Rain pours down from the sky above, drowning everything it touches with a cool liquid, melting away any traces of the day before. The sounds of footsteps quickly breaking through small pools of collected rain echo soundly amongst the quiet streets of the dimly lit town. The night sky stills the sleeping village, yet not all are calm and asleep this evening of darkness.

With her back up against the wall and the rain still pouring down around them, the man breathes heavily down her neck. Bodies inches apart, hearts beating with one another. Raindrops hit their fragile human heads and slowly roll down their cheeks, steaming from the warmth of their bodies. She squirms but is unable to get free, his lips contort into a mischievous grin and he licks his lips. The man leans in closer, breath caressing the woman's cheek. She closes her eyes, fearful of the next move, hoping that somewhere out there, is a saviour waiting to rescue her from this nightmare.

"Mind if I join in?" A voice calls out from behind the man, taking both by surprise. With one hand holding the woman against the wall, he turns to face the intruder.

A man, if you will, stands just a couple metres away from the couple. His weight shifted onto his left side as he holds his weapon of choice in his right hand, hanging cautiously over his shoulder. His weapon of choice, his most prized beauty, a long staffed scythe. Its blade long and luxurious, it shimmers brightly when graced with the light's presence. Its blade is also thin yet sturdy, its experiences on a battlefield have left it with scars and stories to tell its young. For, it now yearns to taste the blood of mortal flesh, and it feeds off of the fear of those who bless it with their sight. A charcoal robe masks the figure within the darkness of the night and none would seem the wiser. The only light shining from the man is a glint from when he shines his pearly whites towards the two unsuspecting humans before him.

The man glares the intruder down, his eyes narrow and his brows furrow. The woman just stares with awe at the challenger, not sure if they be friend or foe. She doesn't dare scream for help, for surely if it were a foe, there would be no help coming to her. She remains silent, watching the interaction between the two opponents, hoping for a light to shine down and illuminate them through the darkness.

"Who the hell are you?" The man calls out with a raspy tone, a cough following after but he pays no care to it. "Can't yah see we're in the middle of something?" He moves his free arm out and waves it about around him and the woman, trying to signal to the intruder that they have just interrupted the intimate moment he was having with the woman.

"You didn't answer my question." The figure speaks once more, a calm tone reflecting from their darkened appearance.

The man furrows his brows once more, tightening them stiffer. He narrows his eyes more, almost to the point of blurring his sight as though he can't believe what he's hearing. The look of utter confusion crosses his face, as he lifts one cheek higher than the other and leaves his mouth gaping wide for flies to land upon his golden teeth.

"Like hell you can! Go on! Scat! Before I give yah a what for!" The man wags his hand at the stranger, flicking his fingers aggressively in his direction. How dare some nobody come in and ask to interrupt his meal! That was just ridiculous.

The stranger would walk closer to the couple, pulling his weapon of choice from his shoulder and spinning it out to be in front of him. The figure would then point the shimmering blade at the man as he stood before him, gawking at his movement. The figure would laugh, a deep and dark tone illuminating from the cover below.

"No one tells me to get lost." The figure spoke with grace and poise, his steps echoing within the alley of the quiet street. "Not evenLust, and she doesn't like anyone, shocking I know."

The man holding the woman contorts his face even more upon hearing the stranger's comment. He takes his gaze off of the stranger for a moment as he glances at the woman to see what her reaction or reactions are to this mysterious figure. She had been quiet the entire time, and he didn't really understand why. Why would his prey not call out to the stranger? Why would she not leap out and try to fight him while he was distracted talking with the stranger? Did she know him? Or was he truly on the man's side? The man catches the gaze of the woman, her eyes widening slowly as she stares frightfully in the direction of the stranger.

Curious, the man turns back to face the stranger. His eyes widen as quick as a flash of lightning, if he had been holding something in his free hand, he would have dropped it at the sight before him.

The stranger no longer stands before them as a man in a hooded cloak and scythe, but now a terrifying beast. Standing in the one and a bit car width alleyway, the beast seems to have just enough room to breathe. A growl escapes its large muzzle, and it raises one of its paws. The beast has charcoal black hair- or rather fur all around its monstrous body. It's head is of a familiar shape to that of an Earthian wolf; with a long snout and pointed ears, its crimson eyes sparkle like rubies upon its black charcoal fur.

In fear, the man pushes away from the woman and quickly stumbles to turn in the opposite direction of the beast. Gasps of fear spout out from his crooked lips and he wobbles away as fast as his short stubby legs can carry him.

"Think you can get away that easily?" The stranger's voice calls out as one of the beast's paws reach out to strike the man.

The man ducks down, hoping and praying to himself that he isn't caught. But the beasts paw wraps tightly around the man's fragile human body. The man squirts tears from his eyes as the beast brings him near to his large canine teeth.

"Please don't hurt me! I have a wife and a family! I need to stay alive to keep them safe!" The man pleads to the beast, grasping his hands together and shaking them out in front of his chest while still being held by the beast.

"Oh really?" A hum of a tone runs from the beast's mouth as he looks into the soul of the man. "According to my records, you live alone. That means no wife and no kids. Also, most of your other family lives better than you, so I'm sure they don't need your help."

The man's eyes widen as his already pale skin whitens at the response from the creature. His body shakes gently within the beast's grip.

"Please! I'm sorry! I just don't want to die! I'm too young to be living six feet underground." Tears gush profusely from his crusty eyes as he begs the beast not to end his worthless life. His voice shakes and cracks, desperate to stay alive one more day. His gaze glances down at the woman, she still stands where he left her. Why hasn't she run by now? They must definitely know each other then! He thinks to himself, retuning his gaze to the creature who held him in his grasp.

"Heh... I'm sorry too." The beast's breath brushes past the man's ear as a low growl echoes within the hollow street.

The man, shivering and cold, opens his mouth to utter a reply. But before he is able, the creature's grip closes down tightly upon his chest.  Creaks and cracks cry out from the man's body as his fragile human bones break under the pressure of the beast's claws.

The beast inhales and sucks up the soul of the man who he once held in his paw, the body crumbles into nothing more than dust before seeping through the cracks in the beast's paw and then it is washed away by the rain that still pours from the sky.

The woman, who never uttered a word during the entire encounter, still remains where she stood. Her body trembles at the sight of the beast and she grips the wall behind her, as though it's strength will protect her from the creature before her.

"Please, don't hurt me. I know I'm not a perfect soul, but I don't wish to die." The woman pleads, dropping down to her knees, her silk skirt bathing in the dirt and rain puddle below her. Her eyes look up at the beast, begging him to spare her.

The beast exhales a breath, mist disperses from his body as he shrinks back down to his humanoid self. The stranger looks to the woman and meets her gaze, her eyes no longer look in fear. He holds his scythe out in front of her and closes his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but you too are on my list." His words are soft as he speaks and the woman looks down with a hint of sadness falling from her face.

"I-...."

Curshk- tizzz zzzitzz.

"Oh come on! Don't act up now!" I stand and walk to the picture box. A look of annoyance paints my face as I lift the black box up and shake it wildly in front of me. "We were at the best part too." A sigh runs from my voice, a whine would be more recognizable but I would rather not think of myself as a whiner.

"It's okay Dee-Dee! Don't feel sad, we all know how cool you are regardless of if the tape works properly or not!" A child's voice rings through my ears, catching my attention and I stop violently shaking the box. I place it back down and turn to face the owner of the voice.

"How many times do I need to tell you not to call me that?" My gaze falls upon a fairly small child - well I suppose she's small compared to my giant height - and she smiles at me as though I don't tower over her like the beast I am. Her olive skin shimmers in the light as she closes her eyes and widens her cutesy little grin.

"Too many times I lost count. Teehee!" She giggles as she dances towards me and grabs my left hand. "Come on! We're gonna miss the ceremony! They're gonna announce who gets to go to Earth this Century!"

"Man I really hope I don't get chosen, last time I went the humans were extraordinarily disappointing." I groan like a child despite being thousands of years old while being dragged away by a child that's half my size and just a couple years older than me.

"Oh look! We made it just in time for them to announce the winner!" The child's silvery white hair drapes over her face as she quickly spins to face me while sliding to a stop. Her hazel eyes look at me with great excitement as the announcer takes the mic to begin the grand announcement. "I hope you get to go, Dee Dee, you've worked harder than anyone! And you definitely need a vacation from this place."

Right, a vacation. That could be fun. . .

"Congratulations! The one going on a trip of the Century: Death!" The words sprawl out on the screens before us and confetti blasts out of colourful cannons. The crowd around us cheers excitedly while people clap and all turn to face me. The attention snaps me back to reality and I blink with a look of shock and confusion painted on my face.

"Yay Dee Dee! I told you that you were going to win! Congratulations buddy! Now you can have a reliable excuse to take some time off! Teehee." The child hugs my waist tightly, appearing very happy for me.

"Heh, thanks. . . Li-Li." I place my giant hand onto her petite head and pet her hair ever so gently. Well. . . I guess I have no choice but to take a vacation now. . . .

[ Word Count: 2080 ]

Did I think it would take me this long to write this? Nope. Hopefully I'll be more on top of things for next round. I hope you enjoy. I also changed the main Genre from Comedy to Romance. But this is not going to be your average gushy Hallmark Love story. I apologize if this disappoints you.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. Thank you for reading and I wish you all good luck in the contest if you are working hard to create a novella too! : )