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As my goal was along the water, I headed, more or less, to the place where I left Esmeralda last night. It was on the other side of town along the ocean, allowing me to walk alongside it, keeping my eye open for possible prey. The advantage of my tight fitting clothes was that I actually felt more cat-like than normal. Black feline of the city.

Pity my hair wasn't black.

The docks were unsurprisingly quiet. There was one boat with a few people on it, drinking, but no one else around really. I left them alone though, I didn't feel like marinated blood tonight. So onwards I went along the docks until I finally found someone interesting. A guy walking alone, no other people around on the street either.

The question for me was if I wanted to do this the normal way, with talking and seduction, or if I wanted to surprise him. The latter felt more fun at the moment. To just be a ghost to him. That he'd barely feel me and I'd be gone before he realized what happened.

The huntress is silent, swift and, well not deadly.

He was just walking along the water, looking at his phone. Maybe he received a text and wanted to reply. As he was focused on his hands, looking down, I could sneak up on him and take him from behind. Not a sound while I moved towards him, faster than anything he'd be able to notice.

Then the bite. The glorious quick bite, no struggle and barely even surprise. Just the moment of biting and the fading of mind that ensued. His blood was smooth, warm and tasty. It bore with it some memories of him talking on the phone with his lover not too long ago. Subtle taste of lust, seduction and temptation were overlaid on the message of blood itself.

I released him and moved swiftly away to nearby shadows before he even turned around. He grabbed his neck and just looked, feeling dizzy and confused about what just happened. His phone almost slipped out of his hands, snapping him back to reality. He stood there for a while, looking around with a bit of fear in his eyes, until his phone started ringing.

He picked up with a very woozy voice and answered whoever was on the other side.

I left him there, smiling at his response, feeling like a true huntress. It was a very nice feeling of power and agility that I was able to pull this off without being able to fly. Of course I was still much faster than a normal human and knew that he hadn't been much of a challenge. But I felt good, full of blood and ready to spy on places I needed to go.

The waterside was mostly quiet until I got to the warehouse area. There weren't that many of them around, but they obviously loaded and unloaded ships and trucks here. It wasn't very easy to get close though. Most of the area was just flat concrete. No bushes or obstacles anywhere. And no high buildings to get there from above either. The ocean was a good option to get close if you didn't minded getting wet. But I did mind. And I didn't have a wetsuit with a somehow dry neat attire under it. Nor was I going to blow up anything, but that wasn't the point.

There actually was some more active security here as opposed to the lax security I'd seen elsewhere. Patrolling guards, active systems, as far as I could tell. The cameras weren't everywhere, but in enough places to be noticed if I didn't pay attention. There were plenty of lights, hanging high enough to light quite a lot of area without any effort. It might actually be more of a challenge than I thought.

It was also more active than I had thought.

It made sense though. Depending on schedules and possible delays, arrivals could happen at any time, any day of the week. The ocean didn't pause for humanity, no matter how much it was desired. The ocean. Maybe it was something I wanted to discover some time. Would I have trouble crossing it?

It was not the time to be distracted though. The guards walked around a fair bit and even went inside the buildings from time to time in the short time that I watched them. Perhaps I could find a plan of the layout or something. Or just flirt my way in to make things easier on myself. But that felt like a bad idea. Seriph probably wanted this done silently, that no one would realize too early that it was missing.

It was fortunate that people rarely looked up. I wasn't very close to the compound and, on the roof of a nearby building, I was easily out of sight. Cameras were all pointed down as well, so if I made it to the buildings beyond the concrete, I'd have an easy enough time to get around using the roofs.

Although they might make too much noise.

I decided to make one last pass along the perimeter before I left. I made sure to look around, taking in every detail with my eyes, putting it to my memory. My head would sort it out later and it was useful to know exactly where and how I could run there.

But it wouldn't be easy. Moving almost invisibly fast was possible for very short distances, perhaps a few meters at most, but not to cover a whole area like that. No, it would require timing, patience and attention. But I liked a challenged if nothing else. This was partly why I started with all of this, to find out if I could do what it takes.

Briefly I imagined that the police would try and catch me, failing horribly because they could not imagine my strength or speed. But that amount of attention was definitely not desirable, I preferred to stay unnoticed in society. I looked at my hands and smiled. I jumped off the roof and headed for The Cathedral, hoping Esmeralda would be there.

I'd come back here tomorrow.

Would Esmeralda notice my new clothing?

Would she ever feel looked at, describing what happens in her diary? Perhaps she didn't originally write this to be read.