The Preying City

Vincent stood in a dark corner gazing at the boisterous bar. The middle aged man had said that he could find his targets here. Going by the little information he received, the howling wolves should be a supernatural group made up of werewolves. Thankfully, they were one of the well known supernatural beings.

A powerful gun was more than enough to take care of a werewolf even after it transformed. Now, all he needed to do was pick out the correct target. He had limited time and he lacked the means to take down a werewolf without using his gun. Hence, he had to make sure the target he chose would be a grade 2 supernatural or else the rest of the gang would be alerted of his presence and the job would become much more difficult.

Vincent remained motionless and observed each person entering and exiting the bar. He could even see inside the bar through the glasses because of his extraordinary eyesight. Werewolves like wolves, lived in packs and had hierarchy within their group. He could tell apart the higher grade supernatural from the lower by observing their actions. The only problem with this method was that he could end up choosing a grade 3 werewolf. If that really happened, then even escaping would be near impossible.

After two hours of careful observation, Vincent finally settled on his target. The man was in his mid twenties with a tall and slender build. Having spent his earning for the day, the target got up and headed for the door. His friends pestered him to stay a little longer and have some more drinks but he ignored them. He was out of money and he didn't want his gang mates to learn that. He had recently advanced to grade 2 and was working on building up his reputation within the gang.

Embarrassing himself by not being able to pay his bills was the last thing he wanted. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. Taking a deep breath, he enjoyed his puff and slowly exhaled. Glancing at the bar one last time, he started walking towards his rented room. The streets got quieter as he got closer to his room as the areas with nightlife were left behind.

Taking one last puff, he threw the cigarette down and put it out by stepping on it. His nose started picking all kinds of smells and he hated the feeling greatly. It reminded him of when he first became a werewolf. He had to endure the horrible smells every day until he got accustomed to his new advancement. How he wished that he could move into the cleaner parts of the city. Sadly, he couldn't afford it.

Just as he was about to light up another cigarette to distract himself from the terrible stimulations, he picked up a foreign smell. A young man who smelled strongly like the corner near his gang's bar indicating that he had spent a considerable time there. Strangely, there was no smell of the bar on the young man.

"Come out. I know you are behind that wall. Why are you following me?" The man asked loudly as he prepared to act at any moment.

"I don't mean any harm. I just wanted to talk to you." Vincent came out with both his hands raised in the air. His cleanly shaven beard and young features gave off a harmless atmosphere and the man grew less wary.

"Speak. What did you want to talk about." Still maintaining his distance, the man continued asking.

"E...is, is it true that you guys have the means to make someone into a supernatural?" Vincent stuttered and pretended to be a nervous wreck.

"You want to join us? What price are you willing to pay?" The man got interested. He was lacking in money recently and a vulnerable sheep appeared in front of him to be fleeced willingly. Suppressing his excitement, he began thinking about how to best empty the pocket of the man in front of him and he had already started daydreaming about how he would spend the money.

"I am willing to pay you 20 pounds as a sign of goodwill. I can pay you 200 pounds more if you make me into a supernatural." Still acting meek, Vincent took out a 20 pound note and extended his left hand.

The man tried his hardest to control his smug expression. He hadn't met such a fat sheep till today and he had to make sure that the young man wouldn't be able to leave without spending everything he could. Thankfully it was dark and the other party wouldn't be able to see his expression, or else the sheep might grow suspicious. He could see just fine in the dark thanks to him being a werewolf and he took this opportunity to scrutinize the young man deeply.

Concluding that the youth was harmless, he approached and extended his hand to take the note. Just as he put the money inside his coat's inner pocket, the young man moved like thunder and pulled out a knife. He was dumbfounded. He couldn't move that fast even after transforming and the meek sheep had suddenly shed its clothing and revealed its true appearance of a wolf.

Despite his best effort to create some distance, Vincent took advantage of his surprise and stabbed the knife in the man's shoulder and yanked the knife downwards, tearing the pectoralis major and rendering his left arm useless. An intense pain assaulted the werewolf but he suppressed his urge to scream as he hurriedly freed his right arm from his coat's pocket.

Vincent let the man put some distance as he couldn't retrieve a fang as proof if he didn't let the man transform. He just stared at the man and waited patiently. The pain and anger overwhelmed the man as he glared at the attacker. Grey hairs began growing on the man's skin at an alarming rate as his muscles began squirming. The sound of bones cracking resounded in the quiet street as the man's skeleton changed its shape and even his skull began morphing as a snout grew from his mouth. Soon, he had undergone a metamorphosis and turned into a giant wolf. His clothes lay in shreds below him.

The wolf glared menacingly at Vincent like it was looking at its prey and growled. Saliva dripped from its giant jaws and it lifted its injured leg to relieve itself of the excruciating pain. Its muscles had been turned and folded in complex ways during the transformation and it left the injury even more severe. Enduring the pain, the massive creature prepared to charge at the knife wielding man.

Vincent looked at the wolf straight in the eyes without showing any signs of weakness or cowardice. Waiting patiently for the beast to make its move, he took out his pistol and took aim. A werewolf would lose a part of his rationality before he advanced to grade 5 and he intended to take advantage of this fact to put down the foe swiftly.

Just as Vincent had expected, the wolf didn't run away even after looking at the deadly weapon and charged. The speed was alarmingly fast and one wouldn't expect such swiftness from an injured beast. A normal person would find it hard to keep his sight locked onto the wolf but this was not a problem for Vincent. He could clearly make out even the individual strands of hair on the charging creature. The details regarding the flexing of muscles along with the direction of the paws and many other things simultaneously entered his mind. With the help of all these information, he could predict the wolf's next actions and his brain concluded that the beast was going to pounce at him.

Without any deviations to his prediction, the beast took to the air and prepared to bite the armed man. Having waited for this moment so that there would be no chances of dodging while in midair, Vincent aimed the gun at the wolf's head and pulled the trigger.

The muzzle flash blinded the wolf for a moment and a bullet entered its head. The projectile carrying massive momentum exited through the back of the victim's head along with bits of its brain mush and fragmented skull. The sound of the corpse crashing was drowned out by the loud gunshot. The tinkling of the cartridge case hitting the ground followed the deafening noise shortly and the splashing sounds of blood and brain fluids signaled the end of the short conflict.

Vincent extracted the fangs using the knife and wrapped it in the man's handkerchief. He picked up the cartridge case and walked out of the crime scene swiftly after retrieving his 20 pound note. The police along with other people would probably come here following the gunshot and he had to be far from here as soon as possible.

Soon, he was back in the bustling streets of the red light district. He walked into a perfume shop and smiled at the shop attendant, "Can you show me the strongest perfume you have?"

After buying two of the strongest perfumes he asked the attendant where the washroom was. Locking the door, he cleaned the fang and knife after flushed away the cartridge case and the handkerchief. Spraying a ton of the perfume on his clothes and body to prevent the werewolves from tracking him through smell, he exited the shop and headed for the inconspicuous house.

Following the tedious procedure, he was back inside the room on the upper floor. He placed the fangs in front of the middle aged man and waited while the man studied the fangs. "A pair of freshly harvested fangs from a grade 2 werewolf. Congratulations, you completed the task. You are one of us now."

Pushing a badge with a miniature version of the mask towards Vincent, he continued, "You can enter the violet room in the Singing Siren bar with this badge. Information about all the bounties entrusted to us will be there. You can claim your bounty at the same bar."

Vincent nodded and took the badge and the fangs. He made for his hotel room without any delay and checked his pocket watch upon arrival. It was almost midnight and he packed his equipment and fell asleep.