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the hunter and her prey(a cursed human story, a beauty and the beast alternative to a cursed vampire story)

The creature assaulted Angel with everything in its reach. Water splashed in her face. rocks flew at her. Hands grasped for her arms to dislodge the weapon. He reached for her hair to try and catch hold of her.

Andrew crashed against the same tree the monster had. He scrambled out of the water, biting the fingers of his gloves to pull his hands out of them. Then he wrapped his arms around the monsters back and held on as the creature looked over his shoulder in surprise.

The creature grabbed Andrew's arms to rip him off of his back.

the hunter and her prey(a cursed human story, a beauty and the beast alternative to a cursed vampire story)

Andrew ran as quickly as he could, but he could not keep up with Angel or the river.

The monster finally tumbled up against a tree fallen into the river. He pulled himself along the submerged trunk, which remained firm. He got his head and shoulders above water and pulled himself out onto the bank. He took great gasps of air to fill his lungs and looked about him for any sign of his hunter. He picked up a rock from the riverbed and threw it at the first thing he saw moving toward him.

Andrew knew there was no way to catch up with the athletic hunter, or with the river. The river! Andrew stopped and yanked off his shoes and socks and splashed out into the deeper water. He was soon being swept along, beyond his own control. But he found his head bobbed to the surface often enough to get gasps of air. It was exhilarating being in the current. He forgot nearly everything else, but he knew, just as the monster did, that there would be a fight when he came out of the water.

the hunter and her prey(a cursed human story, a beauty and the beast alternative to a cursed vampire story)

"Then come try to stop me!" The monster growled. When Angel didn't advance he kicked at the water and started walking down the middle of the river.

Andrew came out from the trees and followed along the banks. He watched the monster and watched angel out of the corner of his eyes. He could almost feel the intensity of the anger radiating from her. She certainly wasn't happy with him either. He tried to keep his distance from her.

The monster walked farther and farther down the river. The banks on the side became narrower with more trees. The river cut deeper into the ground until it was in a gorge and would become more like a canyon the farther along the river went. The monster slipped, the river rolling and sweeping him down under the water and back up again.

"The water won't kill him. It's part of the curse." Andrew said, wondering how far the river would carry him before he washed up on the bank and found the nearest animal or person to kill.

The Stars of Soot

Octavia watched the engineer think. She didn't realise her teeth were clenched until he agreed and she relaxed.

"You really are brilliant, Mr. Fischer. I said 'airship', and you knew 'Orion' all on your own."

The song finished and the dancers stopped to applaud the musicians' performance. Octavia stood just in front of Max and turned her head to continue their conversation over her shoulder as she clapped.

"If it really requires more than two of us to fly, I will use the telegraph here in Papa's study to contact your crew members and direct them to meet at the hangar. We don't really need many though, do we? I only need to get the ship- well, I'll tell you later, when we're in the air." She knew the fewer people involved the better. Hubert was very good at getting people to do what he wanted, even when they didn't like him.

"There's a little airship out in front of the garage, still heated, to take us to the hanger. Did you take a cab here tonight or will we need to send your vehicle home? You can leave tonight, can't you?" She asked eagerly before turning to face him and continuing on at once. "I've packed a long work coat to cover your good clothes. I've brought meals already made. Of course there are always extra goggles and warm coats on the Orion for flying." She prattled on hoping to show she had planned well enough and convince him that they could in fact leave without delays.

the hunter and her prey(a cursed human story, a beauty and the beast alternative to a cursed vampire story)

Hey, sorry I have had no brain focus for writing this weekend! Be back next weekend :)

the hunter and her prey(a cursed human story, a beauty and the beast alternative to a cursed vampire story)

The creature roared at Angel again, waiting for her to attack again. When she hadn't followed him out into the river he decided to taunt her, hoping to enrage her into stupidly following him.

"I will live," he repeated, "no matter how many people die, especially people like you!"

Andrew growled himself, upset that this was not going to have a peaceful resolution.

the hunter and her prey(a cursed human story, a beauty and the beast alternative to a cursed vampire story)

He growled at the angry little woman and went back to fighting physically instead of arguing. She wanted to get to him, fine, he would make her come to him. The creature moved down into the water and waded out where the current was swift and the rocks on the bottom slippery and shifting. He had to catch his balance a time or two and hoped the woman would follow and not be so lucky. He'd love to see her washed away.

"But you haven't killed people as much lately, have you?" Andrew called from the trees. "Why not? Does it bother you? I can teach you other ways to live. Without killing anyone."

"I will live." The creature hissed through jagged teeth, glaring eyes trained on the vengeful woman.

The Stars of Soot

"I already have a company, several." Octavia replied simply as she moved to take the lead in the dance and rotate their placement until her back was to the room. Thus no one else one could read the truth on her lips.

"I am in the process of getting them everything they need to compete with Hubert. The excitement should generate a renewed interest in competing with the PAS for the best innovations. New development should open up employment opportunities for our stray engineers before they've floundered into other fields."

Octavia endeavored to turn them again so that Max' facial reaction would not be visible to the crowd. The music was at its loudest creschendo, but her heart was racing, she couldn't delay any longer. She rolled up on her toes to be closer to his ear.

"All that being said, I don't have months to wait for Hubert to ruin himself. I've decided to sink him this week. Would you be interested in helping me move an airship?"

the hunter and her prey(a cursed human story, a beauty and the beast alternative to a cursed vampire story)

"Some hurt!" The creature yelled in retaliation, what did this human know of his wretched tragedy of a life? "Some were guilty! You are hurting me now!" He looked for a weapon, and ripped down a long branch to swing at Angel and greatly extend his reach.

Andrew stepped back behind the tree. Did he really want to see this creature killed? Maybe he could still reason with it. Maybe he could guide it and help it find better solutions. Take him back to his castle and teach it to eat vegetables. Andrew would be occupied keeping the creature alive, but what of this creature himself? What life would his form, his mind, allow him to have? Andrew would be busy, and constantly concerned like he had been with Angel in the house. But maybe this creature would fall into the same sloth and depression that Angel had when she was prisoner.

All three of them desperately needed to find ways to live, to keep themselves going. Didn't everyone need that? If that monster was at all capable of thought, Andrew wanted to give him the chance.

Andrew pulled his gloves back on.

the hunter and her prey(a cursed human story, a beauty and the beast alternative to a cursed vampire story)

The creature roared back at Angel and began swiping at her more viciously. If he could just get rid of this pest he could go back and heal at the spring. He was reckless, not caring about little wounds if they got him close enough to scratch or hit angel. He started aiming for her weapon trying to get it to fly out of her hand and leave him alone.

Andrew noticed the creature was intently focused on Angel and pulled the fingers of his gloves, and slipped his hands out. He folded the gloves in half and tucked them into his pocket. He quietly walked up the bank into the woods and waited for the battle between the lady and the monster to come close enough he could get ahold of the creature from behind.