• 'Tap, Tap'. Repeatedly, it was the echoing of my shoes, slapping across the hard asphalt. My heart was drumming loudly in my ears. The buildings around me flew past, like I was a speeding bullet. But right now I wasn't the predator, I was the prey. My silver hair swirled in tendrils, slick as ice and, at the moment, full of sweat.
    My slim porcelain figure darted between blurs of color. My gums ached at the moment. s**t, I guess I need better control. It's a rule, we cannot reveal ourselves to the ignorant. Already I could feel my teeth growing, not the whole set, just the canines. I'm sure you've heard of vampires, well, we kinda are them. Except all that crap on our weaknesses, the only thing that can kill us is a chemical in sulphate. not even our creator is immune to it. We were all once human, except him. but that's for another time, right now, I'm running.
    Running from what, you ask? Shades. Evil, vile, nasty little things. No one knows much about them, not even the pathetic little humans. Oh, you are one? Glad to meet you, you're now on my death list. Just kidding, I love humans. They're very tasty. By the way, my name's Blackstar. My back's starting to hurt, right between the shoulderblades...crap!....feathers start sprouting, and my midnight wings unfurl. This is my true form, it feels great now that the pain's numb.
    This is the perfect time, too. I can sense the shades closing in and a dead end was straight ahead of me. It loomed ahead as I spread out my wingtips, they can almost touch the brick walls next to me. I gear up my leg muscles, ready to spring. The adreniline pumping through me, making me giddy and dizzy. I let go of the strain and jump, my wings catching the little gust of wind I had created.
    A light weight held my ankle in place. At first I hadn't felt it, until it became tighter and tugged on my leg. As I fell my wing snapped backwards from the abrupt pull and sent a sharp pain shooting through my shoulder. I screamed shrilly in the dark and crashed on the ground. My ankle also shot with pain, throbbing underneath my crumpled body. I said we couldn't be killed, I didn't say we can't feel pain.
    I started to weep silently, no tears falling from my eyes. I closed them and tried to remove the creeping fear from myself. I could hear a soft rustle, it would have been impossible for human ears. Ours are made especially for hearing echoes made by creatures as near as 2 mm or as far as 5 miles. This is allowed because of our drooping ears covered with a short, soft fur. They're not as droopy as a bloodhound's, but I guess you could call them 'doll ears'. Cute, huh?
    My wings drooped, the broken one crooked and hanging on a pipe that was sticking out of the alley wall. A couple of scratches on my skin and a few feathers were sticking out. Very minor for what would be happaning if I didn't move, soon. I tried to budge, but was stopped by a searing pain in my leg. I groaned softly and looked up as a slight breathing swam infront of me. My eyes widened as I detected a shadow misplaced shifting between the boxes.
    My breathing became slow and sharp intakes. A shade, actually, now that I look closer, 2. Just my luck, a broken wing and a sprained ankle with 2 shades looming towards me. A burning sensation filled me and I blanched into a milky white. I looked down at my ankle and felt the fear creep back into me, seeping into my skin. A mark, that's what rendered me helpless, and they were going to give me more. s**t.
    What's the mark? I don't really know. All I know is one: it's bad, and two: it exposes us to all. Not good. Now, the shades don't bother me, just don't touch them. Bt the mark does, somehow, the DH (Demon Hunters) have found a way to track us with these. Plus, the marks each last for 1-2 centuries. And the longest one of us has survived with just one mark was only 73 years. I guess it's goodbye to me.
    Soon the shuffling stopped straight ahead of me and I could see a black outline of a man. A shade, most definitely. But where was the other one? I know I detected two. The shade must have been thinking the same thing, because it tilted its head toward the only exit. Nothing came.
    The shade fully turned around and ignored my whimpers of pain. It looked as though he was peering out for something or someone. I lifted my weary head as I heard a loud shuffle, louder than any shade could possibly make. I made a muffled moan as I figured one of the DH had already come. A rustle surrounded me and soon the shade sank into the ground. What happaned to it? Nothing I know of can do that.
    A figure loomed infront of me, my vision was becoming blurry and the shape was disorientating, The figure stooped low and gently lifted me off the cold cement. It was probably a DH member, come to terminate me at their headquarters. I didn't want to be too easy to catch. I fluttered my uninjured wing infront of its face and bent nimbly down and bit its arm as hard as I could. "Ow, damn instincts." it grunted. That was all I heard.