings and area, having a clear image that that place would be harder to hide myself in, especially for being so well lit and guarded most of the time, and follow where the darkness leads me to.

I only stop once when I discover a strange thing, a gate, or rather, an open arch, the only wall I've found so far with the door wide open, no reader nor scans in sight, and a stream of people with heads low quietly moving about, a grey paint outline fading along the arch, indicating the circle the gate belonged to.

Grey? That's new.

Not having to pass through the door to get in I easily leap up the wall and hang around the edge, this wall being thinner than the others and having no watchtower nor path to guards to walk on, very different from the golden district that had a barricade even before you approach the door.

I sniff the damp heavy air of the area, no sweet smells nor loud noises, but a very… low profile image, especially with the people who all seem to evade eye contact with each other to avoid trouble as they keep their children close and their belongings even closer.

My kind of hunting ground for sure.

I jump up the buildings, avoiding the narrow streets of trampled soil and water as I keep myself above it all, and even if was bright as day those below would not be able to see me since these buildings are as tall as they are narrow, all with at least 5 levels and some even crooked to the side, using the space as best as they could by placing ropes between the buildings to put the laundry out to dry, making so that this cramped placed looks even smaller and narrower, giving the illusion that the buildings could almost touch at the top, on the very end, covering most of the sky and the moon and adding to the grey of the city.

Well, now I understand the name, plus I have started to figure out the name of the colors around too.

This dull place, however, had some light here and there too, mostly for stores and taking the form of those scribbles, but in such poor place most where crooked to the side, dangerously pending over the passing pedestrians, and even the light are flickering or went completely dark.

This place is so messily put together that it almost looks like they grabbed what was laying around and piled up on top of each other, but I soon come to realize that that was, still, the good part of the neighborhood for, as I climb further into the Grey Circle, the windows start to have no glass, the doors wouldn't shut completely, and the wooden stairs would have a few steps missing.

Such a place is bound to have many crevices and empty spaces for me to hide inside, but for now any room will do so I simply enter one filled with only olds smells, an open square space with barely any roof over it all, blankets dropping instead of walls to separate some of the rooms and the shitting place by the smell; let's add that to the list strange things humans have; a wooden small table with a smaller leg and a rag on the floor to complete the picture.

However as I enter the place by the broken window I discover why there were only old smells in there; for the owner's body was laying on the side already rooting and full of fat maggots wiggling their way in and out of the flesh and where the nose and eyes were, all the soft flesh already eaten away or decay, plus the pots left on the table with remains of food accompanying their owner's smelly fate.

Pity, could do with a snack later, but at least this place will do… because I'm far too ready for the main course.

I smile.