Blood of The Serpent

Chapter 6

"Haru!" his mom yelled, her voice echoing throughout the house. "It's time to go to school!"

Haru had been sitting in his room all morning, reading about that reptilian monster on the internet. These monsters had definitely been sighted. Not just in Japan, but all over the world. America, Europe, China - you name it and there was someone that had seen these things.

Yet, that's not all people had seen. In addition to the reptilian type, people had seen anthropomorphic wolves, birds, and even leech-like creatures. He wasn't sure how much of the information was true, but judging by the different eye witness reports these creatures seemed to have a few things in common.

First of all, they only came out at night. Not a single person had actually seen one of them walking around in broad daylight.

Second, they fed off of blood. Human blood. He knew this to be true, because he'd seen one of those monsters suck the blood right out of his friend. They probably ate humans too, as only his friends arm and an ear had been found.

Third, they could change between a monstrous form and a human one. There weren't many eye witness reports of this, yet he suspected this to be true. He had seen that woman's hand transform before his eyes, so maybe she was a monster herself.

Knowing his mom was going to kill him if he didn't get off the computer, he shut it down, grabbed his bag, and headed out the door.

It was a clear, almost cloudless day and the sun was shining down on the busy streets below. The air was pleasantly warm, but not hot, and birds were chirping in the tree's. It was a nice day.

In fact, Haru thought it was too nice to go to school. Smiling, he turned off of the road.

It wasn't long until he found himself walking down the familiar path into the forest. Call him obsessed, but he had been to that same spot almost every day since his friends funeral. He knew he wasn't going to find the creature itself, but maybe he'd find a clue.

When he reached the spot, he was surprised to find a man standing there. A tall man dressed all in black, his hair long and blonde and his eyes as cold as ice. For just a moment his cloak moved and he could have sworn he saw the hilt of a sword.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked.

"I live nearby." he said, cautiously approaching. "What are you doing here?"

The man stared at him a moment, then smiled. "I am... investigating something." He crouched, rummaging through the grass. "I hear a young boy was killed out here."

"That's right. I knew him."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Was he your friend?"

"My best friend," he said. He wondered again what this guy was doing here. "Are you with the police?"

"Something like that." He ran his hand through the grass, searching. "It was probably a wild bear, kid."

"It wasn't a bear," he said, staring at the man. "It was a monster. A big, lizard-like monster. With fangs."

Haru had expected this man to laugh or to look at him like he was crazy. That's what anyone else would have done. To his surprise, the man's eyes grew wide and he quickly stood.

"You saw it?!" The man ran over to him, gripping the young boys arms as he spoke. "Tell me everything you know! Do you know where they might be hiding?!"

"Woah, easy there," Haru said, backing away. If he was crazy, then this guy was a lunatic.

"Sorry," the man said. He let him go. "I didn't expect to find anyone in this city that had seen them."