At first it was a faint scent that hit his nose. Lifting his head Cade sniffed the air and hissed dryly. It was a scent he recognised, a scent that he shouldn’t be smelling. Walking along with a more dangerous intent he shifted so that he was lower to the ground and began stalking through the forest on the outskirts on the city, following the scent as it began steadily growing stronger. Eventually the soft sound of crunching snow reached his acute ears but still the predator remained hidden. He’d circled around the figure fumbling through the now, so that he was between him and the wall, making direct escape much more difficult.

A soft, but impatient hiss escaped the daemon’s mouth as he began closing the gap between himself and the intruder. It had been a long, very harsh winter and he was very hungry. Humans were hardly his idea of a meal and this one wasn’t fully grown yet, hardly a meal. However it was better than nothing and humans often made an easy meal, especially when they wondered so willingly into daemon territory like this. He had sometimes wondered why they did this, was life on the other side really so horrible that they would rather risk life with monsters? Or, perhaps they did just not know better.

Finally deciding to move the creature began closing the gap and stepped out of the darkness, its dark body shining in the moonlight. A dry hiss escaped the creature’s mouth, the dry noise causing fog the air from the heat of his breath. However even as he stepped closer yet another dark shape appeared out of the darkness just to the right of him, another Daemon, though this one was female and slightly smaller. Cade turned to her instantly growling, the deep noise rumbling deep within his chest as she hissed back at him.

The pair of creatures stood rigid as they stared each other down for what seemed like the longest time before Cade burst forward in an unbelievable display of speed for a creature his size and shot straight towards the female, who screeched; a noise reminiscent of tearing metal, as his claws slashed at her side. On almost the other side of the city the screeching noise woke up another residence of the land south of the Wall. Bolting upright he looked around himself for a moment before quickly hurrying off towards the sound of the noise once he realised his den-mate was missing.