STARTER FOR @sloanerangel
Grunting, Sebastian pierced the creature’s swollen abdomen with an ironwood stake. Congealed blood from its last meal gushed onto the floor, staining the ancient mosaic below their feet. A gargled howl echoed through the tiled antechamber as he drove the weapon upwards, eviscerating its dead heart. The sensation used to send a shiver up the hunter’s spine, but experience long erased his unease. Snapping its jaws weakly, a putrid shade of crimson liquid bubbled from the vampire’s mouth and onto Sebastian’s front. Unsheathing his stake, he watched the body crumple to the floor like an empty sack.
Stepping into the cool night air, Sebastian zipped up his jacket and lit a cigarette. As he waited, ash floated towards the slow-moving Tiber. Sebastian rarely left the Outpost to hunt. He preferred to conduct reconnaissance and train initiates, but recently, everything changed. Nodding at the team who arrived to clear the scene, Sebastian flicked the butt into a bin. Never once did the end touch his lips.
After midnight, drunken tourists mingled with leather-skinned locals enjoying their espresso splashed with sambuca, jazz spilled onto the street, and Killjoy’s Bar came alive. Pushing through the den’s heavy-set door, Sebastian headed straight for the bar—he wasn’t in the mood to socialise. “Bourbon, neat. Please.”
