ORIGIN

backdated late august

Alek had been doing hunting for the both of them between teaching Erasmus whatever they asked about. Truthfully, Alek had done so much for them.

Erasmus owed Alek a debt that could never be repaid. Multiple debts, even. There had to be something small they could do for Alek to show appreciation. Not to repay their debts, Erasmus would never manage that. They could at least give Alek more family one day in the future when fully grown, after taking a member of his family away.

But that was in the future, not the present. There had to be a way to show appreciation now.

So Erasmus was going to use the only skill that Erasmus really had- That of hunting. Killing anything made them feel distinctly uneasy, but if they killed something without a stone, it was not the same. It was prey. They had to relearn that.

For prey, they needed something bigger than their standard prey. They had always hunted not for meat, but blood. Such being the case, they had caught smaller prey. They were an efficient predator then, always killing the small prey quickly.

Hopefully, they would not cause too much harm here either. They scanned from their hiding spot for one of the larger lessers, as Alek called the prey.

And when they sought, they found.

A leggy being, about half the height of themself, with large ears. Multiple of them, actually. A herd. Surely, Erasmus could catch at least one...

But Erasmus had seen these beings in the cave they considered their territory before, and this kind of prey was fast. So was Erasmus, but...

If only Erasmus could trip up one somehow. Knock it over.

As they watched the herd and thought, they unthinkingly summoned magic to their disposal.

Erasmus chirped loudly in surprise as exactly what they wanted happened. Most of the prey startled, but one had been knocked over. Was this the power of what Alek called 'magic'? It felt right to call it such.

But there was little time to wonder, for the vampire had to pounce now. The prey was knocked over for now, but not for always. It would recover soon enough, unless Erasmus caught it.

Unfortunately, Erasmus tumbled as they pounced, still startled from the magic usage. It gave the prey enough time to get up and start to run.

But Erasmus could still see the prey, even tumbled and tripped on the ground. If they could trip it up before it disappeared into the mist, then they had a chance to recover and chase it.

They succeeded at what they were now certain was magic, the prey toppled over once again. It gave Erasmus time to stand up and begin to run at their prey.

It felt important to do this.

They were not sure if they could get to their prey before it stood up, but at the least they could weaken it with a scratch.

After dashing to it with a leap, they scratched the Marsh Strider hard enough that the venom they did not know about got into its bloodstream.

Confused by the brain signals it was getting, fear overwhelmed by euphoric venom in its body now, the Marsh Strider wobbled and fell back down.

Not that Erasmus knew this was the cause. All they knew was that they were close and their prey was weak.

Now that the prey had fallen over again, weakened by a deep scratch from their vicious claws and they venom they knew not of, Erasmus went for a killing blow.

They had no intention of drawing this out. They were a predator, but they were tired of harm. For Alek, they would hunt prey, but they could not imagine doing this all the time.

For a moment, the prey began to struggle again, then Erasmus's teeth dug in, injecting even more venom into the body. And then the body relaxed, giving up even before Erasmus entirely killed it. In death, it found peace.

Now with their prey well and caught the six feet tall or so vampire, still not fully grown but almost there, picked up the defeated prey.

It was not overly hard to carry. Though they were lithe, they were covered in muscle, making them strong.

Hopefully Alek would appreciate the gift of food.

[Exit Erasmus]