Roarke: An Origin Story

The First Hunt

        We were back in the woods again. We had been there for an hour now. We didn’t take any weapons with us, just the horses. We rode side by side talking about what we should do now. We didn’t feel the need to be quiet since we could hear every sound of the wilderness with our heightened abilities. I could hear mice breathing quickly in the bushes, rabbits hopping around several meters away from us, birds wings flapping up in the skies above us, and more. It was a bit annoying at first, but I got used to it fairly fast.
        “How many of us do you think there are?” I asked.
        “It’s very unlikely there’s more than us and the one that killed our parents. Well, maybe a few more, but other than that, It’s doubtful there’s any more.”
        The smell of a deer hit my nose. I pulled the reins to make Balias come to a stop, then hopped off the stallions back and landed right beside him. I gave his neck a quick pat, then turned and dashed off after the scent. In the distance, I spotted a large buck with its head down chewing grass. Without hesitation, I leapt into the air and tackled the beautiful creature. It let out a loud whine when it landed on its side and struggled to get out of my grasp. Then, I realized that I had no idea what I was even supposed to do. My fangs extended a little longer and my mouth opened on its own. Then I found myself leaning forward fast and sinking my fangs into its neck without commanding myself to do so. It was as if my body already knew what to do, an instinctual thing.
        The taste was amazing. The blood flowing into my mouth was warm and it was the best thing I had ever tasted in my life. It made me crave it even more. The burning sensation had started to die as well after the first sip. The more the pain left, the more I drank.
        The buck ended up dying in my arms  from blood loss. I continued to drink until its whole body was completely drained. I let go of it and stood up, straightening my clothes as well. I could feel Jace staring at me now from behind. I turned to him  quickly and began jogging back.
        “Well? Did that make it stop?” he asked.
        “Sort of.” I replied with.
        The pain was still there, just more faint. It was definitely easier to manage now. I think my fangs had even shrunken a little. When I swiped my tongue across the back of my teeth, I could definitely feel the long canines, but they definitely shrunk a little since I drank.
        “What did you even do?” He asked.
        “I drank the blood,” I said with a little uncertainty. “My body kind of took over as if it already knew what it was supposed to do.”
        “Intriguing,” he said.
        When I reached Balias, Jace, and his horse, I mounted Balias and led Jace further into the woods. We were both silent again, but I could hear his thoughts. I tried my best to tune them out, but failed horribly. They continued to sound off one by one in my head. How long would it be until we could fully control our newfound abilities? Would we even be able to control them, for that matter? Was this how we seriously had to live for the rest of our lives?
        The thought of this being the way we have to live made me feel uneasy. This wasn’t something I would wish upon my greatest enemy, no matter how bad they wronged me. I’ve only been awake for less than a day and I already completely hate this wretched life.
        “Hey, Roarke?” Jace asked out loud.
        “Yes, dear brother,” I replied with annoyance coloring my tone.
        “Haven’t you noticed that we haven’t needed to eat?”
        “What do you mean?” I asked, glancing back at him as Balias continued trotting forward.
        “Well, our siblings said that we had been dead for days now. Yet here we are. We haven’t had a single bite to eat yet we aren’t hungry.” He pointed out
        I stayed quiet for a moment. He was right, I thought. Josephine said earlier that it had been days. Our siblings even went back to the mansion to see the damage and claimed that they had seen me and Jace dead. We’ve learned so much about our new selves today, I thought. We really are demons now. I didn’t even think demons existed until the party, and now I’m having to come to terms with the fact that I am now one of them.
        “Do you think you can control yourself enough around our siblings, Jace?” I asked seriously.
        He hesitated. “I am…not really sure, though I will try my hardest to do so.”
        That wasn’t comforting at all. Maybe we could just sleep in the stables with the horses instead, so that we were far enough away from them during the night just in case one of us might snap again. We couldn’t just abandon them when they need us now more than ever with our mother and father being dead. Plus, we needed a safe place to stay for a while since everyone we know thinks we’re dead now, too.