Tony Walker

The figure nodded, laying the woman gently down on the ground before marching off again, leaving no remnant of its passage behind.

The woman had long curly brown hair, was dressed in a nightie, curled up, and showed no signs of awakening.

The cloaked man looked curiously, then reached into the air and twirled his finger.

She lay on her back as if in a trance, and he walked over to her.

He crept over her, a look of predatory anticipation on his face, as he sniffed her like a perfumier luxuriating in his latest creation.

He savoured the smell.

then flung his cape over her so only their lower torsos were visible, entwined like lovers, and all was silent again.

An owl hooted in the distance as the pair remained fixed like statues, with no other sounds present, as the city continued sleeping.

A while later, the figure returned with a man as a shadow remained over her.

He flung his cape back after an inhuman gurgle and growl suddenly broke the stillness.

The woman looked pale and much older, like a corpse as the cloaked man seemed to bear her facial features slightly.

He looked at the figure as it bore the woman down next to the man.

The cloaked man grinned and nodded to his companion.

You may go now.

Enjoy your feasts.

there is much to be found he gestured at the houses the figure nodding and bowing before marching away disappearing into the fog like a wraith he walked over to the man blowing a kiss to the woman before examining him dressed only in underpants looking slightly older but very handsome with short blond hair and a tanned complexion

The cloaked man began the ritual as a dog barked in the distance and the moon hung low in the sky.

Sometime later, the shadows stood up, the body below appearing like the woman's as his new face gleamed in the moonlight, facial features now contorting like a surreal nightmare.

he looked like a curious combination of the two and walked away into a beam of moonlight piercing through the fog the light on his face painted the two faces into a version of the two beings an abstraction

Eventually the metamorphosis was complete and a new man, a new woman emerged as he slowly twisted his head around, clicking noises audible, and settled on his new, fairer form.