Nightmares (Shadowfang)

[Emmadalor]

On the night of the 64th of Spring, 512...

Emmadalor hovered high above the dim landscape, parchment and charcoal in hand. She was sketching the beautiful dunes of red sand which spread as far as the eye could see... or, she was trying to. She would sketch part of one dune, but when she looked up, the landscape had shifted. When she looked back at her parchment, it seemed that she had drawn something else entirely.

Nevertheless, she continued to draw, obsessively, knowing that she should be able to make the parchment look like the landscape. Her wings beat faster in frustration, as nothing she drew turned out the way she wanted it to look. It was such a beautiful landscape! Why was it so hard to draw?

It was as if the earth itself resented her efforts. Why should the earth hold still for an Akvatari, a daughter of an abandoned race? Moreover one who had no true friends, no earthly connections. Even her own race shunned her, those who knew what she had done.

Soft raindrops began falling on Emmadalor, soaking her parchment. Now even the sky was hindering her. Were the gods trying to tell her to give up? A tear slid down her cheek. Her art was all she had left. If she gave that up, what reason would she have for existing at all?

[Shadowfang]

Light rain pattered against leathery wings, but any sound that the drops made was masked be the whooshing of those wings beating up and down at a lazy tempo. The landscape of red sand under him seemed to shift and flow like waves on the ocean. He simply flew, straight as an arrow, unsure of where he was going or even how he got there. Story of my life. Odd. It wasn't like him to slip into such a human thought pattern, talking to himself and using such strange sayings. No matter. All that mattered to Shadowfang now was that he needed to find a place to land and maybe some food to eat. Landing in the sand was not something that seemed appealing to him. He had never actually tried to step in sand before, but eating was more important than learning at the moment.

His want for a meal was answered it seemed, when he saw... something in the distance. His keen eyes were able to pick out something strange about the creature. It seemed to be a human, but with wings and... wait, was that a tail where the legs should have been? Another oddity struck him; he could not smell it. In fact, he could not smell anything. Such a place as this should have some smell, right. He neared the strange thing. It was facing away from him, looking down as if it was concentrated on some task that required intense focus. Perfect.

He flapped his wings harder for a moment to gain altitude, climbing higher than the weird hybrid animal. All it would take was a speedy dive bomb to have it in his grasp. He began smiling, already shaking with the thought of the creature's fear when the Zith would grab a hold of it. He was getting nearer, closing the gap between them with each passing second. When he thought he was close enough, he shifted, pointing his body downwards and letting gravity take hold, and zoomed towards the thing at an angle.

The wind pulled at his wings and pushed on his face as he continued his rapid descent. As he hit it, he would put wrap both arms around it and put claws against its throat and flap his wings as hard as he could to maneuver himself so that he would be on top of it when they hit the ground. He stretched out both hands towards his prey and braced for impact.

[Emmadalor]

Emmadalor felt an odd sense of impending doom, but she brushed it off. Nothing could harm her while she was flying, surely. As far as she knew, Akvatari were the only creature this large who were capable of flight, and that was only through a freak mutation of the Valterrian. And really, what were the odds of such a thing happening twice?

She felt the wind behind her, but ignored it until the moment she felt the heavy impact, crushing the breath from her lungs. She dropped her drawing things, letting them fall forgotten to the sand below. As she plummeted, sheer terror gripped her; she tried to scream, but she felt the claws at her throat and it came out strangled.

Before she had time to think, she and her attacker hit the ground in a spray of sand. She felt no pain from the impact, only panic as she tried to understand what was happening. The monster with claws and wings was on top of her, effectively blocking all possible escape. Not that it would matter; apparently even the sky was not safe refuge from monsters. Feeling utterly hopeless, she flopped onto the sand like a dead fish, and burst into tears.

[Shadowfang]

The two landed in a cloud of dust and sand. For an instant, Shadowfang was a little dazed, until he felt a wet liquid oozing into his fur. He pushed down on the creature's throat and brought himself to look at the little thing. It was positively bawling, screaming in fear as tears flowed from its (her?) face. A vicious smile spread a cross his face. He could almost feel the fear rolling off of her on waves, a feeling that was almost comparable to sheer ecstasy. He squeezed her throat and released, cutting of her airflow briefly as a brilliant idea came to mind. Like a cat playing with a mouse, he was going to frighten her beyond the point of reason before he ate her.

He pushed down on her neck again to try and silence her sobs and brought his free hand close to her face. He gently raked his claws down the side of her face and across her cheek, leaning in close to her as he did so. His claws continued their journey down her neck and her body, to where he torso turned into tail, then brushed their way back up again. He had leaned in close to her face and exhaled deeply, blasting her with his warm breath, smiling all the while. He made a low growling noise and suddenly and slowly licked the thing's cheek. Her face was soaked in salty tears that flowed from her eyes seemingly without end. 

It was great! The feeling of absolute dominance over the little creature felt almost better than the aura of sheer terror emanating from her. He pressed harder with his claws, lightly scratching her face and neck. Then, he drew himself up and brought his hand back. He thrust it forward and punched at her face, only to slam it into the sand near her face. He suppressed a laugh of enjoyment, a difficult task, but he managed to pull it off.

[Emmadalor]

Emmadalor's sobs were choked off when her pressed on her throat, and she could only look at him silently, tears streaming steadily from her eyes. There was nothing she could do now but accept her miserable fate. Any moment now, the monster would eat her...

She shivered as his claws trailed along her body, her heart beating faster. She gasped when he leaned close to reveal his sharp teeth. She felt sure he would begin feasting on her flesh, but again he stalled. He licked her face, causing a bizarre twisting feeling in her stomach. It seemed he was going to make this a slow, painful death.

She cried out with small noises of protest when his claws pressed harder into her neck. As he raised his fist, she gasped and closed her eyes, cringing in anticipation of the blow. A dull thud and spray of sand revealed that the blow had missed... or perhaps the creature had never intended to hit her?

For the briefest moment, Emmadalor wondered if she was not meant to be this monsters dinner after all... but that was a dangerous thought, that would only get her killed if she was wrong. Renewed visions of the beast tearing into her flesh consumed her mind, and the never-ending stream of tears flowed more strongly as she wriggled helplessly between the weight of her attacker. Her tail flopped uselessly in the sand, and the rest of her was pinned. She was completely at his mercy...

[Shadowfang]

Now he could not help but let out a low, dark chuckle. He relished the creature's fear, loved every second of it, it was all so perfect, she was so easy to scare. The shivers of fear traveling down her body sent shivers of pleasure traveling up his. But now he was getting even hungrier. As much as he enjoyed scaring frightening the little thing, he wanted to eat. Well maybe he could play with her a little longer, but he would have to change up his methods if he really wanted to instill even more fear in her. He took his hand from her throat to let whatever screams, sobs, or sounds she might produce escape her lips. 

He ran his hands down her body again and moved his face close to the side of her neck, breathing heavily. He slowly placed his teeth against her jugular vein and squeezed, as if he were going to tear away a hunk of flesh from the side of her neck. Just before he broke skin, he released his dangerous hold in her neck and ran his hands up her body once more. He could not decide whether he wanted to keep going or finish it right now. He did so love her reactions, but he did so want to taste her blood as well. Then he thought that, maybe, he could compromise. 

He cupped her face in his hands and leaned in to rest his forehead against hers. His dull red eyes stared into her own and he kept staring for a moment. He then tilted his head to press his lips against hers. He would stay like that for a moment, just tasting her lips on his, then nip her bottom lip, just enough to draw blood so he could lap up the delicious, salty liquid. 

[Emmadalor]

Emmadalor's terror peaked as the monster's teeth reached her neck. This was it. The monster has caught her. She was going to die, here, now, and there was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes, loud sobs pouring from her throat. Any moment now, she was going to be eaten.

The monster took his teeth away from her neck, and Emmadalor snapped her eyes open, thoroughly confused. She did not have time to think as his crimson eyes drew closer and closer. An entirely foreign feeling washed through her as their lips met. The tiniest pinprick was the greatest pain she had felt from him so far, and upon realizing this, her fear surrendered entirely to the strange new emotion.

She pressed her lips fiercely against his, leaning into the kiss. Her wings fluttered in the sand beneath her, as if trying to lift her up, and she wrapped her arms around the creature's soft, furry neck, pulling him closer. She felt tingly all over, and a sound almost entirely unlike a sob escaped from between their lips.

[Shadowfang]

Her sudden aggressiveness caught Shadowfang completely off guard. His eyes widened in surprise when she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close, now kissing him back. Wait, this did not make sense. He was trying to eat her. She was frightened for her life. So why did she suddenly fall into such a passionate state as this? He struggled for a moment, then stalled, and fell into the kiss himself. It has started as a scare tactic but seemed to have turned into a legitimate display of affection, not that he minded too much. It reminded him of how Andalusa had feared him at first, then began to open up to him.

He did not feel so hungry anymore. In fact, he was beginning to feel a different kind of feeling. After a small amount of effort, he managed to remove his lips from hers and force himself  up so he could look at her face again, still stained with tears but not as... fearful. Come to think of it, she was awfully cute. Well her top half was anyway. He wondered... could she talk? He framed her face with his hands again and looked into her eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but he could not think of anything to say. All of what had recently happened was just too strange for him to easily comprehend. 

Instead of words, a low growl escaped from his lips. He brought his face next to hers, putting his mouth just beside her ear. Funny, he still could not smell anything. Unbeknownst the her, another vicious smile spread across his face. He decided to say something that he knew would work for him in one of two ways. He whispered into her ear "And what do you think happens to you when I lose interest?"

[Emmadalor]

Emmadalor knew she should have been scared. She knew she was completely at this creature's mercy. And yet... she did not believe he intended to harm her. Strange. She lay contentedly beneath him, feeling oddly peaceful. She had never felt quite this way before, not even with Velsri. For the first time, it seemed like someone was paying attention to her, only her. It was almost enough to banish the crippling loneliness that had plagued her since birth.

When he spoke, it was in a strange language that felt like it vibrated in her bones. She knew she had never heard tis language before, and yet she understood what he said. His question caused her sense of serenity to falter, and she could feel all her deepest fears returning to the surface. There were those who had lost interest in her before, and she knew where that path led. A voice from the distance past echoed across the landscape, I'm not interested, go away.

She could feel the tears welling up; she only had a short time to speak before the sobs would render her unintelligible. "Then...I will be...alone, again." Saying it only made it more real, and the thought alone was more than too much to bear.

Her tears were wrenched uncontrollably from her eyes, and her sobs were so hard she didn't understand why she could still breathe. She felt blinded, and she could no longer see the man above her, as if he had already left her.

OOCI have to ask, was that one of your "two ways"?

[Shadowfang]

Shadowfang could feel the emotion reverberate through her body as the tears began to come back. Odd, though. She could understand his language and, for some reason, he did not have to translate her words in order to understand them. Then sobs that rocked both of their bodies erupted from her mouth again and she was reduced to blubbering at him, tears flooding down her face. To be truthful, he almost felt... sorry for her. It had been so much fun scaring her but now she seemed much more sad than scared. Alone. The word reverberated through his mind like an insect in his ear.

He knew what it felt like to be alone. Actually, he had much preferred being alone. It meant that no one could tease him, harm him, bully him, or annoy him. But that was almost a season ago. Ever since he had joined the Crimson Edge, he had acquired a sense of... family. A sense that had been absent during all his years in Xy, with only Musca and Borth to keep him company, though the former probably did not count. Now he realized how painful being completely alone might be to someone, or at least he thought he did. At least for the moment, he felt too... connected to the creature to kill her.

What should he do? He remembered how the healer, Kali, would treat patients who cried and decided to try and copy her methods. As long as it would stop the crying. He snaked his arms under her, slightly burying them in the warm red sand, and hugged her close, pressing the side of his face against the side of hers. His fur was immediately soaked with her tears. "Shhhh... It will be okay." He whispered. It was all he could think of to say so he repeated it a few times, hoping it would have some sort of effect on her. Then, just as he had seen Kali do to young ones, he kissed her forehead. Why did he all of a sudden feel so caring? It was quite unlike him. Only a year ago, he would have ripped he throat out to silence her weeping.