He was being followed.
The man kept glancing behind him furtively, unable to be rid of the feeling that something was watching him, stalking his every move.
Every shadow in his peripheral vision seemed to morph its shape into that of a person, arms reaching out as if to snatch him away.
The dark of the night certainly wasn't helping to ease his paranoia. Neither was his current drunken stupor.
His footsteps hurried across the cold pavement, until finally he broke out into a full run. There. Something was definitely following him.
If he had been ten years younger, the man would have had no problem making the last mile between his home and the pub. Unfortunately - age, high cholesterol, and twenty years of smoking had all caught up to him before his stalker could.
He managed a short, adrenaline-fueled sprint before he found himself leaning his hands on his knees and wheezing, gasping to catch his breath.
Suddenly the man realized how silly he was being. What was he running from, exactly? Shadow men he had seen after a late night of drinking?
The man allowed himself to chuckle at his antics. The guys would have loved to hear about this one. The man stood up straight and inhaled deeply in an attempt to clear his mind. He froze though, as he registered the faint scent of brimstone and sulfur.
Gulping, he slowly turned around to locate the source of the smell. At the opposite end of the block, he could barely make out the silhouette of a man. Only, it wasn't a man. It couldn't have been.
He stood there casually, looking straight back at him with a pair of unnaturally glowing, yellow eyes.
The man let out a frightened shriek and quickly rushed down a dark alleyway. His heart pounding in his ears, the man ran until the alley gave out into an unfamiliar street. Across of it stood a church in all of its glory.
He made a direct beeline for it, shoving the doors open with all his strength. Naturally, he felt safer in this church. This was a holy place after all, where God's eyes were attentively watching.
Panting, he took in his surroundings with a dim visibility aided by burning candles. It was a small church, rows of pews were either side of the aisle he was standing in. At the end of it, hung a large crucifix.
The man was slowly calming down as he stared at the sorrowful image of the Prince of Jews, nailed to a cross and left to die for the sins of his children.
Something compelled him to walk towards it as safety and comfort enveloped him in a tantalizing cocktail. Soon, he found himself standing directly beneath it craning his head to look up at it as Jesus was craning his own to look up at heaven.
It was this perfect moment that would be forever ruined.
Something strong grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up into the air. Thrashing his arms and legs about, nothing he did could have gotten him out of this death grip.
The something brought his body up even higher until finally he was faced with an image that made his blood turn cold. An unnatural and unholy monster, perched atop of the crucifix that was until now hidden in shadows.
Its spaded tail wrapped around his throat squeezed even tighter, choking out the last bit of life from him.
The last thing that the man ever saw before blacking out into eternal sleep was the image of a cruel mockery of a smile embracing the lips of a demon.
AN: Huh... a bit darker than my usual stuff. I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, 'tis only the prologue. God, I really shouldn't be starting on another story. I couldn't help it though. I re-watched X-Men: First Class again and I thought an evil Kurt would be awesome.
Anyway, drop by a review if you feel like it.