Nocturnal Demon

Case 1: The Shifter.

The planks of the wooden floor release a pained creak as Raziel drops onto its surface. Several splinters of various sizes release from the fall's origin, painting the aftermath of a human-sized being falling from a great height.

"Ugh." Raziel's groan in annoyance overwhelms the growing pain as he lays on the cracks of the wooden floor. He found the target he was looking for, even if the said target threw him off the third-story floor.

"Raziel! Are you alright!?" Alexander shouts from above as he leans on the railing to look down to his fallen companion. Hazel eyes shower him with immediate concern as he watches Raziel's still movement, worried for the broken bones and bleeding resulting from such a great fall.

"I'm fine." Raziel grunts as he pulls himself upwards, turning to face his concerned partner. Alexander tightly holds on to the stairway's railing, fully ready to jump from the second floor to quickly reach the fallen man below. "Don't. You might hurt yourself if you try that."

"But... What if you're-"

"I told you..." The movement is almost seamless. Once fully standing upright, Raziel gestures his arms outwards, revealing the minimal damage received from the event, while scrapes and small tears of his dark clothes show more abundance than the surface of his strong body. "I'm fine. Nothing to worry about. Just a little annoyed."

"If you're sure..." Alexander still throws the bouts of worry towards Raziel, his doe eyes still continue to make sure that there is no significant injury towards the hunter. It's almost as if Alexander had forgotten what the being before him was.

"And you?" Raziel redirects the subject of discussion to his partner, not inclined to be chewed over minute risks of his well-being. "Are you alright? Find out anything about our friend further up, or has anything already introduced themselves to you?"

"Don't worry, I haven't even gotten a scratch yet." Alexander gives a small smile to express a reassurance to his answer before continuing, "The shifter doesn't have anyone else for us to worry about. It's all alone, but..."

"But...?" Raziel beckons him on to continue, but he realizes that whatever Alexander found on the second floor isn't something optimistic.

"The people... The people living here... It... It's not looking good." Alexander's jaw clenches as he says it, "It looks like it kept them in a singular location. Tore them apart. That thing, it... Wasn't inclined on showing any mercy."

"We'll stop it. There's still time to save the others."

"There's other hostages?" Alexander's eyes brighten up at the discovery of there  still being living people. It is quickly snuffed upon the realization that their time is borrowed, and that it might be quickly running as long as the demon lives.

"I sensed them. They're hiding in the third floor." Even with the distance, Raziel can hear the feint echoes of heartbeats, bouncing off the walls of the large apartment's interior. "They're panicked."

"And most likely hiding themselves from the shifter..." Alexander's heart jumps with erratic fear, as the next realization hits him, "Who's in the same floor with them."

"Then let's go-"

He doesn't need to hear more. Alexander swiftly makes his sprint up the stairway to reach the floor above him, with loud creaks of the floor boards exhaling out, he takes strong and desperate strides upwards.

Raziel quickly catches and overtakes him. His faster speed allows to him to reach the end of the stairway right before his hunting partner, ending up in the same position right before he was thrown through the now broken railing.