The Nuclear Reign of Strottimar [Part 1]

Chapter 7; Monsters at Bay

"Xander-" I tugged at his dirtied white shirt but he wasn't hearing me anymore. I'd started to question if he'd gone def a little over an hour ago, yet, he could hear the others alright. "Xander!"

Goddamnit! Stop ignoring me you- we now sat at this huge long table, filled with other beasts that had piled in later into the moon hours, before he'd gotten flat out drunk. A handful of azulers and some other murky sea beasts which I assumed came from the west, a whole bunch of treddors and a good mix of flates and critzsits. Then there was Monty, who sat aside, as if watching from afar, yet he had the most active seat at this table. He knew everyone as if he'd been around all their lives. I'd never seen him before this moonfall, I still had so many questions yet I was continuously ignored.

I gave up trying to grab Xander's attention and sat stubbornly with my arms folded on the edge of the bench while everyone else participated in some flate gambling game I'd never heard of, cackling loudly and speaking in some tongue I didn't know either, with blood spilling from their mouths, down their neck and to their chest as they gurgled down great big glasses full of it. That bartender kept eyeing me... eventually, I got so full of it, I stood in annoyance and wiggled my way outside through the small moon hours crowd. Xander acted as if he hadn't even noticed when I turned back to look. I'd had my limit, I was frustrated, I was tense, scared, tired from traveling all day to get here, and yet this was the thanks I got? This was unfair, but what under The Sun was I able to do?

Leaning my back up against one of the cold oil lamp polls, I drew a breath and rubbed my face. Why did everything have to always be so hard for me?

Suddenly, I sensed some cold presence appear as the wind shifted and I lifted my face from my hands. Shit, I knew who it was. The bartender that'd been eyeing me all moonfall lazily swept his arm around me and spoke in this low raspy voice. "Hey, birdie," he began, but I'd never been more uninterested, and my patience was running thin as the moon hour grew thicker. I quickly batted his arm away and spat in annoyance. "I'm not interested." I declared firmly as he seemed taken back, yet the determination in his eyes did not die, and that's what scared me. I was prey out here, I remembered, feeling the tags on my wrist.

"Now, what's a prey birdie like you doing about this part of the city..." his voice trailed as I held my breath. I didn't know what to say, reading his eyes. His eyes, they had this hunger I didn't recognize, some- blood lust.

He was so close to me that I could make out every detail of his face even in the murky lighting and my weak moon hours eyes. He had dull brown gray eyes and thick brows like Xander's. Actually, he had a lot of features like Xander, being a flate and all, but he didn't have the impressive leathery wings or the charm at all. His skin was an oily pale plaster, and his clothes were this dirty stained suit with an apron around his waist, stained with dark blood. He smelled terribly wretched. I fought every instinct to pull my blade on him, knowing out here I could be so easily eaten alive, picked to shreds and no one would bat an eye. Then, I saw his canines, sharp as knives. His figure began to turn, his eyes flashed for a moment before his face became scrunched.

He was going to kill me, wasn't he...

"That's none of your business." I held the tremor down in my voice before I itched my neck. I turned sharply, forcing my feathers to stay flat against the poll while he suddenly grappled my wrist from my neck and threw it aside with a low, hungry hiss. "Why shouldn't it be?" He leaned in while I tried to pull away. His face met my neck, latching on to my jugular as I let out an obnoxious gasp.

Shit!

I didn't know what to do, in a panic, my throat was too tight to scream. My feathers prickled almost painfully three times their size in fear. I could feel the pulling pain as he punctured my neck while I froze up, my hands going nearly numb from the fear and shaking that I could barely react.