(Be advised: brief animal death.)

—

It was dark. Almost too dark if it wasn’t for the loving glow of the moon. Wind rushing by, his wings silent but brushing against leaves as the creature dove towards its prey. The mouse was too small, and slick, darting out of his grasps. No dinner for now.

A quick landing on a bare branch. Golden hues dancing across the frozen grass. Head jerking with the intent to listen and capture. He was a skilled hunter; echoing his questioning call into the pitch blackness of the late night. A skitter somewhere below answered sharp hearing. Feathers stood in end at the thrill of the leap. Talons let go of the branch, sending him plummeting towards the cold Earth.

Claws sank into the flesh of an unsuspecting rabbit, lifting the prey high into the air. The warm body was motionless in the hunter’s grasp, blood dripping from the punctures to the pristine white snow. It wad ugly, but he did not mind it. He was hungry.

An unceremonious drop of the body on top of a human structure. He nibbled into the food, eating his fill. Hunger no longer scraped at his insides; the hunter had won tonight’s challenge.