The guttural screams of an agonized soul fills the air as the lone shadow lumbers through white washed walls of the scholastic building in which he inexplicably found himself in.

He was as dumb as ever. Finding another delightfully delectable target he just decided upon a whim to follow it, without carefully weighing the consequences and laying down a well-pieced together action plan. He had been notoriously known for this, although it was only he himself who knew it. What could anybody else care? For all he knew, each and every one of them 'shadows in the dark' only cared about themselves.

So, in a manner of adding insult to injury, he who could've known better finds himself cut off from a vital source of his strength and his life, and is currently struggling to keep himself awake. For if someone else stumbles upon his cold, unconscious body lying around in the hallway, there were either two places he could end up on.

The better would be in a far away lab, somewhere, laid upon a table, and at the very least not an experiment to be trifled with...

And the worse, an experiment table, being cut up and surveyed like a specimen frog of some sort. Degraded, deriled, and dead.

You would've thought he would've had it figured out, but the hunger had gotten the best of him yet again.

Stumbling, and tottery, he found himself inside the school's chem labs, without even knowing what it was. Not even knowing if anyone else would come in or so. He fought to keep himself awake.

Stupid is what idiocy does.

Curiously, he wasn't dead just yet.

The air in the lab hung heavy with the various fumes of chemicals, and this has caused a thin mist to form. It was not enough to get him back to his feet, but it was enough to prevent him from slipping into unconsciousness. Thus he was saved from the perils of being found unconscious. He used this newfound providence to his advantage, and crawled his way near the door, keeping well hidden by keeping to the desks and the tables which obscured him from the outside.

There he would muster enough of his strength to help him propel himself with the tentacles which had aided in so many of his trysts...both defensively and 'offensively'...and right now, he was counting on them to take him out of this predicament which he found himself in.

He kept himself still, and waited for the moment when he felt more stable.

...

But only a few moments later, he was roused from inactivity by a new gust of air and the creaking sound of the door. It seemed someone decided to do a late night assignment. Much to his chagrin, he had to move away just to hide himself before he can be sure that this new intruder posed no threat, or that he would...well...

He decided for a look, and raised his head up above the table's height, taking care not to be seen. It was not too hard, since he was used to spying around and skulking. But what he saw, well...suffice to say that it got his blood running.

She might've been a student, for all that he cared. Was not too sure, though, since she was in plainsclothes right now. But no one from the Admin or any of the personnel were this young. She had to be a student. Her youthful curves and jolly gait gave her away. But why had she come right now, of all times, when he felt he was at a disadvantage?

He lamented his fate, skulking just a few feet away from her, when he heard the sound of breaking glass and the rush of water being opened. It was so hastily opened, some of it spilled over to the floor, causing a mini-pool. This did not escape the monster's attention.

Just a tiny drop, he needed just a bit to energize him if he wanted to catch her. That was enough. The rest he would worry about later when he's finally succeeded in his plan.

With this in mind, he inched a tentacle slowly, closing in on the small pool of tap water that spilled onto the floor. He hoped that the girl would be too busy to notice...

Hopefully the girl would not notice that there was actually someone in the room, someone with dark intentions that involved something more than just the normal kidnap and ransom take that humans were so fond of doing. Then again, humans were capable of more terrible things, but they did not do this just out of boredom.

Kouzakai actually was laughing, in his own mind. The irony of the situation. A minute ago he was almost near death, and inspecting the possibility that one day, one day his foolhardy nature and his hard-headed intuitions will actually lead him to genuine danger; he actually thought that this was the day, the day his idiocy will finally be the death of him. Praise Neptune it wasn't so...instead, he found himself alone, with a student just a few clicks away from him. How fate loved to play along with men, and with being sentient enough to be called intellectual, however crude their appearance may be.

His tentacle seems to be unhampered. He continued sucking sustenance from the tiny pool of salvation that fate threw in his way. He continued, actually feeling a rush of awakening flowing through his veins. All the while not believing his luck, Kouzakai chuckled silently. First things first, though...he had to be sure he was, at least, at 75% before he could even think of chasing after this prize.

Minutes later (ah, how quick things can be when you're rushing), Kouzakai felt his old strength return. Never mind if the water seemed to be less than ever before; good thing was he could move around without so much as breathing a rugged whiff. And once again, he forgot that which he promised not to do so earlier...never again forget where your water sources were. All that mattered was the moment, and his prey.

Now, how would he enter? hmm...

Providence seemed to be on his side too, as the student stooped down to clean up the mess. Perfect it seemed to that her back was to the exit. His first impulse was to block that way to salvation, and he did just that. Moving without even the slightest of sounds, Kouzakai reached the door and in an instant crushed the doorknob. He remained hidden, wanting to surprise the girl even later when she realizes that she was not completely alone.

And why did he always seem to fall for these intellectual, studious types?

The student's movements were calculated strokes which were guaranteed to clean up the mess which she had made. The monster observed her movements, noticing that she was so pre occupied with what she was doing, she even barely noticed that the monster had already manipulated the surroundings to his advantage.

However, later on, whilst the monster fidgeted with a shard of brass that came from the doorknob, taking note of its consistency, the student had noticed that the water she had spilled ever since was dried up, magically. She was sure that she hadn't wiped it off; her towel was made up of some kind of non-absorbent material. And there was no air in the room to speak of, so even if the puddle could dry up, there was no way it could dry up in less than a minute at most.

In her confusion, though, she had forgotten that she had kept the faucet open.

Kouzakai had since made his moved, keeping tabs on her with every five minute period. Slowly and slowly she began having doubts that she was alone; every minute or so, she glanced around, and then a smile came onto her face. Judging by her expression the monster deduced she must've been thinking about how foolish it would be to think that someone was with her in a completely closed room, and in the monster's sick, twisted intellect, a controlled environment, so to speak.

Her fear became much more evident upon seeing the monster's handiwork, and in the moment that he checked, she was more mindful of her surroundings. A moment appeared when he thought she was looking at him as he moved around the room; but then again, her focus went on the shadows on the other end of the room. He was playing with her, and with much gusto at that, but with her scientific mind he judged that time was growing short for him to keep up this charade. She'd eventually wisen up and discover him.

But bully for her. There was no escape but to break the glass windows, and Kouzakai would not permit such a thing.

The student's panicked movements towards the previously unknown knob damage excited the monster. It was kind of exciting watching her, with the movements that suggested her fear, panic...emotions that Kouzakai almost always exploited for his own advantage.

This, her actions and her movements, also served to show the monster much more of her physique than the student would usually want to show. Her curves...those ample breasts of hers that would fit so snugly inside his palms...and her angelic face contorted into a level of panic that Kouzakai would attribute to the knowledge of you being not the only one in the room when you previously thought you were. She whirled around, trying to find the only exit in the room most available...

But then again, being the rational mind that she is, she managed to calm down.

That works against the monster. As she figures out the rational things and figures out a way from the room, Kouzakai moves. And yet, being the rational mind she is, that was one of her flaws, one of her downfalls.

As she calms herself down she moves towards the light, with her back just a short distance from the monster. She then turns to the windows, and begins to fidget with one of the bolts.

And as Kouzakai watched, she manages to open it and find a way out, which the monster could not believe.

Had he come here, so close to a prey, only to lose her?

No.

Being so near to him gave Kouzakai an advantage. Seeing her chuck away her belongings to the brushes below, he figured out that rather than having thought of a way out, the girl was getting desperate. The window was a good 7 or 8 feet above ground, and it would hurt her greatly if she attempts to jump, even with the brushes.

Kouzakai acts quickly, and in minutes a tentacle from the dark wraps around her ankles, just before she jumps.

He pulls her in.

" Hey." he said, sitting in the dark. " Don't go killing yourself, now."

Kouzakai was smiling in the dark, dark thoughts clouding his mind and developing lots and lots of gleeful things he could do to the girl that could very much make both their days...or rather, nights. Gleeful for him, and for the girl...well, that remains to be seen.

The girl puts up a valiant fight, trying to avoid becoming today's 'dinner'. She kicks and scratches her way through it and actually succeeds on holding on to the ledge of the window, trying her best to wrestle her ankle free from the invading tentacle that was slowly crawling up her leg, trying to get a stronger, better grip.

Having weakened possibly, she loses her grip on the ledge and pops on the floor, her palms stopping her from having a rude contact with the floor. Great, the monster thought. He does not want damaged goods. However, she keeps on the fight, and this time manages to find the legs of tables to hold onto.

Kouzakai was weakening slightly, but smiled. Tables were no match for a monster's hunger, and that proved to be true as the tables were only dragged along.

Kouzakai was fueled on by thoughts. And even more so by the sight before him. Her skirt had ridden up since and was fully displaying what she wore underneath, and those legs that she had so painfully kept from view earlier. Her shirt was well on the way to that too, the underswells of her breasts becoming more and more evident. This was becoming like a peepshow, and the monster was the recipient of one well played striptease.

She seemed to be giving up the fight as she reached the edge of the darkness...

Wrong.

She had gotten hold of a ruler and began thwacking away, yet broke the ruler on first contact of the monster's thighs. Still, that did not stop her from doing so, and continued thwacking away, until the monster could not take the annoyance any longer.

Still in the dark mostly, and not showing any signs of being hurt, the monster wrapped both her wrists in the same tentacles like those currently binding her ankles.

" Oh, stop it!" he said, booming in the room. " For an amateur scientist you are acting so uncivilized..."

They've got all night, and Kouzakai was going to juice out all that he can out of this.

The monster guffawed, echoing his eerie voice around the room. The room, being so spacious, served only to make his voice sound more deeper and darker than it usually was...and already, in his normal voice, it was something that most would shy away from hearing.

" Ah, well, I try." he said, trying his best to keep his grip on the girl.

That was the best he can do anyway, reel her in, and it was using up most of his strength to keep up with her struggles. Fortunately for him, since she had panicked and had been busy finding an escape route to pass through, the faucet that she had earlier opened had been left running. It had since then flooded the sink, and was actually starting to flood the entire floor.

The water snaked through the floor, and onto the both of them, sending jolts of energy through the monster's body as it hit his foot. This also meant that the student was starting to get wet on her back, and her hair, and Kouzakai had sworn that, in order to feed his most darkest fantasies, he would turn her over and get something else wet once he had subdued her.

" Ah, don't struggle so much, I wouldn't hurt you..." he said, not so much to pacify her, but to add insult to injury. " Though of course, I cannot guarantee much..."

That tentacle which had snaked its way onto her ankle had, by now, reached her inner thigh, and was trying its best to rub gently, disturbed as it was by the young girl's rippling muscles. For a scientist, she struggled as much as she can and was actually doing a good job, if not for this monster's resiliency. Try as she might, Kouzakai would never give up what could be a self-glorifying reward for patiently waiting for a break, an opening, a chance to correct a wrong which he foolishly made.

He felt the urge to play games with her, and to toy around before doing the inevitable...but was waiting until he could actually feel energized enough. Fast as he was getting pumped, he still feels the weakness that had wracked him earlier.

Kouzakai was definitely enjoying this, much more than the regular reason. Because of the fact that the water had reached his heels, his body had begun moving with precise movements. His reactions quicked; his body felt much more alive. With the water, Kouzakai knew he was back in the game, and just in time for the climax of the girl's fight for redemption.

She had well-placed struggles in the course of the time her strength was at its height, managing to free one of her arms. But then it was her speed against the speed of the monster, and she could only do so much as a human. Kouzakai was relentless. He would not give up a prize which he almost did not get the first time.

Sure enough, soon the girl finds out that her strength was fast getting depleted, just as Kouzakai's strength was renewed each time the water rises a centimeter or so. His grips had reaffirmed his need, and the strength he possessed, as well as the speed. Her kicks were less accurate now, and her tired arms just hung limply at her sides, although occasionally still trying to wring themselves loose from the tentacles that bound her.

Deducing something from nothing Kouzakai figures out she hated being rebuked, and as a result of his sarcasm that struggle came afterwards. He usually tricked his prey into submission because he hated a 'messy' meal; but he could not help what had happened earlier, thus he countered sarcasm with sarcasm.

Maybe, now that he had the upper-hand, he could talk terms with the girl.

" Hello there." he said, amidst all the threats and curses he received, though sounding half-meant they still sounded dangerous. " Tired, are we?"

He tried to speak calmly but the adrenaline surging through him and the struggle to keep her down and docile made him sound pompous, cocky at best.

" I guess you can see, it is pointless to struggle." he said. " Oh, I'm not here to hurt you or kill or eat you. There's something else I need."

With luck, she'd listen. But that seems to be far from the truth.