Fangs Gleaming in the Moonlight PV Kaegen Closed

Was that all he was? Prey? Something weak, to be picked apart by those who would seek to undo him? A piece of carrion meat left to lie in the mists, bugs crawling all over, lizards and rats soon joining the feast? No, he was not. He was going to pass the challenges, fight the death witches and kill them all, every single one of them. He had notes, he had a plan. Thursday was strong, but he froze and ate his victims only when they got close. Which means a long-ranged attack would be perfect, and today was especially windless, a rare thing.

But he was not coming unprepared. Oh, no. The boy knew full well what would happen if so much as a single spell hit him anywhere. But spells hit the first life they came across, right?You couldn’t paralyze a person through another person, right? Or through another living creature, anyway. That was why he had strapped no less than 9 flapping owls to himself, being careful to not hurt them. It was like they were wearing little birdy harnesses made of leather bits, Holding them more or less in place as a living shield. That would have to do for long range attacks. Better them than him.

Short range wouldn’t even happen, he would make sure of that. Flying up and away at a great distance, and always pointing his broom away from the professor. Even if he did get paralyzed, his broom would serve to carry him far away from any danger. Now all he needed was a long range weapon with which to attack Thursday, but that too was not a problem. He had a slingshot, designed for hunting. It would kill with a well placed shot to the head, or at least incapacitate.

The boy pulled the large umbrella off his back, undoing a few clasps to allow this, and hopped on, riding the concealed broom up into the sky in a wide arc away from the astronomy tower. His scarf flowed out behind him, but other than that the boy was almost entirely obscured by the horde of owls. It was going to be a difficult shot.

He moved higher and higher, and then pointed his broom away from the tower before aiming at the figure below.

He was Kaegen Deathmote, Fens-Born Scarf-Wielder, he who was called fat tadpole as a babe and suicidal idjit as a toddler, he who earned the name Eeh before arriving at Hogwarts. He who lost two and gained one, whose names are given authority by grandfather, who was given authority by the conqueror of the 14th dark place. So long as he still breathed, so long as he still had the breath in his body to fight, no professor, or death witch, or danger would threaten anything he protected. He would make sure of it.

And with that, he let the stone fly.

The not exactly tall man stood there, staring out in the night as he wondered what the night would bring. A gaze in the darkened sky let him see what he was dreading; a moon that turned fuller each night as it by now already was more than half-way filled, he did not know when exactly the sick feeling would kick in. But it was a matter of a week, or so, when was full moon again? He counted the days in his head, right when he saw some suspicious movement out of the corner of his eyes. Were that a flock of... owls carrying an umbrella around? He tried to focus his gaze on the moving owls, his eyes already adjusted to the dark as he stood there for a while by now. He quickly noticed that those owls were not exactly flapping their wings and seemed oddly panicking as there wa-

"Uhm.. what..", the young professor narrowed his eyes. Was that really happening? He remembered the boy from the library, the boy that nearly got his defaced by a book thrown in his direction by some crazy girl. However as he looked at the situation not only the girl was crazy, but the boy seemed a bit weird as well.

"Teach me how to kill with magic"

Right. The boy had been odd from the beginning, if he remembered correctly and wondered what was wrong with the kids these days. It was that weird dhampir boy, or that was at least what he thought. It made sense from how he appeared and how his canines seemed like they were missng. That was at least what he noticed during the short talk they had. But what was he doing with those owls? It seemed like they were bound to him in some way, which not only looked strange but was kind of questionable.

He could not see the small stone flicked in his direction as he was not looking out for any kind of threat, however it missed him by some inches and skipped over the stone ground. Why. He looked at the young boy and hoped he was not there to cause trouble... bad enough that he was out after curfew.

...He missed. Years of training, years of hunting. A admittedly short life honing a specific skillset and then this. Failure. He was never going to do anything, never amount to anything more than fodder for the professors tests, their manipulation or experimentation or whatever they were doing. He couldn't keep his friend, and he couldn't defeat a single, short-ranged professor of some obscure and useless subject students could learn without him. The boy who once thought of himself as a predator succumbed to the idea that maybe he wasn't. Maybe all he was was prey, prey to those in higher power.

But that maybe was just that. A maybe. Even if all he was was a tiny mouse fighting against a tiger. He was going to bite for all he was worth, he was going to actually help someone, he was going to save lives, lives that mattered. And he was going to do it now, right now in this second. He was going to live this moment as best he could and he was going to mean something.

Slipping a stone into the slingshot, he pulled back as far as it would go, and released on a slow exhale. Then he did it again, another stone flying through the air as fast as he could send it.

I just need to do something right, even if it isn't much. Please, let me hit.

He thought the words, but he thought them fervently. He wasn't sure who he was referring to, but he didn't slow down to think about it. He focused instead on making sure the broom was pointed away from the professor.

Confusion took over as to why a student would throw stones at a professor. No not throwing, this was not a thrown stone but rather shot. He still wondered why, it was odd, even for the boy who was apparently on a broom. He could probably count up to ten when he had to list the things wrong with the current situation, however he just waited. He did not expect anything to happen again, he was just traying to figure out what the dhampir boy was planning or if he had any further plans. He could only do that by focussing his gaze on the young boy, second year if he remembered correctly.

The darkness made things difficult, he was not able to see the next shot with what he supposed was a slinghot, neither did he see the one that followed mere second after. The first stone hit, bouncing off of his shoulder as a light pain exploded in that area, the thick pullover had been able to take away most of the damage the small stone would have done. Still he reacted by shifting, raising his hand to place over the spot he was hit and that was probably what Kaegen needed. After being hit he definitely did not ecpect any more action to follow from the second year, however he was proven wrong as he felt something grazing his cheek. Another stone that afterwards colldided with the stone wall behind him.

A slight burn, a sharp edge of the small object had cut through the skin of his cheek. Not very deep but enough for a thin line of blood to cover the small cut. Thurston was not stupid, he knew of the the Ravenclaw's condition and that while he was far enough away, he must still have his senses. Just for caution he got a hold of the wand that he had clasped on a wand holster below the sleeve of his pullover. If Kaegen indeed was close enough to smell the blood, he had to be prepared. He might be young, but exactly that made him less controlled too. Thurston just began to focuss all of his attention on the dhampir, hoping he might not be able to notice the faint smell of blood.

The boy was very far away, as far as he could manage and surrounded not only be the occasional flapping of owl wings but also by a breeze. The smell of the professors small trickling of blood was not enough to register on the half vampire's senses. He thought he had missed entirely with the second shot, and assumed that the only stone that had hit it's mark was the one that had made the professor shift a bit. Which meant the professor had probably been hit in the shoulder. Or at least that was what it looked like. So a bruised shoulder then. That was good. That was a bit more of an impediment that could be exploited.

It wasn't a lot more, but it was enough for the ravenclaw to feel like he had a chance. One well placed shot to the head, and the fight would be won. That was all it would take. One shot to the head. Slipping another stone into the sling, he pulled the rubber of the powerful hunting tool taught, and then released. He waited half a second after the stone left the sling before he moved his hands to slip another projectile into the sling, pull back and fire again. He didn't know any spells that were effective from this far away, but that didn't matter.

Spells were only going to slow him down, he wasn't good enough at them to make a difference one way or another. A slingshot was a tool that he could use, and use well. But just in case he didn't hit the head, he made the broom go a little bit faster in it's course away from the professor. He wasn't going to risk anything, his life wasn't worth a slightly better angle.

A sigh escaped the professor's lips before he shook his head ever so slightly. He did not know what was wrong with the young dhampir, however he had hoped for the student to be smarter than to attack a professor. Or anyone at all. He was sure there were enough rules to prevent students from hurting other people. He summoned up a shiled with hushed words and the according wand movement, stopping any further attacks and decided to just call this to be the end. He was not sure what the young Ravenclaw expected this situation to turn out however he turned around, his back now facing the student as he stepped back inside the Tower. The stone that had been shot towards him collided with the invisible shield that surrunded the Tower's platform and he only dropped the spell when he stepped inside.

A yawn left his mouth as he strolled towards his desk, where he picked up his keys and a leatherbound book. It seemed like it had been read many times, as the edges were creased, which did not seem to faze the young werewolf as he casted a glance outside to see if the dhampir had ended up with fleeing, like he had done in the library back then. It seemed to be something he would do many times more, so Thurston made sure to watch his back from now on.

The boy did not notice that the leather book did not faze the professor. In fact, even if he had been close enough to notice how unfazed the professor was by a book, he probably would have assumed it was normal to not be fazed by a pretty ordinary looking book. Even if it did have creases. Instead, he was rejoicing.

He had done something amazing. He had landed a blow, two of them. On a professor, on one of the most despicable beings to ever speak with the dark places. On one of the beings that orchestrated all the evil, all the pain that went on in this school. Sure, he hadn't done damage. Honestly, he had never expected to deal a finishing blow on the man. He had hoped, sure. But never really believed that was going to work.

He had information now, and confirmation. When someone is attacked, they do something about it, other than just walk back inside. If he was wrong and the teachers did want to help the kids, he wouldn't have just left a kid to shoot stones while covered in owl armor, that was dumb. The only reason the professor was fine with what the boy had done was because the professor condoned it.

That was what they were teaching, after all. How to kill, how to survive. He turned his broom, and flew off. He didn't remember to smile, didn't think about it. But his tired eyes were wide, and they seemed to be interested in what was in front of them. It had been a good day.

Kaegen deathmote has left the thread