At his arrival, his boss, the man who gave him the file earlier, was already standing outside with a box in his hands. The excited look on his face made Casen have a bad feeling, this man only showed such an expression when he was showing his 'work'.
"There you are! I've been waiting for you!" The man spoke, he still had his suit on but Casen noticed a few spots of blood stained on the collar of his shirt.
"Waiting for me?"
"Yes, I was told that today was your birthday and so I prepared you a gift!" He kept a smile on his face, this sent Casen warning signs especially when it didn't change despite him not referring to him in formality when he had been slapped earlier for it.
"Here, take it. Since I had to prepare it quickly, I didn't get the chance to drain the blood." He placed the box in Casens' hands.
"Blood?" He cautiously peeled the lid off and what was inside made his body freeze and his eyes shake. "This.."
Inside of the box was the head of the woman he met after he received orders from the man before him, it was Eva. Her brown hair which always looked to be of silk and soft to the touch was now marred with blood and those honey eyes held no trace of light yet what stayed the same was the smile that adorned her beautiful face whenever he saw her.
"Did you do this?" Casen asked in a low voice, his heart hammering against his chest.
"Yes! I found out that you frequently visit that bakery and I wanted to see what you were interested in so I went there. Who knew this beauty existed around here?"
The man's voice drowned out from Casens' ears which were ringing. He couldn't understand why. Why him? Why her? He had done what he was told, he kept his head low and listened like a good dog so why was it like this? Eva wasn't supposed to be caught in the middle. She just wanted to live, but didn't they all? Questions after questions with no one to answer them.
As Casen was drowning in his thoughts a melodic voice sounded from his mind and his surroundings all at once, "Why don't you do anything? Aren't you in pain?"
Yes, his body was in pain. His heart was grieving but what could he do? At his question, he finally got an answer. "Let go. Listen to your desires, be greedy for once."
As if something in his brain clicked, Casen's bones began to crack, and when he let go of the box causing it to fall to the ground the man who was still speaking stopped to look at him.
Casen's body began to change as he felt an unknown source of energy pouring into his malnourished body, revitalizing it with raw power. From the top of his head, two white jagged dragon horns that curved upwards grew, his eyes changing to glow a stark red as his pupils shrunk to slits. His instincts soared and in turn, he roared.
"What the f-" Before he could utter another word Casen pulled his leg back and kicked the man in the chest, sending him flying through the entrance and colliding with the back wall. The ground shook under the sheer pressure of the force.
Lowering his body toward the ground, his now-clawed fingers digging into the dirt, Casen sprung forward while a pair of dragon wings matching the color of his horns sprouted from his back in a spray of blood that propelled him faster toward the man.
"Shit, this bastard was a dragon!" Pulling a steel bar from the wall he crashed into he swung it downward into Casen's head before he could reach him.
"Stop," Casen uttered in dragon tongue. His command was firm and the body of the man in front of him halted in action.
Folding his wings he landed before his feet and kneeled to look him in his eyes that held the same look Casen always had, fear. "Such a look doesn't suit you, Adam. But it does give me such a euphoric feeling. I now know why you act the way you do." Clicking his tongue, Casen shook his head.
His superior who he believed was far away was in fact so near that all he needed to do to get close was to simply let go. It was funny but he knew that his desires were only a catalyst and the real reason behind his awakening was the feminine voice he heard earlier.
As if the devil spoke, that same voice resounded again, "Eat his heart." It seemed that Adam, his old boss, had heard it too with the way sweat began forming on his forehead.
"You heard her, no hard feelings right? After all, it's my turn to be greedy." Casen's face broke out into a wide grin, his sharp teeth out for show.
Reaching his clawed hand toward Adams's chest, said man was screaming through shut lips for him to stop as he did so. Ignoring his pleas Casen dug his fingers into his flesh and gouged out his beating heart as blood poured down his arm and dripped onto the floor beneath him. Even after his heart was removed Adams's life persisted, a peculiar quirk that was in all lifeforms on this planet.
Having already gotten the go-ahead from the voice that helped him, Casen took a bite of Adams' heart. When he did so, the sign of life in him finally started to recede, and instead was transferred to Casen. His body which was once thin and frail finally started to gain mass and fill out. He was a little disgusted at first but the pleasant taste won over.
Eating the rest of the heart that remained, he stood up and walked over to a wardrobe situated in the far corner of the now disheveled room and opened it to reveal Eva's remains with a hole in her chest that was missing her own heart.
Picking her up in his arms, Casen approached the box that held her severed head and used his long tail to wrap around it and carry it with him to the edge of the territory to bury her under a large oak tree on a hill where he had first met her and when he found a home of his own.
"Rest well, okay? Don't wait up this time, we'll meet again." He placed his hand on his chest and bowed his head willingly. Signaling his goodbye as tears fell from his eyes.
"..."
"..."
"Thank you for showing me a way out. Thank you for waking me up." Casen spoke in a near whisper but his target had heard it clearly when he felt the power that he was given leave his body, replaced by fatigue and backlash.