Watching Leo eat still seemed strange to me. It had been a few decades since I ate any meals of my own that weren’t just blood. Seeing him chew and slice into the different pieces on his plate almost seemed laborious to me. I eventually had asked about what it was like to eat the vegetables, but I didn’t really want to know.

He knows what I am, why is he still treating me like normal? I wondered, pressing my legs against my chest. Even if he was in denial before, he saw the way that wound healed right in front of him. I can’t believe I tried to brag about it! He must be terrified now that he’s seen something like that. Living on my own for so long made me forget how much of a monster I’ve become...

“...Senna, do you think you could take me out hunting with you tonight?” He asked, interrupting my thoughts.

“W-What?”

He took his dish away and looked back, leaning against the wall. “Well, I guess I just realized things have been moving fast today. Since I’d be pretty restless anyway, I figured we could spend some time thinking things over?”

“There’s not much more to talk about.” I responded, a little colder than I wanted. “Besides, I never liked these families anyhow... all they do is bicker and destroy each other, using up the humans around them like rations for a war effort. If they didn’t have something about maintaining bloodline purity, you could bet there’d be an army on either side of the valley.”

I wanted to storm out of the room right then, but I didn’t know why. Just being around Leo was making me more emotional. Despite that, I stayed right in my chair and looked down at the table with a frown.

Maybe he’ll apologize if we stay here for long enough. But then again, I do have to get some hunting done or I’ll get hungry. Should I leave him behind and just rush into the woods? That seems like the best-

“Senna, I’ll be honest with you, I haven’t really had someone stay with me in a while. You might be going away for a while whenever Simon concocts his plan, so I want to try and spend some time with you while I can.” He suddenly added. “Er, well, some time where we’re not hunting powerful vampires and all.”

“I’m... I’m not really going to talk if I’m out hunting, you know.”

“That’s alright, we don’t have to talk the whole time or anything. I just want to be around for a while, see things how you see them and such, I guess.”

He’s acting strange. Maybe he actually likes me? I thought, before standing up and looking out of the window from embarrassment. Stop thinking stuff like that! I’m sure he’s got some perfectly normal reason. Maybe being alone for so long might’ve made him awkward? I mean, maybe he’d like me more later, but he’s definitely scared of me. He might feel safer if I turned him as well?

“F-Fine. Just don’t get in my way or anything, alright? I need to sneak up on them first before I can bite down. If they hear me, I have to chase them down.”

“Don’t worry, I’m a hunter too, remember? I know what it’s like for me to go after something, but I just can’t imagine what it’d be like for someone to try and tackle a big elk or the like.”

We waited a little longer for the sun to fade and finally headed out. I was nervous at first, just wandering in the woods aimlessly as I thought of what to do. Thankfully, a doe passed nearby and I instinctively crouched down to see it. When I went to tell him to do the same, he already was. Even though he might not be able to hear it, he trusted in my senses.

Ignoring that, I focused down on my prey. While she wasn’t a very large animal, I figured she’d be enough of a meal to last me. Watching my feet for the walk, I keep low to the ground as I move forward, making sure not to step on any stray leaves or sticks in my way. Once I’m close enough, I leap to a nearby tree and start making my way closer from that. A glance back showed me Leo's face, which betrayed his awe.

Not wanting to think about him, I focused my attention on the doe. It had stopped already, but one of its ears was twitching. Being careful to move only when it got a new bite of whatever mushroom it was eating, I got closer and closer. Once I was directly above it, I gently released myself from the tree and fell. My body is fairly light, but still heavy enough to break one or two of the doe’s legs when I landed.

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While it managed to let out a struggling noise of pain, I sank my teeth into its neck and started to drain it. The voice dropped down almost immediately as I slowly drank my fill of it. The act of feeding was strange, even to me now. Rather than drinking normally, I just felt myself suction the life from them. Before I knew it, the doe was dry and I pulled my mouth off of its neck.

“You’re done? That was really fast!”

My senses were always hazy after draining something dry, so it took me a second to find Leo where he was standing behind me. I rolled my tongue around, pushing a few coarse hairs out of my mouth. Luckily Leo was looking at the carcass, and missed my embarrassing display. He crouched down next to me and placed a hand on one of its calves.

“Hey, it really does feel drained. The skin is sticking against the muscle really tightly, but there’s obviously a little fluid left. You could probably make jerky really easy with this kind of hunting.”

“N-Normally I just tear out the bit I feed from and leave it out for other animals to get to. I’ve felt kind of bad for taking out so many recently, but being near to humans really drives up my hunger.”

“How come you didn’t go somewhere else then?” Leo asked, standing upright again.

“I still had people to kill here.” I answered him, rubbing the spot on my neck where I was first bitten. “You... you might not know this, but my family moved me here a very long time ago. It was only a couple decades now, but that probably sounds like an eternity to you. One of the clans here felt we didn’t deserve the spot we had, and so they broke the ceiling above everyone's bedrooms. I would have died, but I wasn't in my room that night. Everyone was woken up by the sound of it, but none of them had time to get to safety before the sun cooked them.”

Even as I explained it, I thought I was beyond grief and mourning, yet my eyes stung, and I felt a terrible weight on my heart that should have been long since shrugged off. Leo must not have noticed, placing a hand on my head and rubbing it. While I wanted to shout at him, a wave of emotion hit me hard. Tears came to my eyes and flowed down until I was sobbing on the floor. Leo calmly kept at it, doing his best to calm me down and comfort me.

The truth is that the pain of loss was already turned into hatred for me. What was making me cry was his touch. It took a second to register, but I realized then that it was the first comforting touch I’d felt in ages. My face pressed into his thigh harder and I didn’t want him to stop petting my hair. A greedy part of me wanted to bite him, and make him immortal just so it could stay like this. What was even stranger was how hard it was to push that impulse down.

By the time I finished crying, I was sitting down on the ground and sniffling. Leo sat down as well, though he made sure to brush his spot clear of some leaves. I could feel his eyes moving over me, but didn’t want to speak up in case my voice cracked.

“I’m no priest or healer, so I can’t offer you much consolation. If you want to talk about it more, or just move on, that’d be fine.”

I shook my head side to side, swallowing hard so I could speak. “No, I’m just... it’s not that. All of that just took me by surprise is all. Having someone to talk to feels really weird. Um, no offense, obviously.”

“None taken, I get where you’re coming from. I know I’ve not suffered any comparable tragedy, but I can relate to the trials of isolation. Perhaps it is best not to dwell on those feelings. You’ve got to be stuffed after something like that, right?”

“It’s not like I’m physically drinking it or anything. With animal blood, it almost all evaporates when I drink it.” I answered him.

Leo stood up and lifted the doe onto his shoulder with a small grunt. I could only watch from the ground at first, my senses overwhelmed by the emotion of the past few moments. He gave me a warm smile, and I felt like I could watch it for hours longer. Shaking out of my enraptured state, I stood up next to him and started walking off to the side. It felt embarrassing just looking at him.

We eventually repeated the same hunt with an elk up ahead. I had to take longer to drink him dry, given how much larger he was. Leo managed to walk up to me while I was still feeding, and stared at me the whole time. For a second I felt like a monster again, and was worried he was going to pull away. My fangs came free as I stopped and he placed the doe on the ground. His hands moved over the neck to find the bite marks while I came back to my senses.

“Huh, I was thinking you’d bite into the artery, but it seems here like you’re just severing the whole thing.” He asked, spreading open the animal’s neck wound.

“W-Well if I just bit into the artery, it would collapse. If I puncture straight through there’s more leeway in how fast I can drink.” I responded before I stood up and lifted one leg of the elk. “Do you want me to carry this one back? I should be set on feeding for the night, if you want to head back.”

Leo stood up and looked between me and the carcass with some doubt. Not wanting to force him to ask, I proved I could lift the body up onto my shoulder. While it was heavy, the weight wasn’t something I couldn’t handle. With both of our supplies in tow, we headed back to his cottage. The night air was filled with little insect sounds, and the occasional distant howl. We let the bodies rest down on the ground when we got back, but Leo stopped before heading back inside.

I followed his gaze up into the sky, and noticed the stars shining down at us, as well as a small section of the moon visible between the trees. Being careful not to surprise him, I inched closer and waited for one of us to speak.

“Huh?” He asked, only noticing my presence when I began staring at him. “Oh, sorry, was just looking up at the night sky. Been a while since I’d actually looked at it. Probably sounds silly to you, seeing as you probably watch it all the time.”

“No, not really. Most of the time I’m too busy hunting or looking for a way into the noble houses. Sometimes I’d watch the towns late at night though, hoping to see somebody moving about and wondering what they were up to...” I said before taking a step away and raising both hands defensively. “N-Not to hunt them or anything!”

Leo laughed and patted my head again. “Don’t worry, I know. I’m getting pretty tired, so I’ll head to bed now. If you’re going to be up for a while longer, why don’t you try and watch the sky for me?”

He headed back inside, unfortunately removing his hand from my head. Even though it was just a strange, off-hand request, I stared up at the night sky like he asked. I thought about getting up and going somewhere else, but I was oddly captivated by the sky tonight. Then again, maybe I just needed some alone time to think.