The vampiric snow leopard, the first of his kind, chased down the poor malamute through the northern, snowy woods with a ferocity that would give Freddy Krueger nightmares. The vampire, slim albeit muscular, bared his fangs, which were as sharp as stilettos; they could easily tear and tenderize the young sled dog's fur and flesh. His dark, black fur stood out against the moonlight, yet seemed to absorb all things light; like the deepest, foreign black holes known only to the cosmos. His eyes fixated on the dog before him, blood lust radiating from his crimson colored irises. He would have the young sled dog all to himself, and the thought of tearing into his soft, fluffy neck to drain his ever-so metallic blood only served to further maximize his blood lust. The poor escapee looked back in horror at the monster chasing him down. The malamute, with white and brown fur, thought all his time mushing would prevent such a tragedy as this; even with his fit body, the snow leopard was slowly gaining on his outlandish speed. The dog's green eyes only reflected terror, with thoughts about his fate shooting off into all different directions. When the malamute turned around, he was so lost in thought he barely registered why his world was falling before him; it was when he finally hit the ground did he realize he had tripped over the roots of a great pine tree. The dog's fate was sealed, his assailant before him. His mouth opened to scream, yet only silence befell the cold woods. In a split second, the vampire was behind him, demonstrating incredible speed. His eagerness to drain the blood out of the dog displayed in his excited, blood-stained eyes. The last thing the innocent malamute felt was the sting of two spots on his neck, then the world turned black.
I awoke to the sound of a crackling fire; I could hear and smell it before I was able to see it. At first I was confused, until the memories of what happened flooded back into my mind. Oh my god; I should be dead, I thought. With that, a spike of terror shot from my tail to the back of neck, and I visibly shook. If I'm not dead, then where the fuck am I? I slowly began to open my eyes, and when the world came into focus, I was staring at a wooden log ceiling. The bed I was on was very low to the floor, but was heavily blanketed. I almost couldn't move from the amount of protection I had from the cold, and my body felt as if I was floating on a cloud.
I looked around the room I was in, careful not to move my head to keep the illusion that I was still out. On the right wall, diagonal from me, was the fire I was smelling. At this distance, I could barely feel its heat, but overall the room felt warm, like a hug from an old friend. Directly to my right was an empty chair, and adjacent to that was a nightstand. On the nightstand was a small lamp; it was barely glowing, with the occasional flicker. Beside the lamp was a mug with brown liquid in it, steaming hot. Next to the hot drink was a clear glass cup with what appeared to be just water.
Someone had prepared these, seemingly for me, although I wasn't sure if I was ready to find out just who. I looked to left, and saw the rest the room. On the left wall was the door, bordered by two glass windows, which were being battered by the outside storm. The house looked very old and withered, but held on with all its might against mother nature's cruel onslaught. Lastly, I looked straight in front of me. There were stairs leading to the upper half of the house, and to the right of those I could see what appeared to be a kitchen; there were pots, pans, silverware, and plates all thrown about, although none seemed to have been used in a very long time. It was also at that moment when I noticed the owner's preferred wallpaper. The owner had pelts everywhere on the walls; the wooden walls behind them only showed like cracks of light at the bottom of a forest floor. Almost any animal you could find on this godforsaken mountain had a spot on the wall; from rabbits to deer, and from wolves to bears. I settled back down, slightly unsettled by the lifelike pelts that looked as though they would get up and move at any second. Eventually, my ocean of nerves came to a stall, and I took a deep breath. I instantly regretted it.
After my invigorating breath, I started to cough. I coughed loud enough to wake the dead and long enough to burn my lungs. In my exasperated fit, I sat up suddenly, looking for anything to relieve my lungs. I suddenly remembered the glass of water on the nightstand; and in one motion, I pawed at it and brought it to my mouth. I gulped it down as fast as my mouth would allow, relishing in the sweet relief. When I emptied the glass, I turned to put it back on the nightstand. When I turned back to my starting position, a dastardly silhouette stood before me, and I froze in terror.
When the being stepped forward, I was able to take him into full view, him being highlighted by the fire to his left. He was a leopard, and towered over me like a giant. He was at least six feet tall by my judgment. His fur was as dark as a black hole, known only to the unreachable cosmos. As I stared at him from head to toe, I noticed most of his complexion was just as black; his fur, nose, ears, eyebrows, tail, and paws. On his left cheek was the faint outline of a star, which appeared a gray that stood out against the night-like fur. His two most prominent features were his eyes and mouth. Just looking at them almost put me into a trance. His teeth were whiter than the purest snow, and were sharper than even the most sharpened of knives. His eyes were a bright crimson, split in half in each by his cat-like pupils. Although intimidating, his eyes did not seem to hold any feelings of anger or hatred, only compassion.