Three months later


    After checking her camera to make sure her makeup had survived the flight, Katrina walked inside the bustling suburban bar. Music sprang to life around her, smoke filled her nostrils, and she took a look around. Ever since the Change, the clientele one might expect to find at a bar had shifted dramatically. Looking around, she saw mostly humanoid races: Beastfolk, Aelves, a cute Nekomata tended the bar, and of course, plenty of humans. On rare occasions, bars like this would clear out spaces in their parking lots to try and attract the more unique races, but most didn’t care for the hassle.


    She’d been stalking this particular neighborhood for a few days, and if all went well, tonight would be her last visit. She found a seat at the bar, one that was visible from the whole establishment, and politely turned down the Nekomata that tried to take her order.


    “Status thing, I can’t eat or drink,” Katrina said. She did, however, slide a tip across the counter anyways. “Just need a place to hang out for a bit.”


    With a smirk, the bartender appeared content to leave her alone for the rest of the evening.


    Ready to begin, Katrina rotated her seat and leaned against the counter. Her simple, leather jacket pulled back slightly, revealing a somewhat exotic shirt that exposed both her midriff and her ample cleavage. She was still getting used to having so much to show off, but it certainly made her life a lot easier at times. She made sure to sit nice and tall, knowing that with her Charisma score, it was only a matter of time before her target approached her.


    Tonight’s prey was a notorious brute, someone who used his Class to offer protection services against monsters. Of course, monsters never traveled this far from the city, and he most frequently protected people from his own anger. After a few days of following him around, Katrina had learned that he liked to pick up women by bragging about fighting for reclamation, despite never having set foot in monster-contested streets


    Just as she predicted, barely ten minutes had passed before her honey trap went off. He was some kind of canine Beastfolk, likely a wolf, with striking lines of red fur that ran across his head and tail. Likely elsewhere, too, but Katrina didn’t care about that. He hiccupped as he started talking, and his breath stank of cheap beer.


    “Hey good lookin’, haven’t seen you around here before,” he said, leaning against the bar next to her.


    “Well, you know how it is. With the city overrun, it’s hard to get home, so I’m kinda floating from place to place.”


    “Yeah, can you believe it? All those monsters? You know, I’m actually helping out with a lot of that. I’ve got a pretty strong Class, so it’s the least I can do.” The Wolfkin smirked, taking another swig of his drink as he tried to check if his pickup line was working.


    It was obvious he hadn’t seen any combat recently. Katrina had seen enough fighting over the last few months to develop a nose for it, which made it easy to avoid bars that actually served active combatants. The last thing she needed was a fight, after all.


    “Oh my gosh, really? What Class are you?” Katrina asked, leaning closer as she feigned interest.


    “I’m, uh, a Berserker. I know I don’t look it, but hey, no one got to pick their Status, right?”


    A practiced giggle left Katrina’s mouth. “Ugh, tell me about it. I’m a Bard, and I have no idea where to even start with that. Am I supposed to start taking music lessons while the world is falling apart?”


    The Wolfkin shared a hearty laugh of his own, playfully slapping her arm as he continued to test his limits. “Ha! You’re a funny one, can I buy you a drink, Miss…?”


    “Oh, where are my manners. I’m Sasha, but sadly I don’t drink. It’s a Status thing, I got stuck as a Vampire.”


    “A Vampire, huh? You sure you’re not here looking for a different kind of drink?”


    “Ugh, absolutely not. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but we can actually use pig’s blood as a replacement. Plus, even if I couldn’t, you’re not a Human, so you’d still be safe.” Katrina leaned closer, tracing a finger over the stranger’s chest as she kept flirting with him.


    Ever since the Change, Katrina had spent hours desperately scrolling through message boards and forums to try and find other Vampires, hoping for advice on how to manage her hunger. About a month back, she’d started to hear that pig’s blood was a suitable replacement, and had leapt from her chair in celebration. That very night, she flew a few hours south to find an isolated farm, and had put the theory to the test.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    The first taste had been terrible, but she was desperate for a solution and pushed through it. For nearly half an hour, she’d fought the urge to gag and throw up, and managed to drain an entire pig. When she checked her Status afterwards, however, she’d only gained a single percent of SP.


    “Well, lucky me!” the Wolfkin said, back in the present. “So, what brings you around then?”


    “Honestly? There’s so much going wrong out there, I just wanted a place to relax, to pretend that not everything is on fire. Plus, if I happen to meet someone nice… I certainly wouldn’t say no to some company tonight.” Katrina licked her lips slowly, staring deep into this stranger’s eyes. “I didn’t catch your name, by the way.”


    “I-I’m Jackson,” he said, swallowing nervously under her intense, seductive glare. “I don’t suppose you’d… maybe want to get out of here now, would you?”


    Wow, he’s really pushing his luck. He’s lucky he’s my target tonight.


    Katrina leaned in close, her eyes still locked on Jackson’s, and started whispering so that no one else could hear. “Jackson, if you want to take me home tonight, then listen very carefully. You’re going to whisper something dirty in my ear, I’m going to throw your drink in your face, and then storm out of here in a huff. You wait ten minutes, complaining about me the whole time, then leave the bar. I’ll be waiting on a bench at the park three blocks down.”


    She saw a familiar flicker in Jackson’s eyes, then watched them dull as he fell into a suggestive trance. Her Enchanting Gaze feature was working perfectly, and even if it failed, she doubted he would turn down a chance to go home with her.


    With a slow nod, Jackson agreed, then leaned in close. “I can’t wait to bend you over my kitchen table, Sasha. I bet you’ve never had wolf cock before, and I know you’re gonna love it.”


    Katrina scowled at Jackson, pulling back before grabbing his drink and throwing it in his face. “You pervert! I can’t believe you!” She straightened her jacket, then hurriedly left the bar while pretending she was about to start crying. As soon as the door closed behind her, and she knew she was alone, she dropped the act.


    After a peaceful ten-minute stroll through the park, predictably enough, Jackson the Wolfkin walked right into her trap. He seemed exceptionally smug, and he spent the whole walk back to his place asking about her kinks. Did she like it rough? Did she like playing hard to get? He was convinced her little stunt in the bar was something she did for sexual pleasure, and she was more than happy to let him think that. It certainly wasn’t a plot to make people think they hadn’t gone home together.


    Luckily for Jackson, Katrina had discovered an unexpected benefit of the Change: she was hot. Like, really hot. Having spent most of her life as a scrawny ginger with unmanageable hair, the realization that men and women were tripping over themselves to try and sleep with her was a pleasant one. Not only did this make hunting easier, but it let her cut loose and indulge in other pleasures she’d never had a chance to taste in her prior life.


    Tonight, though she’d pretended to recoil at the suggestion, that meant happily letting a Beastkin bend her over a table and rail her senseless.


    Jackson was anything but an attentive lover, but thankfully Katrina didn’t mind. When she’d gone down on him, his grip had been far too tight, and he didn’t even offer to return the favor. Once she’d been introduced to the aforementioned table, she learned it had rather sharp edges. Each powerful thrust, of which there were many, jammed her hips into the table and caused it to dig deeper into her skin. It was impressive how much it hurt; she had a feeling he hadn’t entirely adjusted to his new Stats yet.


    The pain, however, felt right. It was penance for everything she’d done since the Change, and it was a big reason why she tried to target men like Jackson. They weren’t afraid to get rough with her, and they almost never treated her like a person. To be fair, she wasn’t one. She was a monster, plain and simple.


    By the time he’d finished, and emptied himself deep inside her, he collapsed back into an armchair and began gasping for breath. His night was about to get much worse, as she took this opportunity to straddle him. He clearly thought she was turning out to be a nympho, but after calming him down with her Enchanting Gaze, she opened wide and let her powerful cuspids pierce his neck.


    It only took a few seconds for his soft fur to grow wet with blood. She did her best to avoid sucking hair into her mouth, silently wishing that he''d been a human. Beastkin had a different taste, one that wasn’t quite as delicious, but it still helped shrink the void in her stomach.


    After drinking what seemed like enough, Katrina forced herself to pull away from Jackson. She looked down at his neck, and saw that more blood was coming out than she’d anticipated. Moving her hands to his throat, she pushed down to try and stop the bleeding, hoping she could keep him alive. “No, no! C’mon, stay with me!” she whispered to herself. Seeing that her hands were doing nothing, she flew to the kitchen to grab a towel, then pushed it quickly against the Beastkin’s neck.


    Despite having just fed, she could still hear the song under Jackson’s fur. It was slow, melancholy, and fading fast. Katrina’s heart was racing, hoping desperately to keep him alive. She hadn’t wanted to kill him, just scare him a little while sneaking in a quick bite to eat. After several more moments, however, his song ended. Katrina crawled off the armchair, eyes wide, as she lost control of her breathing. Tears ran down her cheek, mixing with the fresh blood on her chin. She fell to the floor, grabbing her head as she rocked back and forth, openly weeping as the guilt from her latest kill overtook her.