The kill

Darius leaned back and savoured the thrill of the hunt. Blood dripped from his relaxed jaws. His lean yet awesomely powerful arms cleared away the crimson fluid from his face one by one. Basking in the moonlight he felt the blood energy surge into his being, filling his body with strength and sharpening his senses. He would like to find another beast from which to feed, but the night air was chill now and he knew that soon he would have to retreat to his sheltered hollow. He gazed down upon the fawn from which he had fed, just the drained husk remained now, all the blood having been consumed.

Soberly, Darius rose and gazed about him, searching for signs of life in the near vicinity. Satisfied there was none he turned and made his way through the thick standing of spruce toward the slow moving river and finally up toward the large jutted outcropping of rock that he had made his shelter some three nights previous. It was here that he spotted the fawn so near to the water's edge. He grinned at the memory of the hunt, stalking and crouching low and keeping as silent as possible. Only when the fallen twig beneath his bare feet creaked did the fawn sprint for cover. Darius leaped and was able to chase down the animal with ease, ripping long claws into its throat and drinking deeply from the gaping wound. It took mere seconds for the creature to die, the writhing becoming slow and less rhythmic until, at last, ceasing altogether.

Standing at the mouth of the cave he observed his domain, once again for the tell tale faint green glowing aura of prey. Moonlight bathed the river with a soft pearly blanket of light and the terrain was easy for Darius to see. From his high vantage point he could see the river snaked its way past his cave and through the clearing to the left. Towards his right the rocks got steeper and much higher, beyond that, all he could see were the canopy of the oak trees that filtered the moonlight in the breeze. From his left a bat swept down toward his head, he snatched it from the sky before the bat could react and began to devour the life blood from the creature. Discarding the lifeless animal, Darius turned and set down at the back of the cave. There he waited for the bright light to emerge from beyond the trees above and eventually sink on the other side of the river. The night air beckoned him out, but the excruciating pain of the bright orb soon to come was more than he could bear.