Sanguine Hope
Kerr sighed, rubbing her eyes and
collapsing into a squishy armchair. She rests her head in one arm and uses the
other to tap on the wooden upholstery. Her crimson gaze sets upon the empty,
cold maw of the fireplace setting in front of her. Dismal. She was bored. A sensation that burned
through her head like the constant pounding of a gavel. Annoying, and
continuous. The little vampire bat hadn't had any thrill as of late, and for
the life of her couldn't find anything that sounded remotely fun. So she sat in
her chateau's parlor, letting the dismal feeling boil and stew in her mind
until something fun unraveled itself before her. The parlor was a pleasant one,
connected with a few halls and the foyer. The walls had dark brown
wainscot wooden paneling, with dark green and black floral stripe wallpaper,
topped with rich wooden dental crown molding. It was dimly lit with
faded gold candle sconces, and regally furnished with Louis XVI furniture.
Squishy wing back armchairs faced a dark red bricked fireplace, gilded with
gold and with a wooden mantelpiece. A gentle tick-tock of an old
grandfather clock in the distance and the smell of old upholstery further
added to the posh setting of the chateau... Kerr was a vampire bat, one of the
uncommon 'large anthros' in the world. She had a
rather sharp pair of fangs, which she often use to perforate servants (When
permitted by her parents, of course), and soft solid grey fur that covered her
entire body. She also has a pair of fuzzy pointed bat ears, as well as a cute
little black nose. Her eyes, due to her vampirism, have attained a rather
stunning red colour to them, and even glowed gently in the dark. On this
particular night she happened to sport a blue high-collared polyester jacket
with black highlights, as well as a pair of dark jeans. She grew up in this
chateau, seldom allowed to go outside without her parent's consent. This has
caused Kerr to become reclusive, hostile, and even to an extent cruel. Rarely
has she ever been kind or pitiful, as she was never taught such things and
never had a chance to try to be so. The minutes seemed to pass easily, and
midnight had come in only an hour or so. Kerr glanced out of the window on the
far side of the room, catching the sight of a full moon through the crystal-clear
glass. She grinned to herself, a cruel grin of revelation. She had found out
what she wanted to do, "Hunt..." she mumbled to herself through her Cheshire
grin, interrupting the near silence of the room. It was a pastime activity that
was rarely available for the bat, one that she only did when her parents
weren't there to keep her hunkered in the chateau. Yes,
a hunt, she thought to herself. The vampire bat cursed herself
for not thinking of it sooner. Her parents indeed were away and she had grown
bored of feeding off the servants, so what better thing to do than to have the
minutes trickle away while eating a nice, pleasant meal of blood? The
opportunity was ripe for the picking. Kerr stood, making her way toward two
dark wooden French double doors. She pushed the thick, heavy doors open and
stepped out onto a cobblestone patio, looking out to the town below, her smile
twitching slightly. She knew what would happen if she dared to feed on the
people below, or even venture near the place, her parents would kill her for
sure... Instead, she slid her eyes to the forest behind the chateau, thick
and dark with gnarled roots and dead leaves layering the floor. That would be her
hunting grounds for tonight, much less risky than hunting at the town. Her
smile regained and Kerr vanished into the wood, the thrill of hunting
clouded her head. Emmi scurried around the forest's
trees, weaving through them with relative difficulty. It wasn't until he
tripped over a rotten branch that he decided to rest. It had been a long day,
and it was thankfully just about over. The poor mouse had gotten all the
excitement he could have asked for, and then some. A feral fox had chased him
at dawn, then an owl at noon. Emmi thanked whatever god was watching over him
for escaping those encounters with his life. He was a small anthro, which were rarer
than their larger counterparts. Standing only about 4 inches in height, he had
light brown fur with a marble pattern on his spine, and a pair of large
attentive ears parched upon a pleasant head. Whiskers shook as he sniffed
around for any signs of danger. He was stark naked, as clothes did him no use
as of late. It was hard being a mouse. Always in
fear, never safe, always being at the bottom of the food chain. He wished he
had been born a full sized anthro, and not a small one. Although it's no good wishing about it now,
the mouse thought. Most the other animals he had met were dumb, unintelligent,
and walked on all fours. He didn't know why he wasn't like them, or why he was
different. He simply accepted what he was and moved on. Thinking about it only
made the world seem strange and unkind. Not mentioning the fact that it already
was... The dreary woodland around him
terrified him to no extent, and he wished nothing more than to get out. It was
dark, foreboding, and full of little crevices and hiding places for nasty
things to be. Thankfully, he seemed safe now. No owls or other unsettling
nocturnal beasts as far as he could see. He sighed, moving his way toward a
little area in between two twisted roots, and curled up into a ball of grey
fuzz, whipping his tail around his body to make himself as small as possible.
The sound of crickets and other insects mix with the gentle rustling of leaves,
a symphony of the night. It lulled him into a pleasant slumber. A slumber that
wouldn't last for very long... Emmi awoke with a start. The
mouse looked around, eyes wide open. He scanned the area for any signs of
a predator. Something didn't seem right, like something was near... It took
awhile for the mouse to calm down, but he finally had to conclude that
the the coast was clear after a prolonged while of nothing. Nothing to worry about, he
thought to himself, You're
just paranoid. He cuddled back up into a ball and tried to
rest once more. His eyelids felt like lead, he was positively
exhausted from all the running that he had to do to get away from the fox and
the owl, leaving the nocturnal creature to have to rest at night to get his
energy back. The philharmonics of the forest overtook Emmi once more
and he nearly drifts back to sleep before a brisk snap of an old twig shakes
his very bones. He opens his eyes, only to be greeted by a large fanged smile
and a powerful cardinal gaze. It was a bat. A large anthro! All the air around Emmi seemed to turn
ice cold, and all of his five senses kicked into overdrive. The sounds of the
forest seem to twofold, the crispness of the forest and night's sky turns even
more sharp, and the oddly pleasant smell of the predator reached his nostrils
in an instant. He leapt in angst and his instincts clasped upon is head like a
bear trap. The mouse hurtled across the gnarled roots and scurries off with
impressive speed, partially due to the adrenaline burning through his veins
like pure acid. Kerr however, simply giggles. The bat
turns on the thick moss and dead leaves, lunging towards the mouse with a mouth
half agape and eyes full of excitement. The chase lasted only a few minutes,
but the mouse sure did give her a run for her money. "Thought you were going to
get away, little mousie?" she teases before stuffing the struggling mouse in
her coat pocket, zipping it up quickly to prevent her meal from escaping. Emmi
squirmed and pushed against the slippery fabric, to no avail. Kerr sneered,
mocking the mouse's feeble attempts before heading back towards the chateau. I can't believe I caught a small anthro! She
thought menacingly, Oh how fun this will
be! Why does a
large anthro need little prey like me?! He thought angrily, white-hot
adrenaline keeping him from opening his mouth to say anything. The trip to the
old grey stone chateau was dark and bumpy for the mouse, but for the vampire it
was exciting and exhilarating, making her in a very good mood. The movement
from her pocket further delighted her, and she poked the little bulge, which
was warm with body heat and delicious fear. "Nearly there." She said in a
mocking sickly-sweet tone. Kerr pushed the double French doors
open and threw herself in the antiquated parlor she had left behind only
moments ago. The vampire bat grins while locking the heavy wooden doors.
"Wouldn't want any servants catching me and telling daddy, now would we?" she
mumbles to herself. Kerr then approaches a little coffee table and a wooden
chair from the corner of the room, both were very high and ornate. Kerr empties her pocket, spilling the
mouse out onto the table. Emmi gasps and lets out a feral squeak, as his eyes
adjusted to the large room. He had gotten his wish of leaving the forest, but
somehow this place didn't seem much better... He had never seen such a sight. Only
stories from his mother on what the inside of a large anthro's houses were gave
him a faint idea of what the things decorating the room were, like chairs and
tables and such. Even to a simple small anthro that had never seen the inside
of a den like this, he knew whoever his predator was must be opulent indeed.
Flame barely lit the room from little white sticks connected to the walls. It
looked scary to the mouse for some reason. Perhaps it was because he had never
seen a candle before, or perhaps because they cast a weak and precarious glow.
The bat, who grinned manically over him, emitted a fang-filled smile. Kerr took
great delight in watching the terrified mouse shake and quiver. She grabbed another white 'stick' from
in the table's drawer and lit it with an odd metal lighter, placing it on a
golden candle saucer. The newly conjured flame lit up her face marvelously, as
well as the old table that the mouse was standing on. The mouse whimpered as
his unfriendly and anemically lit surroundings seemed to become even more
unfriendly. The adrenaline long since faded and it
was a few minutes before Emmi could muster up enough courage to find his voice,
which he seldom used since he had had no one to talk to in months. "W-What do
you want?" he asked up at Kerr, confused as to why she was just staring at him
with those pricing red eyes and that horrible grin, which were giving a little
shiver. He tried his best to avoid glancing at the long sharp fangs she had... Kerr
sat in the wooden chair to get a better position to talk. "I'm hungry, little
mousie." She replied, sending a wave of fear back into her little prey. He fell
back in fright, landing on the hard wooden table with a thud, which made the bat giggle. "N-No! P-Please!" He shouts up at
her, his brown eyes tearing up. Emmi shook his head violently before trying to
scoot back. He only managed to get a foot or two back before he nearly plummets
off the edge table to his doom. The mouse squeaked in fright as he looked over
the edge to the hard wooden floor and ran back to the centre. Kerr smiles at his pleas; and simply
jests and sneers, "N-No! P-Please!"
she mocks, exaggerating the shuddering. She grabs Emmi's long tail, pinching it
between her pads and lifting him a few inches off the ground. "Yeeeeoow!" the
mouse exclaims, flailing about as he was lifted by his tail painfully. She
angled him so he can get a good look at her grey-furred face and her
fang-filled smile. At this point, all he could do was plea for his life. He took a deep inhale, unintentionally
filling his nose once again with the pleasant scent of his predator. "Nono!
I-I'd hardly make a meal for you!" He exclaims. "I'm not t-tasty either!" was
all he could manage before a few warm, salty tears streaked down his face and
dampened the fur on his cheeks. It was a few seconds before he regained
himself. "Please! You have to--" "Have to what?" Kerr interrupted in a
tone that oozed pleasure. "Release you? A perfectly good meal of blood?" she
asked coldly, staring into him with a gaze that reduced him to whimpers. "I
know it's hard for you to understand, mousie." She continued, wanting to be as
cruel as possible. Kerr then moved Emmi up so that he was over her body, far
over her head to the point where she has to look straight up to talk to him.
"But I've got to eat. You're just prey, and I'm a predator." The vampire bat
said, smiling at the feeling of control and power. Emmi stopped his flailing and pleading, becoming
limp and limber like a ragdoll. He knew at that point that he was beat, and
nothing he could say or do would change that fact. The mouse fell silent,
letting out a shuttered sigh. Kerr tilted her cocked slightly, confused and curious
at his sudden cede in pleading or struggling. Awww, no fun! she thought. That moment of inquisitiveness was short
lived, however. The vampire bat slowly parted her lips and opened her mouth... Emmi was looking straight down into
his doom, his life hanging by his tail. The bat had two rows of pearly-white
teeth, with long fangs on the top section. Beyond that there was a reddish maw,
glistening with wetness. Strands of thick saliva ran from the roof of her mouth
and connected with her slick pink tongue, which she stuck out to reveal the
back of her red throat, which looked rather pillowy as it gently pulsed. The
mouse could not see beyond that, although he had a sick feeling that he'd soon
be able to. "We could have been friends..." the
mouse says solemnly as Kerr lowers him slowly closer to her mouth. Tears streak
down his cheeks once more, and even slide down his whiskers. No we could not! She yells in her head, you're just a sack of blood, about to feed a
higher being! Kerr finishes her thought just as she releases her grip on
the mouse's tail; he plummeted down a few inches before landing on her slimy tongue.
The bat closes her lips; the only thing left out of Kerr's mouth was a long
tail. She slurped it up like a piece of spaghetti and let out a happy sigh,
sliding her tongue around the body of Emmi. He lets out a frightened and soft
squeak, trying to ignore the feeling of her muscle working around him. His face
was salty from his tears, and his fur was sweet from sweat. She let out a
pleased murmur; he tastes lovely! The female bat lifted her head
further, letting the mouse slide down her tongue and fall into the back of her
throat. She remains seated and swallows, as hard as she can. An audible "Glurk~!" emits from the bat as her throat
pulls her meal down. He was pushed into a tight tube, where he could barely
move, and was carried down by the rings of pulsating flesh. The heat of her
esophagus and the general tightness of it was nearly unbearable for him. From
the outside, a noticeable bulge moved slowly down the bat's neck, before
disappearing into her chest area. Emmi was carried further and further
down, before being squeezed through a pucker of flesh that was much tighter
than the other ones that had carried him down into the dark, warm depths of the
vampire bat. He plops into her stomach, which presses against him softly.
Luckily, she had accidently swallowed a bit of air with him, just enough to
keep him alive for a few minutes. The stomach walls continue to press firmly on
Emmi, and stomach acids soon started to enter the sack. Her stomach was used to
simple blood, rarely did it get to work down solid meals like this... Regardless,
it began to work on the mouse. Why me?
He thought simply as tears continued to stream down his face. The little mouse
then began to cry. It was a sobbing from deep within the soul, one that carried
the tunes of his heart with it. Each howl shook the mouse, and the wet, fleshy
walls around him. This would be where he died. Kerr sat there, patting her belly with
satisfaction and triumph. It took only a few mere moments for what she had done
to truly sink in. Regret and remorse set in after the
buzz of hunting faded. She had never done anything like this before. Never
before had she brought prey to the house and teased it, or swallow it alive for
that matter. Oh god... She thought, her
face twisted in disgust, What have I
done? She looked down to her stomach, which gurgled idly, already beginning
to digest the mouse. The little vampire then looked at herself in shame as she
recounts what she had done to the poor little mouse. She had teased him, scared
him, and caused him pain, all through a Cheshire grin. "I really am evil..." She
mumbles just before a faint sound entered her sensitive ears, making them
twitch. It was a muffled sound that Kerr soon pieced together to be a cry. The
bat could also hear another sound, one from only a few seconds earlier... The
mouse's last words resonated in her ears like an echo. "We could have been friends..."
mixed with the sound of sobbing and gurgling from her stomach filled her head. "Friends... That
sounds nice..." The mouse continued to sob, even when
the burning tears dry out and he become hoarse. The stomach around him throbs
and gurgles, and the warm sack is slowly filled with more and more acid that
was starting to hurt his skin. The air inside the stomach turns stale
and drained of oxygen; Emmi supposes he has only a few seconds left. He stops
crying, and instead reflects about his life. Memories of his mother and father
flood his otherwise cloudy head, and thoughts about simple things like eating
and bathing float around his consciousness. The blackness around him somehow
seems to blacken even more, and the sounds of gurgling fade away. The stomach walls suddenly compress
around Emmi, forcing him into a ball of sorts. "OW!" he yelps as the stomach
walls surge in compression, almost to the point of breaking bones. The surge
continues painfully, until the little mouse is pressed back up the tight ring
of flesh and into the tight tube he had entered through. The complete lack of
air now becomes too much, and he passes out into blackness. It takes a few heaves from Kerr to
bring the mouse back up through her esophagus, and caused a great deal of
discomfort for her. She was currently retching above a sink filled shallowly
with water. The body of the mouse slides out of the stomach (With a few strands
of saliva and stomach acid following quickly behind him) and he falls into the
water with a "Plop!" Kerr is afraid
that he was dead, and a sinking feeling dragged on in her heart, but once she
had checked his pulse she found him to be quite alright, just out of it. They were in a small hall bathroom,
with cream-coloured marble tiles that line the floor and creamy counters, also
topped with marble. A white clawed bathtub sat in a little nook and a porcelain
toilet was positioned right behind Kerr, who was leaning over the silver-faucet
sink which was in the middle of the cream counters. She breathed a sigh of relief,
grateful that he was alive. The word "Friend"
continued to fog her head as she began to wash the acid and thick saliva
off of the little mouse, so it wouldn't cause him harm later. She grabbed a
towel from a rack and gently dried the mouse, looking down on him with eyes
full of pity. Kerr didn't want to be like that, and
she hated herself for it. She had never had friends, and never knew how to treat
a person (Or prey, in this case) correctly or with compassion. She had always
loved to see others in pain, and loved being cruel, but the little vampire desperately
wanted to change that; to change her evil ways. It was the reason why her
parents kept her in the vast chateau, and why she was never allowed to go to
town or have any friends. But tonight, it
is time for that to change. She thought, trying to resist the urge of
draining the mouse of its blood. Kerr wanted a friend, just one.