Blood Moon

1

Her prey was no longer laughing. His eyes widened. Sweat rolled slowly down his cheek and dripping from his chin. He drew in breath at a heavy pant. His back was pressed against the wall.

A twisted smile crept onto Perora's face as she looked at the man who called her so many names in the past few months. She took a calculated step forward, spreading her wings wide. The single light on the rooftop cast through her white and brown feathers. She threw her head back and laughed, as she had with the others. The man wimpered at the cawing laughter.

"Please..." Edward Mitchell pleaded. His voice, usually smooth as silk and quick as silver, cracked at the end as his breath caught. He swallowed hard, trying to find his voice. "I-I'll give you anything you want."

Perora brought her gaze back from the cloud-covered sky back down to her prey, her yellow eyes shining. "Oh, you will, Mister Mitchell."

"You want money, I can give you money." Mitchell said as his hand slipped down into his jacket.

Perora swooped in closer, she didn't have to look up at him anymore as he cowered down to her level. "I don't want Money." She said, her gravelly and deep. Tears welled up in his eyes. Perora smiled wider, chuckling under her breath. "I want you to suffer, as you have made me. You and your friends."

Mitchell's eyes widened. "You killed them, you bitch!"

Perora let the cackle escape. "And they looked just as fearful as you do now."

"They had families."

"Who are much better off without them."

"I have a family."

"Do they know about your adultery."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I see more than you think, Edward." Perora crooned. "I've seen things that could ruin you."

"What the hell do you want?" Edward breathed.

"What do I want?" Perora asked, as she closed what remaining distance their was, her beak-like nose nearly pressed against his. "Now you think about what I want? Now that you have your back against a wall?" She scoffed. "I wanted so many things...but because I wasn't pretty I was constantly overlooked. So, what do I want? I want you to die for the awful things you said to me."

Perora took a step back and threw a hard punch into the jaw of her former boss. He hit the ground. She stood over him, breathing in the moment as now she had power over a man she had been powerless against.

The solitary door on the rooftop swung open at that moment. Perora nearly jumped out of her skin as she looked in the direction of the sudden sound. The door hit the wall hard, falling off of it's hinges and landed on the gravel-covered rooftop.

There was nobody there.

"Let him go, Perora," A growl of a voice told her. She turned, searching for the source, and when she found it she wished she hadn't.

Red eyes pierced through the shadows first before he took a step out. His hands at his side were balled into fists. He was tall and lean, wearing a black silk shirt with the top-button undone with trousers to match. His shoes were made of a thick leather and looked scuffed. His short hair unkempt and a hint of a beard covering the lower portion of his face. A silver ball of light orbited him, the source too small and moving too quick to see.

"I've seen what you've done to the others, Perora," The intruder said in a slight English accent.

"How do you know real name?" Her heart raced and her face boiled.