“Alright, Sir.”
Tulia responded, her voice devoid of emotion, and turned crisply to walk out of the tavern.
The somewhat worn wooden door closed behind her, shutting out the noise and undercurrents within.
Those furtive whispers that drifted from the shadowy corner she had heard every single word.
The contents were nothing more than plans for what to do once she was alone how to drag this “fat sheep” into an alley, strip her clean, and perhaps, while they were at it… mm, satisfy some baser urges.
Tulia felt nothing, not even a ripple within her heart in fact, she almost wanted to laugh.
“When you’re dozing off, someone always brings a pillow.”
She thought absentmindedly, “Just in time I’m short on cash and ‘rations’, and now the goods are delivering themselves to my door.
Today’s luck seems pretty good not only can I make a quick fortune, but also… have a ‘full meal.’”
She deliberately slowed her steps, silver-white hair swaying gently at her back.
Sensing the sneaky, rapidly approaching presences behind her, she cooperated perfectly, performing the reaction a “frail woman” would have upon realizing she was being followed her shoulders trembled slightly, and her steps quickened.
Her eyes “panicked,” scanning ahead as if searching for an escape, but she intentionally ignored the main street nearby and darted headlong into a narrow, obviously unsafe alley.
This appearance of “realizing the danger but, out of fear, choosing the wrong path” only made her pursuers more excited and reckless.
“Hurry! Don’t let her get away!”
“Heh heh, little beauty, don’t be afraid…”
Filthy words and heavy footsteps sounded behind her. Two groups, one ahead and one behind, began a seemingly tense chase through the labyrinthine old alleys.
At that moment, outside the tavern, the Sheriff now wearing a wide-brimmed cowboy hat frowned, resting his hand on the standard Magic Wand at his thigh, and, still uneasy, followed out.
He watched the white figure vanish at the mouth of the alley, several burly silhouettes following right after. Cursing “trouble” under his breath, he quickened his pace to give chase.
Tulia leaned back against a damp, mottled wall, silver-white hair swaying under the dim light.
She played the frightened little doe to perfection, hands guarding her chest, and raised her voice usually deep and magnetic, now purposely high-pitched and trembling to cry out:
“D-Don’t come any closer! I’m begging you!”
Even she thought this overacted performance was a little too much.
Yet the thugs clearly ate it up. Seeing her “lovely face drained of color,” they rubbed their hands in excitement, lewd words tumbling nonstop from their mouths.
“Heh heh, now you’re scared? Too late!”
“Little beauty, be obedient and we’ll treat you real nice…”
Tulia tried hard to keep a terrified look on her face.
But as she watched these fools gloating, a surge of irrepressible laughter welled up from her chest.
“Pfft—”
A sudden, out-of-place chuckle escaped through her tightly pressed lips.
Oh no, she’d lost her act.
She hurriedly raised a hand to cover her mouth, but her shoulders couldn’t help trembling.
Her abnormal reaction made the thugs pause in their tracks, exchanging confused glances.
“Hey… what’s wrong with her?”
“Scared silly?”
She slowly lowered her hand. On that exquisite, peerless face, where was there any fear left?
Instead, an irrepressible joy almost spilled over.
Her lips curled into a dazzling, wicked grin.
“Ha ha… hahaha… ahahahahaha—!!!”
She no longer covered her mouth, but flung her arms wide as if to embrace the absurdity of the scene. Her body rocked back and forth with her wild laughter, tears springing from her eyes.
“You guys… you idiots… hahaha… are just too funny! Ahahaha—!”
“Consider yourselves lucky today,” Tulia’s voice still tinged with laughter, but as cold as an underground spring, “It’s been so long since I last tasted human blood.”
As her words fell, even the light in the alley seemed to dim.
Who was this frail woman, meek and ready to be slaughtered?
A huge, bat-like shadow unfurled from behind her, almost blotting out the narrow strip of sky above the alley.
Her eyes, once glacier blue, now burned a searing crimson, glowing with a blood-red light that was chilling even in daylight.
Her graceful lips stretched wide, revealing a predator’s slender, razor-sharp fangs.
The air seemed frozen solid in that moment—even sound was sucked away.
Only her wild, gleeful laughter lingered, echoing faintly between the cold stones.
Tulia stood with elegance, arms leisurely folded across her chest, as if admiring a performance about to begin.
“Enough,” her red lips parted as she delivered her verdict, “the farce is over.”
The next second, her figure blurred and vanished like a specter.
In nearly the same instant, she appeared right before the lead thug—close enough that he could see his own terrified reflection in her crimson eyes.
Without any extra motion, a hand—so slender and pale it hardly seemed human—slipped silently into his chest as effortlessly as a hot knife through butter.
“Psh.”
A soft, dull sound of flesh being pierced.
When she withdrew her hand, her five fingers were clutching a still-faintly-throbbing, resilient, crimson lump—his Heart.
Tulia waved that warm Heart before his eyes, which were frozen wide in terror and disbelief, fresh blood dripping down her wrist.
“Familiar?” she asked softly, even with a hint of curiosity.
As soon as the words left her lips, her fingers clenched tight!
“Bang!”
The Heart burst in her palm like an overripe fruit, and scalding blood sprayed outward like a miniature fountain!
Most of it splashed onto Tulia—her body and face—staining her pale skin and silver-white hair with a wicked red.
She didn’t mind at all. In fact, she lifted the crushed Heart’s remains to her lips with a kind of reverence, extending her tongue to lick up the warm liquid.
The sweet, life-filled nectar slid down her throat—a long-lost warmth instantly flooded her limbs, the source of her magic that had been dry for ten years now humming in satisfied relief, like parched earth receiving its first rain.
“Ahh…” she let out a barely audible, satisfied sigh.