A light drizzling rain pitter-pattered against the winding cobblestone streets of downtown London. It was cold enough that small ice puddles had formed where cobblestone rocks had broken off over the years. Not even the musty rain or the multicultural mix of smells flowing from each tiny restaurant on the street could disguise the distinctive smell Rajani was following. Violet eyes poised on her target as she kept a six foot distance between herself and the man. He looked to be about in his mid-twenties and overly enjoying his evening by the looks of the two half-naked women draped on his arms. Rajani had followed him for the last few hours, watching as he moved from club to club in search of some desperate drunk girls to fill his nights with. When she first caught his scent, it had just been a flicker, muddled by a weak smell of magic and cheap cologne. Even at the faintest level, the extra tantalizing smell found her. This man was going to have a bad day, a very bad day.
Accidents had a very special scent, each distinguished by the severity. A small accident with little injury involved smelled faintly of lemon drops. As the accident grew larger and more lethal the stronger the citrus smell grew and the more Rajani salivated. Whatever was about to happen to this man, it was going to happen soon and she doubted he would walk away from it given how pungently the scent trailed from him. The more carnage and fear at the end of his time the more essence Rajani would have to feed from. If she was lucky, he’d take the two muggle bimbos down with him and she’d have enough essence to last her for a few weeks.
The unsuspecting trio continued forward towards a small lively square known for the many bars surrounding it. As the rain began to fall harder the trio picked up their pace laughing with inebriation and folly. Rajani drew her cloak tighter around herself, pulling the straps of her hood to shield how her own excitement had begun to move across her skin. As the anticipation of her feed drew closer her eyes began to glaze over into red, teeth narrowing into needles. Only the enchanted gloves covering her hands kept her talons from elongating, a necessity given her proximity to at least a couple hundred muggles.
As they reached the square, her staying back within the alley, the smell of his destiny became overwhelmingly pungent and her mouth pooled with saliva. Her eyes moved across the square looking for any obvious signs of danger. A small part of her enjoyed trying to guess how the human would meet his demise. For a moment she thought she had pinpointed the event as a bar fight broke out quiet close to the trio. The startled victim-to-be lunged back nearly slipping on an icy patch and falling to his possible death onto a spiked fence of a local bar. To her dismay his companions quickly steadied him and moved away from the brawl in question.
Rajani huffed in disappointment, shifting herself slightly closer to their new location. Suddenly the sound of a broken glass drew her attention as one of the assailants cracked a beer bottle to fashion a weapon against his drunken foe. In that moment of distraction she hadn’t seen the horror fill the victim-to-be’s eyes. No it wasn’t until a girlish shriek brought her attention back to her trio that she noticed that he had turned deeply red and his features had begun to swim across his face. Her eyes narrowed in confusion as rolls of flesh began to move up and down his body follow by the wizards own shrieking. The smell of the death to come was intoxicatingly overwhelming and in that moment she felt frozen to her spot, her need to feed growing exponentially.
The fear that was being emitted from the crowd and the wizard himself filled and exhilarating her, coating her tongue and throat. It had been a long time since she had been able to take in this much essence and it was exhilarating. Not even a moment later the strangest of sounds filled her ears, like an unnatural wet popping. With the sound came such a jolt of feed that she staggered backward into a nearby fire-escape, her skin glowing with energized magic. She was drunk with it, her skin glowing with the vitality and power brought on by what she had taken in. It had been so long since she had felt this full that it took her several moments to realize the chaos that had ensued in the square. She blinked away her drunken gaze, eyes trying to focus back on the wizards’ body. For a moment or two Rajani couldn’t find where he had gone, so she searched for his two companions. The two girls stood in the middle of the square covered in what she could only describe as a bloody goo. Another moment would pass before the sated Keres realized the goop was all that was left of the wizard.
This was no ordinary accident and as it finally hit Rajani that this was indeed some type magical mishap dread filled her. It wouldn’t be long before the ministry began to swarm the area and with how long she had been dazed it was a possibility they had already arrived. Rajani cursed under her breath and attempted to ease her mind enough to apparate, but the drunkenness made it difficult to concentrate. Frantically, her eyes darted around the alley, looking for somewhere to hide. She pulled the cloak even tighter around herself, hoping that her glowing skin would subside soon. Several feet away she noticed a dumpster and as the smell of magic began to fill the air again she knew she had no choice. Rajani slinked as quickly and quietly as she could towards the dumpster cracks of apparating wizards and witches filling the air. Taking the chance that the coast was clear enough she dived into the dumpster and waited for the side-effect of her massive feed to dissipate.
