Predator

Stella

The crescent moon shone down on a small city. Even at this late hour there was still plenty of hustle of bustle. Throughout the streets people could calmly go about their business, enjoy the nightlife, and simply take in the atmosphere. The people could rest easy for a simple reason: this city was unusually peaceful. Crime was low, violent crime was non-existent, and none of them knew the reason why. It was because of her. That woman, standing in the one part of town that couldn't be described as peaceful.

Stella stood in the middle of a desolate parking garage. About fifteen feet away from her was a man she'd never met. He had recently arrived in town, and people had suddenly started going missing.

"You're trespassing into my hunting grounds." She said. "Leave."

"So unfriendly." He said as he laughed. "I guess old age made you pretty hostile."

"If you don't leave now, you'll never know the advantage centuries of combat experience gives you."

"Yeah, yeah. Y'know, you ancients are never fun to talk to." He crossed the distance in an instant, his fist raised above his head. "You're always so serious."

He swung downwards, aiming his fist down at the top of her head. She vanished from his field of vision, and his attack struck the floor, sending deep cracks through the concrete. Stella, who had dodged to the side, brought her hands together and smashed them down into his head. The force of her strike pounded his fist into the floor once more, the cracks deepening to the point that the floor collapsed beneath them. In mid-air, she twisted her body, kicking him in the face with enough force to launch him backwards.

As she landed softly on the ground, he stood up and brushed himself off. She grimaced as she looked at him, perfectly undamaged. She held her hand out, and a cut opened on her palm. A thick stream of blood flowed from the wound, coalescing into a handle. Her opponent whistled.

"I can't do that, what is it?"

"You must have been turned recently if you don't have a sanguine armament. Die proud, fledgling, few vampires are strong enough to make me draw this weapon."

She swung the whip, and the liquid blade stretched to reach him. He Jumped back and watched as it sliced cleanly through the reinforced concrete pillar supporting the level above them. Once the whip had passed under his feet, she switched her stance, and swung the blade back around to hit im in the air, where he couldn't dodge. He tried to block with both arms, but it sliced cleanly through them, embedding itself into his neck. Its force carried him into the pillar she'd just cut through, filling the air with concrete dust.

There are others that arrived with him. If they're all this strong, I might have trouble.

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She pulled on her whip, trying to absorb it back into her body, pulling it taut. She looked along the length of her weapon to where it was stuck. Her eyes widened as the dust cleared. He was holding the blade with his right hand. He pulled it free from where it had become lodged in his spinal cord, his neck healing over in seconds.

His hand already regenerated? And he's incredibly durable.

He yanked on the whip, pulling them towards each other. At the halfway point between them, he slammed his foot into the ground, cracking the concrete again. He aimed a haymaker at her face. The side of her face collapsed under the force of his fist, spraying blood across the room, and exposing the inside of her skull. Partway through, she turned into smoke, avoiding most of the attack's force.

"Don't run away!" He said with a laugh. "I'm having a great time."

He yanked on the whip again, but it snapped halfway across. The part he was holding wrapped itself around his entire body as pieces shot off into the floor, anchoring him in place. Stella stood a ways away from him. Holding her eye in place to prevent it from falling out of her obliterated eye socket. The bone, muscle, and skin on the right side of her face slowly grew back.

It'll be a few minutes before it's fully healed. I'll need to use up everything in one go.

She held her hand out in front of her, as her half of the whip returned to her, condensing into a small sphere in her palm. Several glowing glyphs appeared in the air in front of her, and the blood shaped into the tip of a blade. As she poured more and more blood into the weapon, a huge grin crossed her opponent's face. He struggled against his binding, pulling his arms into a guard and bracing to block her attack.

"Let's do this!" He shouted.

"I hope we don't meet again."

The blade of her whip extended in a straight line at the speed of sound, aiming for his collarbone. As it struck his arms, his feet shattered the floor behind him, and the blood bindings anchoring him in place started to break free one-by-one. The blade dug through his arms, and into his chest, eviscerating his forearms. His ribs shattered, and his chest cavity was exposed, but the attack failed to pierce through his chest completely, the force instead destroying half the building. With no floor for the blood whip to anchor him to, the force of the attack instead launched him through the office building behind him, bursting out the other side and leaving a crater in the side of the next building. He tore off his binding and prepared to pounce. He jumped back towards the parking garage, turning the crater into a hole. He landed back at the site of the battle and-

"Ah."

His opponent had fled.

Stella leapt from rooftop to rooftop as she abandoned the fight. She reached the border of the city, and continued running along the highway, faster than any car. She kept going until she arrived at the next town over, and ran to the top of the tallest building, a six story apartment complex.

This is bad. Even a skilled human could kill me right now. She looked up at the moon. And I can't use my feeding magic for a couple weeks. I'll have to do it the old fashioned way.

She surveyed the town from her vantage point. She sharpened her senses, absorbing sights and scents. All around humans were grouped together drinking, relaxing in their homes, and returning to their homes. She checked each human she detected looking for anyone who was completely alone. After a few minutes she stopped and turned to face east.

Found one.

She leapt from the building, running through the streets and alleys, avoiding the eyes of humans. In a desolate part of town, there was one person alone. She ran through the door of an apartment complex, turning into smoke to pass through the gaps in the door. She ran up the stairs and crouched behind a nearby wall watching the lone man.

He walked through the hallway, stopping in front of a door and searching his pockets for his key. As soon as he looked down, she pounced, crossing the thirty-foot hallway in a second.

Sorry about this.