A few moments later, the first human
was followed by a second, only this one gave off an animal musk combined
with the reek of an uninhabitable hunger.
Panting, sweat dripping down her forehead,
the maiden stopped near a tiny stream and not heeding the fact she was
being pursued, she
The hunter stopped at the same stream
as well and was momentarily confused by the break in the scent and blood
trail, then it saw the
She could see the stand of trees just
beyond the next rise, but the sounds of pursuit were growing loud behind
her. She was tiring and
The hunter had seen her fall and had
winced at the phantom pain that trilled up his leg. It had been a bad fall
and he was surprised that
The female screamed as the hunter
careened into her and she fell, rolling over in the grass as she did. She
stopped on her back, her
The female cried out as he tore her
clothes off with his talons and she tried to get up, only to have her leg
betray her and she fell
Warring with himself, trying to balance
need with hunger, the hunter knelt down beside the female and pulling her
into his arms, mindful
...Joe Elliott woke up from the nightmare
he'd been having and sat up in bed, shaking all over. He'd been sick with
the flu for over a week
~ The End ~
The forest was lit with silvery moonlight
that threw inky shades in some places and lined others with iridescent
light. Animals that
normally slept at night were awake
and some were hunting, some were the hunted. An owl sat serenely in a tree,
full from its recent kill,
when the harsh sounds of breathing
and light footfalls on a nearly-hidden path sent it winging into the night.
The whole forest froze as
a human, its scent wild with a fear
that bordered on madness, dashed through the underbrush.
Where the first intruder had been
small, delicate and fleet of foot, this one was tall, long-legged and quick
in the way of a large predator that has to rely on
wit over speed. It stopped, breathed
in the air and went to one knee to run its long, clawed fingers over some
broken branches that the first human had
broken in its flight. It scented
the green smell of tree, but beneath that was the sweet scent of blood
and female musk. With a sound that could have been
interpreted as a purr, it trotted
off, following the female's path deep into the forest.
dropped to her knees and plunged
her face into the water, cooling her skin and drinking enough water to
soothe her parched throat. She
wiped her face on the corner of the
long shirt she wore over her badly-torn leggings and started when she saw
that somewhere along her
flight, she had cut her bare feet
on something and was leaving a blood trail. She hissed and dipped her feet
in the cold water,
washing the blood off and anesthetizing
the cuts as well. Hearing the faint but insistent sound of pursuit, she
flung herself to her feet
and fled for the center of the forest,
praying she'd be able to reach the forest's edge and hide in the trees
until sunrise.
faint outlines of wet footprints
on the rocks nearby. She was heading for the forest's edge and most likely
would take refuge in one of the
huge trees until the morning light
drove him and his kind back into the darkness. Taking a quick drink, the
hunter leapt nimbly over the
rocks and ran on.
she hoped she would have enough strength
left to pull herself into the branches and hang there till dawn...and if
she didn't, she would
be at the mercy of the hunter. Fear
was a spur and she increased her speed a bit and was making headway when
she tripped over an unseen
rock and fell hard, turning her ankle
and knocking the breath out of her. Pain began to scream along her nerves
and she tried to rise,
only to fall back down, her ankle
swelling and sending waves of agony up her spine. Steeling herself against
tears, she pulled herself to
her knees and began crawling across
the meadow, determined not to be taken by the hunter.
no bones had been broken. He could
smell the pain and fright full on the winds now and it began to drive him
insane with hunger. When the
female pulled herself to her knees
and began crawling across the meadow, he knew it was time to end the game.
He stole up on her
softly, the night wind pushing his
scent back away from the female and carrying her scent to him. He closed
his eyes, took a deep breath
and charged at her, knocking her
from her knees to the ground.
injured leg off to one side, the
other positioned to kick. She crooked her hands into claws and took a swipe
at her attacker and
only got a couple strands of blonde
hair for her trouble. She kicked out with her uninjured leg and contacted
with the back of one of the
hunter's legs, but he stepped around
her and stood over her, staring down at her with eyes that were black with
pupil. "Mine..." he
whispered, dropping to his knees
to run his hands down her body. "Mine..."
back into the grasses. The hunter
slid free of his own brief bits of clothing and knelt beside her again,
his long, blonde hair falling
over his shoulders and down to touch
her face. She would not weep, she would face her fate as stoically as she
could, but when the
hunter ran a surprisingly-gentle
finger down her shoulder and over the nipple of her left breast, she couldn't
stop the moan that
escaped her lips.
of the injury to her leg, he lifted
her up and carried her across the field to a hidden bower near a stand
of fallen trees. He placed her
on the cushion of grasses, kissing
her face, neck and breasts as he did. The female struggled once then lay
still, her violet eyes never
leaving his. She knew what would
happen was inevitable, it was only a matter of time. The hunter found her
breasts and ravaged them with
his tongue and teeth, then slid down
between her legs to drink of the liquid honey that slid from inside her.
The female keened her own
need into the night as his tongue
violated her and she lost the war with her fear and offered her body to
the hunter. He stood above her
for a moment, erect and proud in
the light, his hands raised to the moon and his lips whispering something
silently. He knelt between her
legs and slowly, carefully slid his
length inside her and when her body had taken him completely inside, they
began to move together as
one. The female lay helplessly in
his arms, her hunger devouring whatever last shred of thought she had.
Opening her eyes, she looked
into the hunter's face and reached
up to him, sliding her arms around his neck. Her head fell backwards and
her onyx hair brushed her back,
tangling in the hunter's hands. He
could feel the closeness of completion rising strongly in them and as the
fire consumed them
both, he buried his razor sharp fangs
in her throat and drank the sweet, coppery blood that spilled from the
wound. He drank just
enough to sate his hunger at first
and when the female's cries of lust filled his ears, he drank again, this
time taking her to the
point of death where she would lie
until he felt safe enough to open his own veins and feed her. He pulled
his fangs free of her throat
and screamed...
now and from the way he was covered
in sweat, he guessed the fever had finally broken. He popped the top on
a bottle of Evian water and
drank deeply and when he lowered
the bottle, he was startled by the scarlet stain around the neck of the
bottle. He ran his fingers
around his lips and when he couldn't
feel any open wounds, he slowly put the bottle back on the bedside stand
and shaking again with
fright, tried to go back to sleep.