A Bigger Bat

Hunting was an art that one perfected, like sculpting or scrap-booking, over several years and with frequent practice. The more ancient a creature was, the better of a hunter they were. Evolution seems to have given extra effort to predators, the most beautiful and awe-inspiring tools for their trade. The Wendigo of North America was no exception to this rule.

Dyani was not Dyani Jones this night, twittering shy bashful Dyani human girl that dropped things and stuttered whens she was exceptionally embarrassed. Dyani was just that, her one name that her mother gave her hundreds of years ago. She was a Wendigo, a killing machine designed by nature to be the best at hunting the most intelligent prey on Earth: humans. Her antlers moved flawlessly with the rest of her, creeping in the shadows in a dress from her youth. Her emerald eyes burned in the dark, glowing and searching for the smell she had been tracking for an hour now. Blood.

There he was. The human who reeked like blood. He was drinking the stuff, which only eased her conscience about eating him alive. She considered the best approach from her hiding spot. The male seemed to be rather brave if he drank human blood, he wouldn't be easily swayed by nightmares. So the other idea. Using her ability to mimic any natural sound, she brought up a little girls voice she had heard at school the other day. Innocent mewl of a voice that would entrance anyone. "Help!" she cried softly in the voice, putting fear and confusion into it.

If the man could have seen the splitting grin full of teeth sharp like a shark's, he would have stopped in his tracks. He was too far away, and Dyani was silent. It had worked rather conveniently, her intuition being correct. The man was a monster like her, but a different kind. Well. At least there would be no room for pity in her cold heart as she gnawed the marrow from his bones.

Dyani's other ability warped the surroundings, suddenly making it a little darker all around him. Shadows that loomed now loomed more, the slightest trick of the eye was a more intricate trick. Everything that he thought he saw, became a figment that became more real the more he thought about it. The smell of blood was flooding Dyani's nostrils, charging her hunger. Another figment was there, but this one she created herself. It was tall, ten feet or at least 15 with its antlers. It was terrifying. Blood dripped from its maw and it reeked of rotting meat. Dyani positioned it right in front of the man, having it crawl from the shadows. It raised its claws and growled.

Encouraged by his belief in it, the Wendigo figment effortlessly sidestepped and then darted at inhuman speeds around him to draw him away, claws still dripping blood and mouth agape and grinning grotesquely. Meanwhile, Dynani crept over the noise of the wheel and the figment behind the man, her claws extended and her hunger sharp. She waited patiently until he was distracted, then lunged for the kill.

Mid-lunge, she was close enough to smell him. He wasn't human! He wasn't remotely human! He was vampire! Dyani hissed in fury and barely managed to fall on the ground behind the vampire, her green eyes glowing furious at herself. Fool! Child! She looked down and set her jaw, still in Wendigo form and shaken. The figment vanished, and the shadows cleared. Her concentration was broken and she was purely humiliated. When he saw her, she was sitting on the ground sulking at her own stupidity, her teeth bared slightly and razor sharp. She had no words yet, just sat and fumed.

Dyani raised her upper lip in a snarl and stood. Well, that was embarrassing. She was a foot shorter than the vampire. Hn. Not surprising though. It seemed she was shorter than most everyone. "I thought you were human. No point in eating a vampire, your kind only tastes like rotting flesh and bad blood" she replied snarky, baring her own disturbing array of pointed teeth defensively and narrowing her eyes.

They stood there, the enormous vampire and the little Wendigo, sizing each other up. Dyani was much stronger and faster than she looked, and she would bite out of instinct. Something about this vampire made her think he was more interested in her odd antlers and small appearance than trying to pick a fight, though. "Are you also on an innocent stroll to nowhere in particular?" she asked, staring right up into his eyes. Physically staking her dominance with just her emerald eyes and angry demeanor.

Dyani gave the vampire her best and most intimidating scowl and wished she was even an inch taller. It was awkward for a Wendigo to be so short, she blamed her disguise for stunting her growth. She was tempted to attack randomly and tear out his throat for existing (and for being taller than she was), but this was not part of her twisted Wendigo moral code. Settling for fuming and not backing down, she held her stance.

Even as the massive vampire tracked around her, Dyani simply gave him her patent defiant glare and stood. She shook her head at the offer. "Vampire blood is distasteful, and I mostly eat meat" she replied, bemused that he had offered. His response to her question left her another one. "Headed to the city? You don't live in the forest do you?"