Snippet #2571587

At first, she cried out so much it pained to listen to her. His hearing was sharp - too sharp for the sound she produced to not have some consequences. Nevertheless it died down slowly, perhaps it was as he shortly gazed behind, making sure whether the vampires had caught up with them or not. In this area, his sharp muzzle was a help, yet it was useless at some point having the stench of the forest to be even stronger than ever. And, to top it all, the girl was still struggling a little bit, and made it difficult for him to keep her hanging. However, as her cry died down, her struggle also ended - in fact she did not move at all.

Kage had not the time to worry about her though, but he was sure that she was just unconscious - or that was what he told himself to not panic. Did his teeth made through her flesh? He didn't even want to consider that possibility. He just ran - ran for his life, for her life. The forest began to become denser and even more difficult to slip through. Kage's experienced eyes found easily where to go and made his way through his forest without putting much thought into it. He knew exactly where to go and where it was not a good idea to step into - this forest was his home after all, and that probably was his only advantage.

The scent of vampires lessened and after awhile running away it completely disappeared. He had shaken them off. He was safe! Then suddenly -- rip! The cloth of the girl ripped and she slumped down to the ground. Luckily it wasn't a hard fall, and the ground without any stones. It however, scared Kage so much he checked her for any injuries. -- and checking whether she was even alive. As he lowered his head he heard it: Soft small breathing, coming from her like a melody. It seemed like a heavy burden fall down on him, relieving him. She was alright, she was alive.

Why did it matter to him so much though?

Kage frowned, didn't know what to do. Now he had brought her deep inside the forest, there was no way her kind could find her unless they were familiar with the woods. However, no shapeshifter, vampire nor human was as familiar as Kage within the dark forest, and thus that someone would be able to find the little girl was something he didn't dare to hope. It was hopeless for her. She could never survive in the forest alone... -- Kage was long just staring at the little girl who was dirty from the escape through the forest and got her shirt ripped. Observed her, and pondered. Just pondered.

TIME SKIP: NEXT MORNING

He learned much just lay in the dark and observing the human village, frightenly close to the dark forest. He learned there, that greeting someone was normal, smiling to someone is always well-received, helping each other was something they often do and wearing clothes are proper. It was as if he saw paradise, everyone being nice and friendly, violence and blood was never sighted. It turned to be some sort of hobby of his, watching those humans doing their everyday chores, or the little ones playing with each other. It was interesting, and something he had never known existed.

Perhaps that was why?

That was perhaps the reason why he carried the shapeshifter child to his cave, put around her a piece of blanket that he found somewhere and a new shirt, which even though a bit dusty was not ripped like her current shirt. He didn't dare to change her clothes, found it very uncomfortable to do so and thus only put it beside her, nicely folded with an apple upon it and wood bowl with water at the right of it. He himself was now in his human form, sitting outside his cave on a big rock and ate an apple, wearing a blank shirt and pants with actually putting on some underwear. It was a weird feeling, yet he tried to be considerate towards the little girl, didn't want her to be uncomfortable seeing him naked, but also didn't want her to be scared of his wolf form (that is, while he didn't even know what 'considerate' even means).

He sighed. Whether he regretted bringing her here - he did not know. He was just worried about what to do when she wakes up. Would he help her find her pack? No, definitely not, for him to go outside the forest and searching for shapeshifters was not heard of - it was him who usually was sought, was sought to be killed. But he couldn't just drop her outside the forest could he? He took another big bite of the apple, trying to suppress his undying hunger.