It's a zoo in here!

Sweeter Than Honey

I stepped through the shadows the moon cast down from the sky, the forests around me dark and peaceful. Nothing dared to move this late at night- nothing dared to annoy me. 

I am the king of this place, a bloody, iron-fisted ruler; I am swift and deadly in my judgements. The only thing stupid enough to be treading through this forest this late in the midnight hour, was a young witch girl.

I watched her, interested as she shivered, walking in human clothes across the forest floor. Frost was forming on the grass already, and she wore no jacket. Her arms were scratched up, and she had a long gash along one side of her head. The scent of her was almost breathtaking- far sweeter than the honey I had once loved. 

She shivered again, and I followed her as she began to move out of sight; keeping track of a witch that could possibly be part of a future meal- she was close to death and I could smell it. I wondered, briefly, why she didn't use magic to heal herself, or even conjure a fire for warmth- it befuddled me.

Witches often did such things, though, confusing people without reason and leaving them behind with a twist of brilliant anti-logic that made perfect sense to them and the rules they and the universe live by, but utterly baffled lesser folk like myself.

So I followed her, watching and waiting, letting my dark aura slowly freeze the area around me. Frost formed, ice slowly crystallized, and the shadows grew ever darker. I managed to cause a faint breeze, though that power was as yet new to me, so I failed much stronger. Storms would be mine to command soon, though, if I lived long enough to perfect them. 

And so I followed her, watching and waiting until she collapsed. Then I watched for another minute as her heartbeat slowed, moving in as she neared her death. I stopped above her, and she watched me warily, lips blue as her eyes, and her dark red hair glittering in  the moonlight with frost. The cold began to spread across her skin, the color of which paled even further, and she spoke.

"Prima, no doubts about it... I thought I killed the last of you centuries ago... how long have you been alive?" I hummed, gently stroking her cheek and leaving frost in my wake.

"Nearly a decade, love. So, what brings you to my home?" She stared at me, eyes closing in a squinting glare. Something was wrong here, and I rolled aside wrapping her in my arms as I did so before ducking behind a tree.

"You're hunting me; why?" She was gasping now, eyes suddenly wide in fear as her heart-rate spiked. She had expected me to fall for her trap, then, and her sister wasn't able to protect her. She would die here, and I would be her killer. Or her savior.

"Listen, and listen close. Leave me be for ten years, then come back and we'll talk. I don't want to die, and if I don't have to, you won't either. Promise me." Witches and their promises- always a useful trick to pull if the opportunity arose- and with salvation so close...

I felt her nod, vehemently, and smiled. 

"I promise, You won't die here. not for the next ten years. We'll talk before we kill you, please- I wanna live..." I grinned, then pulled her close and kissed her cheek. 

"I'll see you around, girly. I wanna see you again. Where are your 'sisters'?" She gasped, beginning to choke as she pointed- right in front of me. I dashed forward, twisting and slamming through some kind of wall that kept my power from spreading to the rest of the forest. A dozen women stared and paled as I grinned. 

Then I dropped the witch to the ground, tipped my hat, and sped off faster than they could follow. I zipped around, finding group after group hunting a 'leech' as I went. All of them human, all of them carrying fire. I wasn't immune to that element, but it wasn't the kind of weakness most thought. No, it didn't burn me, it left me weakened and close to dying unless I got wet. Then I grew stronger.