What a Deer

It wasn't long after he had settled in his ambush position that Saracyn heard the growls and snarls of his uncle kicking off their hunt. He peeked up out of his cover, snickering a bit at Deimos' brash display of aggression to kick the herd up into a panicked frenzy. It worked though, and soon the deer were off running, Deimos maneuvering to split off the doe and adolescent from the rest of the group. Thundering hooves brought the cervines closer to his hiding spot, and once they came too close to change direction, Sara leaped up atop the rock, snarling and focusing his deadly gaze at the young buck. The two deer attempted to skid and change directions again, but Saracyn moved first, leaping off the rock to land his full weight down on the buck. The young deer bellowed out in a panic, the dire wolf's weight sending it crashing to the ground in a skitter of spindly legs while its mother continued to run off.

Saracyn wasted no time. Once the buck was down, he only had a matter of moments to end its life before it became a dangerous opponent to face off against. Using the element of surprise to his advantage, Saracyn quickly lunged up to wrap his powerful jaws around the back of the buck's neck right at the base of its skull where its vertebrae were the weakest. The deer bellowed and tried to throw the wolf off of it, but Sara clamped down harder, serrated teeth digging through flesh and muscle until they scraped against bone. With how hard he was holding the animal's neck, the buck was unable to even turn its head. A little more pressure and Saracyn felt the deer's neck snap with a satisfying crunch of bone. Long legs flailed out as the deer collapsed again in a heap, still alive but no longer able to move. Saracyn didn't allow the creature to suffer for long, the wolf righting himself and lunging to sink his fangs into his prey's throat, tearing through jugular and carotid all at once to end its life in a gush of gore and blood. Unable to move, unable to breathe, the deer simply lay in the predator's jaws until it succumbed to its fatal injuries.

All the while he held the dying deer, Saracyn leered up at the hapless mother, seeing the conflict in the prey animal's eyes. Maternal instinct wanted to protect its child, but survival instinct clearly told her it was a lost cause. The doe ended up turning and running off toward the herd. Whether Deimos decided to take her down as well and secure a second kill was up to his uncle. Saracyn was too busy enjoying his kill to care. Once he was sure the deer was dead, he dropped the body to the ground, warm blood dripping down his chin while he caught his breath. Gods, it felt good to be hunting again, and killing something had been just what he needed to lift his spirits even if only for a short time!

"Saracyn Mendacium"