21 Prey

Zephyr spun and stabbed his dagger into the side of the man's neck before the man could finish laughing. It was his fault for being lost in thought when these pricks were about. 

"No, I didn't escape," he whispered menacingly into the man's ear, ignoring the warm spray of blood splattering his shoulder. It felt good to release some of his pent-up rage. Something sinister and dark twisted in him, the thrum of an energy surging from within. It radiated from his hand holding the dagger and flourishing across his scales, hot and cold crashing against each other, soothing him throughout his body.

What is this feeling? What does it mean?

"Hey!" The other guards charged towards him.

Zephyr sighed while the man gargled on his own blood sputtering from his mouth, his hand weakening on the Slinktail's shoulder, trying to keep himself upright. 

"Time to go." His golden eyes flicked to the guards, yanking the dagger from the man's neck.

Some of the Slinktails inside the cage caught the guard before he slid down Zephyr's body and the cage into the muck below. Zephyr was already spinning on his heel and diving down the nearest alleyway to see what they'd do next. With adrenaline keeping his body moving, Zephyr sprinted through alleys, twisting and turning, but the guards were hot on his tail—literally. 

Zephyr might have been able to stab someone at close range, but he wasn't skilled enough to fight five humans. He swiftly changed direction into another alley, missing a gunshot that pierced through the corner of the two walls, missing his head by a centimetre. 

That was close!

Adrenaline may have pushed him onward, but he wasn't at his best because of his training. Racing ahead, he saw a door opening, revealing the back of the kitchen. He knew where it led and sprinted through it, smacked once by a rolling pin and curse words thrown at him as he escaped through the front, where customers waited for their loaves of bread. A woman screamed as his hood fell away.

Alright love. I'm an ugly fuck. Leave it out. 

The guards, who'd stopped in the middle of the square, turned in the bakery's direction at the sound of her cry as Zephyr scrambled out of the front and headed in the opposite direction. Fuck, it would have been easier if he could blend in! He turned to the right and rushed ahead to the stables, ignoring the horses' startled whines as he pulled himself on top of the roof and ran across it, jumping to the top of a wooden fence. 

"Shoot him before he gets away!" 

Zephyr glanced over his shoulder. The guards struggled to climb to the stables' roof, and he was getting further away. He hopped onto a wooden pole sticking out of an inn. Its sign had fallen, and frost and dirt covered it on the ground. The establishment looked run down; perhaps it was shut. Zephyr pushed off with his toes and leapt up, his hands gripping the flimsy roof before he flung himself over just as another bullet lodged into the wall. 

He rolled across the tiles and hid behind the chimney, gasping for breath.

"Shit! Didn't Terry have the keys?!"

Zephyr stopped breathing as he listened to their shouts, no longer in pursuit of the Slinktail that dared to kill a human. 

"Stop chasing that shit! They're escaping!"

"What the-"

"Come on!"

Zephyr released his breath and crawled to the edge of the rundown inn, the rooftop missing a few tiles. The guards were running back to their cart, their speed slowing, expressions weary after chasing him. He didn't think those Slinktails had any will to live. Perhaps the opportunity kicked in their survival instincts.

He glanced at the claws of his right hand, which stabbed the guard. That feeling before had disintegrated, his exhaustion and adrenaline now pumping through his bloodstream. Had that been normal, should he ask Dain about it?

"You let them go." Fig's voice called from behind him. 

"You waiting to see me die that badly?" He said over his shoulder, not bothering to look while he regained his energy. 

"Only one of them had a gun," Fig drawled, sitting beside Zephyr and ignoring his comment. "Take him out, and the others would be easy to kill."

"Skilled fighter or not…" She added when Zephyr was about to interrupt about his lack of skills.

His lips clamped shut. Fig was right. Slinktails were weaker than Draegorths, but they were still stronger than humans. He should have known that after seeing that vivid brief history of demon kind. Their dominance was solely bolstered by their firearms and other technological advancements.

Zephyr had fallen back into the mindset of prey again. He hadn't been confident in himself and lacked the courage to face them even after killing their friend. This had to change. 

He will not be prey! 

"Call it a day. Garzon won't say anything when I explain what happened. Chin up, kid. You're still learning." Fig patted his shoulder, then pulled back quickly, looking disgusted at the blood on her hand. 

Zephyr didn't comment as he followed Fig across the buildings. The view of the men scampering to catch some of the Slinktails that managed to get away in his peripheral vision. 

"Go ahead. I'm not finished here." Night had yet to fall over them, though the day was already darkening. The breeze was picking up as the clouds looked thicker, ready to snow again. This place needed some snow. The slush and mud mixed together made the rundown village look worse. 

"You sure?" Fig asked, then shrugged, already answering herself. "Alright then." She hopped off the roof, disappearing down another alleyway, keeping that turquoise hair hidden, hood concealing her features, gloves hiding those claws. 

Zephyr hopped down next and headed in the opposite direction. He listened to the footsteps ahead, slow as they concentrated on their target, their steps not as quiet as they should be when hunting prey. The slush squelched beneath his feet, whereas Zephyr was light-footed, used to sneaking around and hiding, and was silent. The guard aimed the musket around a corner.

The oil lamp cast a faint golden glow on the side of his face as he smirked. "Gotcha- Ugh." Zephyr clasped his hand over the man's mouth, muffling his yell as he yanked the dagger from his spine and swiftly slit his throat open.

The Slinktail released him, watching him fall to the ground. Dark energy slithered up Zephyr's spine, spreading along his back, cold then hot prickling within him before disintegrating. 

Hmmm. Zephyr stepped over the body and followed the next two guards, who managed to drag two escapees back to the cart where the remaining Slinktails were either too unhealthy to leave or were dead. Sheathing his blade, he grabbed each of their heads and slammed them into each other. Grabbing the first to recover, he spun him around to face the other guard, his back to Zephyr's chest as he held him into a choke hold before snapping his neck in one fluid movement. 

Zephyr stared at the man on the ground. Breaking his neck really had been easy. Darkness swirled inside of him again, and he felt a little lighter. Strange. Maybe I should experiment more. His eyes snagged on the other man before him, stumbling backwards.

"You're that one from before…" He hissed, clutching his head, gaze dropping to the guard on the ground and back to meet Zephyr's golden eyes.

"I'm that one from before," Zephyr repeated in a cold, steady voice, stepping over the body and gripping the sword the guard pointed at him. It sliced his hand. No matter, he'd heal within a few days. 

The man snickered, fear flashing across his eyes before he composed himself. "What? You think you're some sort of hero for these Slinktails?"

Zephyr smiled broadly, his sharp teeth glinting under the light, soft lighting of the oil lamps. "No. I just want to kill you." Yanking the sword towards him, the guard following the weapon, Zephyr head-butted him in the nose, the bone breaking and blood spurting out. 

He'd been head-butted in the nose before. It wasn't pretty and painful as hell. He couldn't afford to go to the hospital so he put cotton buds up his nose and let it heal by itself. Repeating the same motion on another thrilled him. 

The guard's face was replaced with one of the bullies that kicked the shit out of him for years. The one who'd head-butted him put the ends of cigarettes into his skin, forced his head down a toilet, flushing it, and listened to him gargle over and over again until he faked his death on one occasion to get out of it. They fled immediately, panicking that they'd gone too far. The following day, the bullying was worse.

Grabbing the guard by the throat, he knocked back his balled fist and began punching him, each hit three times more powerful than how he'd been as a human. Those times hitting the tree trunk helped. Slinktails were weak, lacked courage and preferred hiding and submissively obeying others. Not this one. Not anymore.

Blood soaked his knuckles and was splattered across his face. The man wasn't breathing, and that hum of energy from before wrapped around him. The fatigue he felt before and after attacking this man disintegrated. It felt as though he'd had eight hours of sleep, a full belly and a day's rest. 

Zephyr tossed the keys to the Slinktails inside the cart and moved away, in a bit of a trance as he searched for the others. Any dwarves nearby, which seemed to be the primary residents in this village, didn't bat an eye to the screams of the humans. By nightfall, one of the guards was hanging from a rooftop.

The Slinktail stared in approval from the ground, arms crossed, before his smirk dried up. The bloodlust, the haze he'd been in, faded away along with the darkness that had been slithering through his body, almost consuming him. Was it that darkness, though?

Zephyr couldn't deny how much he wanted to prove himself to himself and how much he wanted to make someone pay for what he'd been through in both lives. It still didn't seem enough. However, he didn't mean to go this overboard.