Hunting a Nosfaretu...

The darkness of night hung over the forest land as Keyan Tobin stalked through the ancient woods following the scent of his prey. Somewhere among these aged trees one of the sworn enemies of his kind, the Lycans, was trying to stalk him the same as he was stalking it; a dangerous game of hunter and the hunted that could instantly have the roles reversed.

But if hunting a Nosfaretu was easy then he wouldn’t have enjoyed it nearly as much.

Keyan kept his body near to the ground working to keep himself hidden as much as possible from his prey until he was ready to strike. He could feel the forest floor, strewn with twigs and leaves, whisper as he gently pushed them aside so he wouldn’t give himself away by stepping on them.

He froze as a nearby twig snapped; straining his senses to seek out his prey then saw a creature of the forest, a buck deer look over at him from the open area of the forest where it was grazing. If Keyan had wanted to he could have pounced on the buck in seconds, that was how close he was to the creature, but he was after a much sweeter type of flesh.

Keyan continued to move forward following the sickly scent of the Nosfaretu he was tracking.

He had been following this creature for most of the night, he’d found evidence of it a few days earlier in an abandoned house in the town that served as his makeshift dwelling place when ever Keyan had to leave the dwelling of his clan. Now he was so very close to sinking his claws into the creature.

Keyan rounded a tree and found himself at the edge of the forest and standing on the edge of a rolling expense of farmland that must have grown food to supply several nearby towns.

Keyan started to move forward, then stopped and dove behind the tree quickly as a quivering arrow buried itself into the ground where he been crouched. He snarled in anticipation of the coming battle and pulled the arrow from the dirt and snarled again in a different tone as the silver arrowhead shined in the darkness. This will be a tougher Nosfaretu than most, he thought to himself as he prepared to charge into the fields after his attacker.

Keyan felt the ground beneath his padded feet shift slightly as he propelled himself forward like a dart through the low plant life on the field. As he rushed forward he felt and heard an arrow streaked over his back, passing close enough that a few hair were pulled free from his dark brown fur. His keen ears focused in on the sound of his foe drawing another arrow and quickly turned to close the distance between them. Keyan cheeks pulled back to reveal his razor-sharp rows of teeth and with one mighty push leapt into the air at his prey.

Time slowed as he soared through the night air, he spotted the Nosfaretu hurrying to move from the spot it had been standing while still aiming its silver tipped arrow at Keyan’s hairy form as it descended on him. The arrow flew from the bow, still moving in what seemed slower than normal speed, as the silver arrowhead seemed to sparkle in the moonlight. Keyan pulled with all his might to pull his body out of the path of the arrow and roared in pain when he only half succeeded and the arrow grazed his side, drawing a line of red hot fire along his ribs as the silver cut into his flesh.

Keyan released a deafening roar as time sudden accelerated and returned to normal as the Nosfaretu dropped his bow and scrambled to draw the sword from its side when it saw that the arrow had failed to stop the Lycan attacking it.

Keyan landed feet from the Nosfaretu with a grace uncommon for something his size, within seconds of landing he was off again, avoiding his prey’s first strike with the thin blade it now held. The blow hit the dirt with a muted thud and the Nosfaretu, showing superb skill with the blade, quickly recovered from the missed attack and followed Keyan’s form, keeping the blade between the two of them.

Keyan came to a stop and slowly began to circle his prey as the Nosfaretu circled in turn to keep Keyan in front of it. Keyan’s injury burned steadily and only further fueled his anger as he looked for an opening to strike at his foe.

A Keyan let a low growl emerge from his throat and bared his teeth menacingly; the Nosfaretu gripped its sword with both hands in response obviously expecting an attack to follow. Instead Keyan only turned to face his prey head on with only one leap separating him from his goal. Keyan watched the Nosfaretu and his blade carefully as they stared each other down, waiting for one to blink.

Then without any precursor Keyan charged swinging his paw to the left to knock the blade aside and following with a vicious bite to the base of his prey’s neck savoring the sudden rapid pulse and the feeling of bones, tendons, and muscle breaking under his jaw.

With one great throw Keyan tossed the mortally wounded Nosfaretu aside, sending the blade twirling from his hand onto the ground nearby, as a garbled cry emerged from the creatures ruined neck. Keyan picked up the sword, testing its weight in his large hand, and walked over to the Nosfaretu as it writhed in agony on the ground.

Keyan stood over his prey, the creature’s blood dripping from his mouth as he lowered his head to finish his prey off. As he came nearer to the Nosfaretu the creature lunged stabbing at Keyan’s face with a small dagger, without a moment’s hesitation Keyan pinned its arm to the ground with a paw and pressed with a quick, sudden force cracking the wrist and drawing another cry from his prey. For a moment Keyan started to finish the pitiful creature off then stopped as an evil thought entered his mind and without a seconds thought he lifted the Nosfaretu off the ground in one hand and held the sword and the dagger in his other and turned back to the forest where the hunt had began.

Keyan found the same tree that he had used to avoid the first arrow fired at him and effortless slammed the Nosfaretu against the aged trunk with one hand and in two quick motions pinned it there with its own blades, the sword through the stomach and the dagger through the unbroken wrist. Keyan stepped back to admire his handiwork and looked over his shoulder at the horizon as it slowly grew lighter with the coming dawn.

The Nosfaretu saw it do and began to struggle to free itself, trying to push free of the blade with its feet, only serving to slicing its stomach more on its own blade until it wedged itself against the creature’s ribcage. With one final look at the still brightening horizon Keyan reentered the forest, heading back to his clan’s dwellings, leaving the doomed Nosfaretu to writhe and moan in agony.

Nearly an hour later as Keyan reached the opposite edge of the forest Keyan heard an echoing scream of pain that ripped through the entire countryside before fading like so much dust in the wind…


Author's Note: Thanks for reading this, tell me what you think!! Lexington's Hammer (aka Keyan Tobin)

Yep, good mate. . . .Nothing like a good read to start a morning of carnage off!!. . . .Hope ther is more comeing!!

I love the smell of burning vampires in the morning.

nice story......

question: whats a nosferatu???

I believe they are vamps

Yeah a Nosfaretu is an ancient name for vampire, I think it comes from a name for a creature similar to vampires that came from egypt I believe. I picked it up from some vamp's clan pages and some other stuff I've read online about my prey

Nos - Fer - atu ' Corpse with rodent like features '. . . . . . Vampire

The Greek term lycanthropy (a compound of which "lyc-" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *wlkwo-, meaning "wolf") formally denotes the "wolf - man" transformation. Lycanthropy is but one form of therianthropy, the ability to metamorphose into animals in general. The term "therianthrope" literally means "beast-man," from which the words turnskin and turncoat are derived.. . . . . . . Werewolf

Cool, I've heard that stuff somewhere but I can't remember but I'm glad you were able to share the info since my mind failed me...