CW: blade (just the one), threatening language, begging, hunter/hunted dynamic, animal attack, graphic description of mauling, blood
(Let me know if I missed anything)
"Please... you don't want to do this!"
The vampire's pleas fell on deaf ears as the hunter advanced on their fallen form. They had cornered the vampire in a vast, empty warehouse, away from prying eyes or ears which could hear the vampire's useless pleas for mercy.
The vampire crawled backwards, one hand pressed tightly to the burning wound in their side. A silver tipped arrow, lodged firmly between their ribs, made every breath more painful than the last.
The hunter dropped their crossbow to the floor, unsheathing a blade which glinted in the light of the full moon streaming in through the high windows. Silver. Plated, not cast, but capable of just as much damage. The vampire's eyes fell from the hunter's face, widening in recognition.
"W-wait, wait!" They begged, growing desperate. "You don't know what you're doing. You're going to regret this!"
The hunter scoffed. Vampires and their silver tongues.
"No, I don't think I will." They replied coolly, darkly, stepping closer. The vampire held up their other hand in a pathetic attempt at shielding their face, but the hunter easily bypassed it, grabbing them by the collar of their shirt to haul them up from the ground.
The vampire cried out in pain as the arrow in their side was jostled. Dark blood bubbled out between their fingers to stain their clothes even further. Their feet struggled to find purchase for only a moment, before the hunter's weight pressed them into the brick wall behind them.
Their breath stuttered at the feeling of the silver dagger grazing their throat. It left a line of burning agony as the hunter angled it carefully- sharp point hovering at their adam's apple, ready to pierce.
"I was expecting something more," the hunter mused, "from someone as notorious as you."
The vampire's panic filled eyes focused on the hunter's face. Their pupils had dilated to let in the low light, allowing them to take in every detail of the hunter's face in perfect detail. From the hunter's point of view, it made their eyes look dark and soulless- like a shark that smelled blood in the water.
"They tell horror stories about you, you know." The hunter continued, "Those other hunters. No one has ever come back from hunting you."
The vampire shuddered as the silver blade danced across their throat.
"Why is that?" The hunter asked idly, "What makes a sniweling, cowardly little thing like you so hard to kill? You ran the moment you saw me. You cornered yourself like a moron, and even now you refuse to fight back. Why is that, hm?"
The vampire's hands raised shakily, grasping at the hunter's sleeves. Silver burned into the skin of their throat, making their eyes well with tears and the acrid stench of burning flesh invade their nose.
"Please... you don't have to do this. You can still walk away."
The hunter laughed- laughed, like it was the funniest thing they'd heard, before twisting the fabric of the vampire's shirt and driving their fist further into the vampire's ribcage. The vampire groaned as the air was squeezed from their lungs.
The hunter's grip tightened on their blade, applying careful pressure until the vampire bled and groaned in pain.
"Asnwer the question."
The vampire's squeezed shut eyes cracked open again, focusing back on the hunter's face. They grit their teeth and snarled, refusing to give the hunter the satisfaction of the answer they were looking for. The hunter sneered right back, pressing on the vampire's sternum hard enough to make the edges of the vampire's vision go dark.
"Suit yourself." The hunter growled, dagger poised for the kill. "Any last words?"
Something in the vampire's expression shifted, so sudden and so unexpected that it took a moment for the hunter to process the change.
The fear had been replaced by a haunting, eerie calmness, the hint of a smile evident in the curling of the vampire's lips. They stared at the hunter with those dark, cold eyes, so devoid of any emotion that it was hard to believe there had ever been any present. Once again, the image of a shark leapt to the hunter's mind- one which had slowly begun to circle its prey.
The hunter's breath caught, their grip loosening.
The vampire's smile only widened, eyes flicking to the hunter's right for only a moment before returning to the hunter's own.
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
Their only true warning was the sound of shattering glass and a snarling, low growl, before they were bowled over by something solid slamming into them at full force.
The hunter collided shoulder first with the rough concrete, skidding several feet across the ground before coming to a stop. Dazed from the impact and entirely caught off guard, it took one moment too long for the hunter to gather themself and scramble to their feet.
They didn't even make it off the ground before claws dug into their shoulders, pinning them to the ground as whatever had attacked them perched its entire weight atop them. The hunter cried out, hands scrambling to grab onto their assailant's wrists. They were met with coarse, dense fur, the skin underneath burning hot to the touch.
The hunter's mind reeled as they forced themself to look up. The werewolf on top of them snarled, teeth glinting mere inches from the hunter's face. Its breath fanned across their face, hot and stifling, its growl reverberating inside the hunter's own ribcage with its intensity. A pair of glinting eyes stared them down, filled with frightening intelligence and unfathomable rage.
The hunter didn't get the chance to react as those teeth flashed before their eyes, burying themselves in the soft flesh between their neck and shoulder. The hunter wailed, red hot agony lancing across their entire body as the werewolf only tightened its grip and began to shake them around violently. Its claws had dislodged themselves from the hunter's body, allowing it to drag them bodily across the ground like they weighed nothing at all, smearing blood and saliva on the grey concrete.
The hunter screamed as the muscles in their shoulder tore apart and their shoulder dislocated, clawing at the werewolf's face in a desperate attempt to make it let go. The werewolf only dragged them under itself again, letting go for only a moment before biting down again, claws raking across the hunter's body.
The hunter's screams filled the empty warehouse until the echoes became indisinguishable from the sound itself.
And then, suddenly, it all stopped.
The werewolf finally let go just as the hunter though it might tear their arm off completely, its weight disappearing just as suddenly as it had pinned them.
The hunter lay there in agony, ragged sobs and shallow breaths making their head swim. There was a constant, high pitched ringing in their ears, evident in the sudden absence of the werewolf's snarling growls.
And then that ringing stopped as well, tapering off into a... a wolf whistle, coming from the direction of the vampire, right where the hunter had left them.
The hunter forced themself to turn their head, watching with terrified eyes as the vampire stood up from where they had been dropped. Once they were steady on their feet, they turned to look at the hunter's fallen form, expression filled with grim satisfaction.
Nothing remained of the scared, defenseless prey animal that had lured the hunter in so easily. It was like they were looking at a whole different person.
The werewolf hovered near them, eyes fixated on the hunter. Blood matted in the fur of its canine muzzle, and it held the hunter's gaze as it slowly and deliberately licked its lips clean.
The vampire took a moment to yank the arrow from between their ribs- and that was that. They massaged the spot as if it was nothing more than a pulled muscle, holding the arrow out casually for the werewolf to sniff. The werewolf did, pulling a face like it was disgusted.
Then it spoke.
"They thought they could bring you down with only one arrow?"
The vampire chuckled, running a hand along the top of the werewolf's head. "And a dagger. Let's be fair now."
The werewolf rolled its eyes, and it was all the hunter could do to not lose their mind then and there.
"Really, love," the vampire cooed, cradling the werewolf's enormous face in both hands, "you can stop with the theatrics now. My brave guard dog, coming to my rescue."
The werewolf's tongue darted out to lick at the vampire's nose, lips curling into a canine smile. "Did you see the look on their face? Oh, it was priceless." Then, after a moment of consideration, "I really like this one."
The vampire's fond expression turned sour and it was their turn to roll their eyes. "Oh, please. They're a dime a dozen. Except this one might be even more irritating than the rest."
The hunter flinched when the vampire's gaze settled on them, eyes raking over their mangled body without the barest hint of empathy. Like they were a bug, about to be squashed under the vampire's heel.
The werewolf followed their gaze, and the hunter could feel panic beginning to claw its way up their throat as their eyes were forced to meet. The burning agony of their torn arm and shoulder flared to life again, demanding their attention. They were losing blood, too much blood. They would not survive another attack.
But the werewolf didn't move to attack. Instead, its body began to shift and change.
Its previously quadruped stance turned into a bipedal one as it stood up on its hind legs, height rapidly diminishing until it stood tall about a foot above the vampire. Its fur seemed to recede into its body, canine features smoothing into something more human-like, claws and teeth and wagging tail disappearing in a matter of seconds.
It was nothing like what the hunter had been expecting. All those tales of painful, grueling transformations, of snapping bones and tearing muscles and agonized howls mistaken to be those of wolves' - had they all been lies? For what purpose?
By the end, the werewolf hardly looked anything other than human. It- they? Stood tall for a human, and their eyes retained their unnatural luminosity, but other than that, there was no way to tell what they might have once been.
All except for one, tiny detail; their face remained covered in the hunter's drying blood.
From nose to chin and down their neck, the darkening blood served as a stark reminder of just what the hunter was dealing with here.
"There you are, love." The vampire said, placing a hand on the werewolf's cheek, which the latter leaned into gratefully.
"I really, really do like this one." The werewolf murmured, both hands coming up to hold onto and brush against the vampire's wrist. Their eyes softened, looking pleadingly at the vampire from under their eyelashes- a commendable feat, considering it was the vampire who had to look up in order for their eyes to meet.
The hunter averted their eyes. It felt... wrong for them to witness the scene, even under the circumstances. They felt, absurdly, like they were intruding on something private.
The vampire sighed wearily, but whatever internal struggle they had to put up lasted for only a moment. "I never could say no to you."
The hunter's stomach dropped at the words. They should have felt relieved- it meant they wouldn't be killed, right? But if *this* is what the werewolf did to the things they liked... the hunter didn't dare to think of the alternative.
They jumped at the sound of approaching footsteps- one pair loud and purposeful, and the other near silent. Bare feet shuffling along the concrete.
The hunter turned their head again, withering glare locked and loaded. The vampire caught their gaze first, neutral expression shifting into a dark, entirely self-satisfied smirk.
"I told you you would regret coming after me."
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