• A peacefull reprieve

    I groaned loudly as my senses, and the pain for that matter, came back to me. I squeeze my eyes shut tight, and clenched my teeth as my head began to throb. I'm vagely aware that I'm lying on the ground in the forest. I had yet to open my eyes but from the sounds of the crickets I would guess it was still late in the night. My hand somehow found its way to my head, and began to crawl along it like a fly on a carcuss to find the center of the pain. It didn't take long. Fresh pain surged through me as one of my fingers found a lump that had formed on my forehead. I squeezed my eyes and clenched my teeth once more, and waited for the pain to fade. Than groaning again, I allowed my eyes to open. It was still dark, the forest and all in it still covered in the blanket of shadows, but clouds had began to cover the sky and I could smell the moister building in the air. I slowly rose to a sitting position. The pain was still there, but it had decreased so that it wasn't numblingly painfull. My eyes began to move around, scanning the area, and thats when the limb, and the tree for that matter, came into focus. I stared at it for along moment before realizing what must have happened. So intent was I that I hadn't even bother to watch for the low hanging limb. I must have hit it at full, trying to catch.......YOU!!
    Think of you made me spring to my feet, sending creaks and snaps throughout my body, and fresh wave of pain from my skull, but I didn't care. I swung my head left and right, searching the area in vain for any sign of you. My nose searched through the trapestry of scents of the forest for yours, and my ears listened intently throught the chorus of the night to find your voice. But all was in vain. You had long since past. I cursed myself and the tree for that matter. So close, I kept sreaming to myself, I was so CLOSE! I needed only a hair width more. Sighing to myself, I tore my mind from you to the coming clouds. The scent and taste of moisture had already filled the air, and tunder could be heard in the distance. A storm was coming. Cursing silently again, I slowly began to make my way back to my dwelling. The wind picked up when I covered about half the distance. I pulled my black hood low over my head and the cowl over my mouth and nose. Than, I wrapped the shadow that was my cloak around my shoulders tightly and shouldered my way throught the howling wind. My black clothing rip and tore in the wind, but eventually I reach my dwelling. There was nothing fancy about it. It was merely a cave in the side of a low mountain, but on nights like this, I could think of no reason to complain. Rain began to pound down like a hammer as I stammered in. The thunder clapped and lighting split the sky. I was breathing heavy as I began to walk to the wall of the cave. My head throbbed as I slide down along the wall to sit. I let my soar legs slide out from under me and my arms fall into my lap. My eyelids feel heavy like weights. The hounds of slumber hunt and stalk me for a long while. My eyes began to close. I let my mind slip back to you and not for the first time, I question why I hunt you so admandently. I could not recall so much as the day the hunt began. All I realized that I needed to catch you, I needed to have you, I NEEDED to make you mine. I didn't even realize who you were. I had not so much as seen you face. You were only a shadow. Which, it seemed had been enough. I didn't know how I knew I wanted you, I just did, and neither did I have a reason for this, I knew you wanted me to catch you. You wanted to be mine as well. Or maybe that was foolish and wishfull thinking. The hounds of sleep returned and hunted me once more and soon I felt my eyelids began to droop. Thats when your scent filled every inch of the cave. My eyes fly open and my head snapps to the mouth of the cave, so fast I feared that I had wiped it out of place. And there you stood. You're grabbed the same as myself, all in black and fitted to hunt and travel. A hood covers your head and face, and a long cloak simliar to my own flows from your shoulders. You resemble a shadow against the shadows, so much like myself. Dark against darkness. How you got to my dwelling without me noticing and for how you found it was a question for later times. All that matter was you were there. I didn't move. Maybe I was afraid to scare you off, but I didn't allow my body to move an inch. Outside the storm raged on, but if you noticed it, you gave no indication. You just stood there silently watching me, and me, forgetting to so much as breath, did the same. Than slowly you began to approach me. Your scent filled my head and everything became hazy and cloudly, except for the image of you grazefully gliding across the cave floor. A lump rose in my thoart and I nearly gasped for air, had I not been afraid to make a sound. Outside, thunder shattered the quiet like glass and light cut through the darkness. You approached so slowly it seem to take eternity for you to reach me, but soon you stood there, no more than a foot from me. I gazed up at you and you in turn, gazed down at me. My cowl still covered my face and my hood was still drapped on my head. Your scent was driving my brain to the brink of insanity.
    But if you even notice, you gave no sign. Than, slowly ever so slowly, you kneeled down beside me. I followed your every movement, from the bending of knees to swaying of your slender hands. I took in everything. And through it all, my mind was trying to reason it all out. Why had you come? You have never revealed yourself, not so much as come close to me. I've always hunted you. And now you come within reaching distance. Why? But all these questions are soon thrusted from my mind as you reach a slender hand out to me. The rain seems to stop falling for a long strech, and the lighting seems to catch in the air as if by the line of some godly fishermen. You pulled the hood from my head and slid the cowl from my mouth. And though I've never felt expose, I felt as if all the eyes of the world were on me, even yours were the only ones here. And what eyes they were. For the first time since the hunt began I saw your eyes. They were red. Not the crimson red of a man's blood, but this red was more subtle, gentlier. Rose red, I imagen to myself, but even this comparsion didn't do justice, I thought later. You brought back your hand for a moment, and slowly remove the glove that you wore. Compared to the your black attire, your skin seemed an almost milky white. You brought the hand back, and slowly, and ever so gently, began to stroke my cheek. My mind went numb as the softness of your skin startled me. It felt as I would imagen later, what a cloud would feel like. I leaned into your hand, asking pleading, as if a were a puppy wanting to be strached. And through the darkness, even with the cowl covering you lips, I knew you smiled as you continue to my delight. Than, without worrying you drew your hand away. I followed it despartly, like an addict after a of drug. But I watched as you drew both hands to your hood and cowl and watched as you removed both. Dark hair, fell around your chalk white face, but the only thing I noticed was how beauty you were. Your features were sharp, but had a softness to them that many woman carve for. Your lips were full, and cut prefectly at the edges. Your nose and cheeks sloped subtly, and your cheekbones rose high into your elegant face. Your hair flowed in waves from you head, and frame your face prefectly. Your eyes, rose red as explained before, were the most arresting feature though. Almost cat-like in a way, they looked at me as if I were a glass to be gaze through. Than, to my sheer amazement, you began to sing. The notes flowed gently from your lips and filled my head with images of wonder and delight. And than as that feeling past, I felt a sense of overhelming peace. I closed my eyes, and let your singing and your scent, take me to another place and time. The storm still rage outside, yet I took no notice. Your song was the only thing I could hear. It ended far to soon and as I opened my eyes, I realized you had left, weither during the song, or immediatly after I could say. I sat there for a long time, your song and your scent still taking claim over my mind. Than all the pain and tiredness returned and assaulted me like the ramparts of a mighty war-ship. The hounds of sleep nipped my heels once more, and this time I didn't have the strenght to fight them. And as I close my eyes, and fall into sleep, I find myself smiling and looking forward to tommorrow's hunt. Now more than ever before, You would be mine......