The New Reality continued...

Wolf woke to the sound of a snapping twig. She half opened her eyes, looking around for the source of the sound. The slave-man was sleeping, still undisturbed by the noise, but he wasn't moving as was normal with sleep. That was when she saw it. A small stream of black flowing from Orion. He was dead, then, and she knew how he had died.

She leaped up as she focused on sound more than sight to aid her. The species was called the Latarrh, and they lived solely for the kill. They didn't care who they killed, but every single one of them killed in the same fashion - in the dark, with a rectangular blade an inch wide and about foot long, and a blunt tip that would make each death excruciatingly painful.

It was said that they lived on the pain of their victims, but she knew the truth; they didn't live on the pain, but the flesh, and their favorite was blood. If her eyes remained on the blood flowing from the dead slave-man long enough... There! A long, slimey, green-glowing tongue flicked out, tasting the blood. Evidently it was to its liking, and the tongue appeared more and more quickly. Soon she heard the shuffling of small feet, and the repulsive brown and green lump of flesh waddled out of the brush, knife in hand, mouth filled with pointed teeth and the rotting flesh of its last kill.

It hadn't seen her yet, good eyesight a weakness of the race. She drew a hidden dagger and walked silently walked toward the creature. It raised its head, shrieking as it saw her creeping toward it. It flew at her as she brought up the blade to meet it.