[center][hider=Set the Mood][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieUJBcJp2vE[/youtube][/hider][/center]


[color=gainsboro]There was a dead silence, thick and heavy within the church as the two watched each other. One, quivering with fear, the prey. The other pulsing with the rush of adrenaline, hunter. The girl’s terror was palpable, Mikhael breathed in deeply, feeling as if he could taste it. Perhaps he could. He stepped forward, taking a knee as his body loomed over her. He had been so lost in the moment, what had she said? It was important, to let the victim talk. To let their dread mount to insurmountable heights before it collapsed down completely. The look on a person’s face once they’ve accepted death, that’s what he was craving at this moment.


‘Why are you doing this?’ the words floated across the surface of his memory. That’s what she had said. He sighed, his livid green eyes boring into hers, causing her to lock up as if the blood inside of her had frozen from his gaze.


[color=778989]”It’s always the same thing with you people; ‘Why are you doing this’; ‘You don’t have to do this’; ‘Please stop killing me’,”[/color] he answered with a laugh. The woman beneath him recoiled from the heat of his breath, from the stench of toxic decay that circulated through his veins. He sneered, leaning in closer, taking in every aspect of his apparent victim.


“W-wa-” She began, but he silenced her by pressing the tip of his malformed finger, a claw really, to her lips.


[color=778899]”You look so lovely, you know that?”[/color] He cooed, almost endearingly, [color=778899]”You’re close are clean, your hair is brushed and.. Is that lip gloss?”[/color] He trailed the metallic appendage across her cheek, the same kind of gesture a lover would make.


“I-I-I-” She quivered, but he hushed her again.


[color=778899]”The world is falling apart outside and somehow you still found time to do you makeup? People are literally being cut down in the street, and yet you don’t look as if you’ve suffered at all. Did you not think it strange? How I managed to force my way into your sanctum, your retreat? You have the door barred after all, preventing people the convert of dying within the steeple of their faith, and yet, I am the [i]cruel[/i] one?!”[/color] He laughed, a sound of broken madness spewing from his throat.


[color=778899]”Let’s take a walk shall we?”[/color] He suggested, though she didn’t really have a choice. He wrapped his hand around her head, his talons digging painfully into the back of her scalp as he dragged her halfway to her feet. He made way towards a side door that likely led out into a hallway, taking care to step over the broken remains of the pews from happier times. A cry of pain let the world know that he hadn’t taken such care for her as her half limp body was dragged across the wreckage carelessly.


Down the hall they went, her scrabbling for purchase and continually failing to stand properly. His shoes slapped against the linoleum loudly, giving voice to the purpose of his strides. He considered the doors he passed, mentally calculating nothing in particular.
[color=778899]”How about.. [b]This one[/b]!”[/color] He declared, punctuating his words as her hurled the woman like a sack of rocks. She grunted as she collided with the door, blasting through it and and crashing into a table in the room. Her momentum didn’t stop there as the table screeched, sliding back until it slammed into the wall. She rebounded, rolling across the surface and finally stopping face down on the floor.


Mikhael stepped through the ruined doorway, noticing that there seemed to be nothing quite out of order with this room. It looked rather unused, he trailed his fingers across the surface of a counter, noticing the layer of dust.


[color=778899]”Well, I guess I was wrong, shall we play again?”[/color] He asked, ignoring her cries and whimpers as lifted her by the back of her neck, his claws leaving deep furrows across her shoulders and collarbone. He stepped back out into the hall and walked down a bit more before choosing another door.


[color=778899]”How about this one?”[/color] He pondered, though the only response from her was something akin to a wailing groan, [color=778899]”Huh, not very talkative are we?”[/color]


He cocked his arm back, leveraging her like a battering ram before sending her through another door. She screamed as she slammed into it, hurtling into the room. This one appeared to be a study of some sort, with a now broken  desk and a bookshelf full of dusty looking tomes. Her pursed his lips, taking hold of her ankle.


[color=778899]”There doesn’t seem to be anybody else here, is it just you? Shame, I bet if you had tried helping some people they might have tried to save you,”[/color] Mikhael said with a shrug, dragging her back out into the hall.


He was really considering which room to pick next, he didn’t want to strike out, when something odd wafted through the air. He gave a sniff, slightly confused by the smell, before her placed it.


[color=778899]”Smells like somebody was having breakfast,”[/color] he noted, [color=778899]”And you didn’t think to save any for me?”[/color]


He let her go as he slashed through the door in a clean swipe. Almost clean, there were heavy gouges in the walls to either side, but the door still collapsed in on itself in three pieces. Sure enough, the room beyond was littered with womanly apparel and obvious signs of somebody living there. There was a small space off towards one side of the room where the carpet had been pulled away and the smoldering remains of a small campfire sat beneath a vent with a pillow taped over it.


[color=778899]”Wow, that’s actually pretty smart. Don’t want anybody else smelling this huh?”[/color] He remarked, looking over his shoulder, past suitcases and trunks and small stores of food towards the hall where the woman was, or should have been.
[color=778899]”Ah..”[/color] He started, kicking the debris of the door out of his way as he walked back into the hall, [color=778899]”Silly me, they always run.”[/color]


He pressed his human hand to his face as his body reeled backwards with a cackle, [color=778899]”I love it when they run.”[/color]


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The sky had darkened by the time Mikhael began to grow bored. She was quite a runner, but there was no chance a regular old human could compete against Mikhael. He had taken to the tops of buildings when he could, using his hand to rend through the metal and vault himself upwards rather easily. It was faster than climbing anyways. She had run through the streets, frantically. She seemed pretty athletic, and she was very clever. Here and there she had run into other toxins, those of the more bestial variety, and yet here she was, still alive. Turns out she had a knife hidden within the lower leg of her jeans, and she could use it pretty well.


Mikhael laughed, watching the darkened figure dash indoors. He wondered if this was a random home, or if it had belonged to her. If so, it was quite a ways away from where she had been. He figured they were at least close to the south eastern end of the island. He could see the skylines off in the distance, and faintly those of the other territories. Briefly he wondered what it was like over there, he hadn’t anything really specific but he had learned basically what was happening over there. He should find a way across to the Chimera side of things, it could definitely be more fun than hunting the frail game that inhabited his neck of the woods.  


He dropped down to the street quietly, careful not to excite the few toxins he could make out beneath the sturdy lampposts lining the way. It was a wonder they still worked, nothing like good ol’ emergency power. He stalked across to where he had seen the woman enter and tried the door tentatively. It was locked. He wasn’t surprised. 


He was about to smash his way in when he felt a presence touch his mind. It took him off guard at first, mental communication wasn’t something you got used to very fast, and he was still a recent crossover. He concentrated, trying not to let his thoughts scattered to much as the presence probed. He reached out, cringing slightly as he connected to what felt like a more primitive mind. The fire in his blood surged, overwhelmed with the mind numbing madness of the toxin. He fought not to lose himself, battling against such primal urges was not something that came to him easily. It threatened to pull him under, to force his mind to succumb and become fully enveloped in rage and hunger.


“Boat… Central… Land.. People” the other mind croaked. Mikhael closed his eyes, fighting the rolling wave of such raw, base needs as he reached out. When this had first happened to him, he thought he really must have been insane. This kind of thing was something you really only heard about in stories, or tricks illusionists and magicians pulled on you.


A mental image appeared in his mind, like smokey water as he looked through the creature's eyes. He could only manage it for a handful of second, he wouldn’t be able to resist whatever change was trying to force itself on him for very long. He took in the scene quickly. The toxin was standing on a walk next to the harbor, looking out towards the smallest of the four islands, where a large boat rocked from where it was moored in the water. There was another craft next to it, though from the look it was probably something that traveled beneath the water. He saw shadows moving on the deck of the ship before the pressure in his mind began to press around him like a vice.


He severed the link immediately, panting slightly as he regained his bearings. He had broken out into a cold sweat, and a chill slowly crawled up his spine. Still, the simpler toxins weren’t completely useless. He wondered what it was that made them reach out to him, did he have a strong presence or something? Was it because he managed to keep his mind relatively intact, the uniqueness of his mutation? Thoughts for another day he supposed, turning back to the task at hand.


It was high time he finished up here and went to check out the boat. Most ventures brought to his attention weren’t a complete waste of time. The thought struck him as he flexed his malformed hand, perhaps the other toxins were acting off of some sort of residual command communicated from Maya. He’d have to remember to ask her next time her saw her.


The door squealed as his hand bored through it, shearing and twisting the metal, [color=778899]”Honey! I’m Home!”[/color][/color]