Shifter

[Watch Me]

[Marion]

The side of her mouth twitched as she let out an exhale into the cold night. The hot air from her breath swirled around her like smoke from a pipe. She stepped through it without hesitation. The last of the light from the street dissipated as she continued down the dark alleyway. The clack of her footsteps echoed against the tall stone walls, in tune with the soft patters she heard trailing behind her.

Marion had been hunted her entire life. The man following her down the alley was no different from the rest. He clumsily stalked behind her, thinking himself stealthy. She stifled a snort. What the cloaked figure didn't know is that she was no weak prey. She was the predator.

Shifter they'd murmured, as they'd cast her out into the streets as a child. They'd probably slept better at night thinking that was all that she was. The Moruga clan had taken her in almost immediately. They'd seen her potential, and she 'd proven herself even more useful than they could have ever imagined. 

Her ears perked at the sound of metal unsheathing behind her. She smiled into the darkness, cracking her knuckles. She'd enjoy this. 

...

Marion practically floated into the pub, the screams of her night stalker still ringing in her ears like music.

The barkeep sent her a firm nod. She only needed to give him a look before he began pouring her usual. He slid it across the counter, the thick foam spilling over the sides.

She had already spotted Brilah in the back corner when she'd subtly scanned the entire pub as she'd walked in. There was no one she feared. But there was always someone of interest to her. When she sat down next to Brilah, she spoke softly.

"Three guards from the border. Sat a few tables to our right."

Brilah nodded, before whispering lowly. "I know. About time you showed up."

Marion flashed her a coy smile. "Ready to have some fun?"

...

The larger of the guards laid face down in the thin layer of snow that had fallen while Marion enjoyed her drinks. They'd ambushed the guards as soon as they'd left the pub. Marion's lips curved up at the sight of the other two cowering behind the body of their drinking mate.

"We'll ask again," Brilah spoke with deadly calm, "What did you see at the border? Why have you been sent here?"

The guards gave each other a subtle glance. A moment passed, and Brilah took a step towards them, when one of the guards raised his hands to stop her.

"Fine." He spat. "Gods know the clan never did nothing for me anyways. Just expendable patrolmen is all we is." The other guard hesitantly looked on as the first continued. " We were sent to patrol the borders. But not for other warriors, no. We were sent to protect against the demons. Hoards of them gathering in the mountains. No one has gotten far enough to figure out where or why. "

Marion schooled her face into indifference, even as she could feel her pulse quicken. Brilah gave her a look.

"And we are supposed to believe you that demons, who haven't been seen for centuries, are now just happening to roam up in the mountains? What makes you think I'd trust a Nezat's word?" Marion drawled.

"You want proof, eh?" The first guard smiled, exposing his teeth, brown and discolored with rot. He took his companion's arm, even as the other man struggled. Then he lifted his sleeve, exposing his arm. Dark black veins crawled up the man's arm from a large, protruding black gash near his wrist. The entire wound appeared to move and writhe once it was exposed to the soft moon light. And the stench. Brilah hissed, covering her nose.

Marion looked at the second guard, his eyes wide.

"You won't survive that wound." She said flatly to him. The first guard shoved the man's sleeve back down.

"I know." He said with a tone of sad resolution in his voice, craddling his arm.

Marion nodded to him, unsheathing her dagger. "I will offer you a cleaner death than the torture of a demon bite taking hold."

The first guard went to speak, but before he could, Brilah had already slit his throat. Marion did not take her eyes off of the second guard, even as the choking sounds of the first filled the air.

The second guard looked at his companion, writhing on the ground, until he stilled.

"Not like that." He whispered.

"No." She walked closer to him, taking the pouch from her breast pocket, and handing him the small red vial. "Not like that."

He nodded to her. "Warn them. Warn them all." Marion nodded back to him.

As he drank the last drop of the red liquid, he gave Marion one last thankful look before the light faded from his eyes.