I pull open the doors, eyes sharp as I gaze around the barren room that just hours ago held the people who brought destruction to our world. Walking further in, I search for any sign of them but all I see are gray blood streaks covering the walls. The blood’s stench is strange, it’s not putrid like I expected but similar to the pleasant scent of the sea.

_I want a taste. _

My stomach growls, hunger is my only opponent in this room.

_Give in. _

My claws unleash and I feel my tongue threatening to lengthen so I can lick those walls clean but then I hear a lovely sound. A heartbeat. One that I long to silence.

Ah, how foolish of me not to realize that I have my target right where I want them.

A smirk crosses my face, I crack my neck and move forward. My foot steps into something squishy and I realize that it’s not just my prey in this room. I take a step back and lift my foot up, checking the bottom of my shoe. There’s blood smeared on it but it isn’t gray like the feast covering the walls. No, the blood on the bottom of my shoe is distinctly human.

Reaching into the pocket of my pants, I grab my compact purple glasses. They were old, modified three or so years ago, and there’s a crack in one of the lenses. Last year, my friend Joan offered me a flashier model of my worn down pair but I refused. These glasses were given to me by my Uncle Quinn, after I revealed my monstrous form to him. I expected a repeat of my mother’s reaction which included angry screeches and a demand to never appear in front of her again. During my transformation, I kept my eyes closed, terrified to see contempt in his usual kind eyes. After it finished, I waited for his ridicule but none came as he scooped me up in his arms and held me tight, telling me he’d love me no matter what form I become.

My mind drifts back to the present, glasses still in hand.

I unfold them, placing them on my face and uttering my activation code word.” “Show me, my prey.”

With my command, the glasses glow, turning on and revealing all that hid from my sight. Looking down, I see I stepped on an unrecognizable corpse. My gaze moves around and I see the floor is covered with bodies. There’s so many streaks of blood both gray and crimson. The bodies are decaying yet I don’t wretch from the smell because the scent of the grey blood is so overpowering.

I move forward with wilting confidence that I can defeat my hunger and seek out my prey. I find him hunched over, clutching his stomach.

“Nice to see you, dad,” I tilt my head, extending my claws as I smile. “I knew all along that this was how it would end.”