Hunted

Blake Belladonna stood stock still, silhouetted against the twilight sky. Every muscle in her body refused to move. She watched in disbelief as the cargo section of the train, along with Adam, faded into the distance. She couldn't overcome the shock that filled her, had she really just betrayed Adam? Sounds of people shouting shook her from her comatose-like state before she could dwell on this. Fear instantly replaced all other feeling as her heart rate kicked up.

"Crap," Blake muttered, twirling to face the source of the shouting.

Blake glanced around panicking. She had forgotten about the human guards that were stationed in the forward compartments of the train. She had to escape. There was no way in hell that she would stoop to Adam's level and take a human life. Blake ran up to the train compartment door, drawing Gambol Shroud as she did. Taking aim, she fired a series of bursts into the keypad that unlocked the door, and seconds later she heard a large thud on the other side of the door.

"That was too close, should buy me some time at least," she said to herself.

Stepping back from the door, she realized that she actually had no idea how to get off the train. The original plan had been to rig the explosives then get the hell out of dodge via helicopter once they were done, but that had been before she had learned that the supposed cargo train was full of innocent human passengers. Blake began to frantically recall the layout of the train's route in her head. If she remembered correctly there was a river crossing coming up.

"Hands where I can see them, Beast."

Blake felt her heart go into her throat even as she bristled slightly at the racial slur. Taking a deep breath, she slowly raised both her hands above her head and turned to meet the voice. Four armed guards stood in front of her, each holding a pistol easily the size of her head, and all weapons were pointed directly at her.

"You should know your place, you filthy mongrel. Come with us, Mr. Schnee is going to want a word with you about what you and your friend tried to accomplish here." The guard closest to her said in a gruff mocking tone.

In the next moment, when the same guard moved to grab her, Blake made her move. She grabbed the guard's hand and twisted it, feeling a snap as the arm broke. Despite his pained cries she continued to twist, pulling him around to shield her from his companions. As she did so, Blake wrestled his pistol from his grip and put it to the guard's cheek. She allowed a grim smirk spread across her face as her cat like ears picked up the sound of the round clicking home in the chamber.

"If one of you moves your friend here is going to end up without much of a mouth left to run, understand?" she stated, trying to sound convincing. Her ears perked up as she caught the sound of rushing water, she was close, and she just needed to stall a little bit longer.

"You're a moron, do you really think you can get away? Where the hell are you going to go? I don't know if you noticed this is a moving train" One of the guards said before he let out a loud guffaw of laughter, his partners were quick to join him. Then the guard gestured to the man in Blake's grip.

"Kill him, go ahead. Just know that it'll make the beating your about to get that much worse, you filthy Beast."

Blake felt her face redden in anger at the guard's words. She was done with these racist pigs. The guard flailed in her arms as she shoved him into his companions and then instinctively fired the pistol. Blood exploded from the guards' legs, her well-aimed shots shattering their kneecaps. Discarding the pistol, Blake ran past the fallen mess of screaming men towards the end of the train.

'Please be over water' she thought just before she flung herself off the side of the train. She silently thanked the Gods for her luck when she saw the rushing water beneath her. This relief was short lived, however, because as she fell Blake realized that the water was incredibly shallow. She hit the water hard and everything went black.

Pain, Blake was no stranger to the sensation of pain. It had been a constant companion to her no matter where she went in her life. The pain of her families death, the pain of watching many young fauna's being beaten and bludgeoned to death due to arrogant human superiority, and finally last but not least was the sensation of physical pain. All these and more she carried with her throughout her life but it was the latter that dominated her sense now.

Blake had awoken, washed up upon the river bank several miles downriver of the rail bridge. Unfortunately for the fauna, she had woken up with a splitting headache as well as a large ragged gash that ran up the length of her calf between her knee and hip which was bleeding profusely.

"Jump off the bridge, Blake. It's the only way, Blake. Stupid, stupid, stupid!" she muttered darkly under her breath as she ripped part of her jacket away in order to create a make-shift bandage.

Once this was done she took a moment to take inventory of herself, beyond the gash and splitting headache she seemed to be more or less intact. Somehow Gambol Shroud had remained on her person so thankfully she wasn't unarmed, which was good because night was falling and the forest she was in had been known for centuries to be a haven to some of the larger packs of Beowulf's in the entire kingdom of Vale.

No sooner had the thought entered her mind that she might actually be in a great deal of danger, a loud mournful howl filled the night air. It was soon joined by others, many others, and all of them sounded incredibly close.

Blake closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and listened. She could hear the pack that was just beyond the line of trees along the opposite bank. There were six in all and she knew that there was no way she would be able to outrun that many even if she was at her best. This left really only one option. Beowulfs may be considered to be creatures of Grimm by many but they were still very much pack animals. Take down the Alpha and you had a much easier time taking down the rest, so basically she had to issue a direct challenge to the Alpha if she wanted to stand a chance of getting out this forsaken forest alive.

Armed with this, Blake leaned her head back, wincing slightly at the throbbing in her head, and with a deep breath let out a long howl of her own to answer the packs. Once she finished she waited, straining to listen for movement over the sound of the trickling water. Then the sounds of crunching snow drew her attention. Blake opened her eyes to see a giant white furred Beowulf standing on the opposite bank from her. She silently drew the Gambol Shroud and the second that Yellow eyes met Red she sprang into action.

The white monster charged at Blake. She ducked dodging at the last second, slid under the beasts belly and used Gambol Shroud to slice at its thick legs. Crimson blood sprayed forth from the wound, covering Blake's face and arms.

A pained yip came from the wounded beast as he tried to regain his footing, favoring only two of its massive legs. Blake pressed her advantage, using her weapons tether ability she flung the blade in a wide curve at the creatures neck. The tether swung around the beast's neck twice before the blade landed with a wet thunk in the creature's collar bone.

The beast howled and bucked, causing Blake to fly into the air. Up and over the beast before landing on a tree branch just 15 feet above the beast. She collapsed against the trunk for a moment as she let out her own yelp of pain from landing on her bad leg. White hot pain filled her head as she tumbled back off the branch and hurtled to the ground.

Blake closed her eyes and braced herself for inevitable impact and possibly even her death however the impact never came. Instead as she fell she felt the handle of Gambol Shroud being pulled violently above her until she suddenly came to a jerking halt in mid- air. Blake opened her eyes slowly only to see the face of the Alpha inches from her own but…it wasn't trying to get at her.

Glancing up she saw the reason for her sudden halt, the tether part of Gambol Shroud had gotten stuck on the branch she had just been standing upon following the tether down the other side she saw that it was still tightly wrapped around the beast's neck. Only the beast's neck was now bent at an odd angle and the blood red eyes that had desired nothing more than to devour her moments before were now a lifeless black. The whimpers of the remaining five pack members grew in intensity below her, breaking her out of her stunned victory.

Blake pressed the release button on her weapon and the tether began to recoil itself. Her blade made a sickening, wet slurping sound as it worked its way through the muscle bone and flesh of the Alpha. The head of the Alpha snapped off its body, dropping like a rock, and crushed three of the remaining members of the pack. Blake fell onto the back of the Beowulf directly under her and fired Gambol Shroud directly into the back of its head. Blood exploded in great clouds as the monster fell.

Blake stood slowly looking around frantically for the last living member of the pack, but there was no sign of it anywhere in the silent forest. She assumed that the beast had decided to run rather than stay and fight.

Blake sighed disgusted with the beast's weakness and then had to stop and reprimand herself. She had no right to condemn a beast who had run in order to live another day. Blake was fauna and because of this she was just as hated as the creatures whose bodies lay around her. Yes, who was she to judge for what was she if not a similarly hunted beast?

Suddenly her ears picked up the sounds of another pack closing in, no doubt drawn by the blood that pooled around her. As another howl sounded close by, Blake picked up her blade and prepared to face the new threat muttering as she did so. "This is going to be a long...long night"

Authors note: Hey Everybody! I hope you enjoyed my story! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. Also let me know if you'd like me to continue writing stories similar to this one. Every little bit helps me to improve and provide better stories to you! Thanks again for reading and have a blessed day. ~Crystal