Hunting...

Sammael jumped from branch to branch, chasing a deer, it was easier to follow it in the trees. He landed on each brach with cat-like precision. His eyes were bright and full of life, if there was one thing he really enjoyed in life - well death - it was hunting. The deer ran as fast as it could, through the dense forest, it's eyes were panic stricken. Sammael could smell it's fear, whafting off the beast in waves which reached his nose and made him push on faster. He laughed playfully, enjoyed the wind in his hair and the adrenaline [spl] pumping through his veins.

[Right for once. ]

"Brother!" called Saku, appearing as if by magic on the tree branch in front of Sammael. He put his hand out to stop his friend, who was travelling at some considerable speed. "Why are you hunting a deer when we could find much better prey?" He smiled his usual mysterious, lop-sided smile and bared his fangs, licking his lips.

Sammael growled at Saku, as he slowed and lost sight of his deer, "Oh now look what you've done. And Saku, you know i don't, not anymore." He looked longingly as the deer ran into the shadows of the trees and disappeared. He sighed, annoyed, then turned to look at Saku.

"Come now, Sammael," he said, almost pleadingly, as he began to pace the branch, gesturing as if he was teaching a lecture. "You don't honestly think you'll be able to keep that up? Not attacking humans, or other peoples? It's what we were born to do." He faced Sammael, his legs straight and far apart, his chest puffed out slightly and his hands on his hips, his head tilted so that the moonlight fell on his pale face and emphasised his sharp features. "You'll soon become weak. I expected more from you, my closest friend." And - still grinning his mysterious smile - he leaned forwards and kissed Sammael's cheek.

A small pink rose in his cheeks, before he could stop it. He hesistated, looking at Saku, before he could find any words, "No, Saku, i won't become weak. It has been 3 years now, not a drop of human blood, or any other blood apart from animals. Am i weaker?" He smiled and stretched out his arms, letting Saku look at him. He didn't feel weaker, but it was said that animal blood was not enough. If he had a heart beat, he knew it would be galloping a long, 'He had kissed me,' he thought, 'but only on the cheek, maybe it was just a friendship thing.'

Saku just smirked and admired the red hue his friend's cheeks had turned. "Look at you. Just look at yourself. You're pathetic." Here he laughed. It sounded innocent, carefree, not like the cruel laugh he had used when intimidating victims in the past. "You're a vampire equivalent of a vegetarian. You haven't got a single ruthless bone in your body. I could easily throw you from this tree, right now. If we fought, I would win. And yet," he grinned, shaking his head a little, the moonlight reflecting from his white skin and being absorbed by his pitch black hair, "Every time I see you, you useless little runt, every time I see you I have to use every ounce of my strength to hold myself back from doing something like this." Saku pressed his lips against Sammael's, simultaneously sliding his hands onto his friend's waist. All I can do now is hope he enjoys it the way I do...

Sammael gasped in suprise, but before he knew what he was doing, he kissed Saku back, placing his arms around his neck. 'This is not happening, how can it be?' he thought, but he didn't brake the kiss. Saku had always been there with Sammael, ever since they had met. They had always fought together, hunted together, even when Saku went to get a human, Sammael had gone too. Sammael had dreamed of this day so many times, and now it was happening.

Saku was a little surprised that Sammael was so...keen on the idea, but as usual, he didn't show it. After a few moments, he broke their kiss, smiling and jerking his friend's body closer, so that Sammael's chest was pressed tightly to his own. "I knew it. I knew you would like it," he whispered in Sammael's ear, his warm breath tickling his cheek. He lifted one hand from his waist and ran it through Sammael's red hair, curling strands around his long fingers.

Sammael smiled, "Aah, i have kept my feelings well hidden, as much as i didn't want to. But, Saku, i do not agree with your earlier statement. The animal blood has not made me weak, i am as strong and as fast as any other vampire. Although, i suspect you would win in that battle, your fighting skills have always been better. You don't understand," he said the last bit with pain in his voice, letting out a long sigh. He looked into Saku's eyes, tracing a long finger along his cheekbone.

"Just because I enjoy killing and violence doesn't mean I don't have a sensitive heart. What don't I understand?" He looked genuinely concerned. Saku sat down, hanging his legs over the side of the branch and patting the space to the right of him for Sammael to join him. "Make me understand."

Sammael sat down next to him, making sure they were as close together as possible. "A week after i was turned, i killed my sister, drained her dry. They always say never drink vampire blood, but i could hear her next door. I could hear her soft breathing, and her blood in her veins. Father was out, it was just me, and her. I couldn't take it and i killed her. You know how it's like, when you are new to the change, you can't control yourself. But that is no excuse. I know she wasn't human, and i know she wasn't my real sister, but...i can't kill humans anymore. I just see her face everytime. He wouldn't let me stay with him after that, he punched me and through me out. That's why i came here." He sighed again, knowing he must sound like an idiot, like he was weak.

Saku stared into the distance. His hand moved to Sammael's waist, but other than that he showed no sign of sympathy with his story. "I don't know," he said in a monotone voice. "I don't remember the change. I was six months old, they told me. I was abandoned on the outskirts of this forest with only a piece of paper with my name on it. The vampires found me and looked after me, and when I was just old enough, turned me." He reached up to Sammael's head, putting a little pressure on his cheek to make him rest his head on his shoulder, then kissed his crown. "You're beautiful, you know that?"

Sammael sighed, "It looks like we both had a troubled past." He smiled and placed a hand on Saku's leg, stroking it gently. "Thank you, you also. I suppose you being turned so young, you don't think of this, but i sometimes find myself wondering about my past. I don't remember anything of it, not a face, or place, nothing." He smiled, and closed his eyes, breathing in Saku's smell, and the smells of the forest around him. Whenever he had come from, this was his true home now.

"I miss hunting," he sighed after a long pause. "Humans never come this way anymore. There was a time when we had a contract with the humans - they would send us sacrifices and we would leave them alone. But that's long gone now." He licked his lips and smiled, his breath quickening at the feelings he was remembering. He moved his hand up and down Sammael's side, not looking at him but staring forwards, his dark eyes slowly turning red, as if they were pools of water and blood was flourishing across them. "What I wouldn't give for the sweet, hot blood of a beautiful young girl," he murmured, almost to himself.

Sammael flinched at his words, as the all too familiar image of his sister rose in his mind. 'It isn't his fault, afterall it is what we are made to do.' He sighed, "Perhaps this has gone on for too long," he said, looking down at his fingers, as he made small circles on Saku's legs. 'I am capable of so much more than this, maybe it is time to stop pretending.'

"Yes, yes it has," Saku replied in that same, dangerous tone. "We need prey, it is our right to have it, as it is everyone's right to have what they need in order to survive. We need blood to survive. Therefore we must take it." His grip on Sammael became tighter without him realising, his fingernails digging into his companion's skin. Sammael's fingers tickled his leg, and his pulse began to race. He felt more alive than he had ever felt, more sadistic than he had ever been before. He didn't just want to kill, he needed to kill. And not just anything. A young woman - blonde, perhaps? - a helpless victim, screaming for mercy as he descended on her, taking every last scrap of life from her youthful body. Yes, that was something he needed, as well as Sammael.

Sammael sat up as Saku's grip tighten on him. His eyes had turned red, which was always a sign that he wanted, or perhaps needed, blood. He stood up, gently prying Saku's hand away from his body. "Come on then, let us go fine someth-..one. It is time i stopped acting like a child, and accepted what i am." He smiled, crookedly, then jumped off the branch, landing lightly on his feet. He looked up, waiting for Saku to follow. 'I need to do this, i can do this, and i will do this,' he thought, determindly.