Modified: How It All Began (ORIGINAL)

16. Retrieval

I'm lightly shook awake as I open my eyes to the sparkling eyes of Caleb, I give him a light smile as I stretch out my limbs.
He does the same as he gives out a long groan, I stare up at him,
"What? Got to wake the vocal chords up some how", he says as he folds his wings back in,
"Anyway come on we are doing some hunting", he says as he drops off of the nest, my eyes go wide and I scurry to the edge to see Caleb safely on the floor looking back up at me,
"How?-"
"Part cats remember? We can jump down from heights comfortably where humans would break their legs, we also got wings to help slow down the fall try it", he outstretches his hand as I look down, we are probably the height of a house right now so, pretty high up, I stand up and take a deep breath and step off the edge.
As soon as the nest wasn't under me anymore it was almost as if instinct took over, I look down and spread my arms and wings to make sure I stay centre and as soon as my feet were about to touch the ground I backwinged taking off most of the velocity from the fall and safely land on the ground in a crouch position.
I stand up and walk past Caleb looking at him at the corner of my eye as I slapped my hands together getting rid of any dirt.
I heard him chuckle behind me as he follows, after some time he took lead and started leading me through the forest until he shot his hand out signalling for me to stop, I look ahead as I saw some wild pigs grazing nearby, Caleb went behind me and took off into the sky and a few moments later he landed straight onto the back of a pig with so much force he broke its spine with an eerie snap, the other pigs scattered while he picks up the pig and carrys it over towards me.
We walks past me mimicking what I did to him earlier but with a smirk.

We finally got back to the nest where he starts to cut it up, I watch as he lays some large leaves out on the floor and puts the cut up bits laid out onto the leaves, I watch as he licks his fingers of the blood.
My mouth hangs open as he stops licking his fingers and gazes up to me.
"That's disgusting", I finally say after he pops his finger out of his mouth his lips tinged red.
"Actually it's best for us to eat more of raw meat, nuts, fruits, veggies and seeds as we are part bird and cat", he explains as he grabs a chunk of meat and throws it towards me, I catch it and tentatively sniff it and look back up to him ripping and pulling at the chunk of meat like a wild animal.
I huff as I lick at it, I retract my tongue and run it across the roof of my mouth to find sharp bristle like things on my tongue, that's new, I look up to see caleb chewing silently while staring at me.
"Like it?" I shrug my shoulders as he gulps,
"Found out about our papilae on our tongues?" he questions as I start to rub my tongue across my finger in stunned silence,
I look back at the bloody mess in my hands the meat still warm, I lower my mouth down and bite, it's tough as I have to rip at it with my canines. I finally get a bit off and begin to chew, it's weirdly good but very metallicy.

After I finish up I clean up my hands as I see Caleb folding up the leaves of meat and bones,
"We eat the bones as well, you can't not yet until you are stronger as your jaw won't be able to crack open bone at the moment", he explains as he stands and flys up to the nest, I watch as he removes a piece of bark and stuffs the meat in and replaces the hole with the bark.
"Are there others?" I ask as he stands, he jumps back down with a small thud,
"Wel once their wings and tail fell off they went down hill and died", he explains as he chews his lip, my heart jumps at the thought of my friends.
"Oh my god I need to tell Lizzy", I begin to open my wings for take off but Caleb rushes over and grabs my wings,
"No not during the day", he says as he places my wings behind my back,
"How can they survive? Can they survive?" I ask my heart racing in my chest,
"They can survive if turned into a werecreature, like a werewolf", he says as he rubs his thumb in small circles on my shoulder sending tingles in its wake, I slowly look down at his hand, he freezes and removes his hand, he sighs as he looks back up to me.
"Wanna race?" He says as he slightly lifts his brows, a small smile makes its way onto my lips as I nod my head, I jump as Caleb shoots his wings out and goes up through the trees , I'm able to take  chase as the splint gives my wing enough support to fly, I follow him about in the sky, I catch up and we are flying side by side at an alarming speed, I push myself as he noticeably gets faster so I keep up.