Hunters Folly Lady-Moon

He was going to die, he knew it. Every breath he tried to take, hurt more than the last, he could feel blood pooling in places where it didn't belong, his ears where ringing but that didn't stop the sounds of snarls from reaching his ears, his near blindness didn't stop him from feeling the Vampire's fangs on his neck. Yes he was going to die, he could feel his blood, every speck of it being pulled from his body, and if he was turned... god if he was turned he'd simply have to kill himself. He couldn't believe this was the way it was all going to end! He just couldn't believe it, after all that work, after all that effort... he was going to die by the very creature he'd sworn to kill. He cried out as the fangs slid in deeper, it hurt, oh god it hurt, he let the darkness swim in his vision as he remembered how he had gotten to this point in the first place.

He had once been known as Tristan Stillnight, he had been an average boy living in an average town, out on a farm. He had loved the farm, with the hundred head of cattle and the dozens of chickens. He had only been eight when it had happened, the farm had been attacked. He, his mother, his three sisters and his baby brother had been attacked ruthlessly. He could still remember the smell of smoke and blood, he could still hear the screams and the feral snarls in the air as the house collapsed on top of him, pinning him, trapping him. He had seen the monsters, all three of them, soaked in blood and laughing as they set the house aflame. He had managed to crawl to freedom, and swore revenge. And he did have revenge on two of them. He had spent the next twelve years training ruthlessly with anyone who would take him. He traveled the country, learned the ways of life and learned how to kill and defend himself. He took a job as a Hunter and tracker, he hunted the monsters that haunted the dreams of others.

He had killed the first two with relative ease. They had split up, vampires where solitary creatures after all, but they always left a trail to follow. Tristan made a name for himself, all the monsters feared him and his silver blades and his holy water infused bullets. He was twenty five now, it had taken him that long to hunt down all three Vampires. Five years to find the first second and third, and now the third had him. This vampire had been so much better than he had anticipated. Tristan had been helpless against it as it took away his weapons and pinned him to the ground and beat the living shit out of him. He cried out again, jerking as the Vampire yanked it's fangs out, moved to another spot on his neck and sank in again. He was dying and he knew it, he was bleeding out from the massive amounts of injuries, and the Vampire was greedily sucking up any of the blood he still had left in his body. He felt the world go dark and the last thing he heard was the howl of a wolf... or maybe he'd just imagined that.

Katra Runningwolf snarled as her paws hit the floor, feeling the branches hit at her fur as she ran. She'd spent months searching for this vampire, the last one. The one that had ripped her clan to shreds, she'd sworn to hunt him to the end, to find the one who'd stolen her mother,father, siblings....mate. Snarling as she skidded to a halt she stopped, shocked at the sight in front of her, howling before launching herself at the vampire crouched over his victim. So distracted by the sight of the vampire she'd long hunted, that she didn't realize she was saving the monster hunter.

Hitting the vampire square in the shoulder, she knew she was doing damage to the human male by dislodging the feeding vampire, but the werewolf was more concerned about getting the vampire away then anything else. Driving her head down she tore at the vampire's throat and body, doing as much damage to the vampire as the vampire was as the vampire was doing to her. She could feel chucks of her fur coming out, wounds opening at her side. But even as she ripped out his spine she moved away feeling pained as she limped away from the slowly decomposing vampire. Shifting to human form she painfully made her way to the human's side, shock showing on her face as she saw tristan stillnight. Swallowing hard she sighed, giving out a feirce growl as she realized she couldn't leave him here.

Picking him up she slowly made her way back to the cave she'd been using as a den, laying him down on the blankets, and bandaging him up before shifting back into wolf form and laying down at the entrance to the cave. Guarding them both as she waited for him to wake.

it took a long time for him to wake, it was clear he should have been dead. the Vampire was well known for feeding it's blood to it's victims so that they would live through the agony of the torture. it wasn't enough for Tristan to be turned, but he wasn't dying like he had thought he should have been. he coughed as he woke and groaned pathetically, his single eye fluttering open, reaching up to touch the heavy gash just above it. bandaged? he had been saved then? but by who? Tristan worked alone, always, he didn't trust the other Monster hunters, they took out all the monsters, innocent or not, children or not. Tristan had to feel pity for some of the monsters, especially the ones who had been turned against their wills. for a moment he wondered where he was before realizing that if he wasn't dead.... either someone else ha saved him, or he'd been turned and was now a slave to the bastard. he gasped, bringing his hands to his mouth, feeling his teeth desperately before sagging in relief as he realized he hadn't been turned... but why then wasn't he dead? he hurt all over, but he wasn't dead... who had saved him?

he managed to focus through the pain long enough to look around, stone walls, dirt floor, he was in a cave. he flared his nostrils, taking in the scent of musky unnaturalness before he managed to focus on the Wolf staring at him from the mouth of the cave. "oh god... please don't eat me." he pleaded, well aware that the Wolf would probobly find it amusing... providing it still had some semblance of a human mind anyway, if it was Feral, it would probobly just eat him. "The Vampire i was tussling with... is it dead?" he asked hopefully. "please... is it finally dead?" he asked, his voice still hoarse from screaming, not to mention being that his throat had holes punched into it. "i need to know, if your going to kill me please... at least tell me the foul murderous bastard is dead first..." he pleaded, already loosing the fight to stay awake. he could feel the darkness tugging at him again. whether or not he received an answer he didn't know, he was out cold again.

he woke once more to darkness, night had fallen, but he did feel a little better... how was he supposed to know he'd been asleep for three days? he squirmed, carefully taking stock of his injuries. yup, still mostly broken, but at least the bones had healed... wait, what!? "fuck..." he muttered, lifting his left arm, an arm he had KNOWN was broken in three places, now it hurt like all hell, but it wasn't broken. "what did that bastard do to me!?" Tristan asked, sounding rather freaked out. "please, Mother of Mercy if i've been turned into anything let it be a werewolf..." in Tristan's mind, better to be a beast, than a leach. for all he knew, the werewolf had bitten him to save his life, that happened more often than people liked to think, he'd met a many of them and they where always grateful for their chance to live again, even if it meant that they where monsters. at least with a werewolf, you always had a family to be accepted into. once you where turned into a Vampire, you where usually abandoned to face the changes, and the bloodthirst alone.

When Tristan woke the first time, Katra gave a chuff that sounded like laughter even as she watched him. Not bothering to answer, because she could tell he wouldn't remember when he past out again.Resting her head on her paws she sighed as she went back to sleep, over looking the man who was the first person she'd been near since the death of her clan.

"Not turned. Just healed."Katra said as she walked into the cave, and like most wolves, totally amibilvant to being naked. Naked, dressed, for her it was one in the same. Unlike most wolves, Katra and the others in her clan had been born wolves, the closed off clan that had allowed no one else in, because they had understood more then anyone, that it took alot to be a wolf, and they enjoyed each others company. But that very attitude had been what had drawn the vampires to them, wanting to destroy the one wolf clan that most of the race had looked to for support and help, they'd destroyed the foundation of their enemies, leaving the wolves scattered.

"Tristan Stillnight, do not worry. You have not become one of the monsters you hunt."She said pausing away from him, just inside the cave entrance, not about to approach him until he said it was okay, because while she could defend herself, she didn't want to kill him to do so. Though she was eyeing the fire at his feet a little, the rabbit body in her hand showing she'd just returned from a hunt.

Tristan jerked, startled as Katra returned and he stared at her for a long moment before shaking his head. "no human heals a broken bone in days... no matter how long i've been out of it.... how long HAVE i been out?" he asked, rubbing his aching head as he slowly, carefully sat up, gasping from the pain that this caused. but he was more comfortable now that he had his back resting up against the stone wall, closing his eyes to fight back the nausea that had been brought up with his painful moving around. he grimaced at the mention of his name and opened his single golden eye to stare at her for a moment before shaking his head. "i don't hunt all of them." he stated simply. "i know what your kind speak of me." most of them thought he was ruthless, he'd do anything to catch his prey, even risking his own life. while that was true, he didn't go after the innocent, and he had never bothered a naturally born werewolf because they avoided humans instead of attacking them.

he stayed still and quiet for a moment before chuckling. "you are aware i'm quite helpless don't you?" he asked, blinking at her. "eve if i had my weapons, i can't use them in this state. besides, as far as i can tell you saved me. i'm certainly not going to attack the person who saved my li..." he choked suddenly as he realized she was naked and he turned bright red and quickly looked away from her. "er... are you aware that your not wearing any clothing?" he asked, blushing furiously as he swallowed thickly. ah, humans and their weak constitutions. at least he promised he wasn't going to be attacking her anytime soon, and he did seam to be honestly thankful. not to mention hungry the way his stomach was growling like a storm.

"Werewolf blood speeds healing when its mixed with medicine. You are not changing to one of us. Just healing for a little while, like one."she said studying him, before smiling slightly."Three days. For awhile there I did not think you would wake again."She said before nodding slightly. "You are known to me. You did not hunt us, like you did the others. We were thankful for that."She said wrinkling her nose a little before nodding. "Yes, but a wounded predator is often the most dangerous. I have no desire to find out how much you'd try to hurt me."She said before walking in, before smiling. "Yes, I am aware. I don't own any. Why should I?"She said frowning as she sat down and starting cooking the rabbit."Humans are silly, with their demands for clothes."

he relaxed and nodded, flexing his fingers. god they hurt, and so did his neck, that bastards Vampire... "you know it was that Vampire who got me started on all of this." he admitted softly. "before, i wasn't even sure that such creatures where even real... he slaughtered everything i've ever known, now that he's dead... he IS dead isn't he!? he didn't escape? you killed him?" he asked, his voice pleading with her for him to be right. "human's aren't exactly predators. we're just very smart prey." he admitted with a grin. "if we where predators, we wouldn't have such soft skin, sweet blood, ad a complete lack of any natural defenses." he looked more amused at that than anything else as he rubbed his neck with a small grimace. "humans are shy. it's the Prey in us." he admitted simply. "we feel defenseless without clothes, not to mention with being how so many of us are sick in the head, being clothed can protect us from our own kind as well. it's human sensibilities.... i'm just... er, not used to seeing...." he went bright red, cast a glance at the other again and then quickly looked away. "a..anyway thank you for saving me. i was stupid to have gone after him in such an open manner. i know better than that..."

"I know.Everyone in the community knows why started hunting....at least the sane and calm ones of us knew."She said before smiling slightly. "He is dead. He killed my clan. I was not letting him go."She said shaking her head a little before laughing quietly. "Hmm, but you are hard on the teeth. To many bones close to the skin, and not enough meat."She mused smiling a little before standing and picking up one of the blankets and wrapping it around herself before settling back down to cook."Humans are very odd. I do not understand this clothing thing. I have fur and I have skin, surely that is enough protection."The wolf said frowning a little before nodding. "A thirst for vengence can make even the most cautious hunter reckless."She said flushing ever slightly at the thanks

he grimaced a little and shook his head. "well then they should also know i don't go after the good folk, and they still cringe when they see me." he complained with a roll of his eyes. "we're more Vampire's prey than anything else. and the mad wolves do like the taste of our flesh." he pointed out. "or maybe it's just because we're so easy to kill." he shrugged and smiled at her a little as she covered up. "thank you. i know it's annoying, i'll try to... adjust." he promised her, grunting as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position. "i'm sorry about your pack. your one of the natural born right? i'd heard of you guys, you where always helping the other werewolves, specially those turned against their will." he offered her a small smile. "i got too excited, yeah. i saw him and i rushed him, i was stupid." he shrugged. "i'll remember my lesson next time." he admitted as he closed his eyes, his stomach growling loudly again. "oh shut up stomach." he grumbled softly. "so three days huh?" he asked, pondering that for a moment before nodding. "well at least no one has noticed me missing yet." he was often vanishing for weeks on end at the 'hunters headquarters'. usually they where just pubs where wanted lists of monsters where posted up, he went there when he wanted a new challenge.

"They do. Though some believe that it is just you trying to pretend to be good, to get closer to everyone."She said smiling a little before laughing."yes, mad wolves do indeed enjoy hunting humans. They're less likely to kill us, then a bear or something. So for a mad wolf, easier prey."She said sounding amused before sighing quietly. Pain tightening her face as she thought about her pack, before nodding a little."I am. I am the last on the continient, at least as far as I can find."She said pain filtering her words. After all, even bitten wolves, no matter how hard she tried to fit in, still found the closeness that she found in nature with her wolf half, to weird for them. Even if they accepted her help, she was still regulated to the edges of their society. "It's almost done."she said turning the rabbit before nodding."Almost four. It's nearly night now."She said looking up at him, shrugging a little.

he snorted a little and shook his head. "nah, i just have too many morals. i have too many good reasons for what i'm doing instead of just hating the 'monsters' or in it for the blood or money..." he admitted simply. "i'm sorry... i'm sure there will be more though. you won't be alone for long." he assured her with a small smile. "you survived, and that means you can rebuild, and have a new family, someone you can love and cherish." he offered her a comforting smile and then shook his head. "four days. damn, i haven't been that badly injured since i was twelve." he admitted with a small scowl. "stupid bloodsucking leaches." he grumbled as he closed his eyes and rested. he hurt all over still and talking so much was really wearing him out. "whats your name, before i forget to ask?"

"Ah, well thats good to hear. I'd hate to have to kill you when I just saved you."he said looking amused as she finished the food, gently breaking the rabbit meat apart for them both, handing him some before shrugging slightly."Maybe...but blooded wolves are differnet then bitten.It is....different for both of us."she said sighed quiestly before laughing softly."Katra Runningwolf. Now eat, you will feel better for it."

he smiled a little and nodded. "Runningwolf... i should have known." he teased gently, grimacing at the thought of eating. he was starving and he knew it... but he felt like he was going to puke if he tried to force some food down. still, it had been days since he'd last eaten, he knew he had to have food, so he carefully nibbled on the rabbit, and when he didn't immidiatly toss his cookies, he ate a little more and then started tearing into it like a starving wolf. "that was delicious, thank you Katra." he murmured, breathing slowly as he struggled not to fall asleep again. "i'm sorry... i'm tired again... i'm just going to take a nap..." and with that he was asleep again, his chin tucked to his chest, sleeping in his sitting upright position because it hurt too much to try and lay back down. he had only slept for an hour before it was clear he was having a nightmare, jerking as he tried to protect himself from unknown assailants, jerking awake with a gasp, leaping to his feet, grabbing a sword he didn't have and assuming a defensive position before the pain caught up to him and he groaned, crumpling to the ground. "oh... oh that was a bad thing to do..."

Katra flushed pouting at him."Don't tease.I'm not the one who choose it."She said sulking a little looking amused as she watched him eat before smiling."Its fine. Sleep."She said looking amused before settling down to sleep herself. When he jerked awake the wolf shifted easily into wolf form, looking around for whatever was attacking, before letting out a confused little whine as she looked around, before shifting back she crouched down next to him, tugging one of the blankets around her to, looking worried at him."Whats wrong?ARe you okay?"She said looking confused and adorable.