Fireflies in Moonlight [boyxboy]

Chapter XVII

~Wednesday 10th November 1694~           -Rammone-

The evening was quiet, the forest in an unnerving state of silence as Rammone stood there, surveying his surroundings lazily. Perhaps that night wasn't the best choice, perhaps Rammone should have waited longer. Doubts flooded him, worry tensing in his muscles as he waited there in the darkness. His father came to mind. Conall rarely second-guessed himself, he trusted his own gut, and Rammone should have too. No matter the risk, no matter the consequences that might come of his poor decision; Rammone could do nothing now. Nothing but wait.

In theory, the fledglings were ready. Two years they had spent locked away from the world, taught the disciplines of their kind, learnt to understand one another. Rammone had monitored them during that time, more closely in the earlier months, yet, ashamedly, less so recently. Jidal had taken precedence in his mind for far too long now, and the fledglings had gone unnoticed. Rammone chided himself for his distractions. To those fledglings, he was their sire, no matter whether that was true or not.

Five were out that evening, the other five would hunt tomorrow evening. The risk was too great to have them all out at once, not the first time, not when they were still so ravenous. Their prey were the forest animals; game and deer and, for those brave enough, the bears that had yet to begin hibernation. In the coming months, once Rammone deemed their hunting ability acceptable, the fledglings would be permitted to hunt humans. Atonia would have pushed them earlier, had she bothered to care for those she had made. Rammone wouldn't make the same mistake.

It had been too long, Rammone worried. Too long since those five had darted from his side, disappearing into the treeline around him. He knew better than to worry, knew better than to rush off in search of those fledglings. Their hunting was poor, they would be too loud, too animated. Their prey would scatter, and the frustrations would rise. So long as Rammone could track their movements, there was no need to worry. They were far from the territory line, far from Erinna's land. Rammone forced himself to relax.

Leaning back, Rammone rested against a tree behind him, shuffling around slightly to get comfortable against the harsh bark. His mind wandered. What was Jidal doing right in that moment? Rammone hadn't warned of his absence that night. He had meant to, however, he had gotten too distracted with Katalina's return from her recent trip into the nearest village. Was Jidal waiting for him? Would he lie there awake, wondering where the vampire had gotten to?

Rammone scoffed at his own fantasies, shaking his head to dispel such foolish thinking. Jidal would probably be pleased in his absence, a night alone without his captor looming over him. There would be no longing, no yearning, nothing of the sort. Rammone was living inside the books he spent so often reading, living in romantic novels that were nothing close to reality. His desires were a sickness, his mother would agree. Rammone needed to strike the human from his mind that evening, he needed to focus on the fledglings instead.

Searching through the darkness, Rammone wondered if he might have caught movement. It was merely a deer crossing in front of him, metres away, far enough that it wasn't concerned by the vampire watching it. Rammone canted his head slightly, following the animal with his eyes. It was a doe with a fawn at her heel, completely at ease as the two ambled through the forest. Rammone's mind flashed to Katalina, to what her future might entail. Children weren't everything, but she would make such a stunning mother.

Too early, the deer were gone. Out of sight yet still within Rammone's earshot. His eyes returned to that same spot in front of him, the small clearing of three trees that had been felled in a recent storm. His eyes raised to the moon then, judging the distance it had moved through the nightsky. He had warned the fledglings to return an hour before sunrise, he wondered if they might heed his warning. The frenzy of the hunt could have them ignoring the word of their pseudo-sire. Rammone hoped they weren't so reckless, he hardly needed to be trawling the forest in search of them during the painful burn of dawn.