„It's six a.m and here's your favorite person in the whole world: YUUUKKIII. I hope you all slept good last night unlike the poor soul that was murdered in a very gruesome way a few hours ago..".
Natsuki opened her eyes. With one swift motion of her left leg the blanket flew against the wall next to the bed. If the blanket stays on her body she is in danger of falling back to sleep, so it became her habit to toss that thing away as fast as possible after waking up.
"This is the fifth murder this week and it's only Tuesday. Can you believe that? Police confirmed that all the victims were possibly killed by the same person. The way all the victims were killed is similar... very inhuman. It is believed to be a wild animal. Some suspect it to be a human with self made claws. Who knows what lurks in the shadows...".
The radio was turned off. Since the killings started Natsukis favorite host didn't talk about anything else.
I don't want to start the day with negativity, she thought while humming happily to herself.
Maybe some music would help? She put her earphones in and proceed with her morning routine. At first she ate a hearty breakfast made up of sausages, bacon, eggs, some fruit and a toast with hot black coffee. After eating she brushed her teeth and put on a red shirt, light blue very tight jeans that showed her nicely shaped ass off and her favorite pink Adidas shoes. One glance at the clock told her it was time to leave. She closed the apartment door behind her and took the stairs instead of the elevator. On her way down she encountered her neighbor, Mrs. Mueller. She was a very sweet old woman with a lot of stories to tell. Natsuki was a regular visitor who just couldn't resist Mrs. Muellers famous cookies.
"Good morning, young lady. On your way to work?", the older woman asked.
"Yes, yes. I don't think there is another reason to be up so early", Natsuki smiled warmly at the other person. "Have a nice day, Mrs. Mueller.".
"What a nice girl", was the last thing she heard before stepping outside.
Natsuki drove from house to house, visiting her patients. She loved her job. Occupational therapists are not paid that well but it's worth every second. She chose this path because she wanted to help people and in her opinion there's no better way than this. On the days where she didn't work at a school for only disabled children, she had her own private patients. She needed every penny and more patients meant more money. On Tuesdays work was very hard and slow. She only had an one hour break where she usually ate at her best friends restaurant and the little breaks between her patients when she was driving to their homes that only lasted 5 to 20 minutes. At her own home she wouldn't be until dusk.
"How are you doing, Natsuki?", Mai asked her friend cheerfully.
"Ah, you know. The usual stuff", the emerald eyed girl scratched her cheek lightly.
"Mhh. You're working too hard", the busty girl shacked her head. "What about a girlfriend? I remember you talking about someone last time?".
"Well.. ah.. she was only into my looks. Like everyone else..".
Natsuki is unbelievably beautiful and a lot of women want to date her. The only problem is that our dear Natsuki is socially awkward. She goes to different clubs, meets a lot of people and is popular as a friend even though she is very distant but romance is something absolutely alien to her. She tries to date but finds herself bored with the other person and doesn't even ask the simplest questions. Natsuki is content with not talking to her date at all or... if talking... then about something interesting like her lingerie collection or video games. Of course, like expected, nobody cares and never calls her again. For some reason talking to people as friends was easier.
"If you would show at least a little bit of interest then maybe someone would stay", Mai sighed. She knew her friend all too well.
"Yeaaaahhhhh, no", Natsuki coughed. "Soo, you heard about the killer?".
Mai raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. Stop changing the fucking topic every time I want to talk about your goddamn love life.
I know what you're fucking thinking about, Natsuki raised an eyebrow as well.
"Yes, I did. He's been killing for, like, only three weeks and there are already over forty victims!".
The killer keeps the whole town on their toes. The killings started randomly one night. There is no pattern at all, no connection to the victims, nothing. The only thing they know is that it could be a wild animal or human. Claw marks were found on some of the victims, definitely from an animal as humans do no not have such claws. And there's a big but... on every victim were also found marks of human teeth. This something was walking around, killing random people and eating them. So many questions. Is it a person with self made claws that likes human flesh? Or is it some other animal with human teeth doing the killings? Maybe an animal kills the people and its human owner eats them? Natsuki didn't want to think about that. She has to work very late.
It was dark when Natsuki finally arrived at home, earphones in her ear. She was just about to enter the building when a scream pierced the silence of the night.
"What was that", Natsuki tried to locate the direction from where it came. Another scream. In this area it was common for drunk people to hang out and sing aloud, so it probably was some alcoholic being an asshole again by screaming and waking everyone up. But what if not? What if the owner of the screams was, in fact, in danger. Natsuki had to see it for herself. Maybe she should have called the police first before going on her own but when possible danger is near you do stupid stuff. With her phone in one hand she followed the screams.
Strange, she thought, nobody called the police. They would have been here by now. The screams surely annoy some of the other residents.
Again, she should have called the police but if she did that there would be no story to tell.
The screams came from just around the building, behind a few dumpsters. There, Natsuki saw something so disgusting that she let her phone fall from shock. A... thing... was crouching over an obviously dead man, ripping flesh out and shoveling it into its mouth. It looked human. White hair, pale wrinkly skin, arms, legs and... long sharp looking claws. When the phone reached the ground it made a light 'thud' sound but it was enough to alarm the creature. Before she could run or scream Natsuki was pinned against one of the dumpsters. She couldn't do anything besides starring the monster into its eyes.
Wait a freaking moment, the emerald eyed girl started to recognize the thing, is this... Mrs. Muellers? WHAT THE FUCK.
"Oh, Natsuki! You shouldn't be out so late at night. It's dangerous", the elderly woman had unexpectedly a deep, hoarse voice. "I heard a killer is on the loose.".
Natsuki looked at the corpse lying on the ground. Mrs. Mueller followed her gaze and smiled darkly. Yeah, and that killer is probably… you.
The older woman licked Natsukis cheek, very slowly. Her surprisingly rough tongue covered the girls face in yellow, of death smelling, saliva.
I... don't want to die yet.
"You're a very nice girl", her neighbor whispered into her ear. Her cold breath brushed against Natsukis neck and sent a shiver down the girls spine. "So that's why... I won't kill you".
"Ohh, how touching. A cold blooded killer lets her victim go", said a female voice.
A short figure came out of the shadows dressed in all black. Natsukis eyes widened when she saw the metal claws on the strangers hands.
"Don't worry, lady. I will kill this monster for you".
At that, Natsukis neighbor faced the mysterious figure with a smirk. The emerald eyed girl slid down on her butt when she was let go of.
"Hello, my dear hunter. Long time no see. I was hoping you would visit me soon".
Both women started circling each other.
"Well, I'm here now so... .TEA".
The short woman lunged forward while dodging the punches thrown her way by Mrs. Mueller. For an old woman... monster... she was unbelievably strong but the shorter woman was the best hunter in town for a reason.
I may lack the strength but I have the stamina of dozens of your kind, she thought.
Noticing that the older woman was starting to tire she took her chance and forced her claws into Mrs. Muellers eyes, making her permanently blind. To add salt to the injury her claws released some poison destroying the brain of Mrs. Mueller in seconds. The old woman howled and fell to the ground, crawling on all four, disorientated, like a wild animal drooling all over her face and the ground.
"How sad. Now the only thing that makes you human is that still beating heart of yours", the short woman smiled and licked her bloody claws. She packed the monster on the shoulder and turned it on its back.
"Sayonara, bitch".
With a smirk she ripped the heart out of the monsters chest as if it was the easiest thing in the world. While all this was happening Natsuki sat silently by the dumpster. She couldn't talk, scream nor cry. She stared blankly at the action taking place in front of her without moving a muscle. Even when the hunter tried to talk to her she didn't respond. The hunter sighed. That girl is probably traumatized by what happened. Poor thing. With another sigh Natsuki was lifted of the ground, lying in the hunters arms like a bride. They both disappeared in the shadows.
A few hours later at the same location where the hunter fought the monster a black car stopped. A person got out and looked around. Everywhere blood and two corpses were lying on the ground. One of the corpses had a hole in the chest, the heart was missing.
"Must be the work of the hunter", the person muttered to no one.
A few feet away from the corpses was a smartphone on the ground. For some reason it wasn't locked. The unknown person looked through the photo album and stopped at a picture of a young woman with midnight blue hair and emerald eyes. On her red shirt was a name tag: Natsuki Kuga. So a fourth person was here beside the corpses and the hunter. Or maybe... this woman... is the hunter.
"Na-tsu-ki... I'm coming".
