• tab Warm breath played against the sodden, mist laden air. Droplets of life giving essence dribbled down the fiendish visage… The fog, thick with a strange malevolence clung to ebony fur, drenching it despite its oily protection. The night was a murky blackness, no room for shadow or light… Completely… And utterly… Black.

    tab Like a hellhound of long since passed, the wicked winged beast tunneled deeper and deeper into the forested plain. Once a creature of dignity, all that remained was a malice, a rot. The stench alone that poured from its matted pelt was enough to make a darkling from the lowest levels of Hell wretch. Maggots, death worms wriggled, snared within the fur, within the flesh… They writhed like wretched babes left for dead.

    tab Long tainted wings, no longer soft like the down of an elegant phoenix, instead ragged… Torn… They stretched, reaching out like bent branches of poisonous yew trees. Bones like thorns protruded through the worn plume. A testament of what this vile creature must have endured. Glowing eyes of gold, bright as the sun itself, yet dull as the darkest of amber…No life glimmered there. No spark of intelligence, just a raving madness.

    tab Nothing but hatred, death, agony lurked within those saffron pools. One step after another the raw appendages trod. Long talons piercing the earth, sunk deep into its rich and damp soil… Churning the mud beneath, causing it to lash up against the already saturated coat Jowls pinched and the lips of the black beast twisted back… Jagged, broken teeth exposed… Its prey was no more than only twenty feet away…

    tab Above, through the shambles of the forest black, no moon, no stars, no guiding light. None of this betrayed the monstrous creature that skulked within the oppressive blackness. Pushing past those shattered fangs a serpentine forked tongue poked past drawn lips. …Blood, the brute could taste it… Feel it, he could almost drink it from the air. No place to run, no place to hide…

    tab The prey was already dead before it even understood… An eerie chuckle, rumbled deep within the barreled chest. Deep, dark and churning like a sea at night. Crouching, the fiend's body moved like liquid moonlight… The body poised, its muscles moved like intricate clockwork… Every part of the demon tensed… Readied… The moment had come…

    tab That second when everything became silent within one's mind... When death was imminent and the end was near. The beast struck hard and fast… Bowling over the prey that it had been stalking… Feathers flew in a flourish of silver and umber… And a shrill cry of anguish tore through the silent night. Talons lashed and bones clashed, another sound of sheer agony broke that virginal silence. The devil spoke no word, gave no sign of satisfaction or enjoyment… Just as soundless as the gloom that surrounded…

    tab One last pitiful mewl pushed past the victim's maw… Its once untainted white body was now stained crimson. The ashen form crumpled beneath the blackened one … And the beast, it stood hovering over the crushed remains of the wounded figure. Glowing golden eyes stared upon the form with indifference… Life essence dripping, coursing down the sable one's jaws, spattering against the earth mother beneath… Death had come, night had fallen, and dawn was no where in sight… The shadow… crept on.