Chasing Wolves (completed)

Chapter 7 Isadora

Chapter 7

Isadora

I get caught up in the sensation of the wind whipping my hair and the freedom that comes with running, so much so that I leave Rob in my dust and have to backtrack a few meters to where he's clearly been trying to keep up. "Sorry. My mind wandered. So... do you have any idea what you want to hunt?"

I'm about to tell him how vampire blood is much better than animal blood when what Vlain told me pops into my head. It's an acquired taste; you prefer vampire just as I prefer animal. That's a good point; deciding not to say anything I let him decide for himself (though I'm not sure where he could get vampire blood to compare with- I highly doubt Vlain likes him that much).

He thinks for a second before answering, "I seriously have no clue. Something easy to catch? I have no idea how to hunt so I guess that would be good."

I nod, "rabbit it is. Don't worry, I'll teach you everything you'll need, I've been doing this for a while now. We should hurry, though, the longer you're out in the sun before you feed... the worse it'll be." I'm not exactly sure what'll happen but he takes my warning in stride as we both glare at the sun as it marks close to noon.

We keep running for a few more minutes and I stop us when we're deeper in the forest in a spot of complete shade, once again turning to him. "I'm going to talk like this to avoid spooking the animals. They don't instinctively know to fear us, so they don't know to pay as much attention as if we were foxes or something, which gives us an advantage. Now, the first thing you need to do is acquaint yourself with the forest."

He gives me a 'what the?' look and I chuckle out loud. "I know it sounds cheesy. What I meant is get used to the smells of it. You now have an extremely sensitive sense of smell and you need to learn how to use it. Now close your eyes," He does and I can't help but mentally chuckle. So obedient. It's probably because I sound like I know what I'm doing even though I have no idea; all of my abilities I just kind of had instinctively and never really had to think about how to do something.

Following my own orders, I close my eyes and take a deep breath through my nose, catching the scents of all of the different plants and animals around me as their smells are carried on the barely-there breeze. I focus on the animals and ignore the birds, instead focusing on the two rabbits in the underbrush nearby. One is about twenty feet away to my right, the other... thirty something feet away in front of me and slightly to the left.

Let's see if he can find them.

"What do you smell? Ignore the plants if you can; their smells are pretty obvious and easy to ignore when you've had enough practice. Instead focus for anything that smells faintly meaty." I wait a second, "anything?"

He continues to sniff for a second before replying, opening his eyes as he does. "Yeah. I think I smell something... that way." He points towards the right and I smile, my chest filling with pride- he found one of the rabbits!

"Very good. You're right, there's a rabbit not far that way. Now that you've gotten a feel for its general whereabouts, now you have to find it. Here's the tricky part: being stealthy. I don't exactly know how to teach you this, since I do it differently than you probably will, but lets try. Up we go." I think this last part with a smile as I jump up onto a low branch above us. He looks at me in shock for only a second before determination covers his features.

He braces himself, slightly squatting and digging his toes into the leaf litter as he prepares to jump. I try not to laugh at him but he's just so funny that a giggle escapes me and I try to cover it with a cough. He glares at me before eyeing up the tree and I watch him curiously. He doesn't have to do that, he's over thinking it. If he just let go and let his vampire instincts help him he'd do it perfectly.

Unfortunately, I have no idea how to tell him that, so instead I just wait for him to figure it out in his own.

He finally jumps, his legs uncoiling and launching him up to me perfectly... except he's slightly over-shot himself. I reach out and grab him by his shirt's collar just as he's about to fly past my branch, settling him beside me as if he weighed nothing. The bough bends dangerously beneath us and I realize something I should have before suggesting we hunt by tree. He's a lot heavier than I am- not only is he way bigger than I am, but it's all muscle.

I jump up to the next branch and he's about to follow when I shake my head at him, stopping him. I explain the problem and he nods, waiting for further instruction. I jump to the next tree and he follows a second behind, landing on the branch below mine again. I make him sniff the air and we continue on like this until we finally stand right above the poor unsuspecting rabbit.

"Okay, now that we know exactly where..." I stop in surprise as I'm about to explain how to catch it, shocked as I watch him drop from his limb and land perfectly right next to the rabbit. That had to have easily been a fifteen foot drop- but yet he did it without a hint of timidity or caution, relying solely on instinct. In a second he's grabbed the rabbit and has already sunk his teeth into its still-breathing body. It kicks out, crying in desperation as its tiny claws scratch at his impermeable face, and I'm reminded of why I always kill my pray before feeding off of them. Cringing, I leave him to eat as I go to catch the other one I smelled earlier.

By the time I'm back he's finished and is staring at the lifeless body in his hands with a mix of revoltion and... hunger. It takes him a second to notice me and I decide we have to train his reflexes; I could have killed him just now and he never would have known what hit him. He looks up and I notice how his eyes gleam hungrily as his fangs continue to press into his bottom lip. "How do you feel?"

He's surprised that I'm speaking out loud and I explain. "The rabbits were the only animals around here and now that they're gone we can talk aloud again. Now, you caught it perfectly but there's one thing I'd suggest doing differently. Instead of killing it by draining it, snap its neck first. It's more humane." I demonstrate on the rabbit I caught and that until now have been petting, deftly snapping its neck between my fingers and making it rest limply in my hand.

Once he's stopped cringing at the noise (I don't bother showing sympathy, he'll have to get used to this and soon), I show him how I placed my hand and how much pressure to apply. After he seems to get it I hand him the rabbit and watch as he drains it right in front of me. He doesn't seem to be at all shy about feeding in front of me like I was with Meg, and I don't know if that's because he's too hungry to care or because we've known each other for so long and he just really doesn't care.

He drains that one and now has two dead rabbits in his hands. I show him how to hide them in the underbrush so animals will find them quickly and race him back to the church. "Well that went well for your first time. How do you feel?"

"Great! I feel kind of bad for the rabbits but at the same time... I'm almost hyper! I feel like I could do anything!"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah!"

"Fine then, let's see if you can beat me back!" With that I accelerate to my normal speed, leaving him in the tornado of leaves as I laugh hysterically in glee.

He'll be just fine.