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shoot never understood why morel chose him, it didn’t make sense.
vampires were supposed to be the elite. the most beautiful, most talented killers. shoot knew he was neither of these, he could never be when he was nothing but a coward.
regardless, he had been chosen.
he would have refused if he could, but he didn’t want to disappoint morel. so here he was, many years older than he was ever meant to be, on a cliff watching the sunset.
it had been his favorite pastime as a human, but as a vampire it was magnificent. the end of every day brought a sea of beautiful, ever-changing colors. when he could, he would stay and watch the stars as long as he could, watching as they slowly changed through his long life.
“hey!” a loud voice startled shoot out of his peace. he quickly hid in a tree, wondering how a human managed to sneak up on him. watching as a man with ridiculously outdated hair stumbled into the clearing, shoot stayed quiet.
“oh,” the man whispered as he caught his breath, “i could’ve sworn i saw someone up here.”
perturbed, shoot continued to watch as the man sat in the very spot he had just been in. he preferred to not interact with humans unless necessary, but he knew that this was strange behavior for one. what human would willingly climb the steepest mountain around, shirtless mind you, just for a sunset?
to make the situation even stranger, the man then pulled out what appeared to be bird food. with a careful hand, he made small piles of the seeds around him and settled in to wait.
Intrigued, shoot got as comfortable as he could in his tree, determined to see what this human was up to.
and slowly but surely, the man was soon surrounded by a small flock of birds. He then pulled out a notebook and began to write something in it. shoot had never wanted to know what a human was doing more than he did in this moment.
despite these feelings, he stayed quiet, content to merely watch the human as he worked.
much to his surprise the human then began to set up a tent, apparently planning to set up camp in shoot’s favorite spot. the birds paid him no attention as he got ready to spend the night in the woods.
by this point, the sun had long set, and shoot knew that he had things he needed to attend to.
this strange human had definitely caught his attention. shoot promised that he would return as soon as he could.
because for some unknown reason he found himself wanting to know everything about this human.
————
this routine continued for a week.
shoot would return to his tree as the sun began it’s decent to wait for the human. then there he appeared, always shirtless and always ready to feed the birds. He didn’t stay every night, but when he did shoot always returned to watch him leave.
tonight the man did something different.
“you can come out if you want,” he said without turning from the sunset. “i won’t hurt you.”
shoot froze in shock. surely he was talking to some animal hidden in the brush around him? there’s no way he sensed shoot’s presence.
“it’s okay if you don’t want to of course,” he continued, unaware of shoot’s panicking. “you’ve been here every night, right?”
shoot had no idea what to do. no way was he going to expose himself to the human, which only left him one choice.
he didn’t think he’d ever run faster than he did at that moment. shoot regretted the decision as soon as he made it, but it was far too late for him to turn back now. he had made his choice and he was going to stick to it.
for as long as the vampire could remember, he had never missed a sunset. surprisingly, he found himself much more upset over the fact that he had run from the human. he’d grown attached to watching the muscular man gently handle the birds and their food. he still didn’t know what he wrote in his journal.
with that thought, shoot swore that he wouldn’t run the next day. he was going to return, and he was going to overcome his fear.
__________
so there shoot found himself. not in the tree, but in his usual spot as he waited for the human to arrive.
he had no idea what he was going to do when he eventually stumbled through the brush like he always did. shoot smiled as he was reminded of the human’s clumsiness. as nervous as he was, he knew that he had to talk to the man if he wanted to know more about him.
and so he waited. he waited much longer than usual.
he got up to leave, the sun long set and his heart feeling far emptier than normal. until the smell of blood hit him like a train.
without a thought, he followed the smell as fast as he could. he didn’t know what this human meant to him, but he wanted to cry at the thought of the man injured and alone in the dark forest.
as he ran he realized that there wasn’t a need to follow the smell, there was already a steady stream of blood butterflies headed in one direction. knowing that many butterflies could only mean the man was gravely injured, shoot ran faster.
taking in his surroundings, he noticed that he was headed towards a part of the forest that he tries his best to stay far away from.
rationally he knew that a wolf couldn’t hurt him, much less catch him. but down to his core, shoot was a coward and hated any kind of unnecessary conflict. for some reason, these facts didn’t matter to him when it came to the human.
the smell grew stronger, so shoot slowed down to make sure he didn’t miss the man. he then heard a watery cough from his left and rushed over.
there was his human, mangled and rapidly losing consciousness.
shoot quickly came to the conclusion that no human doctor could heal these wounds, and he knew what he had to do.
“are you an angel?” the man whispered, not knowing that this was the person that joined him at the cliff every night for the past week.
shoot found himself laughing despite the situation, “i am far from it,” he said as he looked at the man far closer than he ever thought he would.
he then lifted his wrist to his mouth, wishing there was a better way to do this and bit into his arm. he lowered it to the man’s mouth as his eyes fluttered shut, losing consciousness. shoot tilted the human’s head back to ensure that his blood would go down his throat.
knowing that he had done all he could do, he lifted the limp body into his arms and prayed that the human didn’t die.
————
when knuckle woke up he was in his own bed.
he had no memory of how he got there, but he did know that he had planned to stay the night out on the cliff.
sitting up, his hand flew to his chest as his memories of what had happened came flooding back to him.
he had started his hike the same time he always did, but this time he had wanted to challenge himself by finding a more difficult route to the cliff.
was this his way of punishing himself for scaring off whoever had been watching him? yes, but no one had to know.
he had heard rumors of wolf packs living on the mountain, but he figured he would be able to make friends with them. so when the wolf pup came to him wanting to play, who was he to refuse!
it didn’t take long before knuckle found himself in a very bad situation.
he was quickly surrounded by a particularly nasty looking pack of wolves, clearly not happy with him touching the pup. the pup then pranced over to what was clearly the alpha, seeming a little too proud of itself.
“did you set me up?” knuckle exclaimed, not yet fully understanding the danger of the situation he was in.
suddenly all knuckle could see was fur, fangs, and claws as the wolves attacked him from all sides. he knew nothing but excruciating pain everywhere, but he couldn’t bring himself to even try to fight back.
he had promised a long time ago that he would never harm an animal no matter what, and he was going to stick to that. he then closed his eyes and tried to forget what was happening.
he imagined what kind of birds he would be seeing at his spot today if maybe the watcher would come out to say hi. what would the sunset look like? what did the watcher look like? so many questions that he would never have answered.
the last thing he could remember was falling to the ground and the wolves finally leaving him bloody and unable to move.
looking down at his body, knuckle couldn’t come up with an answer that made sense. he knew it wasn’t a dream, but how could he be completely healed? and how did he get home?
he looked around his room in hopes of some sort of answer, and then he saw it. taped to his door was a note. he rushed to get up, tripping over his blanket on his way.
finally reaching the door, he quickly pulled the note off to read it.
“dear human, i hope you find this message. i’m sure you have many questions if you wish i will answer them. meet me at the usual spot at sunset. - shoot”
“human?” knuckle whispered to himself, reading the note several times. there was no way he was going to leave all his questions unanswered.
—————
so there knuckle was, climbing the mountain once again. this time the safer route, of course, no way was he going to make that mistake again.
he had packed extra supplies for today, unsure of what this mystery “shoot” would want or like. this meant his bag was quite heavier than usual, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as he thought about finally meeting the watcher.
sooner than he expected knuckle found himself stumbling through the brush surrounding the meadow.
there, sitting on the edge of the cliff, was the most beautiful man knuckle had ever seen. from his pale skin to his long lavender-colored hair, the man was gorgeous.
“oh wow,” knuckle whispered, resulting in the man looking his way, only to look away just as quickly.
“are you shoot?” he asked excitedly as he made his way over to the lavender-haired man.
shoot nodded, fighting the overwhelming urge to flee to safety.
“do you mind if i sit with you?” knuckle asked, not wanting to scare shoot away. he was afraid that if he did, he would never see the other man again.
shoot shook his head, and knuckle nearly threw himself to the ground so he could sit before the other had the chance to change his mind.
he was somehow even more beautiful from up close.
the summer breeze gently brushed through his long hair, the setting sun casting a golden glow on his pale skin. he looked like he belonged in a painting, the very definition of beauty.
“what’s your name?” shoot asked quietly, dying to know more about the man beside him.
“oh! pardon my rude behavior. my name is knuckle,” he said in a rush, “thank you for saving me yesterday.”
shoot simply nodded, not sure what to say. he had spent what felt like so long watching knuckle, he hadn’t realized it would be this difficult to speak to him.
they sat in silence for a bit, until knuckle couldn’t help himself. “how did you save me?” he asked.
“oh,” shoot said, startled, “i’m a vampire. our blood has healing capabilities for humans… so i gave you some,” he said nervously, not sure how the other would take this information. “i’m sorry i was unable to ask for your permission, you were in shock when i found you.”
knuckle sat in shock. he was a hunter for crying out loud, but he had never, not once! heard of the existence of vampires. they were a myth sure, but he didn’t know anyone who had ever encountered one.
“a vampire?” he exclaimed while looking shoot up and down, trying to gather all the information he could.
“ah yes,” shoot muttered, uncomfortable from the attention. “i suppose i shouldn’t be so open about it.”
knuckle shifted closer, “i promise i won’t tell anyone!” he insisted, wanting to know everything he could about the mysterious man that saved him. “you saved me! i owe you my life.”
“oh no, that’s not necessary,” shoot insisted, finally looking at knuckle who was much closer than he thought he’d be.
knuckle nodded, scooting even closer. “but it is! at least let me owe you a favor,” he said quickly. he needed a reason to keep seeing the vampire.
shoot was surprised. he hadn’t expected the human to be so persistent. “i suppose that’s alright,” he said, a small smile making its appearance.
knuckle knew at that moment that he would do anything to see that smile again, hopefully, a full one.
“would it be too much to ask if i could simply keep you company as you work?” shoot asked quietly, half hoping the other hadn’t caught his request.
not believing his ears, knuckle smiled as wide as he could. “of course! as long as you promise not to run away this time,” he joked, watching as the lavender-haired man’s ears turned pink.
“promise,” he whispered, happier than he had been in many years.
he had never had a companion to watch the sunset with, and he hoped he would never have to watch one alone again.