...In Playing With The Big Dogs

Ketti:...In my defense? I had this one typed already, but not quite finished. Technically the only 'new' ones so far have been Beach Combing and The Raven's Shadow. At some time, in some distant future, Ketti will finish a story. Maybe. Probably. Could be happening right now~

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Seras Victoria rather liked being a wolf. She felt free, and powerful, and ridiculously flexible. The transformed Draculina leaped forward and rebounded off the tree, using the vertical surface to perform a quick turn to her right, and her jaws parted, tongue dangling in a doggy grin. This was really quite fun.

Tonight is truly… a beautiful night.

She laughed internally at the dramatic pause in her voice as she mimicked her Master's words the night they'd met. The moon hung high and full above the trees, and she felt the urge to howl, but restrained herself, just barely, because Sir Integra threatened to throw a boot at her the last time she'd sung to the moon while the woman was trying to get some work done.

She froze mid step as the wind turned, and her shaggy head raised to scent the breeze, nostrils flaring as she sucked in the air she didn't really need. Her doggy grin widened to show her pearly white teeth as she turned, crouched low to the wild grasses of the woods, and crept her way towards the smell of prey in the clearing beyond. Master often complained she acted more like a cat than a wolf, but she ignored this fact as the golden fall fronds blended with her blonde coat.

One red and one blue eye peered into the darkness, though, really, it was more akin to daylight to her, and she easily spotted the brown hare nibbling on some berries just behind the trees. Forcing herself not to wag her tail like an excited pup, she failed to notice the twig sticking out of the grass, and it snapped under her paw. She froze, as did her prey, and it all happened very quickly. She leapt forward, her ambush foiled, but the rabbit had a head start, fear and adrenaline adding speed to its little legs as it ran. She snarled, and pounded the ground with her paws as she gave chase, then yelped in pain as she turned the next tree and ran smack dab into a thorn bush.

'You are an idiot.' Her Master's voice oozed into her head, scolding her as she yipped and whined, the sharp thorns piercing her thick ruff and scratching her skin as she wriggled backwards. A presence loomed at her heels, and she felt a shift in the air around her, before a set of strong jaws buried themselves into the back of her neck, grabbing the excess fur and lifting her free of the clinging vines. Instinctively she curled her paws close to her chest, tucking her tail between her legs, before she was thrown to the side to land in a heap, yowling in surprise. 'Quiet.'

She growled as she rolled to her feet, fur standing on end as she glared at the massive black wolf, already hurt pride stinging further at the condescending look in his crimson eyes. His lip curled back from his teeth in a show of dominance, but she – foolishly – chose to ignore it and snapped at him. His lip curled further and he raised a paw to smack her across the muzzle, a whimper of surprised pain escaping as she hit the dirt with a thump.

'Master…' She winced at the pleading note in her voice, and back pedaled as he stepped towards her, half expecting another cuff to the head for being so uppity. He smirked – as well as a wolf could – and loomed over her with a low chuckle rumbling in her head.

Her animal side screamed at her to stop pushing her luck against her alpha, and her face scrunched in distaste as she obeyed, crouching at his feet with her head turned to the side. She froze when she felt his breath against her neck, and yipped as he head butted her on the side to roll her onto her back, staring up at him with wide eyes.

'That's better now, isn't it Police Girl?' He purred as he placed both paws on either side of her head, leaning in dangerously close before nosing her cheek and stepping back. Warily, she rolled to her feet and edged back half a step, canting her head to the side curiously as she watched him.

He threw her a cocky look over his shoulder as his shadows enveloped his shaggy form and he dove through the thorn bush with a blood curdling snarl, reappearing moments later with the brown hare's corpse dangling from his jaws. 'And that, Police Girl, is how it's done.' He rumbled smugly as he tossed his head up into the air and gobbled the body up with two quick snaps of his jaws. She watched, fascinated, and licked her chops as the smell of blood flooded the small clearing. She was hungry.

Whining low in her throat, she edged forward and licked the trail of blood from her Master's chin, before dropping to her belly and wagging her tail hopefully.

He stared at her for a moment, and their gazes locked, before he whuffed in amusement and turned, encasing himself in his shadows once more to shield his form from the merciless spines, and melted silently into the network of thorns to find suitable prey for his Childe.

Seras leaped to her feet and pranced around the clearing, pausing momentarily to nibble at her right leg, finding a stray spine stuck in her fur that she loosened with careful use of her jaws, and by the time she looked up – and up, and up – she saw her Master had returned with a soot colored rabbit.

'Stay.' He cooed into her head, eyes gleaming with malicious humor. Huffing in faint amusement, she did not take the step forward she wanted to, and his laughter rolled through her head like a babbling brook. 'Sit.' He commanded mockingly.

Snorting quietly, she dropped back onto her hind legs and tucked her forepaws in against her stomach, fluffy blonde tail curling around her paws, the tip tapping with agitation.

'Good girl.' He purred, and for some reason… a shiver rippled down her back, and she tipped her head up, one ear flopping sideways comically as she watched his every move. He prowled closer, and began to circle her, emphasizing the difference in their size tenfold, as her head only came up to his chest, the enticing sway of the body dangling from her Master's jaws hypnotizing her.

He stopped, right in front of her, and she nipped the air, tail tip rattling out a staccato beat against the forest floor as she waited. His head tipped down, and he peered at her along the length of his muzzle, some strange light in his eyes, and she canted her head to the side curiously as she struggled to unlock the meaning of that look. The animal instincts inside of her whispered something half heard, and she dropped to her stomach a second time, playing submissive. She felt very small, insignificant in comparison to her Sire, when she hugged the ground, as it made his already monstrously large form twice as big.

He loomed over her and lowered his head so that a scant few droplets of blood fell onto her muzzle, which she licked off near instantly, and paused, mocking her. She whined, nipping the air again, and her claws flexed, digging up grass and earth under her paws as she forced herself to keep still.

'I admit, I'm quite tempted to have you roll over and play dead, Police Girl.' He murmured, laughter dripping from his words as he dangled the kill just out of reach.

'Masterrr…'

He whuffed again and dropped the carcass, and Seras fell upon it before it even hit the ground. Bones crunched beneath her teeth and blood poured down her throat. In less than a minute the remains were devoured and she voiced a strange growl like purr of satisfaction. Admittedly, she'd never be able to look at a bunny the same way again, but she was a blood sucker now, anyways.

A soft tongue ran the length of her muzzle, cleaning the excess blood from her fur and she blinked, ears cocking forward in interest as she peered up at her glorious Master. He bared his teeth in a vicious grin as he nudged her up to her feet, looking pointedly towards the eastern horizon, and then back towards where Hellsing Manor lay in wait for their return.

'Yes, Master.'