Hunter's Best Friend

Hunter sat in the tree, watching as the sun set. On his chest, a white vampire bat was curled up in his fur, sleeping away. It was a tad early for Vampyre to be up. The two had been together a long time, and they went nearly everywhere together. Hunter gazed down at the albino bat, remembering the day he first found him.

Hunter was much younger, a child even. Even at that point he was on his own. Every day, the red kintaur wandered the forests, looking for food and water among other things. One night he heard a strange noise. A high pitched squeak-like squeal, like, whatever it was, was calling out for help. 

Having nothing better to do, Hunter followed the noise until he found the creature making it. On the ground was a white vampire bat. He guessed it was an albino as he saw some dark colored ones flying away. Getting a closer look, he realized it was just a baby. It was squirming around, calling probably for its parents, who at the time appeared to have dropped the little guy. 

Feeling bad for the baby bat, Hunter scooped him up carefully, and almost immediately the bat clung to him. Hunter was nearly frozen in place, not really knowing what to do. But he knew he needed to look after the small creature at least until he could reunite it with its family, so he took the bat back to where he stayed.

At the time, home was a hollowed tree trunk. It was enough to keep the elements out at least. Taking extra care not to hurt the baby bat, Hunter made himself comfortable in his cozy tree trunk. He laid on his back and let the baby crawl around on his chest. To Hunter, it was cute. It sniffed his fur a little here and there before looking into Hunter's eyes and tilting it's head. 

Hunter stared at the baby bat. "What? What do you want? Are you hungry?" he asked it, although he didn't know exactly what vampire bats eat. He heard rumors that they drank blood though, so he nipped his finger just enough to cause a little blood to come out and offered it to the baby bat. After sniffing his finger, the albino bat licked the beading blood, and did that until it was full. After that, it curled up on Hunter's chest and fell asleep. 

The next few days, Hunter learned a little more about the baby bat. First, he learned it was a boy, which was a good think. Hunter didn't like calling him "it". Second, that he was just about a week old. It didn't know how to fly or anything. Third, it was clingy. He especially liked Hunter's tail. He would hang on it during the day while Hunter was out foraging and hunting. And when Hunter wasn't doing those things, he clung to the kintaur's back or chest. Eventually Hunter named the little bat Vampyre, pronounced vamp-eer.

Another couple days went by before Hunter decided to try to teach Vampyre to fly. When night fell, he climbed a tall tree with the bat clinging to his tail. When they were at a sufficient height, he made Vampyre let go and dropped him. Luckily, instinct kicked in and Vampyre flapped his wings and flew back up to Hunter. 

The next night, Hunter took Vampyre to where he first found the baby bat. Now that Vampyre knew how to fly, he could rejoin his family and be with his own kind. Sadly, it didn't quite go as planned. Vampyre flew to the other bats, but they turned on him. They dive bombed him and tried to bite him until finally Vampyre had enough and flew back to Hunter. The poor thing was shaking, and Hunter cradled him. He didn't understand why Vampyre's family attacked him. He looked down at the albino bat, and suddenly it clicked. Vampyre wasn't accidentally left behind or dropped. He was rejected because of his color. 

"Don't worry, Vampyre. You don't need them. I'll take care of you." Hunter reassured. 

From that point on, the two have been inseparable. Hunter learned a lot about bat behavior, training a good number of other bats to help him accomplish a variety of things. But even though Hunter had many bats, there was always a special place for his life long friend. Vampyre was with him when he met Thanos, and fighting with him during the battles against Samuel, except they were fighting for Samuel. After the battle, Vampyre helped Hunter take care of his triplets, although there wasn't much a little bat could do. Through thick and thin, Vampyre was always there. 

Now, sitting in his tree, Hunter glanced down at the white bat again, smiling. He couldn't imagine life, without the little guy.