Chapter Text
Hooves pound against the dirt, blood thunders through veins, breath comes in powerfull bursts that freeze into a cloud trail of steam, like the fumes of a roaring engine. I've always relished the thrill of the hunt. The race against the gnawing hunger that clawes at my organs, the promise of even the faintest hint of satisfaction from the eternal famine that plagues my existance. Skeletal limbs imbued with an ethereal, unholy power launched my gaunt form like a wraith through the trees, hot in pursuit of my chosen prey.
A man, of average height yet sturdy build, likely a working class peseant, ran as though the very devil himself was after him. Fear radiated from every cell in the man's body and I could feel the drool dripping down my exposed, needle sharp teeth, the cold winter air that flew past my face crystalizing it into frost that my hot breath melted as soon as it formed. My stomach clenched and I pushed on harder, overtaking the man in an instant pouncing from the thick tree limbs, spindley fingers outstretched, long daggered claws peircing flesh before my hooves ever touched the ground.
The man knew a fast end, that was the best mercy I could give as my teeth burrowed into the meat, crushed through bone, feasting ravenously until all that remained was the blood on the ground and the shreds of golden hair that escaped my stomach's wrath. They caught my eye, lying there inoccently as though the blond strands didnt remind me of a time that felt so long ago, but really wasn't. I ignored the tightness in my lungs and the lump in my throat, focusing instead on the way the seething hunger quieted ever so slightly, that feral, single minded focus receeding until it decided to rear its head again. With a final huff, I turned and began to make my way home through the winding forest trails.
Wwwww
This was how i had spent most of my sunday nights, since long before I moved to this little village. Needless to say i was well versed in keeping secrets, and keeping the fact that i had secrets secret. No one suspected a thing when the young widowed and childless homesteader showed up late to the market looking a little more than tired but with a plentiful supply of carved and sewn toys and sweets to sell for the village children. My chickens laid plenty of eggs and my goat gave milk which i delivered on tuesdays to the tavern, where I had made good friends with the barmaid, Helen. Once in a great while I would sing for the church, and i attemded mass like everyone else. Sometimes one of the townsfolk would commission a piece of clothing from me, and they were always very pleased with the results. I was Abigail, quiet, helpful, demure, and kind. I loved children, I loved animals, i never swore, and i never touched a drop of booze.
It was so. FUCKING. LONELY. But it worked. I kept my head down and no one noticed, no one cared. No one had any reason to suspect anything was up at all, because no one even knew that wanderers from a few towns over were going out into the woods never to return. No one knew that there was a monster lurking in the woods, no one knew-
"Have you heard the rumors, Abby? They're saying there's a monster lurking in the woods 'round here. Wicked, innit?" My heart lurched in my chest as I looked up at Helen where she perched on the countertop of my market stall, pushing aside a doll to make room.
"A monster? Oh dear!" Ever the timid one, I responded accoringly, schooling my expression into one of mild worry, rather than allow the thought of "oh fuck" to show on my face. "I do hope the huntsmen are okay."
"Those boys? They'll be fiiine," she drawled. "There aint nothin' that can hurt Jeb Williams, you mark my words!"
I would bet everything I've ever owned that Jeb, a sweet kid with both the strength and luck of only the finest of brain dead, glue drinking idiots, would not hold up against a member of an ancient shapeshifting race of supernatural beings cursed to eternal famine that feeds of the flesh of human beings.
Just saying. (Though i did apreciate that Helen was trying to be reasuring to a concerned friend.)
"I suppose you're right," i chuckled softly. "Where did you hear about this, anyway? At your shift?"
"Yeah, old man Thompson got a letter from his neice out a few towns over - you know the one." She plucked the doll she'd previously pushed aside up off the counter, fiddling with its clothes and straightening its skirts, examining the stitching like it held some grave secret. My leg wanted to jitter from the tension but i refused to allow it. "Apparently a girl fell in the river out there, and when her man came to save her he saw some kinda demon loomin' over her. Supossedly the guy shot the thing and it ran off, with a blood trail to prove it was real." She curled her fingers through the doll's hair, tugging gently, nervous though she tried to hide it.
"Oh my, the poor dear. Was she alright?"
"Yes, she wasn't injured, so that's good news at least. And a gunshot would keep any nasty hiding away for a while, so hopefully that demon wont be terrorising anyone anytime soon." She grinned, setting the doll back down and hopping up from my counter.
"Back to work?"
"Yeah, you know the routine, food dont buy itself!" Helen waved as she made her way down the crowded, snow coated street to the tavern to help with the lunch rush. I waved back, far more relaxed than I was at the start of the conversation. That town was just a little too close to this one for my taste in hunting grounds, and I sure as hell hadn't been shot. Besides, hunting by rivers was too easy, like shooting fish in a barrel. I preffered more of a challenge.
A little boy and his younger sister came scuttling up to me, a fistfull of coins in hand, and as i gathered their jumbled order with a patient smile, I was left to wonder.
If I wasn't out there, then who or what was?