Victory, the Hunter

He stalked silently between the trees, muscles tensed, senses attuned to his prey. This was where it was at. The thrill of the chase. Mars smirked to himself, stalking forward.

At the last moment, he lunged forward, the deer startling and darting away. Its flight was too late. Sharp claws dug into the animal's flank, dragging it backwards to aid the boy in tackling it to the ground. Powerful teeth went to its neck, puncturing the artery coursing life through its system.

They had come to a halt at the edge of a clearing in the forest, hunter and prey.

Mars licked his lips, savoring the taste of blood running down his chin. And then, he lost himself, an animalistic hunger taking him over as he proceeded to devour the stag, only half paying attention to the sound of approaching footsteps.

Casey was taking a walk in the woods while she tried to control her power to sense others' emotions. Suddenly, she heard running footsteps and a crash in the brush. Tearing sounds reached her ears as she crept through the trees, needing to know what it was. She finally saw a boy, older than herself, bent over a stag, savagely tearing into it. "What the fuck?!" she exclaimed before she could stop herself. She clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide, then turned and shot up into the branches of the nearest tree, scrabbling 20 feet up in a matter of seconds. She peered down anxiously, unsure of what the boy was or how much control he had.

He sat back, listening for a minute before slowly standing. Breathing deeply, a feral smirk spread across his face. Turning from the half eaten stag, he looked around the area. He looked a sight with blood smeared across the bottom of his face and soaked into his t-shirt. Large teeth distorted his features making his look inhuman.

When he moved it was more like a predator than a human being. "Don't hide! We haven't even met, yet," he said, drawing another breath through his nose.

"I can smell you, hear your heart pounding in your chest. Are you scared, little girl?" Mars stopped at the base of the tree where she hid and circled it slowly, resting his hand against it before digging thick claws into the bark carving through it with ease.

"Come down!" he called up to the treed girl. "I've never eaten a person." He almost sounded reassuring. "Yet."

Casey was afraid, though she did her best to hide it. No use making this fun for him. She remained stubbornly on her branch. "I'll meet you from up here, if it's all the same," she retorted, making herself comfortable by leaning against the trunk and bracing her feet on her branch. "I'm not scared," she added in an outright lie, folding her arms.

"What are you anyway?" she called down. "You're not a werewolf, because they can't even partially shift any time other than the full moon. I've never heard of anything like you."

Casey rolled her eyes, some of her attitude coming out even through her fear. "Oh, that's SO reassuring. You haven't eaten anyone 'yet'. Here, let me just jump into your arms and we can gallop off on your horse into the sunset." She glared at him.

A low chuckled rose from the teen, though his amusement was anything but soothing. "Now, now," he tutted, like he was talking to a small child. "It's not nice to lie. I can smell your fear, after all. It excites me." He grinned.

"Oh, I would love to go up against a werewolf!" Mars exclaimed. "Sounds like fun. Any idea where I can find one next full moon? I figure, it should be at least a small challenge, right?"

He leaned back against her tree, stretching lazily. "Never had occasion to eat a person. And I move faster without a horse. You really gonna stay up there? Because I'd have no trouble joining you." He straightened a bit, gaze moving off through the trees. A smirk pulled at his lip at what he smelled. That would be even more fun.

She wasn't really supposed to be hunting, but it wasn't something that could be commanded. The instinct was as old as predators themselves. She was wandering through the forest searching for one such thing when a familiar scent reached her nose, and another one on top of it. Wondering if one had eaten the other yet, Karma turned in that direction, moving with vampire speed to the edge of the clearing. Raising an eyebrow at the scene before her, her smirk widened, and then she was gone.

On a tree branch level with Casey's, but with the trunk between them, the Slytherin swung her feet, as easily as if she'd been there all along. Leaning forward slightly, she looked around the tree at the Gryffindor, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Donut... why are you in a tree?"

Casey stiffened. Well crap, that didn't exactly work. Guess I can't bluff my way out of this, she thought. Calling down to him, she retorted, "I tend to think of eating someone As a worse offense than lying to them."

Casey stared at the boy, then shrugged. "No, I'm not acquainted with any werewolves that I know of. I'll be sure to let you know if I find one."

Casey was startled as Karma appeared on the other side of her tree, but didn't show it. "This day just gets better and better," she muttered, knowing perfectly well that Karma could hear her. Raising her voice to normal speaking level, she said, "Oh, do I get a nickname now? Honored, I'm sure. I am attempting to avoid getting mauled, if you must know." She gestured towards the ground. "I'm not really sure you'll help with that goal though."

"I wouldn't worry if I were you," Mars drawled, gaze flicking from where it was fixed to a spot on the edge of the clearing, then back once more. "You don't even smell appetizing."

He tilted his head back to look up, grinning crookedly. "Karma. How's it going, sweetheart? Looks like I've been caught out, doesn't it?"

"Perhaps your day would have been better if you weren't wandering the forest all alone?" Mars suggested, easily hearing the girl's muttering. "You wouldn't even be a challenge. If I wanted to maul you, you'd be mauled already. Giant spiders though sound like lots of fun." He gave a rakish grin, gaze drifting off through the trees again.

Karma raised an eyebrow at the Gryffindor, cocking her head to the side. "You mean your last name isn't Donuthole?" Frowning slightly, the girl shrugged, looking down at the other Slytherin and raising an arm to wave.

"Hey Pluto." Swinging down a few branches, Karma stopped and leaned against the trunk on a branch just a few feet from the ground. "I'm pretty bored, actually. How are you?" She grinned at him, before looking back upward at Casey. "Oh. She has no one to tell." Waving a hand dismissively, the young vampire looked down at Mars again, raising an eyebrow at him.

Karma snorted in amusement, smirking down at Mars. "Acromantulas? Those aren't even that hard to catch." She tsked slightly, glancing toward the mauled remains of the deer she could smell. "Thought you'd be hunting much better things than that."

Casey scowled. "That's a good thing, even if you meant it as an insult, Beast Boy. what's your name anyway?" She sighed. "And no, Karma, my last name is not Donuthole. But I know you're going to call me whatever you want, so go ahead and call me Donut if you want."

Casey began very gently beating her head against the tree trunk. "I would usually be perfectly fine Beast Boy, if you weren't here." She shudders at the mention of spiders.

"You call me beast and I'm insulting? Got it a bit backward, don't you, sweetheart?"

He raised his eyebrow. "What is with you Brits and Greek myth?" he asked. "At least Pluto is closer to the mark. I'm not worried about her telling." He put his fangs and teeth away. "Half won't believe her. Other half will think it's sexy." Mars gave his signature devil-may-care grin.

"I was bored," he explained. "And sorry there are not big ass spiders where I'm from. Sound fun even if they aren't hard to catch." He used the bottom of his t-shirt to wipe some of the blood from his chin.

Mars put a hand to his chest and looked up at the treed girl. "That hurts, Doughnut. It really does. Most people like my company."

"Pluto is Roman, hun. Hades is Greek." She said with a grin. "I always preferred Romans anyway." Looking back up at the Gryffindor, she raised an eyebrow. "I don't know if it'll bother most people, actually." She shrugged. No one intimidated Hogwarts as a whole on their first day.

"Hunting humans is funner." She said with a smirk, looking back up at the Gryffindor. She glanced at Mars before appearing on the branch beside Casey, sitting on her haunches and balancing easily. "You should definitely climb down and run. I'd even give you a head start." Lounging across the thin branch, Karma watched the girl with mild amusement, ignoring the fact that her added weight was making the branch sink threateningly toward the ground.

Casey shrugged. "I honestly didn't mean it as an insult. I don't know what else to call you. First thing that popped into my head."

Casey looked around as they talked, wondering if they were distracted enough for her to leave. Probably not. When Karma appeared next to her, she jumped slightly, then clutched the branch as it swayed dangerously. She stood and leaped, pulling herself onto a much sturdier branch, then shook her head at the girl's offer. "Hell no, you think I don't know that you can outrun me in about 4 seconds? If I'm lucky? I'm not making this fun for you."

"Damn." Mars frowned. "You're right. I always get those two confused. Not sure why. Maybe because I stick with the name 'Satan' for god of the underworld." He shrugged.

Sighing, Mars stretched. Then, he jumped, claws digging into the tree trunk and pulling him up with incredible speed. Not as fast as the half vampire, but fast enough. Soon, he was standing beside the girl, one hand on the tree just above her shoulders.

"There's just one thing you should understand," he told her, breathing in her scent. He ran the back of one claw along the side of her neck. "You're already making this fun. Fortunately for you, right now, I'm more interested in giant spiders."

Stepping off the branch, he fell to the ground, landing in an easy crouch. "See you around, ladies," he called over his shoulder. Then he was gone.

Casey shuddered as the boy ran a claw down her neck. Damn, he was fast. He had scaled the tree much quicker than she could have ever hoped to get away and she breathed a silent sigh of relief when he was gone. See him around? I'd rather not.

Descending from the tree at last, seeing as it was pointless to stay up there with Karma, she gave the Slytherin girl a half wave and said, "Yeah, I'm leaving too. Bye." She walked away, hoping Karma wouldn't follow her.