Through hundreds of refractions, he caught glimpses of Rhine dancing away from her prey. She danced, twirled and moved like water, looking at home here as she did in her element. A perfect carrot on a stick. The poor schmuck that grasped for her should have known better. Even were she human, she’d have been miles out of his league. James liked to think better of his gender - hopefully the drunk would have realized that a game was afoot if his head was clearer. But a human’s ego so often made an enemy of themselves.
Claws sheered along the glass marked with her kiss. The shrill sound rang through the hall, punctuated with a sudden yelp from the drunk. An amused puff of steam issued from the skull-face that loomed beneath a crown of grotesque antlers. A massive shadow darted behind the drunk, leaving frost on the mirrors in its wake. The drunk spun, trying to follow it. Vertigo knocked his disoriented legs out from beneath him. He hit the floor of the labyrinth with a thud, as angry now as he was terrified.
“Where are ya, woman? I can’t find yer." He was shouting at Rhine now, trying to cover fear with inebriated machismo. Frantically, he was feeling for fissures in a solid wall of mirror when the creature materialized in the dark behind him. The drunk looked up and let out a gurgling screech. The primal fear of being hunted was still very much alive in humans. As evolved as modern man liked to fancy himself, in him the Neanderthal huddled by a fire white-knuckling a club was still very much alive.
Predator rushed prey. The drunk was pinned to a silvered wall in the space of a breath, hooked under the clavicle by curved talons like a fish wiggling on a hook. The creature made a noise, a question, an invitation as it held up the meal. He was offering the last blow to Rhine ... and letting the meat marinate in adrenaline and fear for a few seconds longer.