The abandoned buildings of Chicago had become my playground as the moon rose high into the charcoal sky, with clouds stretching their snake-like tongues across the world. I crouched, hunched over like a gargoyle, on top of an abandoned apartment building, waiting for Carlos to appear and rubbing my nose in self-pity. That son of bitch Zack had probably broken it; I'd be sniffing blood for a month. But, no point to worry about cosmetic features, for Zack would pay soon enough. All in good time, my pretty, all in good time.
I had sent Carlos off into the night with his weapons and a medallion of the Blue Lady. He needed her protection; he was worthy of it.
So, somewhere, he was scampering about, waiting for me to show myself. Show. He would see, not hear me, before he died. Nobody ever heard me. I was a wolf, wearing innocent sheep's clothing as I prowled throughout the night.
That's when I saw the wavelets on Lake Michigan, near the shoreline. Normally, I wouldn't have paid much attention because, obviously, there's always some kind of movement on the water. But, these ripples weren't wind-ripples. They were human-ripples.
I jumped down from my spot, free-falling for close to a hundred feet. Zack had yelled at me before for doing such a stunt. Said I'd break my legs right in two. Kill myself if I wasn't careful. I looked at it this way: I wasn't dead yet.
Scurrying around the crumbling buildings, I waited for Carlos to try and shoot me. The top of his head barely poked through the inky water, but I could see his anxious, glittering eyes in the dark. Two stars that had fallen from the heavens-or receded back up from Hell, whichever way you preferred to look at it.
Patiently, I waited around the backside of a building, pressing my back tightly up against the rocky side of it. My arms were stiff against my sides and fingers were splayed, not even daring to wiggle in case that would jar a rock loose and send the whole building falling. I tried to keep my breathing quiet, but it was most difficult due to my agitation. The blood pulsating through my veins created a beat that blocked out most of the other sounds. The thrill of the hunt. Victory would be mine once again.
At the time, I was too occupied with listening to my breathing and trying to keep that quiet, when Carlos approached me. He grabbed me by the throat with his bear claw of a hand and pinned me up against the wall. I froze as my feet lifted off the ground, not even bothering to gasp for the air I didn't need. Someone had actually caught me; they certainly wouldn't live to tell about it.
"El diablo," Carlos hissed at me, his voice an ugly sneer. A golden tooth flickered in the pale moonlight. I swear, his teeth must have been as big as my eyes. The man was a monster, both literally and figuratively.
But, then again, he believed me to be the devil. And the devil makes monsters-doesn't he? So, this man, this massive creature that had a knife pressing tight against my throbbing arteries, was indeed my monster. Only I could have created such a being with this amount of hunger for both blood and power.
I sneered right back at him, despite my having to look up at him to meet eyes. "Adìos, Carlos."
"Como?" he asked, not understanding what I meant.
"Buenas noches," I whispered to him. Then, with a powerful thrust of my knee, I knocked the wind right out of his steel stomach. Carlos gasped and nearly slit my throat right then and there. I felt the knife wiggle, causing a tiny scratch to form, but not nearly enough to kill me.
Fortunately, I reached up and grabbed him by the wrists. Twisting his massive body around, I heard his wrists crack as he clawed for me. He bellowed, swinging his ape arms at me, attempting to pin me against the building. I then kicked all of his weapons away, sending them flying off into some unseen corner. Quickly, I pushed myself up against the building so that I could have some leverage and smashed his kneecap so that Carlos, the man who had killed his family, fell.
I knelt down beside the whimpering man and grasped the back of his neck. Running my fingers over the chain of the necklace, I grinned wickedly. "Yo soy el diablo?" I asked Carlos, wanting to know if he thought that I was still the devil.
"Siempre," he replied, letting me that I would always be the devil. "Usted es el diablo."
I didn't let him finish his pleasant speech about me being a devil. Besides, I knew it already. Instead, I dug my fingernails into his neck so tightly that they drew blood, and I snapped his neck with one harsh crack.
And as his head, that bowling ball of a head, landed in my lap, I smiled, knowing that his display was coming next. I stroked his dark hair in almost a lovingly manner because She would be pleased with me.
Looking up at the sky where the moon was being covered by spider webbed clouds, I felt the hair on the back of my neck bristle, while that damned barcode burned into my flesh.
I, always, would be the devil of both this world and the next.
