The house was quiet. The gentle sounds of breathing came from three different rooms, all of which conjoined in the tiny section of hallway.

Scarlet listened intently for a long moment before creeping down the hall more. Her steps were silent, those of a highly skilled hunter. And she found the door that led to the outside.

She examined the sky through the window for a long while. Her figure went stone-still in this time. Even her breath barely moved. When she finally opened the door, it too was a silent action and she toed outside. In the dark her eyes glinted. She stared across the wooded cul-de-sac and sniffed.

There were people nearby. And dogs and cats along with the other small woodland creatures. Even a few deer.

Her teeth welled with a bitter liquid. It ran like loose drool and coated the insides of her mouth.

She needed to hunt.

She sniffed again.

The humans were in their houses. That was typical.

She turned and swiftly bounded down the road, weaving in shadows and back out again like an eel weaves in and out of rocks.

She stopped again, and inhaled deeply. The scents were less wild here. Another deep inhale and she tasted her. The prey wasn't far off, and alone. She was frightened by something but Scarlet did not know what that something was.

Her smell was also familiar somehow.

With a new vigor Scarlet bounded again and silently landed in the shadows of a tree. Despite the streetlights, she was invisible this far in the dark.

The woman was tensely walking with the loud clicking of heels on pavement. Again, a well of bitter liquid flooded Scarlet's mouth and she tensed.

The woman glanced up and met her eyes briefly before ripping her stare away and continuing forward even faster.

Scarlet leaped. The woman didn't have time to scream before teeth punctured her neck.

Scarlet released her, licking the greasy fluid from her lips.

The woman sprawled on the ground. Her voice rang out high, shrill, and loud. 

Scarlet grinned.

She crouched next to the woman and grabbed her by the face and held her down to drink.

Letting the heart keep beating made things easier. Pre-killed food wasn't as good anyway. Sure the woman would struggle. She'd spill some blood, but Scarlet had seen most if not all of the ways humans tried to save themselves.

She wouldn’t be getting away.

The struggles weakened and finally stopped, though the heart futilely beat at a frantic pace and then even it slowed. Scarlet pulled away, licking at the blood on her hands and pulled out a serrated knife.

She started opening up the abdominal cavity. Each cut with the knife tore and pulled at the flesh but the maw slowly opened for her and she started to use her hands to pull at the skin, and tear at the cartilage. An organ started to slurp out and Scarlet began to heft the weighty thing, smelling, gauging its blood content, when a noise caught her attention. She stood, listening for a split second before darting into the shadows. She watched as a metal carriage came to the scene and stopped with a screech.

Men came out, running to investigate.

Scarlet growled. She'd sated the lust for now. But it wouldn't be enough. Then again, it almost never was.