1 Prologue

Do you fear the night? Personally, I've always thought of it as my solace and I wonder what makes the night so frightening. Is it the lack of sight? The unknown? Perhaps, is it something else far more nefarious?

I've never seen one but I've heard that there are far worse things than those that skitter and crawl in the dark. Things that hunger, gnashing their teeth as they stare at us as prey. We're warned not to leave at night because of them and that people disappear every once and a while, but I'm sure it's just one of those stories to scare kids into staying in at night.

-Excerpt from the otome game Fangs In Your Heart

~•~

"Stop! No!" A piercing shout broke the tranquility of the night.

In an alleyway five streets away from a main street a scuffle sounded out as a woman struggled in the arms of a figure clad in shadow. "Please, I'll give you what you want, just let me go!" A feeble voice choked by sobs cried out.

A white handkerchief was shoved over the woman's nose and mouth and little by little she went limp. Silently, the figure carried her away and placed her in a dark van, making sure the rest of the people inside were knocked out too. They then stepped back and entered the driver's seat while making sure to lock the doors.

Just like that, another group of people that would appear in the Missing Persons List disappeared into the night.

Through a window five floors up, a baby-faced teenager smirked in schadenfreude across a table, "Poaching from your kingdom, the humans have really gotten more arrogant as time goes by, haven't they?"

"You act like the same hasn't happened to you recently," A husky woman's voice answered back, easily wiping off the smile on his face.

"Hmph, that was five months ago! Stop bringing it up already!"

A raised eyebrow and a provocative expression was all the reply she gave before the boy nearly jumped across the table. Right before he did though, a single knock had him relaxing back into the chair with an indignant look.

The woman's lips curved and in the dark it looked like a red crescent moon,"Enter"

The door was pushed open and one of the many suited people in the building walked through in measured steps even as the door closed silently behind him,"Miss Ciel, the first group of criminals have stopped in Blightwood City."

The two looked at each other across the table, seeming to communicate something through their eyes. The young man gritted his teeth in anger and stood up,"I'll be on my way then."

The moment the door closed behind him, the woman continued,"And the others?"

"Heading in the same direction"

"Good, it seems we finally figured out where they've been storing people. Prepare the monitoring equipment and be ready to back-up King Adrien."