Came the last night of sadness

@Reed

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Soon they would have to go to the mountain and investigate the whereabouts of the woman he had been hunting for almost a full month now. After his long journey to the mountain and back South to Elkshire, he needed some time to recover and regain energy before heading out once more. To give the other Nightwalkers and allies time to prepare should they be called.

And so the Warlord moved through the pasture. Restless he roamed, perhaps looking for a nice fat gopher to eat before heading back, but mostly he wanted to stretch his legs as the time to move to the mountain where the brindle bitch was seen was quickly approaching. He was restless, each day that he wasted taking his time to make sure victory was ensured was one more day for her to prepare. One more day to be aware of the hunt for her.

Heavyset paws pushed aside the still growing grasses, fed by the moisture within the mist and spring's growing heat, they would soon enough meet his shoulders once summer would be around, he was certain of it. The tall greenery would make the perfect cover for hunts as the pack would grow. For now, they were easily trampled by the lumbering man as his crimson eyes kept a look out for something to keep him busy for the next few days.

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Reed didn’t have a goal in mind. She was used to pack life and she figured that was her next step but she didn’t quite know what to do with that. She had to find one and go through the process. It wasn’t often they had wolves at their door looking to join. It was mostly her family and the occasional traveller they’d entertain. They rarely stayed and usually one of their own moved on with them, often enamored by another life. They weren’t meant to stick around back home and Reed knew her time had come when she’d more or less been forced out on her own. Reed couldn’t explain what happened but even if she tried to turn around and find home, she had nowhere to begin.

 The pasture left a weird feeling in her stomach. Most of the land did. Reed traveled south from the watering hole in hopes of finding some sort of land, some sort of indication there were others. Cadenza didn’t offer much help but she’d been good company for a while, at least, and she was out on her own again.

 Through the fog, Reed could see the silhouette of another. It was large and looming and Reed’s ears fell back, shrinking just a little so she could be avoided. She wasn’t one for being afraid of others but after being alone, she was hesitant to meet another. There were no scent markers should could generate through sniffing it out. The mist was thick in the air and she edged forward, angling her neck just slightly for a better look. After a moment, Reed offered a low howl through the pasture to alert the other of her presence.
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They were caught in the awkward stage between war and peace. Where the world stood still and both sides of the battlefield either prepared for what was to come, unaware of what the other knew, if they knew anything at all. It was a maddening feeling, exciting as if it filled his veins with liquid cocaine.

What angered him most was that their only healer slipped through his paws, off into the wilderness beyond, leaving his soldiers without any future medical attention... all he could hope is that the allies, should they offer aid as requested, had theirs they could share should it be necessary.

Bringing him out of his thoughts was a howl, and he stopped. Head twisting toward the direction of where it came from, ears swiveling to where the echo began. There he saw a figure... They beckoned for his attention, and who was he to deny them?

Silently he approached. Cutting through the damp grasses with heavy feet as his breath intermixed with the mist, exhaling the fresh air with his own pernicious miasma. It wasn't until the shadowed figure's details became clear did his maw part to speak smooth, yet thickly venomous words. “Greetings.”

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While awareness was what she was aiming for, attention wasn’t the worst thing. The figure moved in the distance and after a few moments, it was evident they were headed in their direction through the fog. It got bigger with each step and before long, it was upon her. He was a large figure, looming and massive. She hadn’t seen a wolf so big. Reed herself was average at best, the same as those in her family, and it was few and far between anything out of the ordinary came by.

 Her jaw tightened and dipped her head slightly, sniffing the air a little once the freshness of the pasture had faded and blood and rot filled her nose. She wrinkled the skin on the bridge of her snout and took a step back. Nothing about him seemed friendly and she couldn’t imagine a wolf that smelled like that would be anything less than hateful. Reed cleared her throat and took a step back, eying up at the venomous creature as she tried to keep the anxiety out of her features.

 “Hello,” she said after a pause, carefully watching for clues. She would run if she had to. She knew she needed to then, but her paws were rooted painfully to the ground. “I am only passing through.”
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There he stood, watching her movements. Her nervousness, how it tainted the heavy mist deliciously so with the sweet aroma of anxiety. While she took a step back, he swallowed the distance back up with one of his own, a single, longer stride while threatening to invade her space completely. Brushing aside the green grasses below with an eerie gentleness with his legs.

“And yet you called out for an audience.” He nearly corrected. One would not howl for attention if they were simply passing by. Crimson eyes carefully watching over her smaller figure as it nearly vanished in the haze. The way she shrank in his gaze only boosted his own swelling ego, nearly gaining more height on her as he stood tall among the still grasses. “Why is that? I am here now, speak.” The beast demanded, his baritones low and rumbling with every word uttered.

Maybe she could be a beautiful distraction from the impending war. Something to take his mind away from what was beyond the bend of time.

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The brute was full of himself as her further insisted she’d called to talk to him. Her nose wrinkled as she watched, her back legs locking into place and her toes arched in a way to take off at any given notice. She might not know his motives as he loomed over, wide chested and bushy tail. There was power there, either real or faux, and Reed didn’t care to find out which. Either of them could get her killed if she made the wrong move.

 “You are mistaken,” she said calmly, angling a front foot so only half her pads were on the ground. “I was making my presence aware to you so I did not startle.” Calm, cool, collected. Her heart thrummed heavy in her chest and her gaze did not break from his unruly form.
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The way she was poised to escape drew him in like a moth to a flame. Tickling his predator instincts to chase, to hunt, to kill and she would be no exception to the mentally twisted man who saw all as possible game provided they acted as such... even the fighters brought out a different desire in him, to fight, to rage, to war... ah, the life of a predator was full of excitement.

She eyed him, and he did her. Just daring for her to make a run for it. She masked it well... but some things were impossible to hide. “Hmmm I believe your kindness is misplaced here.” He moved to walk around her, circling, observing, waiting to see if it would push her to action to run so he can feel the thrill of the chase. “I am Vengeance, Warlord of the Nightwalkers that roam the mist.” Well, the woods within the mist but this was an honorary extension as far as he was concerned. The man's territorial behaviour in the pasture was simply tamer in comparison to the woods. 

“Why would you pass through here? May I assist you in some manner?”

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Reed started to think she should have just moved on quietly but would things be any different if she’d been detected, or if she’d startled him? His looming presence would be tenfold and the grimy feeling crawling up her spine would have leeched all the way through her bones. Her eyes did not trail from him, hesitant to even look away for a second lest she miss something, waiting for any sign of attack or chase that she might have to high tail out of there.

 He introduced himself and if it weren’t for his overbearing presence, she might have laughed. The string of titles made him sound like a mental patient and briefly, Reed though he might be off his rocker and that he wasn’t a true threat. She knew the dangerous of delusional wolves even if her experience with them were few and far behind. Those that kept a loony wolf knew how to care for them, for the most part, but this one might be too far gone.

 Or he was totally serious.

 Reed didn’t have the vocabulary for her feelings so she kept them quiet, waiting a moment before navigating for an answer.

 “I did not realize this was claimed land,” she said, having taking no notes of dedicated markings. Presence of wolves were in many areas where Reed was cautious—as she had been here—but there hadn’t been a threat until Mighty Warlord Vengeance came out of nowhere. “I am not here for trouble,” she assured him, “I will just pass and it will be like this never happened, all right?”
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He had no real reason to be creeping on the poor girl. To loom over her like some kind of starved mongrel and yet he was starved... to a certain degree. Nightwalker were lacking in bodies to keep their numbers up, and even a delicate looking female like her would do them well to keep individuals entertained. So he pondered... If his last little captive failed, could he succeed in this one?

Was this one even worth his time and efforts? 

Perhaps she would be a good test subject in trying to figure out a way to keep them from fleeing without him needing to constantly loom over her. But how?
 
“These are merely my hunting grounds.” With a step forward to creep into her space, it would perhaps give the right indication that he was hunting her now. Those liquid rubies focused on her smaller body, studying her anticipation to flee. Oh how it electrified his body to think she would give him a lovely little chase. Being a lumbering beast it would be harder for him to keep up and yet... it would be fun regardless would it not? 
 
“I do not believe I can, you see, I might have some use for someone like yourself. Why not walk with me back to my forest?” With a flick of his tail he'd indicate the shrouded woods just behind them. She'd come with him whether or not she wanted to.

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Even if something was off about this man, if he wasn’t all there upstairs, the feeling she was in danger never quite left. If anything, it only grew. They didn’t know what was truly going on. She knew sometimes the real them was somewhere lost inside and didn’t know the damage they were doing. Even as it proved this man wasn’t right in the head, she wasn’t so sure if it was a few missing bulbs or if he was truly demonic to the core.

 Reed wasn’t going to find out.

 Everything about this was wrong. The idea of hunting grounds made her skin crawl. She didn’t give herself time to think anymore, though, because it was clear there was more bubbling beneath the surface that suddenly put a timeline on her life. She snapped her teeth shut and twisted, stepping back and sprinting all at once to get the hell outta dodge.
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Whether he had a few screws loose or truly just a demonic presence that crawled out from the pits of hell the jury was still out on that one. Essentially it was all up to individual interpretations for that answer. 

There it was. The fear that all bubbled up from beneath the surface. As silence grew his head lowered, ears drawn forward, attentive to the woman and her movements as he began to step forward. She didn't agree to his passive invitation so perhaps something more forceful was necessary after all.

She moved away as he moved closer, turning on her heels to make a quick get away and he would follow snapping at her heels. Lunging with powerful strides to keep up with her as long as he can before she was out of his sights, hoping to grab one of her back legs as they were easily within his reach already and without them... well, she couldn't run very far or fast could she? 

He had to be quick however... she was faster and more agile than he, but all he needed was a well placed bite and it was game over for the poor fleeting doe.

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Everything came crashing in at once. Reed had tunnel vision, pinpointed ahead somewhere far away. It didn’t matter where she went as long as it was away from this monster. Her best bet was the general vicinity of where she’d come from and absolutely not the way he’d been coming from. She knew where she’d come from, for the most part, and she just had to get far enough away from him to secure her safety.

 But it did not always amount to that. Reed did not know where she was going. Vengeance knew the territory, especially if it was true hunting grounds. She had very little on her side in that moment and it came with a shattering of teeth around the hock of her left leg. She wailed, snapped her body in half to clash somewhere near the assailant and release herself all in one flailing motion. Reed wasn’t much of a fighter outside of instinct. There wasn’t much strife she’s known in the few years of her life.

 All of this was new and she absolutely hated it.

 Like an alligator, Reed barreled in circles to free her shattered leg from his mouth all while screeching a la chihuahua style.
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The thrill of the chase would never cease to excite him. As fear flooded her system, adrenalin flooded his. Hungrily he snapped at her legs until finally he could feel her tender muscle and flesh squelch under his pressure as he sunk his fangs into skin and bone, pulling and thrashing about viciously as he did with poor Bramble before her own capture.

The new nameless woman curled back defensively and naturally he let go when the feeling of her teeth puncturing his snout and lips, stepping back just enough out of her reach to watch her buck around in pain. Here he would wait and watch her tire herself out. Circling like the demonic vulture he was, waiting patiently to be able to drag her back to the empty den that the medic had left him during their last little sickening moment together.

Leaving his maw, the pink muscle lapped up his own blood as it dribbled from the wounds along his muzzle. Tasting his own blood she drew. It was all right, he liked them feisty after all. It always brought him so much pleasure to break them down over time. 

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When the pressure was released from her leg, she rolled once just enough to without lashing ranging. Her shrieking continued for a beat longer, heaving breaths as her heart pounds of her chest. The pain in her ankle was muted in that moment, a drum-line of adrenaline marched through her veins. Reed did not linger much longer than that, launching to all four feet, but not without caving on her left side with two hobbling strides before she hiked her leg up and—albeit unsteady—took off as fast as she could.
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She was like a fish out of water. Plucked from the depths of their comfort and thrust out into the open to flip and flop with panic filling their veins as they try to find that sweet solace of what they had prior to this moment. While he, Vengeance, was the feline watching them struggle in a futile attempt to find that life once more.

The woman was determined, still hoping to escape his grasp by hopping away with three legs as opposed to four. Running again with the desire to hastily leave. She had a strong survival instinct and he had to give the woman that much. But just as any predator would, the sight and smell of an injured prey only kept their interest.

As she ran so did he, trying his best to bite at the remaining three of her legs, maybe grab a part of her body to drag her down and away into the misty woods, out of sight from the rest of the world. All he had to do was break this free spirit of hers, before that he had to break a few bones. Weaken that body and the mind would soon follow.

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Reed was not able to get far, not on three legs no matter how well they worked. The pain throbbed from her left ankle and she had a hard time thinking about anything else. Even escaping was clouded and though her body urged her forward, it also prevented her going too far. She growled in frustration, snarling as she heard the thundering paws closing in on her. One look back showed that he was advancing faster than she anticipated and she made a feral sound of desperation and anger, lashing back once to deter him.

 It wasn’t enough because the large wolf grabbed her by her other back leg. The slightest pressure took the weight out from beneath her and she hit the ground hard on her injured leg, wailing in surprise. Her front legs tried to scramble but she couldn’t fight against the attack as she was dragged back on the ground.
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We can end this with your next post if you'd like!

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Successfully he had taken the woman down once again. Teeth finding their mark as the woman cashed to the ground fighting against her attacker with snarls and twists of her body to try and keep the beast away from her flailing.

Spoiler.

He wouldn't.

Regardless of the bite across his muzzle, or claws ripping new ones with the fight within her - he kept his grip and simply began to pull her back into his nest. With vicious tugs he would only rest from time to time to catch his breath before continuing to drag her away from the freedom she once held and into the mist that was his home. 

Here she would be his to test on... to see if he could break her down into being go use to him in more ways than one... to see if he could figure out a way to force others to being a follower with just some 'encouragement'.

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