Chapter 2:

Jealousy

A tiger moth fluttered lazily through the cold air of the snowy forest. It suddenly sensed something diving towards it from above. Before it had time to react, Shade snatched it from the air in his mouth. He alighted on a nearby branch and swung himself upside-down, chewing the infamously hard-to-catch winged insect slowly, enjoying it. As the wing of the moth fluttered down from his teeth, he heard a familiar voice call to him.

"Nice catch, Shade!" Marina flapped down to his branch gracefully and swung upside-down to face him. Shade felt a broad smile split across his face at seeing his Brightwing friend. This was the first time in days he would be able to talk to her alone. To his complete disdain, she had been spending entirely too much time with-

"Marina!"

Shade sighed heavily as Chinook swung down between Marina and him. He was disgusted to see Marina smile broadly at the big Silverwing. How in Nocturna's name could she like the big brainless lummox?

"You finally got catching tiger moths down, huh, Shade?" Chinook said mockingly, "I've already caught four tonight," he boasted, his chest swelling with pride. Marina laughed- that tinkly laugh Shade had always loved.

He just couldn't stand it any longer. Shade dropped from his perch, swooping into the air inches from the ground.

"Hey, where are you going?" Shade was glad to hear that Marina was genuinely unhappy to see him leave- Chinook seemed perfectly happy to be alone with Marina.

"Uh, I saw another tiger moth over there," he said pointing his wing in the opposite direction, "I'm going to see if I can find it."

"Okay, well," Marina said, frowning, "I'll see you later then,"

As he flew after his imaginary tiger moth, he could hear Chinook telling one of his favorite latest stories, while Marina giggled and laughed with him. That tinkly laugh. It drove Shade insane. How could marina possible prefer to spend time with that muscle-bound jock over her best friend? Shade had felt great after his triumph over Goth. He had won back the sun for all bats. Everyone treated him like a hero, and gave him special treatment. In the summer, hey were going to start hollowing out their new Tree Haven, even if it wasn't the one on he had found on Marina's island. Frieda and the elders had decided to let him look for his father- at some point in the future, anyway. Even Chinook had laid off him, and had since decided he was worth talking to. At least he didn't call him "Runt", anymore. But now he felt just as tiny and unimportant as he did before. Sometimes it just wasn't fair. Now even Marina had seemed to think he was too boring to be with anymore. She was spending all her time with Chinook.

Shade sighed and veered off, looking for somewhere to roost and groom himself.

...

Goth was dreaming about Shade.

The big Vampyrum had roosted only a short flight from Hibernaculum. He decided he would wait to finally take his revenge on that runty Silverwing the next night- make his suffering an entire night, he had thought. So now he was saving his strength, fantasizing about feasting on the runt's flesh.

He had Shade pinned, down a powerful claw forcing the runt's shoulders to the ground roughly. The Silverwing was making a pathetic attempt to escape, but Goth easily overpowered the tiny, northern bat. He lowered his head to Shade's own, so that he could stare into the smaller bat's eyes. Shade was now breathing shakily, panic gripping his weak heart, his eyes filled with fear. Goth smiled evilly at the runt, licking his lips in anticipation.

He lowered his head to the Silverwing's ear.

"Hola..."

He reared back as Shade screamed in terror, and then lunged forward, his jaws shrieking towards the pesky rat's heart.

Goth shifted in his sleep, chuckling darkly in his sleep.

"Shade..."

Shade was settled a little ways off from Marina, Todd, and Breeze, as they listened to Chinook tell his favorite hunting story- or fairy tale, as the case may be- again.

"So then, after I caught thirty more beetles, and two-hundred more mosquitoes, I caught ten more tiger moths!"

"Wow, Chinook. How are you such a good hunter?" Breezed breathed, amazed.

Marina smiled in agreement. "Yeah."

"Just born with it I guess. You know my fathers a great hunter, too," Chinook bragged, shrugging carelessly.

Todd seemed to be the only one with any sense. "Come on, Chinook. That's way more bugs that you said you caught last time,"

Ignoring him, Chinook turned to Marina. "So, uh, you wanna go hunt with me?"

"Sure," Marina answered, happily.

"I'll come, too," Todd said.

Shade sighed. He was about to take off, when a voice stopped him.

"Hey, Shade! You want to hunt?" It was Breeze.

After being labeled a hero, Shade had gotten a lot more attention from the young females in the colony, but he was only interested in one. He was about to tell her no, like he had all the others, but something stopped him. He saw Marina watching him from the corner of her eye, trying her best to hide her interest. Shade almost smiled.

"Sure, Breeze." he replied loudly, "Why not?"

As Breeze and he fluttered off together, Shade saw, not without satisfaction, Marina frowning at them.

...

As Shade hunted with Breeze, his new-found way to make Marina jealous, Goth was smacking his lips in his sleep, imagining he was eating the runt's heart.

He had dreamed that Zots had healed him, and he did. And he was convinced that Zots would make this dream come true as well...

...

Well, it's not exactly as long as the first chapter, but I just needed to set up the story a little more.

Please, tell me what you think.