The sickening sound of shattering bone filled the air with the impact as the man struck the wall with such force as to drive the blood from any path it might find. The broken body crumpled, but before it could strike the ground beneath the sturdy wooden wall that protected the brigands camp, the shadows swirled and he was upon it.
One arm pinned it against the wooden wall, his head moving to the man’s throat like a snake to the strike.. At once he drew deeply the sound like some savage beast gorging itself upon what flesh it could consume.. the camp was filled with the sickening sound of it, and it drew more.. As he would have it.
As the next rounded the corner he wrapped an arm around him, drawing him in and breaking his neck in one swift movement, the sickening crack being overshadowed at the sound of fluids being drained with such ferocity..
The third faltered, uncertain as the creature rounded the corner coming into the torch light, he held his sword aloft screaming out for the archers. Those on the wall took aim but even as they loosed arrows into the night, aim true, they were met with nothing but whisping shadows as the strange attacker vanished.
In another whisp of blackness the figure appeared once more, seizing the third figure from behind and slamming him into dirt, he went once more for the neck, but this time the sound was less pronounced the feeding slower, satiation nearing..
Slaked the figure rose, wiping his face absently on the torn remnants of a cloak worn by one of his victims..
Turning he let the darkness take him moving silently in the world absent colour, absent sound.. His thoughts turned to her, and the choice he had left her with the resilience shown in face of all that he was.
He had remained to watch her standing as he did now within the darkness, watching her beyond her perception near the very blackest part of the void.. It was something he had rarely had to do for all but the most perceptive of his own kind, and here he was using it to stave off the notice of a Kine..
She intrigued him it was true, and he could scarcely contain his desire to satisfy his want of her.. but at the end of the day her words rang true in at least one regard.. He had been alone, and at that for a very, very long time. That in and of itself, had stopped him from draining her of her life tonight.. But what had truly surprised him was her answer..
To refuse herself.. He had never seen it.. had it ever happened? Surely.. But within his line? Of that he could not be sure. In some dim place within what little left of him could still feel, or rather, could still remember what it was to feel he hoped she would simply ask him to let her be.. But in the end, she would choose what they all had chosen.. Who could resist the perfection they saw? The benefits.. And how did you explain to something that could feel it’s body dying a little each day, that such thing was the smallest possible way you could face the grip of death?
His own voice seemed hollow and horrible in the blackness of the void as he walked from the settlement..
What choice will you make Annalise.. Is it possible for -you- to leave such door unopened..?
