The acrid stench of spilled human blood mixed with the metallic tang of something otherworldly. Peeking around the corner of a dilapidated building into a grimy alley, I saw it: a hulking red-cap, its massive form hunched over a lifeless human. Two weeks. Eleven bodies. This was it.

He knelt, dipping his stiff, layered cap into the victim's gushing throat, his greenish skin glistening with blood under the moonlight. Disgusting. But there was no time. My heart hammered, but I forced it steady, melting into the shadows. Three meters. He froze. Damn. He rose, sword drawn, a menacing smirk revealing needle-like teeth. "Well, well. What a sweet pie we have here." His voice, raucous and amused, scraped against my ears.

"I’ll take it as a compliment," I retorted, showing my own fangs in a devilish grin. "You can always try."

I charged first. A swift cut to his upper arm, and his sword clattered to the ground. Faster. Not letting him recover, I slashed the back of his knees. A furious roar. A hole between his ribs. Honestly, I expected more. Losing interest in this boring game, I knocked him down and, with his own sword, decapitated him. Thick green blood gushed, mingling with the human's.

My long ears caught the approaching wails of human guards. The red-cap would turn to dust, leaving only the human corpse. I took his sword and vanished into the shadows, leaving the alley behind.