Meet and Greet Part 1 (Nathayen POV)

No matter how capable those humans were, at least to their own kind’s standards, they didn’t stand a chance against Lyras’ tracker. The young man led us straight to the location, we suspected to be the center of important operations. Especially since not many buildings are fitted with a high security steel door. They couldn’t have made it more clear, that they were hiding something there that was worth protecting. I would have liked to burst in, then and there, to get my hands on the people inside, but we couldn’t risk losing our prey through an unexpected escape route. 

Humans tend to be awfully uncoordinated, once a mass panic sets in. That in itself didn’t pose a problem, if we had known beforehand who exactly we were looking for. But since we didn’t, we had to take the risk into consideration, that our target could disappear right from under our noses. So, we had to make preparations, to make sure that our prey would end up between our teeth. After all the banalities that filled our everyday life in the human realm, most of us were eager to make use of this opportunity to have some fun. Many had followed our orders to gather in the area, ready to pay some attention to those unimportant, little creatures that inhabited this world. 

Among the waiting men I recognized Myro, who, together with many other Sotarineo in the vicinity, kept a close eye on the building in front of us. His human camouflage with his blonde hair didn’t stand out much, as long as his unsuspecting associates didn’t take too close of a look into his forest green eyes. Our changed appearances sometimes made it difficult to recognize the true identity of the person hiding behind the human mask.

“Time to find out, what we’re dealing with.” I cracked my knuckles and smirked, as I extended my claws. With those, I cut my own fingertips to let a few drops of blood fall into my shadow. Out of the dark mass, small figures arose, slowly taking on a solid form that seemed to swallow all light around them. Until now, I had refrained from using my gifts. During our operations in the human world, we restricted the use of our magic to the absolute minimum, which meant that simple missions like Kreewod’s abduction didn’t require such measures.

This situation was different. It was a big advantage, if our target didn’t know what they were dealing with, and we had the element of surprise on our side. Particularly, when one of the greatest joys of the hunt was watching the prey cower in fear as it was trying to escape the predator. Although I preferred to watch someone fight back with everything they had, until this inevitable end was reached. Otherwise, where would be the fun in breaking down my opponent, if he didn’t pose enough of a challenge to make out in a little effort?

“Can I?” Damahir was already getting excited in front of the steel door. We basically had no choice than to nod and let him have his will. Recently, he had to hold back a lot. Who was I to not grant him this little joy?

What posed a serious obstacle to a human being, had no chance against us. With one swift kick, Damahir bent the door out of its hinges and granted us access. More than a sheet of metal was necessary to keep a Sotarineo out.

I was certain that our entry had triggered an alarm. But even with them knowing that we were coming, no security camera would be able to give our identity away, thanks to my little shadows. I looked over to my Sevjehal, as Lyras received further information. Apparently, several vehicles were leaving the premises, which prompted my brother-in-arms to order their pursuit.

This was an interesting turn of events. Did they anticipate our arrival? Or did they simply have protocols in place, in case of any unexpected visitors?

Whatever the case, they provided us with a suitable greeting: A plethora of machine guns emptied their rounds in our direction, as soon as we stepped into the building. Any human intruders would have been mowed down by that.

The only thing I felt was excitement. The anticipation of the moment we’d pounce on our prey and see the realization of their defeat in their eyes - it couldn’t happen fast enough. 

Still, evading the projectiles and dismantling the automatized firing system was a nice warm-up exercise. The last thing those lowly creatures would expect was someone getting through their traps. I couldn’t wait to see their faces, when I stormed their hiding spot without as much as a scratch. Too bad that the majority of the humans had already fled so that I had to be content with whatever had stayed behind.
Would they despair? Would they be unable to grasp, what a dangerous kind of predator had them in its fangs, until the last second? It was about time to find out.