I screamed from the bottom of my lungs. Argh, for fuck sake. That hurt you bastard. I felt my shoulder with my paw, and felt a wooden object stuck in my shoulder. As I was about to let out a new string of curses at the elves, I noticed the archer pulling out another arrow, getting ready for another shot. Afraid of getting shot again, I rushed behind the closest tree for cover.

  God dammit, this is what I get for trying to be nice and communicate with the damn elves. They just got scared, and now they are trying to kill me. Either mother was right about the elves, or the elves must have stories about us, and not the good kind.

  I took a deep breath, found the arrow shaft, nearly completely embedded into my shoulder, and took a firm grip around it. I gritted my teeth and pulled it out in a single swift motion, and growled out in pain, while spitting out loud curses in several languages.

  I threw the arrow away and felt the warm wet liquid run down from my shoulder, staining my white fur red. I was angry, I wanted them to pay. I knew I should have headed home a long time ago, but I would deal with my Mother when that time came. If I ran away from them, that would save my sorry hide, but it would also show them how weak the Celestial snow foxes could be. And if they got home and told their people how I ran away because I was hit by a single arrow, they might bring an army of elves to attack our village. I don't want to be the catalyst for that.

  I couldn't run away, I have to show them what happens when you're stupid enough to attack unprovoked. With the decision made I got down on all four, and started sprinting, ensuring some distance between us. I was gritting my teeth in pain for every step I took, I heard an arrow hit a tree as I fled my hiding spot. I ran straight at full speed for nearly 400 feet before turning to my right, hoping they would lose my location. I ran a half circle before turning towards the campfire again, hoping for a surprise attack from behind.

  I took a quick breather, while holding a paw to my wounded shoulder. Trying to not let the pain distract me too much. I didn't want to attack them, I tried to be diplomatic, but they gave me good choices. This is their fault and they need to take the consequences.

  I heard the elves yelling at each other in the distance, making it way too easy to locate their positions. I was ready to deal out some payback, So I went down on all four again, and sprinted toward my targets. As I approached the illuminated area I easily spotted the archer, still facing the direction I originally had fled, I grinned to myself when I got in range to pounce on my prey.

  The golden haired archer turned abruptly, seeing me charge towards him. His eyes widened, and swung his bow in my direction as I leaped towards him. My paws hit his upper chest, and he went straight down to the ground, with me on top of him. I quickly slit his throat, his thin skin not giving my claws any resistance. The elf let out a scream that turned into a wet gurgle as his windpipe was severed.

  The sweet intoxicating scent of blood blanketed the area, awakening my inner hunger, and I had to hold myself back, to avoid getting lost in a blind feeding frenzy. Something in me desperately wanted to taste the elf, a whispering voice from deep within, telling me to peel his skin off, and devour every scrap of flesh from his bones. The idea was tempting, my inner hunger screaming at me to realize the thought. Frustrated and angry at myself for even having such thoughts pop into my head, I shook my head and tried to focus on my fight and managed to drag my attention from what every instinct in me was screaming at me to do, onto the two others elves.

  The shorter man fell down on his knees, and I locked eyes with the female elf. Her disgust and hatred of me was clear in her face, as she came towards me, her sword held high, I easily dodged her sword, and I lashed out with my claws in response. My claws hit her chest, but I didn't draw blood, she was apparently covered in some sort of wooden armor. Annoyed, I slashed my claws towards her again, but was met with a thrust of her sword.

  My claws only managed to tear away a bit more of her armor, as I had to dodge her sword again. I couldn't quite move away in time, and I felt the cold blade rip into my side. I yelped in pain and jumped back, inspecting my new wound.

  I shrugged off what seemed like a minor injury and went down on all four again, and rushed towards the woman. I easily sidestepped her sword and jumped up on her, the force of my jump sending her to the ground. In an instant, I went towards her sword arm, ridding myself of the threat of her swinging her sword at me again. Her wooden armor seemed thinner around her wrist, so I started to gnaw there. My teeth quickly penetrated and the woman started screaming as my teeth found flesh.

  My teeth easily sunk into her wrist, her blood pouring into my mouth. The taste of her warm blood spread through my entire body, promising strength. Every cell in me wanted me to unleash my inner hunger, to embrace gluttony and feast on her flesh and blood. For a brief moment I thought how wonderful it would be to give in, to stop actively resisting what my body desperately desired.

  My mind blanked out, and the sensation of warm blood was pouring down my throat, followed by the sound of flesh tearing apart. I felt my ears twitch with the deafening screams that followed, and I regained my sense of self.

  I sat up again, and suddenly saw the other elf run toward me, his sword held high. I instantly got up and jumped back, keeping myself out of sword range. The elf luckily stopped by the screaming woman, and I noticed I was biting down on something delicious.

  I took out a bloodied hand from my mouth, and I wanted to curse at myself, I had torn her hand off, and I had already eaten parts of it. I checked on the defending elf then back to the half eaten hand, it was such a grotesque sight, but still so enticing, like the piece of flesh was singing tunes of satisfaction and power to me. I just needed one more bite, one tiny mouthful, and then I would focus on my fight. But before I managed to stop myself I had shoved the entire hand into my mouth, the bones giving a pleasant crunch under my teeth, and the rich flavor filled me with delight, like nothing would ever taste as marvelous as this.

  I automatically swallowed, and moaned in pure bliss, craving more. I thought for a second if mouth-gasm was a real thing, but my thoughts were interrupted by the shorter elf running towards me. His sword held up in an obvious attack. I simply stepped a few steps back, letting his sword hit the ground, before I landed a sweeping kick to his side. I heard his ribs crack as the man grunted and flew several feet away from the force.

  I threw away the sword he dropped, and made my way towards the woman on the ground. She was still wailing while holding the stump of her missing hand. Seeing the pitiful woman made me feel bad, like I was the villain in all this. I'm well aware that the eating habits of the foxes can be a little off putting, and I shouldn't have eaten that hand. It kinda just happened, I lost focus for a mere moment and I had already shoved the thing into my mouth. But besides that I haven't done anything wrong, if anything I acted in self defense, there might be a little revenge too, but still. I tried to be all diplomatic about it first.

  I met the tear filled eyes of the woman, and felt a little sorry for her. Even if I decided I would let them go now, she would be maimed for life, because of something I had done to her, I had lost control for only a few seconds and in that time I had permanently injured her. I couldn't just let her go now, if I ran away, she would make it her mission to hunt me and my kind down, I could see it in her eyes, that hateful glare that would flay me if given the chance.

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  I sighed and spoke. “ I didn't want to do this, but here we are. If only you guys didn't shoot me, things would have turned out differently. I tried to communicate in a peaceful manner, but you didn't let me. I will do my best to try and end this quickly, no point in you suffering any more than necessary”

  I readied myself, and let my claws tear through her wooden armor, I kept slashing away, hoping to end it as fast as possible. Luckily it didn't take too many blows before I heard her heart cease beating. I let out a heavy sigh, thinking over everything that had led up to this. I had tried my best to be diplomatic and peaceful, and somehow it ended up in a bloodshed. I know I am responsible for their deaths, but I never actually wanted to kill them, and now I have to deal with their deaths on my conscience. But now that they are dead I just want to eat them. Damn it, there are those horrible thoughts again, there is seriously something wrong with me.

  I took in the sight of my work, and wondered where I had gone wrong. I had killed two people, but somehow I didn't feel too bad about it. And the fact that I didn't feel bad about it only made it worse. I should feel worse about killing people then I actually do. Their souls should weigh heavier on my conscience. I might become numb to it, after spending over a decade as an apex hunter.

  My stomach growled in anticipation, and my mouth watered up from the enticing scent coming from the corpse in front of me. I wanted to run away, to not look at the corpse, forget everything that had happened here today. But every fiber in my body wanted to eat, to listen to that little voice in my head, demanding me to eat, to consume them and grow stronger.

  I had to get away fast, or I wouldn't be able to resist the urge to eat, I was tired, wounded and damn hungry. I tried to move my legs, but nothing happened, and I heard that voice in the back of my mind. Telling me that it would be okay, that eating another elf wouldn't make any difference, that I needed to eat to heal my wounds.

  What the actual fuck? Is my damn hunger trying to rationalize with me now? Giving me reasons why I should eat the damn elves. My anger rose inside of me, and I wanted to rip out whatever was trying to guide me down a path I didn't want to take. Is my instinct as a murderous fox that strong? What wouldn't I do to go back to my old self on earth, and order a simple pizza. No moral dilemma about eating my food.

  I wanted to cry, to not struggle so damn hard to resist the urge to sit down and start eating. However, as I argued with myself and the voice in my head, my ears perked up, from the sound of something moving close by. I turned towards the sound, only to see the last elf sitting on the ground, with tears running down his face.

  Damnit. I had forgotten about the last elf. What am I supposed to do with him? I really can't start eating his friends while he is watching me. A little relieved from having my mental argument with my hunger interrupted I tried to focus all my attention on the elf. I wiped drool from my mouth, and hoped I didn't have too much blood on my face. They were already afraid of me, even after I tried to look as non threatening as possible and I doubted having my face covered in blood would help.

  I stood up, and walked up to the elf, his eyes were following me, wide and terrified. I sighed, annoyed that these elves were that terrified of me. I couldn't possibly be that scary, could I?

  What am I supposed to do with this one? He’s sitting on the ground, wailing like a little boy, how can I in good conscience kill someone this pitiful? I rolled my eyes and groaned, before I held my paw out for him to grab.

  He just looked at it for several seconds, clearly expecting to die any moment, but instead of a killing blow, I offered to help him get up. After a while, he took my paw, and I dragged him up on his feet and waved my paw at him in a dismissive gesture.

  He kept staring at me, as he couldn't believe his eyes. Annoyed, I made the gesture again and said. Come on, get moving before I change my mind.”

  He wiped his tears away, and pointed to himself and spoke slowly. “ Gildor “

  Surprised that the elf suddenly was communicating, I gave him a little smile and pointed to myself and replied. “ Lunaria “

  The elf eyes widened again, and his visibility shivered, like my name or smile was invoking fear into him. I repeated my name again, and used my paws and shoulders in a questioning gesture.

  -------------------------------------------------

  The elf started talking, but none of his words made any sense to me, it all sounded like gibberish. I just made the questioning gesture again and tried to wave him off, wanting him to leave before I could do anything I would regret later.

  He stared into the direction I tried to wave him off to, and he took a few steps in that direction. I tried to nudge him along with a gentle kick to his butt that seemed to work. He slowly kept walking, constantly looking back, expecting me to start chasing him any second.

  I tried to ignore the elf, as I went back to eyeing the corpses, still debating if I could resist the delicious looking elf. If only the communication had started like that, none of this had to happen, I thought to myself while shrugging in resignation. I suddenly heard footsteps coming towards me, I turned to see Gildor again, his eyes beaming with resolve. He suddenly grabbed my paw, and tried to drag me away from the corpse. I instinctively hissed at him, wondering where that reaction suddenly came from.

  He let me go as he jumped back, startled from my little outburst. He calmed a little when I didn't follow up with an attack. He carefully took the hand of the dead woman, and started dragging her corpse away from me. Seeing the corpse being hauled away from me sent a sense of panic through me, that corpse was mine! It was my prey. I had hunted her down, and she belonged to me! Without thinking I pushed the elf with enough force for him to fall to the ground. I angrily pointed to my bloodied shoulder, then pointed at the deceased elves before I stomped hard into the ground with my foot. Gildor stiffened after seeing my anger, and frantically started bowing to me, while murmuring in elvish. I didn't understand his words, but I got the impression that he tried to apologize. After bowing several times, he sat down and started digging into the ground, with his bare hands until he had made a tiny hole. He started pointing towards the corpse, then he pointed into the hole before raising an eyebrow in a questioning gesture.

  I then understood what he wanted, he wanted to bury his friends. I could understand why he would want to do such a thing, but if I let him do that, he would deprive me of my price. I don't exactly know why, but I felt protective over the corpse, I felt it was mine and I didn't want anyone else to take it from me.

  Gildor took a hold of the corpse again, and was about to start dragging it away again. I felt my anger spike, seeing this guy trying to steal my price away from me. I felt something primal take hold of me, and I instinctively angrily hissed towards him, baring my teeth. He instantly jumped back, some of the earlier fear returning to his face.

  He dropped to his knees, talking frantically, seeming to beg me. I didn't understand his words, but I was almost completely sure what he wanted. The rational part of me wanted to agree, let him bury his friends, and let the temptation of eating them be buried with them. But my inner hunger flatly refused to even consider such a thing.

  I gave the corpse a longing look and I felt myself starting to drool again. I cursed under my breath at myself, I was so tired of my own struggles and I desperately wanted to give my inner hunger the middle finger. So I decided to agree to let him bury them, but just as I was about to nod in agreement my traitorous stomach gave off a loud growl, startling Gildor. His eyes widened, and his face took on an angry expression and he started gritting his teeth together.

  He stared at me with hate in his eyes, before he screamed something in elvish and ran towards me in a full body tackle. Not able to dodge in time, I was hit in my upper stomach and I went straight down to the ground with the elf on top. In a mad frenzy he landed several fists to my face before I got my arms in front of me to shield myself from the incoming blows. I tried to squirm myself loose, but as he was now sitting on top of my hips, I couldn't muster enough strength to get loose.

  Not getting anywhere by only defending myself, I removed my arms, embracing myself for the next hit. As the fist smashed into my face I grabbed hold of the arm behind the punch and dug my claws as deep into the flesh as I could. The onslaught of punches seized and the elf let out a high pitched yelp .

  Not letting the arm go, I took my opportunity, and forced the hand in front of my face into my mouth and bit down until I felt the bones crunch and my mouth was filled with the metallic taste of blood.

  As the elf started screaming out in pain, I snarled and just bit down harder until I had several loose fingers in my mouth, I let the hand go as I swallowed without thinking.

  Gildor kept on screaming while holding his bloodied hand In front of him, lacking several fingers. Not wasting my opportunity, I swiftly slashed my claws over his stomach several times, until he rolled off me, releasing me from under his weight.

  I quickly got staggering back to my feet, not taking my eyes off the screaming elf, now on his knees, clutching his stomach with his remaining good hand.

  Starving and furious, I stomped my foot hard into the ground and yelled at the elf in anger.“ This is the thanks I get for giving you the opportunity to run away alive! I felt sorry for you because I killed your damn friends, and I wanted to retain some of my humanity. And this is how you repay me? Now I have no other choice than to kill you all.”

  Gildor whimpered, not mistaking my angry tone, even if he couldn't understand my words. Without any more delay I kicked him as hard as I could in the chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. He landed on his back with a loud thud, and I leapt on top of him and savagely clawed his upper body and face. I ceaselessly kept up the flurry of attacks, ripping chunks of flesh and skin out of the bloodied rag doll, until the loud agonizing screams faded to faint moans

  I ceased my attacks and tried to calm myself down and inspected the elf under me, barely recognizable as a humanoid being anymore. A faint wheeze escaped the flesh doll giving away that he was still alive.