The area was completely silent, save for the faint howling of the wind. Bianca hated how used she was to it, how common this complete lack of life had become.

She continued walking, her long tail swishing side-to-side behind her. Around her, the ruined husks of long-abandoned buildings loomed over her, taunting her with their very presence.

Bianca ignored them, and instead, she went to her knees, sniffing at the ground like a dog for a couple of seconds, before leaning down even more in order to lick the dirty ground.

She tasted the blackened dirt, rolling it around her mouth before spitting it out. Close. She was so close.

Grinning widely, showcasing two full rows of incredibly sharp and inhuman teeth, she crouched down before closing her eyes and focusing.

Two massive wings tore their way free from her back, and then two more, each wing having a span of at least three times her height. Considering that she'd artificially made herself over 2 meters tall, they were far from small.

After flexing her newly-obtained limbs for a few moments, Bianca wasted no time, and with a running start, leaped into the air, beating her wings with experienced ease.

Within only a minute, she was soaring through the skies, and with a flex of her will, she slid a protective membrane over her eyes so as to shield them from all the dust and smoke cluttering the air. 

To be completely honest, flying used to be one of her favorite activities. The feeling of freedom, of defying gravity, and of severing yourself from your concerns... It was a lovely thing, and yet, just as many other things were, it had become a pale shadow of its former self these days.

After all, when 99% of the sky is covered in ash, smoke, and whatever deadly toxins the area possessed, flying lost quite a lot of its luster, even considering the fact that she was practically immune to all of that stuff.

Casting away her idle thoughts, Bianca focused back on her self-appointed mission. Her eyes scanned the surroundings underneath her, piercing through the black and grey smoke with only a bit of difficulty.

She flew around for almost thirty whole minutes, circling the ruined husk of what once used to be called Boston multiple times over.

Had this been ten, or even eight years ago, she might've even seen a few scavengers here and there, trying to eke out a life for themselves. As it was, though, there was nobody. Not a single human or animal in sight, save for the occasional bio-engineered horror skulking around.

It was a depressing sight, but Bianca couldn't really bring herself to care about it anymore. Not after everything.

Still, it seemed as though her target had managed to avoid her. Not exactly unusual, all told. Most of the people still alive these days were either damn good hiders or damn good fighters. More likely a combination of both, though.

She was just about to give up and fly back to base when she spotted something. Narrowing her eyes, she visually zoomed in, and wouldn't you know it, there stood her target.

He was a rather average man, all told, although definitely quite a bit buffer than most people used to be. He wore a ratty, half-destroyed shirt and half-torn shorts, both of whom looked a size or two too small for him.

He was also quite handsome and had Bianca not decided to hunt him down, she might've tried to convince him to tango, but as it was, she'd have to find another partner to do the deed with.

He was currently simply walking around, and although it wasn't easy to tell from where she was, she speculated that he was probably looking for something to scavenge. Probably a bio-horror, she mused. Those things tasted disgusting, but at least they were edible... Sometimes.

She debated ambushing him, but after a moment's thought, she discarded the idea. From what she knew of him, he really had no chance of hurting her, and she kind of wanted to have fun.

"Dive-bomb it is, then." She mused out loud, not bothering to even try and hide the sadistic smile that grew on her face. Angling herself just right, she shot down like a missile, wings stretching out at her sides.

It only took her a dozen seconds to cross the miles-long distance between them. With a wild grin, she slammed down right in front of the man, feeling bones and muscles shatter and tear as she did so.

The man jumped back in shock, his eyes going wide at her sudden arrival. Bianca chuckled at his momentary fear before forcing herself to her feet, mentally forcing her half-broken body to heal itself as she did so.

Within moments, she was fine as rain. As she retracted her wings into herself, she spoke. "Hello, Damien. I've been looking for you for quite a while." She said in perfect Spanish, savoring the shocked look on his face as she spoke his name.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Still, it only lasted a second before he found his composure once more. "And who are you? What do you want?" He asked, tensing up as he got into a fighting stance. Cute.

Bianca rolled her eyes. "I want you, obviously." She said blandly, even as she sneakily prepared a sneak attack. "What the fuck else would I want, dumbass?" She mocked him.

"Join the club, then, bitch." Damien replied with a snarl. "How do you even know my name?" He asked, obviously buying for time. Bianca didn't much mind, since stalling for time was in her best interest too.

Bianca giggled slightly, bringing the spiked end of her tail up to cover her mouth. "Well... I think her name was... Hm, Fran, I believe?" She purred the name out, well aware of the relationship between the two.

As predicted, the man immediately stiffened, his eyes going dead cold. "You bitch." He hissed out. "What did you do to her?" He demanded.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Bianca shot back with a smirk. "Don't you worry your pretty little head off, she's still alive... Sort of. And, trust me, you'll be joining her very soon..."

Before Damien could reply to that particular comment, Bianca struck. The ground underneath the man suddenly exploded as dozens of blood-red tendrils shot out all around the man, each one capped with an incredibly sharp bony tip, every single one aiming right at him.

Unfortunately for Bianca, Damien hadn't survived this long by being incompetent. Without even bothering to dodge the attack, the man threw himself towards her, allowing the spear-like tendrils to hit him... and pass right through.

Bianca huffed in annoyance. She'd hoped to catch him off guard and hit him before he could activate his power. Oh well, she thought as the man rushed towards her. She'd just have to ambush him some other way.

With a flex of will, the ground between the two of them exploded once again, revealing a massive network of flesh and bone, all originating out from her feet. Throwing herself back in a flip, she raised the entire network, which had remodeled itself within moments to look like a giant net, and threw it upwards, right at where Damien currently was.

Predictably, Damien ignored the attack completely, his intangibility allowing him to simply pass through the net of flesh and bone harmlessly. Unfortunately for him, however, Bianca already knew his weakness.

Damien screamed as, all of a sudden, electricity began coursing through the net that he'd tried passing through. It lasted for a couple seconds, but that was more than enough to reduce the previously berserk man into a whimpering child.

Bianca was quick to take the opportunity. Her net snapped shut, completely encasing the man in her macabre cage.

"How... Did you know..." Damien hoarsely murmured, still twitching slightly. Bianca took a moment to answer as the excess mass of the trap flowed back into her, dragging Damien forward until he was stuck right in front of her.

"It's quite simple, brat." She said, moving the origin point of the cage from under her foot to her tail, melting its bony tip into the surrounding flesh. "Your friend told me."

"No." Damien shook his head weakly in denial "She wouldn't. She'd never betray me." He said, whether to her or to himself, Bianca wasn't sure. His arm slipped through the cage momentarily, evidently trying to escape. Bianca zapped him a second time in response, snorting as he screamed like a little girl.

"She didn't." Bianca agreed, lifting the cage, and Damien with it, into the air until he was right in front of her. Then, staring into his eyes, she spoke again. "She didn't have a choice, and soon, you won't either."

Then, the cage began to close. Damien let out yet another scream, but this time, Bianca wasn't having it. She silenced him by shoving a fistful of flesh into his mouth, locking his jaw even as tendrils grabbed and locked onto his arms and legs, ready to deliver electricity right into him if he tried to escape.

"This is my favorite part," Bianca told him, watching as the man's eyes clouded over with fear, despair, and anger. "The part where you realize you're absolutely fucked." She laughed as the flesh cage closed completely, entrapping him within her now massively enlarged tail.

With a rhythmic flexing of unnaturally strong muscles, she sucked the man deeper and deeper into her tail, delivering weak shocks all the while to prevent him from going intangible and escaping. She watched as the bump in her tail got closer and closer to her, until it was pressing right up against her.

She let out a breathy sigh as the bump then entered her body, seemingly vanishing as it did so. "Whoo... That feels nice." She spoke aloud even as her tail shrunk down until it was back to normal, regaining its sharp, bony tip.

She could feel him, even now. He was still struggling slightly, but within the confines of her body, she might as well be a goddess. He didn't stand a chance when outside, much less inside her.

Bianca closed her eyes and stood still, relishing in the feeling of another soul being absorbed inside her. She doubted she'd be able to incorporate his power in any real capacity, which was a bit of a shame. Still, his memories would suffice. Hopefully, he knew where to find some other interesting targets.

A slow clapping sound immediately broke her out of her reverie. Whirling around, Bianca faced the source of the sound, a surprised snarl on her face.

A man stood there, clad in golden robes, clapping slowly, a wide smile on his face. "What a show, my dear." He chuckled, completely relaxed even as Bianca tensed up. "Really played up the horror factor, didn't you."

"Who are you!?" Bianca demanded, well aware of the irony of the situation. Had she been stalked while she was stalking someone else? Because if so, she'd never live it down.

"Hm. I suppose you can call me... Savior." The man, Savior, spoke, savoring the name. "It's quite a recent name, mind you. Still, I don't really mind it. Really plays to my ego." He laughed as though making a joke.

Bianca wasn't amused at all. "Right. Listen here, chucklefuck, how the hell did you sneak past my senses?" She grit out, already preparing a trap for him.

"Oh, don't bother doing that," Savior said, pointing to the ground with his thumb. "It won't work. And to answer your question, well... I'm just stronger than you, I suppose."

Bianca snarled at him. She hated being caught off guard like this, and with how the man was acting, he was either the best liar ever, or he wasn't at all worried about facing her. She dearly hoped it was the former.

Retracting her flesh tendrils back into her, Bianca took a step back. "What do you want?" She asked, forcing herself to calm down.

The man smiled. It was a surprisingly harmless-looking smile. "Well, originally, I came here for the boy you just ate. However, after seeing that, I changed my mind." Suddenly, it wasn't quite as harmless-looking.

"I want you."