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A/N: This is a oneshot based on the movie "Blood and Chocolate" sorry if it's a bit confusing, I wasn't really paying attention when I typed this...

Hunted

"Within these woods is a river, you reach the other side, you win your life. You don't, and glory to the loups-garous that takes it." The words struck like a killing blow in time to the beating of my heart. I couldn't see who spoke the words, but that did not matter. Soon I would be running. I would be free.

"No one ever reaches it," the voice said again, unveiling my eyes as he did so. "Be free."

The bindings on my hands fell away and I felt the sting of a knife cutting into my arm. The scent of blood was heavy in the air and I wrinkled my nose at the pungent odor. The scent only incised the wolves trapped in human form that surrounded me, trapping me. Their eyes shone yellow in the light of the full moon and I stood frozen, a deer caught in the hunter's gaze. My breath was harsh in my throat as I stood still, succumbing to my baser instincts. But I needed to run, run completely free. No wolf would be able to catch me then. I would win my life.

A twig snapped as one of the anxious werewolves stepped on it. I had not yet begun the chase and they would not yet give chase until I had a big enough lead that they would not deem it to easy for them. This was a game to them, a game. To me, however, this was a hunt. The hunt of a lifetime. I was the prey, true, but that was my nature, where I was most comfortable. Once I started running I would be in my element.

"Wolves, you think you are so above man-kind?" I said to them roughly, "Yet you hunt what you perceive to be what you would call menace. So little you know of the world. There are other legends, more obscure and forgotten than the loups-garous. There are other creatures in the wild, others chosen and gifted with the ability to change ones shape." I paused, dare I continue. By speaking and revealing my secret held for generations I might betray the rest of my kind.

A memory hit me like a knife through the heart. There was none left of my kind to betray. Thanks to these wolves. While they may hunt humans only as a pack, other animals of the forest were not so spared. Deers were a favorite, but what they did not realize was there were other shape-shifters with abilities akin, but not the same as the loups-garous. Others could take the form of other animals, though most not nearly as fearsome as wolves. It was because of their more peaceful nature that they were able to stay hidden more easily than the loups-garous. Unfortunately, one family, my family, was also hunted much more by humans than even the loups-garous. Still, it was the loups-garous that finally finished them off, save one. Now, I was caught, but it had been worth it. Under my human guise I had hunted down the loups-garous responsible for the death of my family, but in that guise I had been caught red...or rather silver handed. They assumed I was a fully human hunter. They were about to get a surprise.

"I am a child of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. The last of her chosen. The moon was not the only god to choose a group of humans to bless with the ability to change their form. Where you are wolves at heart, I am something less ruthless." My monologue complete, I, after the fashion of my kind, bolted and ran for my life.

My hunters followed, but unknown to them, it was their pursuit that gave me the strength to run. My heart beat steadily, pumping the blood that coursed through my limbs. I heard howls behind me and pushed my feet faster. I had to find the river.

There, I knew that tree. The old oak that had been struck by lightning several years before. The majority of the charred trunk pointed straight towards the stream that lead directly to the river. I adjusted my course to suit my new direction. Twigs and leaves crackled under my feet as I ran. I saw up ahead the flicker of water over rocks and I could hear the sound of it. Then, a howl sounded directly behind me. Several others answered slightly to the side of me, all of which to close for comfort. They were closing in and trying to cut me off. I smiled. I was at the creek and they were in for a surprise.

I leaped into the air over the slight depression at which the bottom the creek ran. A white light engulfed me and a deer landed on the other side. I stumbled slightly as I landed, the cut that had until now been on my arm had not hindered me, but now it was on my foreleg, blood running from it freely. The pain would make it hard to run as fast as I could, but with the adrenaline pumping through me, I would still be hard for the wolves to catch. Besides, they were not expecting their quarry to suddenly shift from human to deer. I nearly laughed, but that was not possible as a deer. I continued running. My form might have changed, but my scent remained the same. I kept the creek as close to my right as possible as I followed where it went. I reveled in the feeling of the wind as I bounded over rocks and logs which would have slowed any lesser animal down. Not me. I was free. No human might have reached the river, I reflected to myself as said river came into view, but I was not human, not even close.

Cold water splashed up against my belly as I waded through the deep river. At the other side I rested and drank deeply of the water which signified my freedom.

A/N: Once again, sorry if it was confusing...and it was a oneshot, please review though...REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!