A/N: Are you ready boys? Are you ready girls? We need some DISCIPLINE IN HERE! *notices the crowd* Heh... whoops. Got carried away there. Anyways, welcome to the first chapter of my fanfic for Shiki titled "Monster in Human Skin"! I've decided to take a break from Vampires in London, and create a Shiki fanfic to help me out figure out what to do with myother fanfic. Anyways, here we go!

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Shiki, as it belongs to their owners.

WARNING: The following story contains graphic and disturbing descriptions of gore and other stuff that is inappropriate. Also, I changed the ages of some of the characters to ages at least 18, as there will be lemons in the future. Just warning you.

Blood. Blood was everywhere. The ceiling, the floors, the walls painted with the crimson substenance. The blackened eyes, with red pupils that can be seen in the darkness, were focussing on a gruesome display that lies before her: the headless and limbless bodies of a family, with their flayed skin stretched wide open and hanging upside down. Intestines strung over the sofa in the living room, and their skinless, decapitated heads in the refrigerator. No human could have done this, but the shiki, who had been invited into the house by the family, knew something was amiss.

It's been a few days since she has "risen," and already the 18-year-old Megumi Shimizu had killed a couple of villagers just to survive. She had targeted the Uzumi family, which consisted of a mother, father, and their 12-year-old daughter, under the orders of Tatsumi. She was to go with a group of shiki, consisting of Nao, Chizuru, and a couple of others, and kill them in the chances that one of them will become one of the okiagari. But it was too late. When Nao tasted the blood near the horribly mangled body of the mother, a rush of memories flashed through her mind. She collapsed to her knees, crying softly; the visions of the hideous tortures inflicted on the family too much for her to bear. All she knew is that it doesn't bode well for the village.

The rest of the shiki had heard rumors that a serial killer was on the loose in the village, but were not aware of the killer's savagery. When Tatsumi got a first hand look at the brutal and horrific nature of the murders, anger rose from within. "Sunako-sama will be most certainly displeased with the current developments..." Tatsumi thought to himself as he then orders the group to look elsewhere for more humans. When Megumi went into the parents' bedroom, she found an ominous message written in the victims' blood, one that worries her: "Natsuno is next..." "Natsuno-kun..."

"Hmm? Are you worried about him, Megumi?" Tatsumi asked, as he appeared behind her. "Oh! Tatsumi-san! Yes, I'm worried about him, to be honest. I have this ominous feeling that whoever did this is going after him. I'm not gonna let that happen..." The thought of her crush/love interest dying at the hands of the sadistic killer would be too much for her. Megumi had to get to him first. Unbeknownst to her, Tatsumi was hatching a plan. And it involved Megumi and Natsuno.

The village of Sotoba is a peaceful, quiet place, where many people can retire and enjoy vacations there. For Natsuno Yuuki, it was an entirely different matter. Ever since Megumi's death from mysterious circumstances, there has been a string of deaths that are similar to Megumi's untimely demise; all of the deceased had two marks on theirs neck that resembled insect bites.

Then, the nightmares, in which pale figures with blackened eyes are crawling up to his bedroom window and watching him, began, and have been recurring. He couldn't tell if this was all in his head, or if this was, in fact, really happening. It was only after Tohru, his best friend, had died when he discovered the existence of the shiki.

Ever since Tohru's death and funeral, he had every single charm known to mankind decorating his bedroom walls, ranging from crosses to Japanese luck charms. Paranoia was his only companion. What he doesn't realize, is that there is someone, or something, stalking him. And this entity has his/her/its sights on him. A monster disguised in human skin...