Leon returned home shortly after receiving his attire for the graduation in the evening. He carefully rested the tuxedo on his bed and appreciatively admired it.

'I really am quite grateful to the old man... this is definitely the nicest thing I own.' Leon thought inwardly.

Leon was grateful for two reasons. Firstly, Leon's first choice was a rented tux instead of his current one. Secondly, the attire he got from old man Timmy was of a much higher quality.

*Rumble Rumble*

Leon's stomach rumbled in hunger; his hand subconsciously rested on it as he looked at the clock.

'2:00 PM...Maybe it's time I grab a bite to eat... Fast food?' he pondered as he lay down on his bed.

'Nah, I'll just make a sandwich and play some Call of Duty until later...' He didn't take too long to decide and began walking towards the fridge.

Leon opened the fridge and looked around. There were a lot of leftovers and some stuff to make sandwiches.

'Mom never lets this fridge go empty anymore...' His heart warmed as he thought of his mom and their tough earlier times.

After looking around a bit, Leon didn't feel like eating anything.

'I'm hungry for sure, but for some reason, I just can't get into the mood.' He felt a bit frustrated as he couldn't pinpoint his feelings.

'Whatever, I'll just force something down sigh who knows what time I'll be back' Leon thought as he grabbed some bread and cheese and began making a small sandwich

It did not take him long, and soon he was sitting at his computer. He turned on the PC to watch some videos while he ate and catch up on some current events. After finding a video about recent gaming news, he decided to take a bite of his sandwich...

*Munch Munch*

*Gag*

"...YUCK! What the hell!" He yelled as he spat out the bite of the sandwich. He gagged and almost threw it up.

"Is the cheese spoiled?! Mom bought it yesterday!" Leon frustratingly opened the sandwich and smelled it...which smelled totally fine.

'Huh? It doesn't smell spoiled at all...' he thought as he examined it and then took another bite.

*Gag*

*Heave Heave*

This action resulted in the same effect...in fact, the second time was much worse as Leon began dry heaving.

"...*Heave* What the hell?! My chest feels like it's on fire!" At this point Leon was going crazy; he couldn't understand why this happened.

'Why can't I eat?!... I'm clearly hungry enough to eat a cow!' Leon's confused expression froze when he looked down at the food he dry heaved out.

'It's covered in blood! Wait! Am I poisoned?! How?!' At this point, Leon couldn't keep calm anymore. He lost his cool and pulled out his cell phone to call the ambulance.

Suddenly, Leon's arm trembled and the phone dropped to the floor. Leon felt immense pain coming from his entire body along with a burning heat. He fell to the floor and started convulsing.

"Ahhhhhh!" Leon screamed madly as he grabbed the edge of his clothes in pain.

Without knowing how much time passed, Leon crawled into a fetal position. The pain only intensified, and his ravenous hunger only continued to grow. He could feel his muscles burst, his skin tear, his bones break...over and over again.

"Ueekkh... Ahhhhh!" Leon tried to get a hold of himself, but the screaming still continued. Leon considered himself tough, but he had never experienced something akin to torture like this.

Slowly, large fangs crept out from his mouth, and his fingernails grew like small surgical blades. His eyes layered into darkness, and the whites of his eyes became totally black; his pupils slit down the middle like a reptile.

He closed his eyes in hopes that the pain would lessen, and it did lessen, except...

'Hungry...So, so hungry.'

'Hungry... I feel so hungry.'

All Leon could think about was this deep primal urge to gorge himself. The starving feeling grew so strong he no longer felt his body breaking apart.

Knock Knock Knock

The sound of knocking came from outside, alerting Leon, whose eyes flashed open in a terrifying dark light.

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"Who's making all that noise in there?! Keep it down will ya! And your rent is due!" came an annoying, middle-aged male voice from the other side. His voice was reminiscent of a used car salesman.

Leon did not reply. Living in a small apartment, he could see the door from where he was lying down. As he stared at the door, he noticed he could see right through it at the man.

However, that wasn't all Leon saw. He saw straight through the man as well! Almost like an X-ray, he saw the man's red beating heart in his chest and the red outline of his blood vessels.

'...How absolutely lovely.' Leon's face distorted in pleasure without his knowledge.

'I never knew blood could be so beautiful.' was Leon's honest thought. If he saw his face in the mirror, he would certainly be terrified of himself. His expression distorted into pure bliss as he looked at the man, his hunger intensifying.

He stared at the trail of blood droplets that seemed to shimmer like diamonds as they moved around the man's blood vessels like a toy model train. Leon started to salivate, and he instinctively knew what to do, even if his brain had not realized it yet.

Knock Knock Knock

"Kid, I know you're in there! Your mom said she left the rent with you! Hurry up!" The landlord yelled angrily as he knocked.

Leon got up and slowly walked towards the door...

His figure swayed like a tree in the wind, and a smile slowly crept upon his face unknowingly. His eyes seemed unfocused as if he had lost consciousness, and his body moved on instinct.

Closer...

Even closer toward the door...

*Click*

The door creaked open, and the middle-aged landlord was terrified by what he saw! Before he could scream, a pair of large clawed hands gripped his throat and arm and pulled him inside!

*Slam*

*CRUNCH*

The door slammed shut, and a sickening crunch echoed around the small apartment.

*Snap Snap Snap* *Slurp* *Munch* *Slurp*

The terrifying sounds of a monster feasting on flesh and gnawing on bones filled the room! It seemed insatiable, like an appetite that could never be quenched!

***

A few hours later...

The silhouette of a naked man lay on the floor covered in blood. Naturally, this man was Leon. He had perhaps done the most terrible thing that he had ever done and something most people would never do. Yet, he seemed strangely calm.

Surprisingly enough, there was no mess around him. Aside from the blood on his body and a large quantity of blood on the floor... there was no other evidence!

Strangely, it was as if nobody had been there...

Leon's body reverted to its normal state, except his appearance had a few minor changes. His once short raven-dark hair changed to white and grew to his shoulders. Although his hair turned white, there was a light gloss that made it seem almost silver.

Leon's pitch-black eyes went through a similar dramatic change. His right pupil changed to a deep red color like an ocean of blood. His left pupil shone a ghastly pale blue light and seemed to resemble a tiny moon.

Also... If his appearance before could be considered quite handsome, then now his beauty would be in its own class. His facial features seemed to have become even more striking, and all imperfections disappeared from his skin.

It would indeed not be an exaggeration to call him beautiful. The person himself had no idea about these changes...and in his current state, he may not even care.

However, Leon himself just calmly stared up at the ceiling. He seemed to be in his own world. Although conscious, his pupils appeared dilated, as if he were under the influence of something.

This was further evidenced by his unaware attitude of what he had done. In fact... It looked like he hadn't remembered at all!

'Oh crap...is this the blood I threw up? I need to clean it before mom sees' Leon misguidedly thought, he got the supplies and started cleaning.

'Man...I made a big mess this time...Let's use the heavy-duty stuff' Leon mused, as he seemed to enjoy cleaning, proven by the humming of his favorite songs.

*humming humming*

Leon was so absorbed in cleaning and humming that he hadn't realized the 'natural' speed he moved with was quite abnormal. He finished cleaning in less than 15 minutes.

"Hmm... *hic* I better throw out these clothes since they're ruined... That was my favorite Iron Maiden shirt." He hiccuped as he looked at the clothes on the floor and seemed to grumble about it.

Leon put the clothes in a garbage bag and tossed it in the dumpster outside his window. Since he hated going downstairs to drop the trash, this was a skill he developed. It was also pretty convenient that the dumpster was right outside his window, and being on the second floor made it easy.

'Oh right...Today's Graduation Day. I can't reach late!' Leon thought to himself. He strolled to the shower with a slight smile and began bathing.

He whistled more of his favorite songs as he showered; obviously, he was in a great mood! A devilish smile hung on his face as he cleaned every inch of his body. Soon he walked into his room and picked up his tux.

*Whistle*

'Man, will I look good tonight... Hahaha, maybe I'll get to dance with a beauty.' Leon surprisingly looked excited to go to the Graduation Day compared to his earlier feelings. He also seemed to be much more confident now.

Leon removed the tux from the plastic and started dressing. However, Leon, being in his strange state, missed one important detail. The tux he wore was brand new!

The old Leon would have noticed it immediately and tried to return it. The current Leon just marveled at its beauty while he dressed. He felt like it was 'worthy' of him. Soon he finished dressing, gave himself a look in the mirror, and walked out the door. The changes to his appearance had not even registered in his mind.

***

As Leon walked out the door, he was greeted by the cool breeze of the evening. Off in the distance, the last rays of the golden sun were barely visible in the sky, ushering in the dark embrace of the night.

'I can feel...see...taste...smell...hear...EVERYTHING.' Leon's thoughts became chaotic, and he seemed to tremble as he stood outside his apartment.

He trembled in excitement and sheer utter delight as a feeling he had never felt before gripped his soul. The way he perceived the environment with his senses was unlike anything he had ever felt before. After adjusting his senses to this new feeling of "freedom",

Leon soon pulled himself together. He started walking towards the school, which was only two blocks away from his apartment. His mother had purposefully moved here so that he would be near this high school.

Walking down the familiar road, he seemed to draw a lot of attention, and many people wondered if he was a celebrity. Some girls directly took out their phones and snapped pictures shamelessly.

Some people who knew him did not even recognize him as the change was too great.

"H-Hi... excuse me... w-would you like to buy a rose?" A quiet, feminine, and shy voice called out to Leon.

He turned to see a young brunette woman holding a basket of fake roses under a streetlight. She was dressed moderately in a baseball cap, T-shirt, and jeans. Her appearance was quite average, and she didn't seem to stand out much.

"Sure...give me the prettiest one." Leon smiled as he calmly walked toward the woman, who started blushing.

The woman fumbled around with the basket of roses and took one out. Blushing, she handed it over and received her payment.

'This guy is way too handsome... Is he a celebrity? ...and those eyes' The woman thought to herself quietly. She didn't want to look at him too much as she felt it was rude to stare so she 'tried' to look elsewhere.

"Thank you for the beautiful rose...too bad I didn't get the nicest one. Haha!" Leon said provocatively as he gave her a look with meaning; he laughed and walked off.

The woman understood what he meant; she blushed, but when she turned to reply, he was already gone.

"Sigh... I really wanted to ask him for a picture..." she muttered with a bit of disappointment.

The old Leon was not as sociable as he is now, and usually, he would have never had the courage to flirt with a stranger. This strange state caused him to be quite out of character, as he hummed his way to the venue. An enchanting air of dark mystery seemed to follow him in the dark embrace of night.