Three months ter

  After cheg her camera to make sure her makeup had survived the flight, Katrina walked ihe bustling suburban bar. Music sprang to life around her, smoke filled her nostrils, and she took a look around. Ever sihe ge, the tele one might expect to find at a bar had shifted dramatically. Looking around, she saw mostly humanoid races: Beastfolk, Aelves, a cute Nekomata tehe bar, and of course, plenty of humans. On rare occasions, bars like this would clear out spaces in their parking lots to try and attract the more unique races, but most didn’t care for the hassle.

  She’d been stalking this partieighborhood for a few days, and if all went well, tonight would be her st visit. She found a seat at the bar, ohat was visible from the whole establishment, and politely turned down the Nekomata that tried to take her order.

  “Status thing, I ’t eat or drink,” Katrina said. She did, however, slide a tip across the ter anyways. “Just need a pce to hang out for a bit.”

  With a smirk, the bartender appeared tent to leave her alone for the rest of the evening.

  Ready to begin, Katrina rotated her seat and leaned against the ter. Her simple, leather jacket pulled back slightly, revealing a somewhat exotic shirt that exposed both her midriff and her ample cleavage. She was still getting used to having so much to show off, but it certainly made her life a lot easier at times. She made sure to sit nid tall, knowing that with her Charisma score, it was only a matter of time before her target approached her.

  Tonight’s prey was a notorious brute, someone who used his Css to offer prote services against monsters. Of course, monsters raveled this far from the city, and he most frequently protected people from his own anger. After a few days of following him around, Katrina had learhat he liked to pick up women by bragging about fighting for recmatioe never havi foot in monster-tested streets

  Just as she predicted, barely ten minutes had passed before her horap went off. He was some kind of e Beastfolk, likely a wolf, with striking lines of red fur that ran across his head and tail. Likely elsewhere, too, but Katrina didn’t care about that. He hiccupped as he started talking, and his breath stank of cheap beer.

  “Hey good lookin’, haven’t seen you around here before,” he said, leaning against the bar o her.

  “Well, you know how it is. With the city overrun, it’s hard to get home, so I’m kinda floating from pce to pce.”

  “Yeah, you believe it? All those monsters? You know, I’m actually helping out with a lot of that. I’ve got a pretty strong Css, so it’s the least I do.” The Wolfkin smirked, taking another swig of his drink as he tried to check if his pickup line was w.

  It was obvious he hadn’t seen any bat retly. Katrina had seen enough fighting over the st few months to develop a nose for it, which made it easy to avoid bars that actually served active batants. The st thing she needed was a fight, after all.

  “Oh my gosh, really? What Css are you?” Katrina asked, leaning closer as she feigned i.

  “I’m, uh, a Berserker. I know I don’t look it, but hey, no o to pick their Status, right?”

  A practiced giggle left Katrina’s mouth. “Ugh, tell me about it. I’m a Bard, and I have no idea where to even start with that. Am I supposed to start taking music lessons while the world is falling apart?”

  The Wolfkin shared a hearty ugh of his own, pyfully spping her arm as he tio test his limits. “Ha! You’re a funny one, I buy you a drink, Miss…?”

  “Oh, where are my manners. I’m Sasha, but sadly I don’t drink. It’s a Status thing, I got stuck as a Vampire.”

  “A Vampire, huh? You sure you’re not here looking for a different kind of drink?”

  “Ugh, absolutely not. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we actually use pig’s blood as a rept. Plus, even if I couldn’t, you’re not a Human, so you’d still be safe.” Katrina leaned closer, trag a finger over the stranger’s chest as she kept flirting with him.

  Ever sihe ge, Katrina had spent hours desperately scrolling through message boards and forums to try and find other Vampires, hoping for advi how to manage her hunger. About a month back, she’d started to hear that pig’s blood was a suitable rept, and had leapt from her chair in celebration. That very night, she flew a few hours south to find an isoted farm, and had put the theory to the test.

  The first taste had been terrible, but she was desperate for a solution and pushed through it. For nearly half an hour, she’d fought the urge to gag and throw up, and mao drain aire pig. When she checked her Status afterwards, however, she’d only gained a single pert of SP.

  “Well, lucky me!” the Wolfkin said, ba the present. “So, what brings you around then?”

  “Holy? There’s so much going wrong out there, I just wanted a pce to rex, to pretend that not everything is on fire. Plus, if I happen to meet someone nice… I certainly wouldn’t say no to some pany tonight.” Katrina licked her lips slowly, staring deep into this stranger’s eyes. “I didn’t catch your name, by the way.”

  “I-I’m Ja,” he said, swallowing nervously under her intense, seductive gre. “I don’t suppose you’d… maybe want to get out of here now, would you?”

  Wow, he’s really pushing his luck. He’s lucky he’s my target tonight.

  Katrina leaned in close, her eyes still locked on Ja’s, and started whispering so that no one else could hear. “Ja, if you want to take me home tonight, then listen very carefully. Yoing to whisper something dirty in my ear, I’m going to throw your drink in your face, and then storm out of here in a huff. You wait ten minutes, pining about me the whole time, then leave the bar. I’ll be waiting on a bench at the park three blocks down.”

  She saw a familiar flicker in Ja’s eyes, then watched them dull as he fell into a suggestive trance. Her Enting Gaze feature was w perfectly, and even if it failed, she doubted he would turn down a ce to go home with her.

  With a slow nod, Ja agreed, then leaned in close. “I ’t wait to bend you over my kit table, Sasha. I bet you’ve never had wolf cock before, and I know yonna love it.”

  Katrina scowled at Ja, pulling back befrabbing his drink and throwing it in his face. “You pervert! I ’t believe you!” She straightened her jacket, then hurriedly left the bar while pretending she was about to start g. As soon as the door closed behind her, and she knew she was alone, she dropped the act.

  After a peaceful ten-miroll through the park, predictably enough, Ja the Wolfkin walked right into her trap. He seemed exceptionally smug, and he spent the whole walk back to his pce asking about her kinks. Did she like it rough? Did she like pying hard to get? He was vinced her little stunt in the bar was something she did for sexual pleasure, and she was more than happy to let him think that. It certainly wasn’t a plot to make people think they hadn’t gone home together.

  Luckily for Ja, Katrina had discovered an ued be of the ge: she was hot. Like, really hot. Having spent most of her life as a sy ginger with unmanageable hair, the realization that men and womeripping over themselves to try and sleep with her leasant one. Not only did this make hunting easier, but it let her cut loose and indulge in other pleasures she’d never had a ce to taste in her prior life.

  Tonight, though she’d preteo recoil at the suggestion, that meant happily letting a Beastkin bend her over a table and rail her senseless.

  Ja was anything but an attentive lover, but thankfully Katrina didn’t mind. When she’d gone down on him, his grip had been far too tight, and he didn’t even offer to return the favor. Once she’d been introduced to the aforementioable, she lear had rather sharp edges. Each powerful thrust, of which there were many, jammed her hips into the table and caused it to dig deeper into her skin. It was impressive how much it hurt; she had a feeling he hadirely adjusted to his ats yet.

  The pain, however, felt right. It enance for everything she’d done sihe ge, and it was a big reason why she tried tet men like Ja. They weren’t afraid to get rough with her, and they almost reated her like a person. To be fair, she wasn’t one. She was a monster, pin and simple.

  By the time he’d finished, aied himself deep inside her, he colpsed bato an armchair and began gasping for breath. His night was about to get much worse, as she took this opportunity to straddle him. He clearly thought she was turning out to be a nympho, but after calming him down with her Enting Gaze, she opened wide a her powerful cuspids pierce his neck.

  It only took a few seds for his soft fur to groith blood. She did her best to avoid sug hair into her mouth, silently wishing that he'd been a humakin had a different taste, ohat wasn’t quite as delicious, but it still helped shrink the void iomach.

  After drinking what seemed like enough, Katrina forced herself to pull away from Ja. She looked down at his neck, and saw that more blood was ing out than she’d anticipated. Moving her hands to his throat, she pushed down to try and stop the bleeding, hoping she could keep him alive. “No, no! , stay with me!” she whispered to herself. Seeing that her hands were doing nothing, she flew to the kit to grab a towel, then pushed it quickly against the Beastkin’s neck.

  Despite having just fed, she could still hear the song under Ja’s fur. It was slow, mencholy, and fading fast. Katrina’s heart was rag, hoping desperately to keep him alive. She hadn’t wao kill him, just scare him a little while sneaking in a quick bite to eat. After several more moments, however, his song ended. Katrina crawled off the armchair, eyes wide, as she lost trol of her breathing. Tears ran down her cheek, mixing with the fresh blood on her . She fell to the flrabbing her head as she rocked bad forth, openly weeping as the guilt from her test kill overtook her.