Prologue

She feign obliviousness to the sound of his dull footsteps in the darkness behind her. She clung to her jacket as wisp of cool night air blew past. She gave a fake shiver to fool the imprudent stalker. The wind whipped through her glossy auburn hair as she thought, That's right... come along, now. Think of how badly you want to devour me. Think of how good my heart will taste.She paused on a street corner, both to be certain that her stalker is still behind her and so she can appear confused and scared. There’s nothing like a lost teenage girl on the bad side of town to get their blood pumping, she thought to herself. The street lamps made the wet pavement glisten. She tried to avoid the light as best as possible, it would ruin the whole charade. She turned sharply and headed down an alley. Her stalker turned as well.  

She was wearing a bright red hoodie and ripped jeans. She wore red for two reasons, to attract attention and the hoodie symbolized something, little red riding hood.

 The side of town she was in reeked of stale beer from the restaurants that have become bars, now that the sun was down. She suspected the man following her could smell her perfume above the booze. If you can even call him a man, she thought in disgust. The perfume she was wearing attracted things like what was stalking her. They slowly lose their souls when they become monsters. She walked faster- one of the many tricks she learned. Run from an animal, and it chases you.

Her fingertips skimmed the black knife hanging at her waist, hidden by her long red hair. One thing she found out is, they are drawn passion, sex, and lust, it is irresistible to kemono, that's what she called them. It was the japanese word for beast. 

“Miss!” her stalker called out just as she emerged from the alley’s opposite end. 

Gotcha.

She gasped and turned around, careful not to let  her hood slip off her head. “You scared me,” she said clutching her jacket to  where her heart is. Her eyes were strange, one blue and one green. It's easy to make a kemono notice her hair, her long legs, her waist, she spun around to get a good look at him.

“So sorry,” he said, as she stepped out of the alley. He looks normal, almost nice actually- dark brown hair and a firm jaw speckled with facial hair, kinda like a high school football star in his prime. He was wearing a pale blue polo shirt and jeans, but don't don't let it fool you, the handsome look wears off once you see him transform into a hideous beast. Yeah, it would be kinda hard to lure young girls to their death if you look like a pyscopath. You have to look kind, put together, clean cut. You have to show them clean hair and stylish clothes.

He doesn't look that old, she thought. Probably mid twenties maybe early thirties, though they stop ageing once they get consumed by the darkness. It's a shame.  He took a couple of steps towards her, “isn’t it a little late for a young lady such as yourself to be roaming around  this part of town?” he asked trying to suppress his hunger and excitement. He’s starting to transform, she thought. The girl took a step back trying to look frightened. She was a spectacular actor, I bet I could even fool Melita Norwood. 

“I got a little lost I'm supposed to wait somewhere around here,” she said. “My friend and I are gonna have a girls night” she tried to urge him towards her. Come on, you're so close. I can see the hairs on your arms multiplying.  “Oh really, what does she look like?” he asked his voice sounding more rough and low pitched. “S-she has short blond hair and p-pink glasses” She stuttered trying to seem as frightened as she could be. “Oh I think I saw a girl like that walk by down there” He pointed to an alley, there was only one way in or out. The girl walked into the long dark alley, looking around for her pretend “friend”. Then that's when it happened, the guy who was stalking her  grew fur on his arms.

The girl plastered a wide grin on her face as he morphed, this was her favorite part. The adrenaline gathered in her veins making her buzz with excitement. As soon as he was done shifting she thought, werebeast eh? This’ll be easy. 

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